“In academic science, interdisciplinary work is
productive and praised, but is relatively rare.”     
Eric Drexler

The MBBRT, a team of international scientists from different academic backgrounds, first conducted their field research in Northwest Thailand in 2006. At the same time, scientists from Lao PDR also invited several members of the research team to conduct research on swidden agriculture in the country.

Currently, the MBBRT is in the process of preparing a course that focuses on the biological, food and cultural diversity along the Mekong River. This is a course that will be taught by anthropologists, biologists, geographers, historians, linguists and invited speakers. Topics that will be covered in the course include Pleistocene human history, plant and animal biodiversity, and conservation efforts in the region. We are also planning a series of exploration and research trips to the Mekong.

The Researchers

Will McClatchey

Will McClatchey is an evolutionary biologist and ethnobotanist with over 15 years of experience conducting conservation, floristic, systematic botany, and ethnobotanical research projects around the world. His examines hypotheses about the evolution of patterns of human interactions with plants and ecosystems. While his past research was largely conducted in the South and Western Pacific region his current research is taking place in S.E. Asia where he is studying relationships between distribution patterns of human knowledge of biodiversity and actual biodiversity.

Lisa X Gollin

Lisa Gollin is a medical and ecological anthropologist with over 15 years of experience conducting ethnobotanical research focused on native healing beliefs and practices among Austranesian peoples of Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific region. She has explored the nexus of human and environmental health, including many of the questions central to the 3 proposed Mekong Projects (local ecological knowledge and perspectives on natural resource use and management, shifting agriculture  and climate change), in (Borneo) Indonesia, Hawai‘i and Madagascar. 

Lisa will serve as the chief ethnographer on the Mekong Projects, participating in all phases of the development, implementation and preparation of research findings.  Her role will be two-fold: first to design and implement all ethnographic research protocols.  She will employ ethnobiological approaches that conjoin social and natural science techniques to address research questions above, and conduct study analysis using qualitative and quantitative tools in collaboration with the research team.  Second, she will serve as the coordinator for the Earthwatch volunteer effort – establishing rapport and laying the groundwork for community participation in host villages, developing and pre-testing lay -friendly field methods for EW volunteers (e.g., simple observational tasks using note-taking, video and sketching; simple transects, garden counts and more.), conducting orientation and guiding volunteers through every step of the field research, returning results to volunteers and Mekong Project stake-holders.

Y. Han Lau

Han Lau is a theoretical biologist and ethnobotanist who has conducted ethnobotanical research in Southwest China and East/Southeast Asia. His research interests are 1) East/Southeast Asian ethnobotany, 2) complex systems modeling, and 3) theoretical ethnobiology. He addresses questions pertaining to changing processes that lead to the emergence of biocultural systems. He explores different methodologies and perspectives in process analysis to develop novel analytical methods for ethnobiological systems.

Han will serve as a project coordinator on the Mekong Projects. He will develop a knowledge base to coordinate the information flow within the research team and with other collaborating organizations. He has the charge of research equipment and will oversee the distribution and maintenance of the equipment. His other responsibilities include the development and maintenance of a research website, testing and implementation of field research technologies, and develop methods to measure processes that lead to changes in biocultural diversity and distribution patterns in the Mekong.

Dave Reedy

Dave Reedy is a researcher with degrees in Ethnobotany and Asian Studies. He has been trained and worked as a professional photographer and videographer, producing commercial and educational films. Dave has lived and worked in Asia, and is fluent in two Asian languages. He has conducted research on plant varieties and processing methods as they are moved among migrating cultures. His research activities are focused on: 1) ethnobotanical knowledge in human diaspora, 2) resource management practices of native peoples, and 3) photographic and video documentation methods. His primary interest is in understanding affects of the movements of human groups and their plants due to cultural, political or climatic instability and how this impacts plant uses. Dave has worked as the University of Hawaii Ethnobotany project manager since 2005.

Dave will serve as a field manager within the Mekong projects, coordinating and facilitating logistics, supplies and equipment for teams of field researchers. Secondarily he will participate as a director and camera operator for video and photographic aspects of the projects.

Worraruethai Pensuk

Worraruethai Pensuk is a Pharmaceutical Botanist and Chemist who has conducted chemistry research in essentials oil in Thailand. Her research interests are the 1) development of Thai’s buffalo fat used for absorbing volatile oil from  Michelia alba, 2) Comparison of the chemical constituents in Michelia alba flower oil extracted by steam distillation, hexane extraction and enfleurage method. In addition, she has conducted ethnobotanical research on plant knowledge of the Phu-thai in Sakhonnakhon, Northeast Thailand. The focus of this research are 1) to investigate plant knowledge of the Phu-thai who live in the mountains, 2) to study the taxonomic system of the Phu-thai, and 3) the evolution of Phu-thai plant knowledge as they migrate from the mountains to the plains.

Worraruethai serves as an explorer within the Mekong Projects. She will conduct field surveys and ethnographic interviews in the Mekong. She will also serves as liaison between the research team and our field collaborators in the Mekong.

Thomas A. Garran

Thomas Garran is a practitioner of Chinese medicine and author of several articles and a book on the use of plants by different cultures in healing  practices--comparing the same plants when used by different cultures. He is also a photographer and uses his photography to document plants, harvesting, and preparation. His primary interests have been researching the use of the same (or similar) species of plants by different cultures and how they agree or differ in their use of these plants in their use as medicine, comparing cultural context and how this may or may not affect the use of a plant. Thomas also has an interest in traditional preparation techniques of medicinal plants and how these techniques are practiced today, how they may affect clinical efficacy, and the cultural context from which they have sprung.

Thomas speaks Mandarin Chinese and will serve as an explorer for the Mekong project, investigating potential areas for further study for the project. He will document areas for potential research using keen observation, photography.

Troung C. Lan

Truong Lan is an ethnobotany undergraduate with research interests in Southeast Asia.  One of her past research experiences was acquired through an Earthwatch Institute expedition exploring plants' response to climate change.  Her research interests include ecological ethnobotany, in particular the conservation of wild food products and medicinal forest resources.  Furthermore, she wants to explore the roles women play within various cultures pertaining to forest conservation and ecological/ethnobotanical knowledge.  Additionally, another area of interest to her is the link between religion and ecological/ethnobotanical conservation. 

Lan is fluent in Vietnamese.  Also an amateur photographer, Miss Truong documents events and landscapes with a photojournalistic approach.  She aspires to incorporate social concerns into the Mekong project research experience as well, focusing on pertinent Southeast Asian issues such as women's social status, reproductive rights, human trafficking, and the education of aforementioned topics.