IMPRINT, the Bell Museum's quarterly magazine for members, offers stories of scientific adventure and discovery, insight into today's rapid environmental changes, updates on museum programs and exhibits, and fun activities for kids. IMPRINT is published quarterly and is available as a benefit of Bell Museum membership.

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Plants and People in Papua New Guinea

Story and photos by George Weiblen

This summer, Dr. George Weiblen joins the Bell Museum as curator of flowering plants and assistant professor in the University's Department of Plant Biology. Weiblen, who holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, is an expert on figs and the wasps that pollinate them. For the past nine years, he has conducted research in the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea, a Pacific island nation north of Australia and east of Indonesia. In this issue of IMPRINT, he shares his remarkable connection with the people of Ohu village, where residents and scientists work together to preserve local heritage and habitat. The tropical island of Papua New Guinea is about as far from the Minneapolis neighborhood that I call home as you can get. New Guinea's forests are one of the last great biological frontiers on earth, and their incredible diversity is what first attracted me to this far-away place. For instance, the island has at least twenty times more species of plants than are found in Minnesota. Nobody knows exactly how many because much of Papua New Guinea remains unexplored.

I first went to Papua New Guinea in 1992 in an effort to catalogue the diversity of tropical trees, but I keep returning because of the people I met there. Over the years, my botanical research has developed into an ongoing exchange with local residents whose future critically depends on the fate of the forest.

Papua New Guinea doesn't have national parks protecting its biological riches. Instead, 98 percent of the country is owned according to tribal tradition, which means that environmental protection is the sole responsibility of landowners. This unique situation is a challenge for biologists confronted by a rising tide of species extinction in tropical forests worldwide. Tribal land ownership in Papua New Guinea means that a botanist can't so much as set foot in the forest without intruding on somebody's backyard.

Local involvement, respect, and education are essential first steps toward protecting this vulnerable habitat. I learned these lessons as a graduate student when I traveled to Madang, Papua New Guinea in search of field sites for my Ph.D. thesis research. At that time, interested community leaders had invited a team of biologists to survey the forest around Ohu village, near Madang.

It was on a visit to Ohu that I met Mr. Brus Isua. A subsistence farmer with a sixth grade education and five children, Brus had never met a biologist before. As is customary with visitors, however, he accompanied me as I surveyed the fig trees of Ohu. It didn't take long for me to realize that Brus was a person with extraordinary curiosity and a sharp eye for natural history. We chatted in pidgin English, or "tok pisin," while walking his forest paths. I talked about fig trees, pointing out how there are more species of figs in New Guinea than occur anywhere else on earth. I told him how very small wasps pollinate the figs, how each species of fig is pollinated by a unique species of wasp, and how they depend on each other for survival.

As we counted the species, Brus described their local uses and named them in Amelé, a traditional language with just a few thousand speakers in Madang. The leaves of some species are fine as stewed greens, he told me. Particular species are used to make bark cloth while others provide colorful dyes for grass skirts. Some fruits make a tasty snack when salted and others are sweet. Along the path, I spotted a familiar plant.

"Ficus pungens," I said.

"Epe-al," replied Brus.

To my amazement, Brus could match each scientific name with the Amelé name for that plant. I had found a field assistant.

Choosing to work with Brus was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Within the year we had documented more than 60 different species of figs in Madang alone, and we had collected countless insects from their fruits. Many of the fig wasps that Brus found were new to science, and we sent them to experts around the world.

Brus had learned how these wasps pollinate the fig flowers while laying their eggs, and how wasp larvae feed on the seeds inside of the fruit. Then one day he noticed some wasps inside a fig that looked like no other fig wasps he had seen before. He drew a picture showing how the antennae were long and curled instead of straight. Brus had just discovered a new genus! After consulting museum specimens, it came to light that Brus had made the first record of fig-inhabiting braconid wasps outside of South America. In honor of his discovery, a new genus and species, Ficobracon brusi, was named after him. At the same time another fig wasp, Kradibia ohuensis, was named after Ohu village.

