Making research findings relevant and accessible in the communities where we work: our experience creating agrobiodiversity catalogs in the Peruvian Andes

Ethnobiology research often depends on healthy collaborations with communities. These collaborations, however, should not end with fieldwork. Instead, we must explore creative means to share findings with collaborators. We describe a project we carried out in an effort to 1) be transparent with respect to research process and findings, 2) respond to needs expressed by communities, 3) offer gratitude to participants, and 4) contribute to local and regional agrobiodiversity conservation. We created catalogs describing the diversity of the Andean tuber, oca (Oxalis tuberosa), with respect to traditional knowledge and genetic data. We then printed and distributed these catalogs to participating farmers, research collaborators, and local government officials in Cusco Region, Peru. Projects such as ours are often difficult to execute for reasons related to time, funding, and training. We reflect on our experience as it relates to these challenges and share the lessons we learned along the way.