4^th International Conference on Biodiversity June 15-17, 2015 Las Vegas, USA

Biography:

I am approaching the end of my PhD candidate in the department of Geography, University of Portsmouth. I hold a Bachelor of Technology B Tech. degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi in Nigeria and a Masters’ degree MSc in Coastal and Marine Resource Management from the University of Portsmouth. I have been working with the Nigeria’s National Boundary Commission since 2003 and severally held various positions cutting across administration, research & policy analysis, interstate boundaries and maritime boundaries & geo-informatics departments. Some of the positions I held include Admin Officer II, Planning Officer I, research officer I, Senior Planning Officer and Principal Planning Officer to date. I have been appointed as the Desk Officer, Nigeria-Sao Tome & Principe maritime boundary since 2011. My current investigation is continuing to build on my previous study that looked at the sustainable management of marine resources along the Gulf of Guinea; most specifically on the applicability of applying the Transboundary Waters Programme-Large Marine Ecosystems (TWAP-LME) indicators to examine marine fishery sustainability in an area that may be referred to as an area of sub-LME scale within an identified LME. Some of teaching-related duties I have been involved in include Coastal and Marine Resource Management marine policy and conservation unit, postgraduate tutorials on the concept of Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) framework and assessment in addition to assisting the course leader in preparation of workshops, seminars and invigilating poster presentations.

Abstract:

In 1999, the officials of the Nigerian and Sao Tome & Principe’s governments embarked upon delineating their maritime boundary. They discovered that the two nations’ maritime boundary overlapped as a result of establishing their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); and this area of overlap was found to have enormous hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon resources. Several meetings and negotiations ensured and the area of overlap designated a joint development zone (JDZ). The aim of the research is to evaluate the viability and effectiveness of implementing the recently published Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme-Large Marine Ecosystem TWAP LME indicators to the Nigeria-Sao Tome & Principe Joint Development Zone (JDZ)-an area of sub-LME scale- given the characteristics of the JDZ and particularly the extent of Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing around the area. An interview and questionnaire survey was conducted on some selected stakeholders where findings revealed a clear lack of information exchange among critical stakeholders, inadequate attention to living resource exploitation in a joint development designated to cover both living and non-living resources, lack of a coherent mechanism to tackle issues of IUU fishing practices among others and most importantly lack of or ignorance on the use and employment of indicators for marine ecosystem assessment as encouraged by scientists. The analysis further revealed inadequate institutional frameworks in place for designating where the two nations’ jurisdictions starts and ends. This is because some of the stakeholders find it difficult to draw a line to their exact areas of jurisdiction in terms of asserting controls over the transboundary marine fishery resources. Although the 1995 agreement on straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks is expected to take care of such difficulty; it is noteworthy that some of the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RMFOs) around the Gulf of Guinea (GOG) do not have jurisdictions over all the GOG countries thereby making apportionment of control difficult albeit confusing. Results from the survey was further compared and evaluated against international best practices from which recommendations emerged and examples from other successful applications such as the North Sea on the use and deployment of indicators for marine resource assessment especially in joint development context are drawn. It is therefore the conclusion of this paper that lessons learnt, when applied to the research area may simplify these difficulties and probably be applied elsewhere in a similar scenario. While more explicit legal dimension and interpretations of such situations are recommended for further research with a view to identifying where legal instruments such the 1995 agreement are optimal or sub-optimal in terms of proffering adequate solutions to such imbroglios. This is expected to put to rest jurisdictional issues from among a variety of stakeholders in a joint development arrangement over shared marine fishery resources in addition to contributing towards developing sub-LME indicators.

Biography:

Ballagere Puttaraju Harini has done M.Sc. Ph.D from University of Mysore, Mysore. Field of specialization in Drosophila Cytogenetics & Evolutionary genetics. She has been awarded UPG: JRF; UPG:SRF ; CSIR:SRF; DBT: Project Associate; DBT: Post Doctoral Fellow. She has done her Post doctoral in National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, Bangalore (2001-2003) and she appointed as an Assistant Professor at Bangalore University in 2003. Three Major Research Projects awarded from UGC, BRNS & DST, Govt. of India. Honoured Fellow of FISBT (2010) from International Society of Biotechnology. Guided 12 M.Phil and 04 Ph.D students. Published about 40 Research papers in national and international reputed journals with high impact factor to mention few Int J. of Biodiver & Conser.Genetica, BMC Int J. of Evolu Bioly, Current Science etc. & presented research findings in 55 national & international conferences. Member of various organization ISCA, ISCB, ISHG & ISBT.

