Capacity building for plant sciences in Asia
Biodiversity of Borneo course 2009 at Maliau Basin, Sabah
The Arnold Arboretum considers the development of local research capacity as fundamental to the future of understanding and conserving threatened ecosystems in Asia. Additionally, successful work by Arboretum scientists in Asia depends on nurturing relationships with partner institutions and scientists; the Arnold Arboretum has been effective in developing these relationships via direct research collaboration and by investing in capacity building. This is carried out through an active program of courses, workshops, student opportunities, and scientific exchange programs.
From 2001 to 2008, the Arnold Arboretum’s Asia Program and CTFS ran the International Field Biology Course, an annual, graduate-level field course in tropical forest biology run in collaboration with institutional partners in Asia. The course was held at Pasoh Forest Reserve (Peninsular Malaysia), Lambir Hills National Park (Sarawak), Khao Chong Wildlife Extension and Conservation Center (Thailand), Sinharaja World Heritage Site (Sri Lanka), and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Garden (Yunnan, China).
From 2008-2010, the Arnold Arboretum’s Asia Program ran six-week field-courses on the Biodiversity of Borneo in Sabah and Sarawak, involving Harvard faculty and students, as well as students from universities throughout Asia. Course reports can be viewed here: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.
The Arboretum’s Asia Program runs workshops—supported by the National Science Foundation—for American and Asian students on forest ecology, taxonomy and systematic botany, data analysis and data management, and DNA technologies for plant biology. American undergraduate and PhD students regularly use Asia Program field sites for thesis work or to gain field experience through internships, and students from partner institutions in Asia use these sites for training and research experience. New courses are currently being planned that would make use of the living collections of the Arboretum for studies of morphology and development of Asian plants. The Arboretum’s program of education and capacity building plays a critical role in raising awareness of the importance of Asian plants and ecosystems, and the threats posed by continued development and climage change. This work also helps develop research skills that are relevant to both forest management and conservation policy.
A number of mid-career scientists from Asia have also advanced their work through the support of Bullard Fellowships, including Shinichiro Aiba (Kagoshima University, Japan), Xiaojun Du (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Nophea Sasaki (University of Hyogo, Japan), Navjot Sodhi (National University of Singapore), Takashi Kohyama (Hokkaido University), Gong Wooi Khoon (Universiti Sains Malaysia), I. A. U. N. Gunnatilleke (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka), Yong-chi Yang (Taiwan University), and Hisao Honda (Kanebo Institute for Cancer Research, Japan).