Environmental Research Institute University of Belize Belmopan, Belize

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1 Environmental Research Institute University of Belize Belmopan, Belize ekay@ub.edu.bz Activity Report Conservation of the lowland savanna ecosystem in Belize Project April 2009-March 2010 1.

1 1 Environmental Research Institute University of Belize Belmopan, Belize Activity Report Conservation of the lowland savanna ecosystem in Belize Project April 2009-March Annual Partners Meeting University of Belize, April 2009 The University of Belize (UB) hosted the first annual partners meeting for the project. Apart from UB and University of Edinburgh representatives, other partner institutions, namely the Belize Forest Department, the Belize Botanic Garden and Belize Tropical forest Studies were also represented at the meeting. Neil Stuart gave an overview of the project and presented preliminary mapping results for the project. This was followed by a discussion on partner commitments and responsibilities as well as project outputs. 2. Meeting of Latin American Darwin Project Partners November 18 th The Darwin Workshop in Brazil was held on November 18 th. Dr Elma Kay attended at the suggestion of this project (17-022). Dr Kay is also the lead incountry contact for a second, contemporary Darwin project in Belize (17-012). Dr Kay found the workshop very useful as it provided the appropriate space and setting for host country partners to give their recommendations openly to the Darwin M&E team. The workshop also helped her, as a new host country partner to understand more about the Darwin Initiative, its reason for being and aims, and finally that it now actively encourages the direct participation of host country institutions in all steps of the application process and implementation of projects. During the meeting Dr Kay contributed to formulating a set of suggestions from the Latin American partners about what they believe contributes to projects being successful. These are now posted on the Darwin website. Dr Kay endorsed particularly the following suggestions: that project ideas should be based on the needs of the host country identified by local institutions, that projects should always include capacity-building as one of their main aims, especially the type of capacity-building that can enable host countries to carry out similar future projects successfully without too much dependence on UK institutions, and finally that project funds especially post project funds should be spent primarily within the host country.

2 3. Interviews and selection of Darwin Botanist University of Belize, December 2009 A first round of interviews for the Darwin Botanist position at the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) was

2 2 3. Interviews and selection of Darwin Botanist University of Belize, December 2009 A first round of interviews for the Darwin Botanist position at the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) was carried out on December 2, The interview panel was comprised of Elma Kay, Thippi Thiagarajan and Steve Burn of the ERI and UB. Of the six short-listed candidates, five were interviewed and one did not show up. Based on this first set of interviews, a second round of interviews was set up for the two top candidates. Elma Kay, Steve Burn and Julianne Pasos of the ERI and UB comprised the interview panel. In addition, Zoe Goodwin also participated by phone. After checking references and discussion with University of Edinburgh partners, German Lopez was offered the position based on his level of maturity, enthusiasm for the project and academic potential. 4. ERI Launch University of Belize, January 2010 Fig 1: British High Commisioner Pat Ashworth speaking at the Launch of the Environmental Research Institute in January. The Darwin Initiative is directly supporting the ERI by funding two staff positions until The ERI was officially inaugurated on Thursday 28 th January 2010 at the Jaguar Auditorium, UB. The official ceremony included a welcome by Dr. Santos Mahung, UB President and a presentation on the objectives and work of the ERI by Elma Kay and Leandra Cho-Ricketts. The Honorable Gaspar Vega, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment gave special remarks. Dr. Sylvia Earle of Deep Search Foundation gave a special invited talk. The ERI Steering Committee as well as the ERI staff, including the newly appointed Darwin Botanist, German Lopez were also presented. The main donor agencies supporting the inception projects of the ERI were invited to give remarks on their commitment and timeliness of their support to the ERI. The British High Commissioner, Mr. Pat Ashworth gave some remarks on behalf of the Government of the UK and its support to the ERI through two Darwin Initative projects in which the ERI is the main Belizean partner. Neil Stuart and

