Winifred Hallwachs

Winifred Hallwachs (born October 11, 1954) is an American tropical ecologist who helped to establish and expand northwestern Costa Rica's Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG).[1][2] The work of Hallwachs and her husband Daniel Janzen at ACG is considered an exemplar of inclusive conservation.[3]

Winnie Hallwachs
Born
Winifred Hallwachs

(1954-10-11) October 11, 1954
Alma materPhiladelphia High School for Girls, Princeton University, Cornell University
Known forTropical ecology, biodiversity development
Spouse(s)Daniel H. Janzen
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Pennsylvania, Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, Área de Conservación Guanacaste

Beginning in 1978, Winnie Hallwachs' early research focused on the Central American agoutis as seed hoarders and their effectiveness as seed dispersers of the hardwood tree guapinol.[4]

Beginning in 1985, Hallwachs and Janzen revised their work to include the restoration, expansion, and conservation of tropical dry forest through biodiversity development. They helped found the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) in 1989,[5] of which Hallwachs was a technical advisor,[6] and promoted the creation of public-private partnerships such as the Merck-INBio Agreement.[7] Hallwachs and Janzen founded the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund (GDFCF) in 1997,[1] and helped to establish the ACG in 1999.[8] They have been active at all levels of education, ranging from local children to resident parataxonomists and North American tropical biologists.[5][8][9][10]

At least eight insect species have been named after Hallwachs.

Life and work

Early life and education

Winifred Hallwachs was born on October 11, 1954. She grew up in New York State and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1976, Hallwachs graduated from Princeton University[11] with a BA in biochemistry. After Princeton, Hallwachs spent a year in Sweden. Her first trip to the tropics was to visit her sister in the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic.[9]

Hallwachs returned to Philadelphia, where she enrolled in Daniel Janzen's "Habitat and Organisms" course at the University of Pennsylvania. The class addressed the natural history of tropical animal-plant interactions often drawing from Janzen's research in Guanacaste, a province in northwestern Costa Rica. Hallwachs joined Janzen as a volunteer on his next trip to Costa Rica. She has collaborated with him since 1978.[9]

Early career and doctoral research

In Guanacaste, Hallwachs identified the animal-plant interaction that would become the focus of her doctoral research. Hallwachs' focused her early research on the Central American agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata) as seed hoarders and the details of their seed dispersers of the guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril: Leguminosae) and other primary forest trees. Agoutis are house-cat-sized forest rodents and the guapinol is a hardwood tree whose large and hard seeds were originally dispersed by now extinct tropical megafauna. Hallwachs fitted fruits with spools of thread to follow the trails of the agoutis to their secret hoards. She spent thousands of daylight hours observing them, collecting data for over five years.[12][13]:133 Hallwachs demonstrated that agoutis provided an essential method of secondary seed dispersal, by harvesting seeds which are found on the forest floor and preferentially burying larger ones in shallow caches outside the area of the parent plant. It is hypothesized that such plant species have adapted to the presence of scatterhoarding animals over evolutionary time.[4][14]:329–331

To meet the needs of their biodiversity development initiatives, Hallwachs deferred completion of her PhD for a number of years.[13] She finally completed her PhD in 1994 at Cornell University, with Pamela Parker as her thesis advisor. Her dissertation was In The Clumsy Dance Between Agoutis and Plants: Scatterhoarding by Costa Rican Dry Forest Agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata: Dasyproctidae: Rodentia) (1994, Cornell University).[15]

Biodiversity development work

In 1985, realizing that widespread development in northwestern Costa Rica was rapidly decimating the forest in which they conducted their research, Hallwachs and Janzen expanded the focus of their work. Their goal was to achieve tropical forest restoration, expansion (through land purchases) and conservation, while continuing their scientific research at a reduced level.[3][9]:468

They advocated for "biodiversity development" approaches[9]:468 that could support social integration of humans with the environment, and non-damaging uses of biodiversity. Their work at ACG is considered an exemplar of inclusive conservation,[3] which emphasizes the connections between humans and nature in one ecosystem, and the involvement of local individuals in objectives for sustainability.[16]

Although Janzen has often received more attention, as the outgoing spokesperson of the team, he emphasizes that their contributions are equal.[9]

I see it more as we're two people, like Rodgers and Hammerstein, creating something; one of them thinks better, the other one plays the piano better. Or as I often put it, she thinks and I talk.

