BIOLOGY INTERNATIONAL The Official Journal of the International Union of Biological Sciences Editor: John R. Jungck, Department of Biology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit , WI 53511, USA, e-mail: [email protected] Associate Editor: Lorna Holtman, Deputy Dean, Zoology Department, University of the Western Cape (UWC), Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Republic of South Africa, e-mail: [email protected] Managing Editor: Sue Risseeuw, Department of Biology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit , WI 53511, USA, e-mail: [email protected] Editorial Board Giorgio Bernardi, Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze, via Nicholas Mascie Taylor, Department of Biological L. Spallanzani 5/a, 00161 Rome, Italy Anthropology, University of Cambridge e-mail: [email protected] Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK e-mail: [email protected] John Buckeridge, RMIT University School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Building 10, Ralf Reski, Head, Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of level 12, 376-392 Swanston Street Melbourne Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1 GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne VIC 3001 Australia D-79104 Freiburg Germany e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Zhibin Zhang, Director, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Lily Rodriguez, Sede Servicio Nacional de Areas Acadmey of Sciences, Beijing 100080, P.R. China Naturales Protegidas, Ministerio del Ambiente, Lima 27, e-mail: [email protected] Peru e-mail: [email protected] Jean-Marc Jallon, Institut de Biologie Animale Intégrative et Cellulaire (IBAIC), Bât. 446, UPS-Orsay, Hussein Samir Salama, National Research Centre, 91405 Orsay, France Plant Protection Department, Tahrir Street, Dokki, e-mail: [email protected] 12311 Cairo, Egypt e-mail: [email protected] Annelies Pierrot-Bults, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystems Dynamics, Zoological Museum, University of Nils Christian Senseth, Centre for Ecological & Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, The Netherlands University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1050, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, e-mail: [email protected] Norway e-mail: [email protected] Peter Birò, Balaton Limnological Research Institute Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Tihany 8237, Hungary Hiroyuki Takeda, Department of Biological Sciences, e-mail: [email protected] Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan Yury Degbuadze, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and e-mail: [email protected] Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 33 Leninsky Prospect, 119071 Moscow V-71, Russia Jen-Leih Wu, Academia Sinica, n°128, Sec 2, Academia e-mail: [email protected] rd, Taipei, Taiwan e-mail: [email protected] Raghavendra Gadakar, Center for Ecological Science, Bangalore 560 012, India Nathalie Fomproix, IUBS, Bat 442, Université Paris-Sud e-mail: [email protected] 11, 91 405 Orsay Cedex, France e-mail: [email protected] Peter G. Kevan, Department of Environmental Biology University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N3C 2B7, Canada e-mail: [email protected] Signed articles express the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editors of Biology International. Prospective authors should send an outline of the proposed article to the Editors, with a letter explaining why the subject might be of interest to readers. © 2011 International Union of Biological Sciences ISSN 02532069 Biology International No. 50 (December 2011) Global Conservation Education Editorial: John R. Jungck, Editor. Global Conservation Education: Participatory, Open, 3 and Place-Based Approaches to Outreach Zamora, Natalia and Alejandro Calvo. Cyberhives: Virtual Costa Rica 5 Communities of Learning on Biodiversity. Jain, Shivani and Shefali Atrey. An Innovative Approach to India 17 Biodiversity Conservation Education. McLaughlin, Jacqueline, Xiaoying Cheng, He Liu. Using Field USA, China 30 Research in China as a Catalyst for Effectively Promoting Global Environmental Awareness and Stewardship. Rykhlikova, Marina E. Ecological Cooperation: A Russian Russia 45 Network Project for Environmental Education, Communications and Biodiversity Conservation. Walker, Ken. BugBlitz – An Australian Experience. Australia 51 Barbaro, Tracy, Jeffrey Holmes, Marie Studer. The USA 62 Encyclopedia of Life: An International, Open Educational Resource for Biodiversity Learning. Nadyeina, O.V., L.V. Dymytrova, O.Ye. Khodosovtsvev, Yu.S. Ukraine 72 Nazarchyk. Arid Lichens from the Red Data Book of Ukraine: Perspectives on Assessing, Conserving, and Educating Buckeridge, John St J. S. Indigenous Outreach: An Australia 82 International Union of