Abstract:

Environment and termite distribution always complement each other for bringing morphological variation, the study help us to understand the reason for its prevalence and also variation. In view of this, the current work is a continuation of the contribution to the taxonomic understanding of the species in terms of intercolonial variations among the soldier castes of different species. The study is based on the collection of termite samples from different localities of Jnanabharathi (JB), Bangalore University Karnataka, and India. Morphometric variations among the soldier samples from thirty three nests of five species namely, Odontotermesceylonicus (Wasmann), O. horni(Wasmann), O. obesus (Rambur), O. redemanni (Wasmann) and Trinervitermesbiformis (Wasmann) (Isoptera, Termitidae). The reliability of the measurements depends on the extent of variability of the morphological structures observed between the colonies. Further, the five species recorded were clustered based on coding the mean values followed by Manhattan distance.The Tukey-Kramer test values were coded followed by Mcquity distance andthe dendrograms obtained were compared to ascertain the extent of the morphological relationship among the species.

Biography:

I R Udotong received his Ph.D in Applied / Environmental Microbiology from the Rivers State University of Science & Technology, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 2000. He has worked in multi-national Oil & Gas Industries and participated in some professional training programs in Europe and Nigeria. His current research interest includes Metagenomics of the Niger Delta environment, Environmental monitoring and Waste management in the oil & Gas Industries. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, University of Uyo, Nigeria, having risen through the ranks to the rank of a Professor of Environmental Microbiology in 2007. He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Microbiology (NSM); Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) and Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN).

Abstract:

Environmental pollution due to oil and gas exploration and production (O&G E&P) wastes disposal and oil spills following several decades of irresponsible practices and neglects by the operating companies and over-dependence of government on the oil sector remains the major problem in the oil-producing communities in Nigeria. Studies to ascertain the ecological status of a remote Aviation fuel-contaminated sediment of a lentic ecosystem in Ibeno, Nigeria, have been have been carried out using standard microbiological culture - dependent methods which captures only <1% of all microorganisms present in a sample. The results from these studies were therefore inaccurate and grossly misleading. In this study, sediment samples from this lentic ecosystem in Ibeno, Nigeria previously polluted by Aviation fuel in 2001 (about 14 years ago) were collected and analyzed to assess its microbial diversity using standard microbiological culture - dependent techniques as well as the use of metagenomic techniques involving community DNA extraction, sequencing and bioinformatics analyses. Standard microbiological culture - dependent techniques revealed the presence of only six (6) genera of bacteria and four (4) genera of fungi. The results of metagenomics studies of same sample revealed that the ecosystem harbors complex microbial consortia as shown by the phylogenetic dendrogram to include members of the bacterial, archaeal and eukarya genera. These results corroborate the ‘great plate count anomaly’ principle and demonstrate that the use of metagenomic techniques will redefine the actual ecological status of the environment.

Biography:

Sheikh Saeed Ahmad has done his Ph.D in Plant Sciences (Environmental Biology) from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan (2006).Currently working as an Associate Professor in the department of Environmental Sciences at Fatima Jinnah Women University. Won several achievements including six Research projects in which 3 are completed and three are ongoing projects and also participated in several International trainings & Conferences. Got HEC best university teacher award (2011) and Research Productivity Award for four consecutive years (2010-2013). Published more than hundred Papers in International Journals and Several Books are authored.

Abstract:

The present study was conducted at Korang River, Islamabad to identify plants communities grouping and quantification of floristic composition using ordination techniques. Data collection was done for herbaceous flora. Random sampling approach was applied using quadrat of 1×1 square meters. Visual cover estimation was noted down for each plant. A whole of 21 species according to 14 families were identified. TWINSPAN (Two Way Indicator Species Analysis) classified 4 sub-communities, named as Ajuga-Xanthium, Plantago-Malvastrum, Oxalis-Euphorbia and Coronopus-Parthenium. DCA (Detrended Correspondence Analysis) results demarcated four groups and the frequent species were Cannabis sativa, Cynodondactylon and Coronopusdidymus. Multidimensional scaling or nonmetric multidimensional scaling was used to extract nonlinear variables in composition of species. The whole dataset was evaluated by Monte Carlo test in order to evaluate stress/pressure as dimensionality function.

Biography:

Marija Minic has a Master of Sciences in Biodiversity and Conservation from the University of Leeds in the U.K. Growing up in Toronto, Canada, she became familiar with the vegetation and birds of the Carolinian forests of southern Ontario, then travelled to Hong Kong for 4.5 years, where she studied the effects of boat traffic on the diving behaviour of the Chinese white dolphin (sub-population of the Indo-Pacifi c humpback dolphin, Sousa chinensis). Also in Asia, she worked in the rain forest of Negros Island in the Philippines, then moved to the Mojave Desert in 2008, where she has worked on desert fl ora and fauna, with an emphasis on Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii), to the present. She will speak on the effects of large-scale solar plants on Mojave desert wildlife.

