Meeting a dendrologist at Milpe

Nico is from Carchi and he studied and worked with Walter Palacios (author of common trees of Ecuador and tree genera of Ecuador). It was the first time to be in a forest in Ecuador, after living here for nearly 2 decades, with someone who really knew their trees in Ecuador. Well--to be fair--many Kichwas of the Amazon have shown their knowledge to me over the years. Nico reminded me of a few things about neotropical dendrology: 1) there are trees from here right now being described new to science' 2) many more are to be described in the future; 3) there are precious few dendrologists here; 4) and the not-so-new news to me: strict laws and red tape a mile long have science and scientists so ham-strung here that few people consider science as a viable option. As an example of the last: to collect a specimen for deposit to the national herbarium takes tedious paperwork (with rules and laws changing--often before, during, and after your paperwork process), often taking months to complete, for your specimen to even be considered acceptable by the herbarium. A depressing amount of bureaucratic hoops one must navigate. Imagine having to buy a permit to collect even a dandelion from the sidewalk, or to make a specimen a maple in your backyard. Ouch. No small wonder there are only about a thousand plants ID'd to species level here (out of, let's say 20,000), and very small wonder there are few local biologists, with proper collecting and museum experience, involved in iNaturalist, or involved at any level.

Posted on July 07, 2018 02:57 AM by rudygelis rudygelis

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Hey Rudy,

I have been looking at the plants in Shiripuno, wondering what the hell species they might be. I am hearing more and more about hand held sequencers that work in the field. I am thinking of going to Missouri Botanical Gardens to see if someone who doesnt have any experience, could start collecting DNA and ID's. Any thoughts?

Posted by carbonmike about 6 years ago

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