Tropical Plant Collecting provides field biologists with information about carrying out fieldwork in tropical America, gathering botanical collections, managing specimens in herbaria, making information about plants available on the Internet, and raising money to fund both expeditions and the preparation of floras and monographs.
Note: The printed edition of this book and the sample pages above are in black-and-white. To view sample pages in color click here.
This book is based on 40 years of tropical plant collecting in Central and South America by the senior author and his colleagues and, in particular, draws from his experience in publishing a guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana and a monograph of the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae). Although traditional field and herbarium techniques are discussed in detail, the book also covers how new techniques provided by digital photography, electronic databases, and the Internet have revolutionized plant collecting and data presentation in systematic botany. The audience for this book is tropical biologists who, as part of their field work, need to gather botanical specimens to document their scientific studies. The book will also be useful for those taking field biology courses in the tropics.
Scott A. Mori, Amy Berkov, Carol A. Gracie & Edmund F. Hecklau
Price: US $34.95. ISBN: 978-85-65005-00-5. Size: 6″ x 9″. 332 pages, black-and-white. Copyright: Scott A. Mori (2011); Published by: TECC Editora. Distributed by: Itasca Books. Cover credit: Cover painting by Michael Rothman. For more information about M. Rothman click here. To view additional botanical painting by M. Rothman click here.
Chapter 1. My Career as a Tropical Biologist – by Scott A. Mori | Chapter 2. Amy’s Year in the Rain Forest – by A. Berkov | Chapter 3. Tips for Tropical Biologists – by Scott A. Mori | Chapter 4. From the Field – by Scott A. Mori | Chapter 5. Into the Herbarium – by Scott A. Mori | Chapter 6. Onto the Internet by Scott A. Mori | Chapter 7. Rain Forests of Tropical America: Is there hope for the Future? – by Scott A. Mori | Appendix A. Adopt-a-Forest Strategy – by Scott A. Mori | Appendix B. Funding for Systematic Botany – by Scott A. Mori | Appendix C. Personal Field Supplies – by Scott A. Mori | Appendix D. Essential Collecting Equipment – by Scott A. Mori | Literature Cited | Index to Scientific Names, Place Names, and Common Names.
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Selected by NHBS as one of their favorite books of 2011.
“A wonderful read about tropical fieldwork by one of the great contemporary botanical explorers and a few of his many collaborators.”
Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, Director Emeritus, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
“A must for every young biologist who is preparing for field studies in the tropics.”
Paul Maas, Professor Emeritus, University of Utrecht
“This book fulfills multiple gaps that currently exist in the botanical literature, and represents an incredible resource to anyone interested in tropical biology. It is engagingly written throughout and will certainly serve as a major source of inspiration to the next generation of botanists.”
Lúcia G. Lohmann, Dept. de Botânica, Universidade de São Paulo
“The most useful book I have read about tropical plant collecting in the last ten years. It should be consulted by systematists preparing monographs and floras as well as by those wishing to collect plants as vouchers for other kinds of studies.”
Ricardo Secco, Diretor do Herbário, Dept. de Botânica, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
“This work is a primer on how to successfully conduct fieldwork and Mori’s diverse career has allowed this incredible field explorer the opportunity to pass on much of his knowledge to younger scientists and explorers in general”
Thomas B. Croat, P. A. Schulze Curator of Botany, Missouri Botanical Garden
Scott A. Mori. Dr. Scott A. Mori attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he obtained his B.S. degree in 1964 in Biology and Conservation, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was awarded his Ph.D. in botany in 1974. He is now the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). Dr. Mori is a former Executive Director of Flora Neotropica, a former Director of the Institute of Systematic Botany at NYBG, and an adjunct professor at the City University of New York, the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University, and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Dr. Mori has been awarded the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration and the Asa Gray award by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists for life-time achievement based on his studies of the classification, ecology, and conservation of New World tropical plants. Dr. Mori is an author or editor of several books, including Flowering Plants of the Neotropics published by Princeton University Press and Seed Dispersal by Bats in the Neotropics and Guide to the Vascular Plants of Central French Guiana (Volume 1 & Volume 2) by The New York Botanical Garden Press. He is also the lead author of the Lecythidaceae Pages, a comprehenisve electornic monograph of the Brazil nut family.
Amy Berkov. Dr. Amy Berkov attended the University of Colorado-Denver, where she obtained her B.F.A degree in 1977 in fine art, and the City University of New York-Lehman College, where she was awarded her Ph.D. in biology in 1999. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the City College of New York (CCNY, CUNY), an Honorary Research Associate at NYBG, and an Associate in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Research in her lab focuses on the evolutionary and community ecology of neotropical wood-boring beetles, particularly those associated with the Brazil nut family.
Carol A. Gracie. Carol A. Gracie has a B.S. in Plant Studies from the City University of New York, Lehman College. She is retired from NYBG, where she served as Senior Administrator of Children’s Education and Director of Foreign Tours, among other positions. She subsequently worked with her husband, Scott Mori, on tropical research projects, including the preparation of a flora of central French Guiana. Ms. Gracie’s current interests include the temperate flora of northeastern North America. She has co-authored a field guide to the wildflowers of that region (Wildflowers in the Field and Forest: A Field Guide to the Northeastern United States). Her most recent book, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History, was published in 2012.
Edmund F Hecklau. Dr. Edmund F. Hecklau attended Wagner College, Staten Island, New York, where he obtained his B.S. degree in Biology in 1950, and NYU College of Medicine where he was awarded his M.D. degree in 1954. Following a residency at Buffalo Children’s Hospital, he was in the private practice of General Pediatrics in Greenwich, CT from 1959–1986, and then served as Vice-President of Medical Services at the Greenwich (CT) Hospital from 1986–1991. In his 20 years in retirement, he has been able to refine his some 70-year interest in horticulture and botany, culminating in a volunteer position at NYBG under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Mori, with whom he has co-authored several published papers relating to the flora of Central French Guiana. As a self-described field botanist, from 2006–2010, he conducted educational sessions in field botany and plant name etymology for the naturalist staff of the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks. He initiated and made available to visitors at that museum an educational herbarium of some 150+ species, designed for hands-on public education.