Abstract:

The need for greater development of clean energies including solar technology has been generally well received by the public and is widely accepted as a necessary shift to reduce dependence on foreign oil and domestic coal while allowing for continued energy consumption rates. However, the placement of large-scale solar installations has proven problematic for wildlife and threatens to degrade and fragment habitat. Currently, many project sites are located in remote areas, great distances from the cities they are intended to serve. This results in considerable energy loss during transmittal from source to sink as well as collateral environmental impacts on sensitive desert environments. Habitat amount is positively correlated with biodiversity across taxa and one of the greatest threats is human land use resulting in loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitat. Many species are impacted by this development. The Mojave Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), a federally threatened species is endemic to the Mojave and often found in high densities in solar development areas. This species requires ecological heterogeneity and has a large home range (≥1 km2). Strategies for recovery include protecting existing tortoise populations while reducing habitat loss which is presently at odds with large-scale solar installation placement in the southwest. Currently, translocation and monitoring are accepted minimization strategies; however, neither addresses habitat loss which is essential for recovering populations. Additionally, many species of birds including songbirds, raptors and waterfowl living in or migrating through the Mojave, fly directly over solar energy development zones. Due to the remote placement of installations in previously undisturbed areas factors such as the appearance of arrays as bodies of water to passing birds has resulted in large losses (3504 bird mortalities from October 2013-October 2014) which are likely to continue and could lead to substantial population declines across avian species. A solution to this issue which allows for continued development of solar energy while maintaining intact wilderness areas for the sustainable existence and support of southwestern biodiversity is sitting solar installations closer to the urban centers they feed. Not only would this result in a more efficient transfer of energy, it allows for environmentally responsible solar energy development with a reduced footprint and respect for the unique ecological diversity and sensitivity of the American southwest.

Biography:

Hosein Arzani has done his Ph.D on range managament and his research interests are range management, range monitoring, forage quality and RS. Currently he is a professor for College of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Iran and he has written eight books and published one hundred papers.

Abstract:

This paper follows FAO model of suitability analysis. Influential factors affecting extensive grazing are determined and converted into a model. 6 different regions with different climate and features in Iran were examined for common types of grazing animals and advantages and limitations were elicited. All range ecosystems’ components affect range suitability but due to the time and money restrictions, the most important and feasible elements were investigated. From which three sub models including water accessibility, forage production and erosion sensitivity were considered. Suitable areas in four levels of suitability were calculated using GIS. This suitability modeling approach was adopted due to its simplicity and the minimal time that is required for transforming and analyzing the datasets. Managers could be benefited from the model to devise the measures more wisely to cope with the limitations and enhance the rangelands health and condition.

Biography:

Apolonia Diana Sherly has achieved her Master of Science Graduation in Environmental Science contetrated in Geo-Info for Spatial Planning and Disaster Management in Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta , Indonesia. Now, she is a Candidate of Doctor in Institute of Social Geography, University of Jena, Jena Germany. Besides, she is a young researcher in Community Association for Disaster Management, the Non-Government Organization in Kupang City of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia and young scientists in Indonesian National Committee for Applied Systems Analysis (INCASA), under Presidential Working Unit, Indonesia

Abstract:

Community perception has its contribution in the flood disaster management process. The research’s aim at producing the flood event map according to the community perception. The collected data is based on a participatory approach. The sampling methods applied in this study were purposive sampling and stratified sampling. The flood data was obtained through interview with 60 respondents based on research questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The results of interview from respondents and FGD have shown similar flood data on flood frequency, flood extent and waterdepth. The frequency of flooding occurred from 1939, 1959, 1975, 1979, 1999 until 2012. Every time flood hits the study area, all sites were inundated. While, the average duration of inundation in the study area (i.e., Lasaen, Umatoos and Fafoe) was started from 24 hours (1day) it’s minimum and up to three weeks or up to 1 month evenly it’s maximum. The waterdepth of three Villages are varies between 60 cm and 300 cm. Thus, possess a direct impact on people daily needs, with losses reaching more that Rp. 1,000,000,00,- and Rp. 200,000,00,- it’s less minimum.

