hen Dr. Martin Thomas brings ecological students to Bermuda, the first place he takes them to is the Botanical Gardens in Paget.

Over the years, Dr. Thomas, a Professor Emeritus at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, has probably brought hundreds of students to Bermuda, and has also taught many local students.

In July, he helped to bring out a 500-page teaching guide to the ecology of Bermuda with information about every animal and plant you could expect to find in Bermuda. The guide is for Bermudian students and teachers, and those just interested in nature. He is also the author of seven books about ecology, among them ?Introducing the Sea?, and most recently, ?The Natural History of Bermuda?.

The Botanical Gardens is often the first stop for Dr. Thomas? classes, because the gardens act as a primer on Bermuda?s plants and birds.

?We gravitate to it when we come to Bermuda,? said Dr. Thomas. ?If you want to know about plants and trees you can come to the Botanical Gardens. It is a nice open green area. It attracts people. Visitors want to know what they are seeing, because everything is a mystery when you get here. You don?t know if what you are looking at is important or not. The easiest way to find out what you are looking at is to come to the Botanical Gardens. It is a wonderful place.?

The Botanical Gardens recently came under the spotlight when it was announced that part of the Botanical Gardens could be destroyed to make way for a new hospital. Dr. Thomas said that many of the trees at the Botanical Gardens are over 100 years old, and it would cost thousands of dollars, plus a great deal of time and energy to move just one.

And when that was done there would be no guarantee if the tree would survive in its new spot.

?There are large number of people interested in natural history, gardening or birdwatching who come to Bermuda,? said Dr. Thomas. ?Without the Botanical Gardens they wouldn?t be attracted in the first place. One of the problems is you can?t put a monetary value on it. I can tell you it is worth far more than a few million a year. A lot of money is brought to Bermuda because of the Botanical Gardens.?

Dr. Thomas said the Botanical Gardens in Bermuda is known throughout the world.

?You will find very few that are better than this one,? he said. ?Other Botanical Gardens throughout the world have donated material here and vice versa, so it is also important to other countries as a source of material.

?I?m sure if it wasn?t here, I would have come to Bermuda a whole lot less than I would have. If you are trying to attract students here you have to have something to offer them.?

Dr. Thomas also said that trying to start the gardens in another place, as has been suggested, wouldn?t work either because the horticultural world does not respect a ?juvenile? botanical garden, and it takes many years for plants and trees to mature.

Dr. Thomas is originally from London, England, but grew up in a small village north of Birmingham.

?Every day I was tramping through the marshes looking at birds,? he said. ?Biologists and ecologists are not the best paid people in the world, but they have the opportunity to go to wonderful places, and the opportunity to teach. You get quality of life. The sort of ecology I do is sometimes despairingly called descriptive ecology as opposed to mathematical ecology. You find that after awhile, although you seemed trivial at first you suddenly become quite important when environmental issues come up. Then everyone suddenly wants to know your opinion about things.?

He said his interest in nature was inborn, but it took a wrong turn before he got on the ecology career path.

?I started my education in engineering,? he said. ?I think I got into the first term, got into biology and never turned back.?