International Expeditions - World Leader in Nature Travel

Our workshops take travelers a step beyond just seeing these remarkable places, and allow them the opportunity to share ideas with and learn from some of the world’s leading experts on the rainforest and ecolgy. Workshoppers participate in several small-group workshop sessions, each approximately 3 hours long and involving a hands-on field experience. This format allows participants to meet and exchange ideas with the naturalists, researchers and other experts who conduct each session. Enthusiasm and a desire to learn are the only prerequisites for participation.

Explore the development of new medicines from unique plant resources.

Approximately 25% of the medicines used in the United States have active ingredients that are derived from plants. According to the World Health Organization, 80% of the people in developing countries rely on traditional medicines produced from plants. Shamans are native tribal doctors and spiritual healers who utilize their wealth of knowledge about the healing properties of the indigenous plants to treat the sick. Some ethnobotanists are actively working with Shamans to identity these unique plants and explore the phytochemical properties. However, habitat destruction, especially in developing nations, poses a significant threat to the survival of these plants and the development of future medications resulting from them. This activity allows students to understand what ethnobotany is, consider the effects of habitat destruction on ethnobotany, and to explore the medicinal value of these plants.

What are the different ways Belizean organisms can interact?

All living things interact with living and non-living things in order to survive. Interactions among organisms (living things) can be classified in three different ways: competition, predation, and symbiosis. Competition occurs when two organisms require the same sources of food, water, or shelter when supplies are limited. Both organisms are harmed due to the competition. Through evolution, one may eventually die off or adapt to make use of other sources for food, water, or shelter. Predation occurs when one organism kills and eats the other organism. The one that kills and eats is called the predator and the one that is killed and eaten is called the prey. Predators have evolved and adapted to their role by using speed, poison, venom and other lethal forces to kill their prey. Prey organisms have also adapted to their role by avoiding predators through mimicry, warning coloring, camouflage and other deterrents. The last interaction, symbiosis can be broken down into three interactions where at least one organism benefits. Mutualism is the interaction where both organisms benefit. It’s the classic “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. An example include bees and flowers where bees benefit from the tasty nectar in the flowers and flowers benefit from the bees helping them reproduce through pollination. Another mutual relationship is that of the fig and the fig wasp. Figs provide a nursery for fig wasps and fig wasps pollinate figs for reproduction. This interaction is different because Fig wasps only reproduce inside figs and figs are only pollinated by fig wasps. This is an example of a special mutualism - obligate mutualism - two organisms cannot live without each other. Another symbiotic interaction occurs when one organism benefits and the other is unaffected - commensalism. Bromeliads are plants that grow in the crevices of trees. The trees are unaffected while the bromeliad gains place to call home. The last symbiotic interaction occurs when one organism benefits and the other is harmed - parasitism. An example of parasitic interactions might involve botfly larvae making its home in the flesh of a jaguar. The botfly larvae feed on mammal flesh and the jaguar is harmed by pain and soreness. Parasites do not typically kill their hosts because if the host dies, the parasite will have to search for a new host.