Biography:

Nkechi Emea Ibisi is a chemist involved in teaching and research at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. She received her PhD in Physical Chemistry from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture after a one year doctoral research at the University of Science and Technology China(USTC). Two years later, she proceeded to USTC for her post-doctoral studies on copper embedded on hexagonal boron nitride(h-BN) sheet a low-dimensional material for catalytic oxidation of CO. The theoretical calculations were performed with density functional theory(DFT) electronic structure program using DMOl3 software. She has a certificate on Information and Communication Technology in Education from UNESCO – Bangkok e-learning series. In addition to teaching and research, she is a regular contributor to women and gender issues and enthusiastic about community programs to build and enhance opportunities for women and the girl child. She is currently the Deputy Director for the Center for Gender and Child Development at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture.

Abstract:

Introduction: The use of chemical inhibitor  for low-carbon steel corrosion has been investigated to be the most practical and cost effective means of preventing corrosion, however some plants extracts contains various organic compounds (e.g. Alkaloids, tannins, proteins, saponin, pigments, organic and amino acids); which some have been reported to possess corrosion inhibition abilities. This present study has a dual purpose; first to further establish the effectiveness of plant extracts as corrosion inhibitors and second to attempt deduction of the inhibition mechanism and possible adsorption modes of the extract’s active components.

Methods: Gravimetric experiments: This technique is based on the principle of weight loss as previously described in literature. However experiments were conducted at 30°C, 50°C and 60°C.
Theoretical Modeling Simulations: All theoretical calculations were performed with the density functional theory (DFT)(5) electronic structure programs using DMol3 with generalized gradient approximation(GGA) as contained in the Materials Studio 5.5 software.
Results & Discussion: The corrosion process was inhibited by adsorption of the extract organic matter of Aspilia africana on the steel surface and addition of potassium iodide (KI) synergistically increased the inhibition efficiency of the extract. Adsorption of the phytochemicals on the surface of the metal conformed to langmuir, temkin and freundlich isotherm. The DFT-based quantum chemical computation of parameters associated with the molecular electronic structures of one of the active constituents of the leave extract (Inositol) confirmed their corrosion inhibiting potential and established their individual contributions to the observed inhibiting effect.
Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, the following were concluded; 1) The corrosion of low-carbon steel in HCl increases with increase in concentration of the acid and also with the period of contact and temperature. 2) Corrosion inhibition of Aspilia africana is attributed to chemisorptions of the phytochemical components of the extracts on the surface of the metal.

Biography:

John David is a vibrant university professor in Shiats University, India, in the field of Dairy Technology, having a teaching experience of 21 years. He is a passionate research worker having more than 80 research publication in his credit. Prof. David has guided 10 Ph.D. theses. He has written 7 books of national and international repute in the field of Food and Dairy Technology. He has been bestowed with Young Scientist award in the year 2006 and has been honored with “Pride of the Nation” (Rashtriya Gaurav) and “Gem of Education” (Shiksha Ratan) award for his distinguished service to the nation in the year 2014.

Abstract:

Man’s inquisitive desire to relish tasty food has now changed to food that has therapeutic and curative properties. Past two decades has witnessed a tremendous increase in worldwide scale of cultured products containing probiotic bacteria. Most probiotic strains are used in ice cream, fermented milks, yoghurts and pharmaceutical products for their anecdotal health effect. Probiotic bacteria have been incorporated into fermented and non-fermented ice cream which is an ideal vehicle for delivery of this organism in the human diet. Microencapsulation is a useful tool to improve the delivery of bioactive compounds into foods, particularly probiotics, minerals, vitamins, phytosterols, lutein, fatty acids and antioxidants. Microencapsulation of bacterial cells is currently gaining attention to increase viability of probiotic bacteria in probiotic ice cream. An attempt has been made to develop probiotic ice cream using Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum by micro encapsulation of probiotic cultures with addition of growth promoters (Ginger & Honey) and cryoprotective agent (Glycerol). Thus, from the above studies it can be concluded that probiotic ice cream (T1) prepared from whole milk with 6% fat & 9% S.N.F. ,15% sugar, 0.5% emulsifier/stabilizer plus probiotic cultures was found to be best for colour and appearance, body and texture. Whereas as per shelf life of the product concern, encapsulated probiotic culture (T2) found to be the best even after 30 days. As per flavour and taste, melting resistance and overall acceptability, probiotic ice cream with Ginger and Honey (T4) found to be best among all the treatment.

