The scientific collections of the Herbarium and the Zoological Museum visit Curanilahue on Heritage Day

The UdeC exhibit is installed in the gymnasium of the Continental College of Curanilahue, located at Avenida Ramón Zamora 03, Curanilahue. On Friday the 26th, the fair opened with the attendance of the authorities and the Continental College community. On behalf of the College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Dean Dr. Margherita Marchant attended; and Vice Dean Dr. Victor Hernandez. On behalf of Continental College, the ceremony was presided over by: President of the Institution, Fernando Rodriguez; the principal of the Continental School, Maria Alejandra Opazu; and UTP President, Claudia Aratea.

“As a school, we celebrate Heritage Day with the University of Concepción and bring here samples from the Museum of Zoology and Botany. The students are very happy because it is a new initiative, I told them within the district and they are happy to observe the exhibition, both in zoology and botany. These are new experiences they have and we hope to attract The interest of many scientists in the field of science is from here,” said Continental College UTP President Claudia Aratea in an interview with Curanilahue TV.

On Friday 26 May and Saturday 27 May, schoolchildren of various levels of primary and secondary education gathered at the Colegio Continental, from other institutions in the area and the local community, to tour the exhibit, which showed representative specimens of the local fauna, from the Biobio region; and specimens of native flora, botanical specimens, woods, and illustrations.

“The specimen consists of two heritage collections of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, the Herbarium collection and the Zoological Museum collection. They are long-standing collections. The herbarium has existed since 1924 and the Zoological Museum since 1955. Currently, the herbarium contains 283,000 specimens and the museum has more than 700,000 samples,” Dr. Margarita Marchant explained in an interview with Curanilahue TV. “We wanted to bring a small travel sample to be able to show the schools in the area, because those who know our biodiversity can take better care of it,” he added.

It is an immense satisfaction that our professors have been able to establish a strong relationship with the University of Concepción and also with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, with the aim of being able to present the Day of Cultural Heritage, such a beautiful specimen. From zoology and botany, ”the company’s president, Fernando Rodriguez, told Curanilahue TV. “There is no doubt that society needs more cultural spaces and I believe that educational institutions have a responsibility to offer the possibility of participating in this type of activity, not only to our students, but also to students other schools. This is how we did it: a very nice free activity, which we encouraged and invited directors and other educational communities, ”he affirmed.

Scientific talks

Students, teachers, and representatives of the Foundation attended scholarly publishing lectures that informed the Curanilahuina community on various scholarly and current topics of interest.

Dr. Ramiro Riquelme, Academician in the Department of Zoology and Researcher at the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO), delivered a lecture entitled “That calm sea that fascinates you”. Academician from the Department of Botany, Dr. Patricio Rivera, gave a lecture entitled “Algae Blossoms”.

The next day, the academic from the Department of Zoology, Dr. Margherita Marchant, gave a lecture entitled “Elemental Diversity: An Unknown World.” Academician from the Department of Zoology, Dr. Enrique Rodriguez, delivered a lecture entitled “Mammals of Chile”; and master. Barbara Linnes of the International Maritime Organization gave a talk entitled “Exploring the Atacama Trench”. The latter was in the form of an immersive chat with virtual reality.

“I consider it very important to celebrate the Heritage Day at the Continental Kuranilahu College, within the framework of the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, and we thank the college authorities for the invitation,” said the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences. and oceanography, d. Margarita Marchant. “We have made an exhibition with our biological collection that is part of our MUDEC project, from Museo Universidad de Concepción. In addition, we have programmed a program with talks by our academics and we have invited all the schools in Kuranilahu district and the community in general,” he emphasized.

The Herbarium and Zoological Museum’s itinerary to Curanilahue also included posting college undergraduate courses: biology, marine biology, marine biotechnology and aquaculture engineering (IBMA).

“Seeing the amazing faces of children is really priceless and this is the right moment when the University of Concepción can download this knowledge to society, so that they can feel excited and learn about and protect flora and fauna,” he stressed. Dean of FCNO, Dr. Margherita Marchant.