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financed by The Netherlands created new opportunities. There was a strong focus on ecology, a reflection of the global trend at the time. An agreement was made between the University of Wageningen in The Netherlands and the University of Suriname (AdeKUS, with its research institute CELOS), to strengthen forestry and forest ecology research. This led to research on the so-called CELOS management system (CMS), a timber harvest and sylvicultural system described in a multi-author volume edited by Werger (2011). During the late 1970s to mid 1980s, a number of important studies were published that were based on fieldwork done in the preceding years: on primates (monkeys) by Mittermeier (1977) and van Roosmalen (1985b), on river otters by Duplaix (for example 1980), on wild fruits by van Roosmalen (1985a), on vegetation and ecosystems by Teunissen (see references in Ecosystems chapter), and on the traditional use of plants (ethnobotany) by Plotkin (1986). What drew a lot of attention internationally was a popular publication by Trail (1983) on the behavior of one of Suriname’s most charismatic birds, the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock. Much of the fieldwork of these authors took place in protected areas or focused on protected species. This was facilitated by several governmental institutions: the Nature Conservation Division of the State Forest Service (LBB), and the Foundation for Nature Preservation in Suriname (Stinasu). The role of the so-called ‘Teacher’s College’ (IOL) merits mentioning here, because IOL offered the only advanced courses in biological sciences in Suriname at the time. IOL students and graduates were involved in some of the research mentioned above. TRYING TIMES. The period from 1982 till the mid 1990s was politically tumultuous. An eight-year civil war led to the destruction, or at least sharp decline, of many development projects initiated in the previous decades. It also ruined Suriname’s economy, and negatively affected governmental institutions, such as the Central Bureau for Aerial Survey (CBL), the State Forest Service (LBB), the Geological Mining Service (GMD), and the AdeKUS university. From the mid 1990s onward, the political and economic situation improved. Biological research activities in Suriname followed this trend of decline and subsequent improvement. Just ahead of this period, in 1979, two new institutions had been created at AdeKUS: the National Herbarium of Suriname (BBS), and the National Zoological Collection of Suriname (NZCS). BBS was headed till the early 2000s by botanist Marga Werkhoven, who published a popular book on the orchids of Suriname (Werkhoven 1986). NZCS was and still is headed by herpetologist (amphibia and reptiles specialist) and ecologist Paul Ouboter, who in 1993 edited a multi-author volume on the ‘Freshwater Ecosystems of Suriname’ and in 1996 published his thesis on the ecology of caimans. At CELOS fish specialist Jan Mol did research on fish ecology, and published parts of his thesis work on armored catfish (for example Mol 1995). The NZCS and BBS undertook collecting expeditions to the remote corners of Suriname (see van ’t Klooster et al. 2003, Ouboter & Jairam 2012). This has led to publications on Suriname’s freshwater fishes (Mol 2012b) and amphibians (Ouboter & Jairam 2012), part of a series on the fauna of Suriname, which also includes a field guide to the country’s birds (Spaans et al. 2016). Several international herbaria have collaborated with BBS since its establishment, resulting in reports and publications on biodiversity and ethnobotany by Raghoenandan, van Andel, Ruysschaert, Hoffman, ter Steege, Banki and collaborators (see references in other chapters). Much of the fieldwork of these researchers, as well as researchers of the previous generation, has been facilitated by Frits van Troon, a Surinamer with a remarkable, hybrid scientific-local knowledge. He remains the most knowledgeable person on rainforest plants in Suriname.
Bart De Dijn
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