conservation of Neotropical diversity. Coordination of 

 missions at this level has facilitated the effective shar- 

 ing of resources and talents and heightened the con- 

 servation impact of museum-based programs. Through 

 this agreement, Field Museum's unique expertise and 

 resources are being skillfully coordinated with a variety 

 of Latin American institutions, organizations and 

 needs. CI personnel arranged the highly publicized 

 debt-for-conservation swap that enabled Bolivia to 

 protect large tracts of its tropical rainforests; a large- 

 scale biological inventory of this reserve currently in- 

 volves Field Museum researcher Robin Foster. Another 

 early product of this partnership is a book jointly spon- 

 sored by CI and Field Museum (now in preparation) on 

 the distribution and ecology of South American birds, 

 the world's richest avifauna. 



Training and Education of Conservation Biologists 



Spectacular recent advances in molecular biology have 

 led many universities and other research institutions to 

 focus increasingly on cells and molecules. Few institu- 

 tions remain dedicated to "whole organism" biology, 

 which heralded the fields of evolution, ecology, and 

 genetics as we know them today. Natural history mu- 

 seums remain bastions of integrated biology — al- 

 though molecular techniques are increasingly used in 

 systematic research, an essential focus on organisms 

 and populations remains. Museums are associated with 

 most vigorous programs in evolutionary biology. 



Peruvian Victor Pacheco came to Field Museum for education and 

 training in 1986. Here doing fieldwork in Monteseco. northern Peru, 

 he is surrounded by local schoolchildren captivated by the thought 

 that their local bat fauna warrants study by Chicago-based 

 researchers, Pacheco received an M.S, degree from the University 

 of Illinois, Chicago in December: on returning to Peru, he began 

 training and advising his own students at San Marcos 

 University in Lima. 



Ptioto by S D. Patterson 



Moreover, they are indispensable for training the future 

 systematists we must rely on to identify and document 

 the world's diversity. 



No free-standing museum maintains better, more 

 productive associations with neighboring universities 

 than Field Museum. Individual Field Museum biolo- 

 gists have faculty appointments at the University of 

 Chicago, University of Illinois, Chicago, Northwest- 

 em University, and Northern Illinois University, ser- 

 ving on graduate student committees at these institu- 

 tions and others. Field Museum researchers comprise 

 about a third of the acclaimed Committee on Evolu- 

 tionary Biology, an interdepartmental degree-granting 

 body of the University of Chicago. Perhaps a quarter of 

 the graduate students enrolled in this illustrious pro- 

 gram are now studying at Field Museum, many in areas 

 related to conservation. 



In the course of conducting their own fieldwork in 

 the tropics. Museum researchers routinely teach col- 

 lecting and data-gathering activities to local students 

 and technicians. This training continues after field- 

 work is completed, as specimens are prepared, sorted, 

 identified, and described, often in collaboration. A 

 variety of accomplished scientists in tropical countries 

 received their first exposure to the skills and techniques 

 of biological inventories in association with Field 

 Museum collecting parties. This expanding pool of 

 persons able to conduct tropical inventories and train 

 other biologists has immeasurable effects on conserva- 

 tion. 



Field Museum's role in training biologists in con- 

 servation is not limited to area universities or field- 

 work. Museum funds in support of international 

 scholarship enable a host of Third World researchers 

 engaged in independent projects to study Field Mu- 

 seum collections, use its libraries, and interact with 

 its staff. Grant recipients gain valuable observations and 

 experience that would otherwise be out of reach econom- 

 ically. Critically, this program has a snowballing effect 

 as foreign scholars return home to share new experi- 

 ences, techniques, and perspectives with their own 

 colleagues and students. Field Museum is actively 

 working to expand this training-education program. 



Development of Public Awareness 



Ultimately, the problems of tropical deforestation are 

 driven by social, political, and economic factors. It 

 would he shortsighted to address conservation prob- 

 lems without attending to these ultimate causes. A var- 

 iety of avenues are open to museum scientists, hut the 