Biological Sciences Sponsored Programme in Australia’s Northern Territory. Cannon, Charles H., Rhett Harrison, Lan Qie, J.W. Ferry Slik, China 85 Jin Chen. A Proposal for Expanding Capacity for Conservation Science Education in the Tropical Asia- Pacific Region. Stanley, Ethel D., Margaret A. Waterman, Darren J. S. Wong, USA, Singapore 95 Hong Kim Tan. Developing 21st Century Skills with Investigative Cases: Building Global Awareness and Informing Choices about Energy Padua, Suzana M., Claudio V. Padua, Cristiana S. Martins. Brazil 109 Filling the Gaps in Conservation Education in Brazil: A Case Study of IPE – Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research) Rodriguez, Lily O. and Ingrid Prem. Building Local Capacities Peru, Brazil 116 for Conservation: A Tool Box for Managing Protected Areas in Peru Cover: The cover art was generated by artists Ellie Daniels and Erika Moen, Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin USA Editorial: Global Conservation Education: Participatory, Open, and Place-Based Approaches to Outreach The challenges of preserving biodiversity contexts, in terms of biodiversity resourcing are facing every country on the planet. issues, challenges, environmental impacts However, with the exception of a few and ecosystems. The initiatives vary notable instances such as the afforestation tremendously in terms of scale, timeframe, efforts to fight desertification in Africa led available resources, access to technology, by the late Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai and potential for sustainability. They vary “Green Belt Movemment,” work outside of according to target groups, participants, and the United States, Northern Europe, and beneficiaries of these projects. But, Japan rarely receives much attention. foremost these contributors' projects share the overall goal to inspire and resource We need to redress this oversight because it participants such that they appreciate the will take a concerted global effort to address diversity of life and can address some of the what some experts have referred to as the specific threats to the biodiversity and “age of the greatest extinction ever.” We do ecosystems in their regions of the world. not have the option of being ostriches with our heads stuck in the sand. Nor can we say Read collectively, through what these (NYIB) “not in my backyard” because on educators have observed, developed, used, such a small planet, “everyone lives learned, archived, and advocated, some downstream.” Ecosystems are globally common strategies and processes emerge connected, due to rapid air travel, so that can transcend the particulars of their emerging infectious diseases such as the contexts and projects to inform similar work SARS virus can jump from a bat to a ferret by others. For example: in a rural meat market to nearly every major Many projects treat local participants city in China. A West Nile virus in a as researchers of their ecosystems and migrating stork in Israel can jump to crows teach them how to observe, collect, in New York City and within a short time archive, and analyze data. Beyond that across the whole United States. Invasive the model "Citizen Science" expands species of plants terraform whole islands, participants' roles as researchers and coral reefs are bleaching pervasively and scientists by honoring their prior global warming is causing shrubification of knowledge, engaging them in alpine meadows. establishing the criteria for worthwhile problems, choosing the For this Issue, Guest Editors Lily Rodriguez sorts of data to collect, actually of Peru and Nathalie Zamora of Costa Rica analyzing the data, and deciding how worked with us to attract contributors, who the work should be shared and vetted as researchers and educators, have been by the larger community. All projects working hard to address these conservation engaged their participants, to various issues. Ten country cases (Australia, Brazil, degrees, in processes of doing China, Costa Rica, India, Peru, Russia, conservation science. Singapore, United States, and Ukraine) and Many contributors critiqued the 12 projects are included. Our contributors traditions of teaching science in describe their experiences in developing, classrooms versus the field. They implementing and evaluating their critique memorization versus active conservation initiatives, within their specific construction, individual versus Biology International Vol. 50 3 Jungck collective and collaborative work, and What can we learn from such a diverse individual assessment versus peer collection of context specific initiatives? review processes. Thus, the projects described in this issue engaged We believe that this issue of Biology participants in the latter, more active International provides a way to expand our and collaborative aspects of teaching own knowledge