Capacity Building

• Communications & Dissemination of Taxonomic Information

  PACINET's Taxonomic Human Resources Database is under construction. Please visit us soon!

• Taxonomic Education & Training
  • Biological invasions threaten the integrity of the world’s biota (Pimm, 1991).

    Biological invasions threaten the integrity of the world’s biota (Pimm, 1991). Ants are among the most ecologically successful groups of animals and many species have become invasive and are now considered pests. The annual meeting of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in 1998 recognized the formidable problem of ant invasions to the Pacific region. The objective of the meeting was to prevent RIFA (red imported fire ant) and other invasive ant species with economic, environmental and/or social impacts, entering and establishing in or spreading between (or within) countries of the Pacific Region (Pacific Ant Prevention Plan, 2004). Read the full document here.

  • PACINET Supports Vital Training in Insect Taxonomy for the Pacific Islands

    PACINET via the National Science Foundation-funded Fiji Arthropod Survey and the Bishop Museum in Hawaii has provided funding support with assistance from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) to run the first ever postgraduate course in Insect Taxonomy at the University of the South Pacific. The intensive 8-week course runs during September and October 2006, at the University's Laucala campus in Suva, Fiji. More info.

  • Using Technology for Conservation and Sustainable Development

    A three-day regional workshop focusing on the learning of a specialised software program to assist in identifying plants and animals (taxonomy) was recently held in the Pacific Island region, at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji. Project Info

• Support for Regional Reference Collections
  • Volunteer Expressions of Interest Needed

    Volunteers are sought to support work on regional reference collections. Please see the full document here.

• Taxonomic Mentoring
  • The BioNet-Pacinet Volunteer Program

    BioNET -PACINET has recently established a formal volunteer program that primarily aims to raise awareness of the role taxonomy plays in environmental management and provide interested regional people with valuable work experience that contributes to PACINET program goals. Program info.

  • Survey of Fijian Arthropods

    University of the South Pacific postgraduate student Hilda Waqa and field assistant Viliame Takalaiyale are collecting insects in the forest at Waisoi, Namosi on the eastern side of Viti Levu, Fiji. Hilda, who's research project involves the taxonomy of beetles, uses a canopy fogging technique to collect insects, that have fallen into white cone traps that are hung approximately 1.5m off the ground. Project info

  • Support for local students

    Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) curator of fishes and gobioid fish expert Dr Helen Larson has been training Mr David Boseto, a graduate assistant in science at the University of the South Pacific (USP) for the last two weeks to identify fish species. More

• Taxonomy Related Outputs
  • Generation of Identification Keys Relevant to the Pacific Islands

    As a direct result of its AusAID sponsored LUCID software training, which was undertaken in partnership with the University of Queensland's Centre for Biological Information Technology, PACINET has begun to showcase identification keys generated by taxonomists based in the Pacific island region. More info.

• Taxonomic Consultancy
  • Taxonomy Recognised As Fundamental To Marine Biosecurity

    In recognition of the fundamental importance of taxonomy to marine biosecurity BioNET-INTERNATIONAL was invited to participate in the establishment of a Marine Biosecurity Education and Research Consortium sponsored and led by the Australian Maritime College's National Centre for Marine & Coastal Conservation. More?