Poster 36: The contribution of leisure-time researchers to biodiversity research

Leisure-time researchers can offer a valuable contribution to biodiversity studies in research areas like taxonomy, faunistics and floristics, ecology and conservation. Some groups of organisms (birds, butterflies...) enjoy a long tradition of leisure-time researcher study, other groups have been studied far less (arachnids, bryophytes...). Good leisure-time researchers can engage in field work, identification, collection management, species description. Some leisure-time researchers have produced inferior work impeding taxonomic progress or pursued commercial interests conflicting with science, but the majority are dedicated workers involving almost no labour cost. Collaboration of leisure-time researchers with scientific institutes is of prime importance in guaranteeing the quality of the work performed, the institutes offering training, follow-up, literature, loan of specimens, occasions for publication and use of equipment. On the other hand, leisure-time researchers can offer institutes valuable data, collections and joint publications. Membership of relevant naturalist societies is another prerequisite of good leisure-time research work in biodiversity. The "dochterland" group of three leisure-time researchers is briefly elaborated as an example, engaging in studies of spiders, pseudoscorpions, small butterflies, marine micromolluscs and fossil whales in collaboration with RBINS, MRAC and KULeuven.