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Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare ... I have also said that formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry ... I have also lost almost any taste for pictures or music .... My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of fact, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive ... The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature." ~ Charles Darwin |
Collecting in a streamside marsh on the Serranía de Huanchaca, 1997 |
Nur Ritter Education |
Two years ago, Martha and I returned to the northeast (New Hampshire) to work for The Nature Conservancy. Prior to that, I spent six years working with the CSU, Stanislaus Endangered Species Recovery Program and living in Fresno, CA (aka, the Garden Spot of California). Currently, I'm teaching at Franklin Pierce University (Rindge, NH).
Before moving to California, I spent seven years investigating macrophyte biodiversity in Bolivia's wetlands. During that period, my wife and I had the great good fortune to live in Bolivia, in the city of Cochabamba. In addition to the NEOAQUATICA database, I've placed a checklist of species associated specifically with Bolivian wetlands on the Bolivian Research Page. Also, a while back (February 2006) I posted an electronic copy of my dissertation online.
If anyone would like to see images of any of the species that are listed, send me a note, and I'll see if I have any slides that I could post. Additionally, some photos of fieldwork in Bolivia can be seen here. Although I'm really no longer working in the Tropics, I'm happy to communicate with anyone who is working in the New World Tropics, or is interested in this work. You can take a look at my list of publications, to see if there may be something of interest.
Also, if you happen to be the person who emailed me in early 2008 (or so) regarding literature pertaining to the flora of the Gran Pantanal: Sorry, your message arrived when I was transitioning to a new computer, and I lost the message and have no way of contacting you. If you want, e-mail me again, and I'll respond right away. Thanks.
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PROMETA: a Bolivian N.G.O. dedicated to sustainable development, and to the sustainable management of natural resources. They maintain and manage a number of reserves in southern Bolivia, and have a very active group of volunteers. This link will take you to a description (in Spanish) of their activities. |
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Birds of Bolivia: Follow this link to Sjoerd Mayer's "Bird Sounds of Bolivia / Sonidos de Aves de Bolivia" CD-ROM. Listen to some sample sounds from the CD-ROM, read site descriptions, trip reports etc. from Bolivia, or look at some mystery photographs from Bolivia. |
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File Created June, 1997 |
Last modified: November 27, 2009 |