The fact that Brus and scientists across the globe have made such discoveries in the forest of Ohu is a source of pride in the community. With increased awareness of the uniqueness of their environment, the people of Ohu have created a reserve, the Ohu Conservation Area, to protect their biological resources for future generations. A pidgin sign at the entrance reads "tambu tru long bagarapim dispela hap bus," meaning that "it is forbidden to damage this forest."

Brus's story illustrates how the traditional knowledge of Papua New Guineans can be developed into skills that are vital to biological research and nature conservation. Realizing this, I began to work with an international group of scientists to found the Parataxonomist Training Center, which opened in Madang in 1997. Our mission is to train local people in biodiversity research, facilitate their collaboration with scientists, and foster their involvement in conservation education efforts targeted at broader audiences.

The term "parataxonomist," which is analogous to "paramedic," was coined by field biologist Dan Janzen, who works in Costa Rica. From the Greek, "para" means "in an accessory capacity." The parataxonomists truly stand at the side of the professional taxonomists who are responsible for describing new species and cataloguing the diversity of life on earth. The Parataxonomist Training Center follows the footsteps of the National Institute of Biodiversity in Costa Rica (INBio), and trainees like Brus now play a prominent role in New Guinea biodiversity research.

Talented and dedicated locals with little formal education can become successful parataxonomists. They receive general training in scientific methods, biology, ecology and conservation, as well as practical training in processing biological specimens and computing. Their expertise is essential for conducting biodiversity surveys. They collect, preserve, sort, and identify biological specimens, in addition to performing experiments and making observations. The result of their work is deposited for further study in museum collections in Papua New Guinea and around the world, including the Bell Museum. They also take digital photos and deposit their observations in computer databases that are accessible by Internet, creating a first-of-its-kind resource for Papua New Guinea.

Parataxonomists can greatly facilitate biological research, which is an important part of managing the wealth of biodiversity in countries like Papua New Guinea. Our experience has demonstrated that parataxonomist training is also an effective means for rapid biological inventory.

Our current program includes eight parataxonomists. They range from 18 to 28 years of age, with education ranging from grades six to 10. Members of the team have taken part in a variety of research and conservation projects. During the last three years, for instance, the center has assisted biological surveys by the World Wildlife Fund, Princeton University, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and Griffith University in Australia.

In addition to providing a first-rate service to the scientific community, parataxonomists reach out to local communities at the grassroots level through environmental education. Naturally, they are more effective at addressing local audiences than experts from overseas. Parataxonomists are able to interpret the science of biodiversity for the people of Papua New Guinea, and this can have far-reaching positive impacts. So far, our parataxonomists have created educational leaflets, organized presentations in the primary schools, and published articles in national newspapers.

Overall, parataxonomists are an important link between landowners and professional biologists, groups that sometimes have difficulty understanding each other.

Biologists can learn a lot from landowners as well. But the tremendous knowledge accumulated by countless generations of experience is disappearing rapidly as the country develops. The children of Ohu learn English in school and the local names of plants along the forest paths are soon forgotten. Because time is running out, Brus and I have a special obligation to record his traditional knowledge. It is important work, not only for preserving the cultural heritage of Ohu, but also because of the potential for new medicines, new materials, and new technologies. The opportunity for discovery is incredible, but unless conservation goes along with development, we may lose it. That is a compelling reason for doing fieldwork on the last frontier. With support from Conservation Melanesia, Brus opened a small laboratory in Ohu village in 1999. The "bus lebotory" has been a boon for our research, but it's difficult to find support for the effort from government funding agencies. Thanks to recent donations, however, his lab is now equipped with solar power and a computer.

The naming of new species after Brus led him to name a son after me, and the project that brought us together. George Ficus was born in 1997. As George Ficus approaches his fourth birthday, the local forest is still healthy, thanks in part to the steps that Ohu has taken toward a sustainable future. It is my hope that he will have the opportunity to share with his children the very things that his father has shared with the rest of the world.

More information about parataxonomists in New Guinea can be found on the web at http://www.entu.cas.cz/png/index.html