OTTAWA -- A large donation by two renowned entomologists will help to study insects at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
A philanthropic gift by Drs. Jarmila and Stewart Peck to the Nature Foundation will fund a program for visiting scientists at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Canada’s National Museum of Natural History and Natural Sciences.
"The gift is going to allow the museum to create a visiting scientists fund, which is really going to augment our capacity for international collaboration - especially around how insects are influencing biodiversity, species change and loss, and environmental change," says Laura Evans, Executive Director and Chief Advancement Officer with the Nature Foundation.
The Pecks’ have spent over five decades travelling the world together, studying, and collecting insects and insect fossils, many of which are housed in a collection at the Museum of Nature's warehouse in Gatineau.
"Nature itself is fascinating, and insects are just one part of it," Stewart Peck tells CTV News Ottawa.
The endowment fund will help the next generation of entomologists from all over the world to access the collection, and do research.
"We think that the Museum of Nature is one of the best places in Canada to support future research of natural history," says Stewart Peck, and this is their way paying it forward to the next generation.
"Both my wife and myself, as young researchers, were greatly helped by various funds that were available. We want to pass that along.”
The couple are both retired now, but have long standing ties to Carleton University.
According to a bio provided by the Museum of Nature, Stewart’s life work has contributed immensely to the understanding of beetles, particularly small fungus beetles (Leiodidae), cave arthropods (especially Coleoptera), and island biogeography, including the Coleoptera of the Galapagos, and Coleoptera of the West Indies. Jarmila is one of the leading paleoentomologists of her time. Her work has focused on the origin and evolution of insect wings and legs, which includes preparation of monumental atlas of wing morphology and homology across all insect orders.
