Biological research snapshots

Abstract

With so much talk about the need to conduct research in areas that can generate new employment opportunities in our country, such as IT and engineering, politicians tend to sideline other areas of research. When assessing the relevance of a particular research area, we should not look only for short term deliverables, which might include patents and business opportunities, but also for contributions whose relevance to the country cannot be directly quantified. The rapidly expanding field of environmental economics is seeking to put an elusive financial tag to services provided by ecosystems. But can anyone really quantify the benefits of monitoring bathing water quality, for example, or from mapping the distribution of a rare plant species?