Biodiversity of Borneo Field Course 2007

Offered by the Harvard University Summer School, the Arnold Arboretum, and the Center for Tropical Forest Science.

Borneo is a vast island of outstanding biological, geographical, and cultural diversity, split by international boundaries and exploited by multinational logging, mining, and oil-palm corporations. In its parks visitors can still encounter some of the highest local biodiversity on Earth, from orangutans, hornbills, and thousands of tree species to breathtakingly beautiful coral reefs. At the same time, Borneo offers an excellent case study of the challenges facing nature conservation in the tropics.

This is the first time the course was introduced. Nine students and young scientists from South and Southeast Asia joined the also nine summer school participants in this course, to study the evolutionary and ecological processes that lead to the amazingly high biodiversity on Borneo as well as the issues that seriously threaten that diversity today.

Course Date: 22 July 2007 to 26 August 2007
Course sites:

  1. Miri, Sarawak – Lambir Hill National Park, Gua Niah National Park (Bukit Kasut)
  2. Kota Kinabalu, Sabah – Mount Kinabalu, Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (Pulau Gaya)
  3. Sandakan, Sabah – Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sepilok Orang Utan Rehab Center, Rainforest discovery center
  4. Tawau, Sabah – Maliau Basin Conservation Area

Photo taken at Bukit Kasut, Gua Niah National Park by Ruchira Somaweera



 Students | Staff | Schedule & Abstracts | Projects | Acknowledgments
Photos | Mount Kinabalu special | Course info 2008


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