Archaeologist and paleontologist Juan Carlos Cisneros tells The Scientist that researchers frequently fail to involve local groups and sometimes violate laws when studying Latin American fossils.
The field of ancient DNA, which combines archaeology and anthropology with cutting-edge genetics, is requiring scientists to have frank conversations about when research is justified and who it benefits.
P. LOWRY/MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
Over the past decade, botanist Pete Lowry has noticed a worrying trend in his field. An expert on the
Sciodaphyllum (formerly
Schefflera) genus of neotropical plants, he used to have a relatively easy time doing fieldwork abroad, he says. Now, however, he and his colleagues at the Missouri Botanical Garden face a mountain of logistical hurdles to gain permission to work in the various countries they want to visit, let alone bring samples back home with them.
For example, although one of Lowry’s study species,
S. patulum, extends from southeastern Ecuador through Peru and into Bolivia, he says he often has to limit the scope of his research to a single country to avoid engaging in the time-consuming and costly process of obtaining permits in each. It’s frustrating, he says, because “with the exception of islands and locally endemic species, species don’t know border limits. [They] occur wherever they occur.”