field expeditions

Biodiversity provides environmental benefits including air, soil, and water quality, as well as food, fuel, fiber, medicine, and other products.

The major centers of global terrestrial biodiversity lie within the four main tropical forest regions, all of which are under significant threat. Tropical Asia experiences the largest threats followed by Africa, Latin America, and New Guinea. Within Asian tropical forests, Southeast Asia remains at high risk and, considering its remarkable biodiversity, still has many relatively unexplored areas.

The progression of political and economic institutions has recently unlocked areas for biological exploration, including Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The lack of underlying scientific knowledge of species existence, distribution, and conservation makes it difficult to produce sound environmental decisions. A new wave of scientific exploration, reminiscent of the late 19th and early 20th century expeditions, is imperative. The importance of species conservation for the long-term persistence of nature and natural resources within the region has reached a critical level.

We have compiled a team of the top field experts on Southeast Asian biodiversity to identify priority sites for biological conservation. There are two major parameters that have been used to identify these sites. The first is conservation urgency, which is based on imminent threats. The second is biological relevance, both in terms of known and undiscovered species. Within the region, fragmented populations of large mammals such as Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus), Tigers (Panthera tigris), and Banteng (Bos javanicus) still remain. In addition, important new discoveries have included several large mammals in the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam/Laos, such as the Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), as well as more obscure but no less significant species, such as the Kha-nyou (Laonastes aenigmamus) and the Annamite Striped Rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi).

While there is significant variability among sites of biological importance, the expertise and knowledge of our biological field experts make the design and implementation of biological surveys possible across a range of habitats and species assemblages. As with any biological expedition, we often examine a subset of a site’s biodiversity. Primarily our expedition work focuses on mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, given the diverse ecologies and conservation needs of these groups.