— Daniel Janzen[9]:468

Among the important ongoing initiatives that Hallwachs and Janzen have developed in the area are:

  • Caterpillar Inventory (1978–present)[9]:470[17]
  • Biodiversity Development (1985–present)[1][18]
  • Parataxonomist Program (1985–present)[19][20][21]
  • Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund (GDFCF) (1997–present)[1]
  • DNA Barcoding (2003–present)[9]:471–475[22]
  • BioAlfa bioliteracy project (2018–present)[19]

In 1978, when Hallwachs began to work there, the Parque Nacional Santa Rosa included 100 km2 (25,000 acres) of pasture and relictual neotropical dry forest and 230 km2 (57,000 acres) of marine habitat.[3] At that time it was the largest remaining area of dry tropical forest to be found in Mesoamerica.[8] Over time it has been expanded and joined with further areas. As of 2019, the ACG consists of 169,000 hectares (420,000 acres).[23] Hallwachs and Janzen have donated most of the award money that they have received to the expansion and maintenance of the ACG.[3][24][25][8] The resulting national park connects habitats from the tops of volcanoes to the sea, including mid-elevation Caribbean rainforest as well as neotropical dry forest.[19] In 1999, ACG was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[2][3]

DNA barcoding initiative

The DNA barcoding initiative grew out of a meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 2003. There Janzen and Hallwachs met Paul Hebert, a geneticist from the University of Guelph who proposed the identification of species using mitochondrial DNA.[2][26][22] Hebert focused on a section of 650 base pairs in the DNA sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene.[9]:471–475

As of 2017, over 500,000 specimens representing more than 45,000 species from ACG had been barcoded using the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). In addition, barcoding has resulted in the identification of cryptic species of near-identical appearance that differ in terms of genetics and ecological niche. In 2004, the researchers published results showing that the butterfly Astraptes fulgerator was not a single species, but ten species. The documented number of species of Lepidoptera in ACG has risen from 9,000 to 15,000 as a result of the barcoding analysis program.[2][27]

Hallwachs and Janzen support initiatives to gather DNA barcodes for all of the species in the world, through CBOL (Consortium for the Barcode of Life) and iBOL (International Barcode of Life).[28][29][30]

Educational initiatives

Hallwachs and Janzen have been active in training North American tropical biologists. In 1965, Janzen designed an eight-week course for the Organization for Tropical Studies that has been taken by the majority of North American graduate students in tropical biology, and continues to be taught. During their class, students are hosted at ACG.[8]

Hallwachs and Janzen are also engaged in the education of local children, using the area as a "living classroom" to promote both understanding and a sense of pride and guardianship.[9]:468–469 ACG has served as a demonstration site for students learning about ecological restoration and the conservation of the tropical dry forest since the 1980s.[10]

In addition, they are deeply involved in the training and employment of Costa Ricans as field researchers.[8] Since 1985, Hallwachs and Janzen have helped to train and work with resident parataxonomists, community‐based biodiversity inventory specialists who collect and process specimens and catalog biodiversity data.[7][21] In an intentional initiative to redress gender imbalance, this has included the training and employment of women.[31][5] Some women work with a husband as a partner, while others work independently.[32]

In November 2017, Hallwachs gave the keynote address "Conservation, Onychorhynchus, and Female Parataxonomists" at the XXI Congress for the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation. She emphasized the importance of women working as parataxonomists.[33][34][35]

Insect species named in honor of Hallwachs
Lathecla winnie (Lycaenidae),[36] courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

Several insect species have been named in honor of Winnie Hallwachs including:

Awards
  • 1993, Award for Improvement of Costa Rican Quality of Life, Universidad de Costa Rica (co award with D. Janzen).[13]
  • 2003, Award to Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, Wege Foundation (co award with D. Janzen)[1]
  • 2006, Winner, National Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA), for 100 Caterpillars: Portraits from the Tropical Forests of Costa Rica (2006), Design & Artistic Merit Category.[49]

Selected works

Books co-authored
  • Miller, J.C.; Janzen, D.H.; Hallwachs, W. (2006). 100 Caterpillars: Portraits from the Tropical Forests of Costa Rica. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674023345. 264 pp.
  • Miller, J.C.; Janzen, D.H.; Hallwachs, W. (2007). 100 Butterflies and Moths: Portraits from the Tropical Forests of Costa Rica. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674023345. 256 pp.

Book chapters
  • Hallwachs, W. (1983). "Bromelia pinguin and B. karatas (Chiras, Pinuelas)". In Janzen, D. H. (ed.). Costa Rican natural history. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. pp. 195–197. ISBN 9780226393346.
  • Hallwachs, W. (1986). "Agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata): the inheritors of guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril: Leguminosae)". In Estrada, A.; Fleming, T. (eds.). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Tasks for vegetation science. Tasks for vegetation science. 15. Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 285–304. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_25. ISBN 978-94-010-8633-2.
  • Hallwachs, W. (2010). "Forward". In Henderson, C. L. (ed.). Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Field Guide. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. pp. ix–x. ISBN 978-0-292-72274-3.
  • Janzen, D. H.; Hallwachs, W. (2016). "Biodiversity Conservation History and Future in Costa Rica: The Case of Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG). Chapter 10". In Kappelle, M. (ed.). Costa Rican Ecosystems. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. pp. 290–341. ISBN 9780226278933.

Scientific publications
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References
  1. Van Putten, Mark; Palola, Eric (December 4, 2013). "Wege Foundation - Commitment to Costa Rican Biodiversity Protection Through Biodiversity Development" (PDF). Wege Foundation. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  2. Davis, Tinsley H. (September 26, 2017). "Profile of Daniel H. Janzen". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (39): 10300–10302. doi:10.1073/pnas.1714623114. PMC 5625942. PMID 28893992.
  3. Pringle, Robert M. (June 1, 2017). "Upgrading protected areas to conserve wild biodiversity". Nature. 546 (7656): 91–99. Bibcode:2017Natur.546...91P. doi:10.1038/nature22902. PMID 28569807.
  4. Jansen, Patrick A. (2003). Scatterhoarding and tree regeneration : ecology of the nut dispersal in a neotropical rainforest (PhD thesis) (PDF). Wageningen, the Netherlands: Wageningen University. ISBN 90-5808-777-8.
  5. Kazmier, Robin (June 15, 2017). "The Parataxonomist Revolution: How a Group of Rural Costa Ricans Discovered 10,000 New Species". Comparative Media Studies: Science Writing.
  6. Reid, Walter V.; Laird, Sarah A.; Meyer, Carrie A.; Gamez, Rodrigo; Sittenfeld, Ana; Janzen, Daniel H.; Gollin, Michael A.; Juma, Calestous (1993). Biodiversity prospecting: using genetic resources for sustainable development. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute (WRI), USA. p. 325. ISBN 0-915825-89-9. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
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  8. Becher, Anne; McClure, Kyle; White Scheuering, Rachel; Willis, Julia (2000). "Janzen, Daniel H.". American environmental leaders : from colonial times to the present. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 424–427. ISBN 9781592371198.
  9. Singer, F. D. (2016). "Chapter 18: Dan Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs: Community Interactions and Tropical Restoration through Biodiversity Conservation". Ecology in Action. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  10. Cruz, R. E.; Blanco Segura, R. (2010). "Developing the Bioliteracy of School Children for 24 Years: A Fundamental Tool for Ecological Restoration and Conservation in Perpetuity of the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica". Ecological Restoration. 28 (2): 193–198. doi:10.3368/er.28.2.193. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
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  15. Hallwachs, Winifred (1994). The Clumsy Dance Between Agoutis and Plants: Scatterhoarding by Costa Rican Dry Forest Agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata: Dasyproctidae: Rodentia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University.
  16. Bennett, Nathan J.; Roth, Robin; Klain, Sarah C.; Chan, Kai M. A.; Clark, Douglas A.; Cullman, Georgina; Epstein, Graham; Nelson, Michael Paul; Stedman, Richard; Teel, Tara L.; Thomas, Rebecca E. W.; Wyborn, Carina; Curran, Deborah; Greenberg, Alison; Sandlos, John; Veríssimo, Diogo (February 2017). "Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation". Conservation Biology. 31 (1): 56–66. doi:10.1111/cobi.12788. PMID 27334309.
  17. Janzen, Daniel H.; Hallwachs, Winnie (August 16, 2011). "Joining Inventory by Parataxonomists with DNA Barcoding of a Large Complex Tropical Conserved Wildland in Northwestern Costa Rica". PLOS One. 6 (8): e18123. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...618123J. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018123. PMC 3156711. PMID 21857894.
  18. Basurto, Xavier; Jiménez-Pérez, Ignacio (2013). "The Emergence of Collective-Action with Adaptive Capacity for Biodiversity Conservation in Protected Areas in Costa Rica". Journal of Latin American Geography. Special 12 (1 Edition: Latin American Commons): 111–133. doi:10.1353/lag.2013.0007. JSTOR 24394845.
  19. Bazilchuk, N. (July 6, 2019). "Planting the seeds for a bioliterate tropical country". Norwegian SciTech News. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  20. Franzen, Jonathan (April 6, 2015). "Carbon capture: Has climate change made it harder for people to care about conservation?". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
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  27. Hebert, P. D. N.; Penton, E. H.; Burns, J. M.; Janzen, D. H.; Hallwachs, W. (2004). "Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the neotropical skipper butterfly Astraptes fulgerator" (PDF). PNAS. 101 (41): 14812–14817. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10114812H. doi:10.1073/pnas.0406166101. PMC 522015. PMID 15465915.
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  32. Arroyo, César (December 8, 2018). "Petrona Ríos: Stocktaker of Guanacaste's Forest". The Voice of Guanacaste. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  33. Butcher, Greg (September 1, 2017). "PIF VI – International Conference Announcement". Partners in Flight. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  34. "Plenary speakers". XXI Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation and VI International Conference of Partners in Flight. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
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