The
R. Natalie P. Goodall Foundation (RNP)
for Research in Southernmost South America

The Goodall Collections

A born collector and beachcomber, Natalie Goodall (then Prosser) formed her first plant collection at age 12 on a trip from Ohio to California. Others followed, in Ohio and Venezuela, and, much later, in Tierra del Fuego.
Collecting plants led to collecting bones.
The collections below are private, but can be consulted by contacting Proyecto AMMA or the Museo Acatushún.

The BOTANICAL COLLECTION

Between 1963 and 1978, RNPG formed a collection of the flowering plants and ferns of Tierra del Fuego and surrounding areas, preparing herbarium specimens and illustrating many of the plants. Her mentors in this study were Dr. Lincoln Constance of the University of California Berkeley, Dr. David Moore of Leicester and later Reading University, England, and Drs. Osvaldo Boelcke and Naomi Correa of Buenos Aires. The collection, with
about 7000 specimens, is housed at the GOODALL LABORATORY in Ushuaia.
Other important collections of the Fuegian flora are at the Instituto de la Patagonia in Punta Arenas, Chile, the Instituto Darwinión and INTA in Buenos Aires and Leicester University in England. Duplicates of the RNPG collection were sent to the following institutions:


	INTA, Castelar, Provincia de Buenos Aires
	Instituto Darwiniana, Buenos Aires
	U.S. National Arboretum, Washington D.C.
	Museo de La Plata, La Plata
	Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO
	Harvard University, Massachusetts
	Leicester and Reading Universities, England
	and others in Europe and Australia

The Goodall collection was used extensively in the preparation of the following books:


	Moore, D.M. 1983, Flora of Tierra del Fuego. Anthony Nelson Ltd, England. 338 pp.
	Correa, M.N. 1971-1999 Colección Flora Patagónica (8 vol.), INTA, Buenos Aires.

The CETACEAN COLLECTION

In 1976, RNPG began a series of systematic surveys of the coasts of Tierra del Fuego to collect specimens of stranded or incidentally-captured cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises, whales). This study, Proyecto AMMA (formerly Proyecto Cetáceos Australes), is based on the investigation of the anatomy and basic biology of the smaller cetaceans of southernmost South America, which were very little known.
The collection, as of March, 2002, contains over 2300 specimens (both complete and incomplete skeletons) and a large number of observations of live animals (sightings). Most of the specimens are housed in the Museo Acatushún at Estancia Harberton, but others have been loaned to local and international museums and some have been interchanged with other Argentine and foreign museums. The collection has been consulted by specialists from many institutions, including:


	Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT), Puerto Madryn, Chubut
	Proyecto Arqueología del Canal Beagle (PACB), CADIC, Ushuaia
	Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
	Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Paris
	National Science Museum Tokio, Japón
	Proyecto Prehistoria de la Patagonia, CONICET , Buenos Aires
	Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Montevideo, Uruguay
	Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA
	Otsuchi Marine Research Center, Japón
	Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, España
	British Antarctic Survey, UK.

The PINNIPED COLLECTION

The collection of marine mammals includes well over 100 skeletons of seals and sea lions, also deposited in the Museo Acatushún. When found fresh, these animals are also carefully studied. The collection has been useful
to biologists and archeologists from PACB, CADIC and CENPAT, among others.
The mammal collection includes specimens of land animals: guanacos, beavers, foxes, mice and a few domestic animals.

The BIRD COLLECTION

The birds of Tierra del Fuego are not part of a special AMMA Project study (except for environmental studies carried out for oil companies), but we systematically remove birds from certain beaches in order to collect base-line information on natural mortality. Bird skeletons are collected, macerated and cleaned. Basic measurements, stomach contents and samples for DNA and heavy metals are taken. Archeologists of the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona have used to collection to prepare a digital CD for the identification of birds of southern South America. The bird skeletal collection, numbering over 2100 specimens, is consulted by PACB and other organizations, including:


	University of North Carolina, Wilmington
	University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
	Proyecto Arqueología del Canal Beagle (PACB), Ushuaia
	Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, España