3 3 Iain Cameron of the University of Edinburgh were also present to represent the Darwin Initiative at the event. More than 150 guests, representing partner governmental and non-governmental organizations, the University of Belize and diplomatic core attended the launch. 5. Field course in plant identification Hillbank, January 2010 As part of the project, two full scholarships were awarded to two UB students, Celeshia Guy and Federico Caal of the Natural Resources Management Program, to attend the field course in Hillbank. German Lopez, the ERI Darwin Botanist also attended the field course. All three UB participants successfully completed the course. Both German and Celeshia practiced their new plant identification skills, immediately following their training, at a UB field course in Forest Ecology and Management taught by Elma Kay in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Recently, Celeshia has also been able to use her knowledge to identify plant species collected as part of her undergraduate thesis project in the savannas of the Manatee Forest Reserve. Federico Caal often works with plant researchers in the Toledo District and as a result has also been able to apply the newly gained plant identification skills. 6. Plant curation and taxonomy course University of Belize, January 2010 As part of the project, the ERI helped to organize and hosted a three-day plant curation and taxonomy course with instructors from Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh at UB and the Belize Forest Department. Thirteen professionals in the field of botany and natural resources management attended the course. The participants represented several protected area management organizations in Belize including: Friends for Conservation and Development, Program for Belize and Birds Without Borders. In addition, four UB staff also completed the course: German Lopez, the ERI Darwin Botanist, Rolando Caballero, Chief Laboratory Technician for the UB Science Department, Eduardo Barrientos, Field Assistant for the Natural Resources Management Program (NRMP) and Santos Chicas, NRMP Lecturer. All four UB participants already had some previous experience working with plant collections and because of this were able to easily assimilate the course material. All four of them will be able to pass on the knowledge gained during the course to future generations of UB students, as all of them are responsible for teaching and training as part of their job responsibilities. The ERI strongly recommends that as part of the project, these four UB staff members continue to receive more advanced training in plant identification and taxonomy so that they can facilitate the plant identification and taxonomy capacity-building effort at the University. 7. Darwin Botanist training visit to the UK Edinburgh, March 2010 As part of the project, the ERI Darwin Botanist attended and participated in a training visit to the UK from March 1 st to March 24 th of The main objective of the work visit as to receive training in the following areas: plant taxonomy and

4 4 identification (four groups); herbarium use; use of BRAHMS; basic ArcGIS for project purposes; and development of educational materials and activities. The training was held at the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and Institute of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Below is a brief weekly summary of the activities undertaken during the training visit and knowledge gained from them. Week 1 (March 1 st -5 th ) On Monday, 1 March, an orientation session was conducted, which included a tour of the herbarium by Adele Smith, followed by a tour of the garden and its facilities by Zoe Goodwin. Details of the herbarium tour included a brief history of BRGE s work partnership with the University of Edinburgh (UoE), a brief history of the herbarium, main collectors/researchers, main purpose and importance, approximate amount of preserved specimens, important collection regions, method of curation, proper use of resources, importance of pest monitoring and other housekeeping techniques. The garden tour allowed the experience of seeing a living collection of the plants from around the world. The tour provided the opportunity of interacting and learning a bit more about plants not found in the tropics. The remainder of the week was spent at the herbarium working on plant specimens from Belize collected by Samuel Bridgewater, Zoe Goodwin and past M.Sc. students. The main objective of the activity was to gain sound knowledge of the Polygonaceae family and the genus Inga, and test identification keys developed for those groups by M.Sc. students. The key identification characters for those two plant groups were identified and discussed in detail. Important plant structures necessary for species identification were identified and knowledge acquired. Also, there was an introduction to the herbarium program system: Botanical Research And Herbarium Management System (BRAHMS). BRAHMS is the program system used by the Darwin Initiative project as the specimen collection database. Later in the week, a classroom session on Live Interpretation conducted by Dr. Vlasta Jamnicky was attended. The Live Interpretation session is part of an undergraduate course on Horticulture with Plantsmanship. The session highlighted ideas for developing interactive educational activities and reading materials for different age groups. On the last day of the week, there was an introduction to ArcGIS software. The day s session was held at the Institute of Geography, UoE and tutored by Dr. Iain Cameron. By the end of the session, two out of the five introductory practical activities were completed. A meeting held by Dr. Stuart, Dr. Cameron and Zoe Goodwin with two M.Sc. students from the Institute of Geography working on projects relating to Belize s Savanna Ecosystems was also attended. Week 2 (March 8 th -12 th ) Early in the week, some basic practical activities were executed in BRAHMS getting more technical as the week progressed. By the end of the week, specimen data files were prepared and checklists were produced. Key characters of Polygalaceae and Chamaecrista were discussed in detail and their respective Identification (ID) keys tested. The current M.Sc. students also did a short presentation on the plant group and ID key they had developed using Belize

5 5 specimens. These were the same ID keys Zoe. Goodwin and the Darwin Botanist had been testing in the herbarium for the past two weeks. Presentations conducted by Mr. Joao Iganci, a PhD candidate, working on plant family Fabaceae in Brazil and another presentation by Dr. James Richardson working on Plant Diversification in the Malay Archipelago were also attended. A meeting with Professor Peter Furley and a M.Sc. student, Stephen MacPhail, working on a savanna project in Belize was also held. The purpose of the meeting was to assist Stephen with arrangements for his fieldwork trip to Belize in April-May. A representative of the Forestry Commission of Scotland also held a seminar speaking about the timber industry of Scotland. On Thursday, Dr. Cameron and the Darwin Botanist worked on ArcGIS practical activities 3&4. Week 3 (March 15 th -19 th ): The third week was mainly focussed on learning new concepts using BRAHMS and getting new ideas for developing educational materials. Early in the week, work was done on two additional practical activities using BRAHMS and later in the week, the focus was on learning to prepare and import files into BRAHMS from various other sources. In regards to the educational aspect, three very informative educational activities were attended. The first was a primary school outdoor educational activity at Levenhall Links Recreational and Nature Conservation Zone. The activity was conducted by Ms. Caroline Cameroon, a Levenhall Links ranger. This activity allowed the opportunity to experience and gain knowledge on some helpful outdoor educational activity techniques. Following the previous lecture session on Live Interpretation, presentations conducted by the undergraduate students (Horticulture with Plantsmanship) on their Live Interpretation projects were attended. A meeting with Ms. Susie Kelpie, education personnel, from the RBGE was held to gain a better understanding on educational activities carried out at RBGE for students and the general public. Excellent educational materials (posters) were also provided. A seminar held by Dr. Yao Yi-feng on the Reconstruction of paleovegetation and paleoclimate in the early and middle Eocene at the Hainan Island in China was also an excellent and very informative session. On Friday, the last ArcGIS practical activity 5, mapping Belize s savanna ecosystems using the baseline data available, was completed with the guidance of Dr. Cameron. Week 4 (March 22 nd -24 th ): The last week of the visit was basically a wrap up of all materials covered during the previous weeks. As a follow up on the previous meeting held with Ms. Susie Kelpie, arrangements were made to attend an educational session and a tour of the glasshouses along with visiting East Linton Primary School. This activity was very helpful as it combined in-class session and outdoor teaching techniques.. To conclude the educational objective of the visit, a meeting was held with Dr. Greg Kenicer from the Educational Department of the RBGE; a herbarium specimen mounting demonstration was also attended. This meeting served to review educational ideas and obtain further clarification where necessary, as well as access extra educational materials. The ArcGIS training culminated with a quick revision of all five practical activities accomplished. This was done with the guidance of Dr. Cameron. While on the last day at the Institute of Geography, presentations by two M.Sc. students working on separate projects relating to

6 6 Belize s savanna ecosystems were attended. A meeting with other Darwin personnel for discussion of necessary modifications and updates to the project's website was also held. The year 2 planning meeting held at the RGBE by the Darwin crew was very helpful as the overall project s main objectives were thoroughly discussed, the project s progress reports were analyzed and objectives for year 2 highlighted with corresponding activities planned. Conclusion In addition to the successful achievement of the trip objective and knowledge gained, the visit to the UK gave the Darwin Botanist the opportunity to further familiarize himself with the Darwin Initiative project s aims and objectives, its components and the role of the personnel involved. The visit also provided the opportunity to experience and gain knowledge in using a large well-maintained herbarium, meet personnel from the educational department, participate in a few educational activities, and access a wide range of educational materials. The training program was well structured and organized. The content presented covered a wide range of areas relating to the duties of the Darwin Botanist. The knowledge and experience gained by the Darwin Botanist will undoubtedly improve his work performance and output for the success of the project.

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