Photo credit: Left: © Will O’Hare. Right: © David Brooks
TORONTO, November 16, 2021 – In the wake of the COP26 climate summit and renewed global commitments to biodiversity, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) announced today its new Associate Curator of Fishes, Dr. Nathan Lujan, a scientist, catfish expert, and conservationist. This appointment coincides with the Museum’s recently announced inaugural Allan and Helaine Shiff Curator of Climate Change, underscoring ROM’s commitment to conserving and understanding biodiversity, slowing climate change, and leading innovative research and public engagement on these critical global issues. The Museum holds one of the largest collections of freshwater and marine fishes in North America.
This appointment marks a homecoming for Dr. Lujan, a former postdoctoral fellow at ROM from 2012-2014, who led a 2018 expedition with ROM researchers to discover new fish species in the Amazonian headwaters of northern Peru. In his new role, Dr. Lujan will study and expand ROM’s vast fish collections, which currently span more than 7,600 species and 1.5 million specimens, develop biodiversity-related public programming and exhibitions, and bolster the Museum’s international research and training through collaborations.
“Fishes are the most ancient and diverse of our planet’s vertebrate animals, yet the accelerating ecological deterioration of lakes, rivers, and streams is increasingly threatening fish species,” says Josh Basseches, ROM Director & CEO. “Leveraging our strength as Canada’s leading field research museum, we can play an important role helping protect the ecosystems on which we all depend. With Dr. Lujan’s two decades of scientific research experience as well as his work as a public educator, he is a great addition to our curatorial team and will further broaden the reach and impact of one of the most important public collections of fishes in North America.”
Dr. Lujan joins ROM from the American Museum of Natural History, where he was a Gerstner Scholar in Bioinformatics, focusing on the conservation, diversity, and interrelationships of freshwater fishes. In addition to having specific expertise in the ecology and evolution of Amazonian catfishes, Dr. Lujan’s research includes collaborations with Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans to detect Asian carp using environmental DNA and to understand the effectiveness of Niagara Falls as a barrier to invasive species dispersal throughout the Great Lakes.
“Biodiversity collections such as ROM’s are permanent records of life on Earth and are the single most powerful tool for scientists to understand how natural communities existed in the past and now are changing due to climate change and other human impacts,” says Dr. Lujan. “I come to the ROM inspired by its integrative focus on natural history, art, and culture, and I am excited to use these different modalities to convey the beauty, richness, and importance of freshwater biodiversity, and educate the public about how to better appreciate and protect native species in their own lakes and streams.”
Dr. Lujan’s current research in Ecuador, supported in part by World Wildlife Fund, involves co-leading a project to inventory Amazonian fish diversity and better understand human impacts on migratory fishes. He has forthcoming papers that map the genomic population structure of the at-risk Grass Pickerel, a member of the pike family, in southern Ontario and describe new species of parasitic, blood-feeding catfishes from the Amazon. One of his long-term goals is to expand ROM’s collection of over 26,000 genetic samples to include fishes from throughout Canada so that modern genomic techniques can be used to guide conservation efforts and understand evolutionary origins. He is especially interested in working with First Nations to highlight and address concerns about the health of freshwater ecosystems.
This appointment was made possible with the generous support of the Herbert A. Fritch Family Foundation.
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ABOUT ROM
Opened in 1914, Royal Ontario Museum showcases art, culture and nature from around the world and across the ages. Among the top 10 cultural institutions in North America, Canada’s largest and most comprehensive museum is home to a world-class collection of 13 million art objects and natural history specimens, featured in 40 gallery and exhibition spaces. As the country’s preeminent field research institute and an international leader in new and original findings, ROM plays a vital role in advancing our understanding of the artistic, cultural and natural world. Combining its original heritage architecture with the contemporary Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, ROM serves as a national landmark, and a dynamic cultural destination in the heart of Toronto for all to enjoy.