Henrik Balslev has worked a university professor in Aarhus for over 35 years. Most of his fieldwork has been in the tropics, particularly in the Andes and the Amazon of Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. Lately he has also worked in Thailand. His research is focused on plant and covers systematics and ecology, but also includes how humans use plants, especially among traditional cultures. This research field is called ethno-botany or ethno-ecology. He has headed several large projects in tropical countries with economic support from various Danish research foundations and from the European Community. He has studied the palms of the Amazon basin in particular and especially their ecology and economic botany. In Thailand he heads the multinational project Flora of Thailand with support from the Carlsberg Foundation.eHe has taught various plante related subjects at Aarhus University and has supervised over 100 MSc and PhD thesis students in i Denmark, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, and Kenya
Hanna Tuomisto is a professor at the University of Turku. Her research focus is on biogeographic, taxonomical and ecological aspects of tropical ferns. She has been carrying out fieldwork trips to Amazonia in the last 30 years and with collaborators, built an extensive and harmonized dataset of fern inventories across the basin.
Gabriela Zuquim is a tropical ecologist who completed her Master´s at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, Brazil and her PhD at the University of Turku, Finland. Her research is focused in Amazonian biogeography, more specifically, the interaction between geological history, environment and species distribution. She has extensive experience in fieldwork and in identifying Amazonian ferns.
Jasper Van doninck is a geographer. He completed his PhD degree at the University of Ghent, Belgium and did a postdoc at the University of Turku, Finland. His current focus is in remote sensing and the use of LANDSAT spectral data in biogeography and conservation studies in Amazonia.
Kalle Ruokolainen is a biologist focusing on Amazonian landscape evolution and its effects in the distribution of plants, in particular Melastomataceas.