Biography:

R. K. Pandey is the Head of Forest Ecology, Environment and Biodiversity Divisions, in the Madhya Pradesh State Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, India. He has wide experience in in-situ and ex-situ biodiversity conservation, sustainable management in natural tropical forest, EIA/EMP and Wildlife Management etc. He is an author of several scientific books, bulletins, research papers and associated in national and international scientific events. He has been award in "World Biodiversity Congress-2015" as best presenter. Being team leader in more than 60 sponsored projects in community oriented in-situ and ex-situ forest resource management in tropical forests of India envisaged his authority in biodiversity conservation.

Abstract:

Conservation and sustainable management of forest genetic resources, particularly commercially important NTFPs are challenging tasks in government owned tropical forests of India. Gradual deterioration and reduction of forest area, increasing demand coupled with invasion of alien species are the major factors, have imposed threat on survival of most of the indigenous wild genetic resources in-situ. NTFP species subjected to over exploitation are either disappeared or on the verge of extinction in almost all potentially rich tropical forests of India. In the prevailing conditions, natural forests has been a major concern of managers, policy makers and forest dependent people at large, being direct impact on conservation, ecological perpetuation, and socio-economic security of the region.
India is one of the 12 mega diversity regions having vast variety of fl ora and fauna. Wide ranges of physical features and climatic conditions have resulted into diverse ecological habitats in the form of various forest types. Forestry is the second largest land use aft er agriculture and almost all the forest areas are owned by State governments. Th ese forests harbor about seven per cent of world’s fl ora comprising of 328 families with 21,000 representative plant species. India has a recorded forest area of 76.84 m ha, which is 23 % of the total geographical area of the country (FSI, 2003). About 300 million people belonging to rural poor and tribal communities depend on forest resources particularly, non timber forest produces (NTFPs) for their livelihood. A large population of the country’s livestock (about 18 % of the world) depends upon forests for grazing, which is one of the important factors for serious damage to forest regeneration, growth and production of natural tropical forests.
National forest Policy (NFP) 1988 of India, defi nes the primary goals of forest management, as fi rst to conserve the natural environment, second to meet the requirement of local people (tribal and rural poor population) from the forest produces and the third as a source of wood and other products for industries and other non-local uses (FSI and FAO, 2004). JFM system has been constituted, aiming to “the sharing of responsibilities for protection, produces and decision making with local communities over forest lands between forest department (owner stakeholder)” through judicious use of limited resources on sustainable manner. Nearly, all states of Indian Union have passed the JFM resolution (1990), and more than 65,000 joint forest management committees (JFMCs) have been constituted (FSI, 2003).
It is now widely accepted that the rural people living in and around forests are the key stakeholder for in-situ conservation and sustainable management of regional biodiversity of tropical forest of India in the forest management process. Severity of problems of in-situ conservation and non sustainable collection of forest genetic resources are the challenging task for sustainable management of forest resources and livelihood security of forest dependent people. Community oriented integrated ecosystem approach for sustainable harvesting of utilizable forest resources have been initiated by the State Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, (M.P.) India through several case studies in natural tropical forests. Th e paper embodied a comprehensive model of develop technology for sustainable harvesting and management of indigenous forest genetic resources through strategic community oriented skill and capacity building programmes with strict institutional management interventions. Developed technologies as an eff ective tool for conservation and sustainable management of regional biodiversity in natural tropical forests are discussed in this paper.

Biography:

Saad Al-Shahrani is an associate professor at Chemical engineering department, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He received his PhD in chemical engineering at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), United Kingdom, in 2004. His current research focuses on the removal of heavy metals from soil and aqueous solutions.

Abstract:

Application of Saudi activated clay (bentonite) to remove copper and zinc from wastewater was investigated. Natural local clay which was obtained from Khulays bentonite deposit was selected and activated using sulfuric acid to increase its adsorptive capacity. The removal characteristics of copper and zinc ions from wastewater were investigated under various operating variables such as shaking time, solution pH, clay amount, initial metal concentration and counter ions. Batch scale experiments were carried out for a wide range of initial metals concentration. The results showed that the sorption of copper and zinc ions on Saudi activated clay was relatively fast and the equilibrium was achieved after only 20 min. The sorption data suggests that solution pH was the most important parameter in controlling copper and zinc sorption onto bentonite. They also showed that increasing the initial metal concentration decreased metal removal percentage due to the saturation of clay with metal ions. Furthermore, the adsorption of copper and zinc ions increase with increase in solution pH. The adsorption isotherm data were well fitted with the linearized Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) models. The maximum adsorption (qmax) for copper and zinc on Saudi activated bentonite equals to 5.26 and 3.4 mg/g respectively. Copper and zinc adsorption onto Saudi activated bentonite was well represented by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Saudi activated bentonite can be considered as a promising adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater.