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BELIZE AND THE RBGE: REFLECTING ON 16 YEARS OF COLLABORATIVE TRAINING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2020

Z. A. Goodwin Open the ORCID record for Z. A. Goodwin [Opens in a new window] ,
G. L. Stott Open the ORCID record for G. L. Stott [Opens in a new window] ,
L. P. Ronse De Craene Open the ORCID record for L. P. Ronse De Craene [Opens in a new window] ,
E. Kay Open the ORCID record for E. Kay [Opens in a new window] ,
G. N. Lopez ,
E. Haston Open the ORCID record for E. Haston [Opens in a new window]  and
D. J. Harris Open the ORCID record for D. J. Harris [Opens in a new window]
Z. A. Goodwin
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, EdinburghEH3 5LR, Scotland, UK. E-mail for correspondence: zgoodwin@rbge.org.uk
G. L. Stott
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, EdinburghEH3 5LR, Scotland, UK. E-mail for correspondence: zgoodwin@rbge.org.uk
L. P. Ronse De Craene
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, EdinburghEH3 5LR, Scotland, UK. E-mail for correspondence: zgoodwin@rbge.org.uk
E. Kay
Affiliation:
Environmental Research Institute, University of Belize, Price Center Road, P.O. Box 340, Belmopan, Belize.
G. N. Lopez
Affiliation:
Belize Forest Department, Forest Drive, Belmopan, Belize.
E. Haston
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, EdinburghEH3 5LR, Scotland, UK. E-mail for correspondence: zgoodwin@rbge.org.uk
D. J. Harris
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, EdinburghEH3 5LR, Scotland, UK. E-mail for correspondence: zgoodwin@rbge.org.uk
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Abstract

Between 2001 and 2017, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh conducted training and research in Belize built around an annual two-week field course, part of the Edinburgh M.Sc. programme in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants, focused on tropical plant identification, botanical-collecting and tropical fieldwork skills. This long-term collaboration in one country has led to additional benefits, most notably capacity building, acquisition of new country records, completion of M.Sc. thesis projects and publication of the findings in journal articles, and continued cooperation. Detailed summaries are provided for the specimens collected by students during the field course or return visits to Belize for M.Sc. thesis projects. Additionally, 15 species not recorded in the national checklist for Belize are reported. The information in this paper highlights the benefits of collaborations between institutions and countries for periods greater than the typical funding cycles of three to five years.

Keywords

Capacity buildingcollectionsfield courseherbarium specimensidentificationnew country recordstropical field botany
Type
Articles
Information
Edinburgh Journal of Botany , Volume 77 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 291 - 309
Copyright
© Trustees of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2020)

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