Africa collecting offer

[Fred Rickson]

To All:

I am going to spend 10 months in the coastal vegetation (beach to 15 km
inland) along Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique and am offering to collect
silica gel-dried leaf pieces for anyone.  My interest is in ants and
cashewnuts (I'll collect ants in gin-40% etOH also), but I'll also be
looking for caesalp legumes and so will be asking local taxonomists for
help in finding and IDing local plants....and I might just as well have a
little list along in case I can help folks out.  The coastal zone is listed
as a "biodiversity hotspot" in several analyses and, of course, tropical
coastal vegetation usually contains a number of endemics.  So, to avoid
general collecting, please let me know names and approximate locations if
you can.....not just "any composite will do" as I would like to avoid a
treasure hunt.  Our range will be between about 4-17 degrees south and so
does not include South Africa or even the area around Maputo, Mozambique.
Also, no collecting in the interior as my knees will not go up Kilimanjaro,
although I am going to try and find help to reach and collect in a patch of
Congo rainforest that reaches the Kakamega, Kenya area near the Ugandan
border.  I plan to just dry and put pieces in a regular size envelope, and
airmail.  No big project on my part.  Anyhow, take this offline and we can
discuss plans.

Dr. Fred R. Rickson
Professor of Botany, Emeritus
Department of Botany
2082 Cordley Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon
USA  97331

Tel: (541) 737-5272
Fax: (541) 737-3573
email: ricksonf at bcc.orst.edu

----------
> From: christian thompson <cthompson at SEL.BARC.USDA.GOV>
> To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
> Subject: Ethics of selling
> Date: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 11:03 AM
>
> Yes, words like "selling" can made fund-raising sound very crude, but
that
> is what we are doing when we provide "naming opportunities" [which is
what
> one of our development officers calls it]. However, whether that makes
the
> activity unethical is another question. Was it ethical for the Swedes to
> accept Nobel's money to redeem his name, now famous for prizes, not the
> explosives that killed?
>
> F. Christian Thompson
> Systematic Entomology Lab., USDA
> Smithsonian Institution
> Washington, D. C. 20560
> (202) 382-1800 voice
> (202) 786-9422 FAX
> cthompso at sel.barc.usda.gov
>
> >>> Sven O Kullander <sven.kullander at NRM.SE> 03/08 9:57 AM >>>
>
> The fact that names get based on spenders or others offering time, space,
> interest or volunteering hands, in recognition of unconditional support
is
> quite a different thing from offering names for sale. Noone would
> disapprove of the first; and that is why we have patronyms, and there was
> never much objections to honoring deserving souls. The second phenomenon
> is
> clearly unethical no matter what the price. Any price is too cheap.
>
> Sven O Kullander
> Department of Vertebrate Zoology
> Swedish Museum of Natural History
> POB 50007
> SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
>
>
> >