9th WETLAND REGIONAL TRAINING WORKSHOP, 10-27th June 2011

by

Amir Shah Ruddin Md Shah and Asyraf Mansor. School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang

 

A total of 20 participants from 18 universities (Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Japan and Malaysia) and seven international instructors were involved in the recent wetland workshop that was hosted by School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia. The workshop was jointly funded by Universiti Sains Malaysia, International Crane Foundation and United State Geological Survey (USGS).

This workshop involved intensive lectures on wetland biodiversity, hydrology, soil and socio-economy study followed by field works, data collection and analysis, report writing and presentation. During this workshop, the participants gained knowledge on wetland ecology focusing on the Penang and Perak State, of the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The participants studied wetlands covered mangrove swamp (Balik Pulau and Matang mangrove), peat swamp, flood plain, fresh water swamp (Paya Beriah) and man-made lake (Bukit Merah Lake and Temengor Lake).

With the support from Forestry Department of Malaysia, the States Forestry Department of Penang and Perak, Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, as well as the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the installation of SET (the first ever equipment been installed in Malaysia) has been successfully carried out at Balik Pulau Mangrove Forest Reserve. This is a long term collaboration research between USM and USGS which hope to provide comprehensive information about sediment deposition within selected mangrove areas of Malaysia. The workshop was officiated by Professor Abu Hassan Ahmad, Dean of School of Biological Sciences, whereas the closing ceremony was done by Professor Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Vice Chancellor of USM.

Following the success of the workshop, few follow up actions been taken to strengthen research collaborations between universities such as exchange of research staff, publication/presentation of related paper into related international seminar and others. The next regional wetland training workshop is planned to be held on June-July 2012 in China. 

World Wetlands Day Celebration at Kuala Gula, Perak State, Malaysia

Written by Yun Yun Wong,

On February 2011, I joined the internship program of Global Environment Centre (GEC) to work with the Friends of Mangrove (SHB), which based at Kuala Gula, a fishing village situated in the coastal area of northern Perak.

In conjunction with World Wetlands Day (WWD) 2011, I was assigned to organise an educational activity in the Chinese community of Kuala Gula for raising environmental awareness among the young generation. 

In Kuala Gula, the Malay community celebrate WWD annually under the organisation of SHB since 2007. But, it was the first time for the local Chinese community to involve such a special occasion. Hence, it was a challenging yet meaningful task. I had represented GEC to collaborate with the Chinese primary school, SJK(C) Yuek Hwa for celebrating WWD 2011 with the theme “Wetlands and Forests”. 

As an activity of WWD, the student members of the Nature Club of SJK(C) Yuk Hwa were invited to take part in a nature walk for exploring the adjacent mangrove wetlands. On 23^rd February 2011, a total of 34 students were registered for their first wetland adventure. At the beginning of the programme, the nature club’s guiding teacher, Ms. Lau Mei Ling was giving an opening speech to all the participants.

After the talk, the students were brought to the mangrove walkway, which located few minutes away from the school by cycling. Under the guidance of teachers, they first visited the mangrove nursery, which established and managed by SHB. The on-duty members of SHB were introducing the nursery to the students. 

The next stop was a viewing platform not far from the nursery. I was there to guide the students to observe the unique environment of mangrove forest. The students were asked to quietly check on the soil condition, tree roots, viviparous seeds and various animals that live around.

The visit was ended with a short discussion on the importance of mangrove ecosystem. After that, the students followed their teachers back to the school. During the closing session, certificates of attendance were given to the newly registered “mangrove explorers”.

This WWD activity was a successful one. The students enjoyed the outing and very much interested to learn about the mangroves. It was definitely a good starting point for promoting the environmental awareness among the local Chinese of Kuala Gula.

* The full report has been submitted to Ramsar Secretariat and it will be published in the official website of Ramsar Convention. 

Links

Global Environment Centre (GEC) (http://www.gec.org.my/)

Friends of Mangrove (SHB) (link here)

World Wetlands Day (link here) 

Earth Hour Today

Earth Hour 2011: It's time to go beyond the hour

Click HERE to find out more

Composition and abundance of phytoplankton after invasion of comb jellyfish in the southwestern Caspian Sea

^1,2Siamak Bagheri, ¹Mashhor Mansor, ²Marzieh Makaremi, ²Alireza Mirzajani, ²Hadi Babaei,²Jalil Sabkara ²Azemat Ghandi ,²Hossein Negarestan and ¹Wan Maznah W.O, ²Ali Abedini,

¹School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 11800 Penang, Malaysia

²Inland Waters Aquaculture Institute, Iranian Fisheries Research Organization (IFRO), 66 Anzali, Iran

*Corresponding author: Siamak Bagheri, email: Siamakbp@gmail.com

The spatial and temporal distribution and species composition of phytoplankton in the southwestern Caspian Sea. Samples were collected from 12 stations along three transects: Lisar, Anzali and Sefidrood. A total of 79 (69 and 46 species during in 2001 and 2002, respectively) phytoplankton species were identified, the annual average phytoplankton density were calculated as 363,000 and 201,000 cells.l^–1, respectively during 2001 and 2002. Dinoflagellates formed almost half of the total abundance (58%–52%) while cyanophytes were the second important group in view of contribution to total phytoplankton number (29%–24%). The study showed that dinoflagellate Prorocentrum cordatum and cyanophyte Oscillatoria sp. are numerically dominated species in the southwestern Caspian Sea. The average total phytoplankton number, phytoplankton composition and nutrients concentrations were drastically changed during 2001 and 2002 as compared to 1996–1997. The results showed that there was no correlation between comb jellyfish number with phytoplankton density during 2001 and 2002. Some studies linked drastic changes in the phytoplankton community with comb jellyfish invasion in the south of Caspian Sea after the year 2000. It was not possible to determine to what extent the fluctuation of the phytoplankton is due to the impact of comb jellyfish, and not should be disregarded is the influence of meteorological and hydrological teleconnections on the ecosystem of Caspian Sea (Bilio & Niermann 2004; Polonsky et al., 2004; Stolberg et al., 2006). The fluctuations of the phytoplankton community’s relationship to environmental parameters (chemical factors; pollutions) and nutrient upwelling were not extensively investigated up to now (Dumont, 1995; Kideys et al., 2008). Since the southern Caspian Sea is influenced to a high extent by fresh water inflow with a heavy load of artificial nutrients (Sharifi, 1990; Salmanov, 1999; CEP, 2006; Mirzajani et al., 2010; Bagheri et al., 2010), it is important to assess to which extent the increased eutrophication affects the phytoplankton abundance, and species composition in the Caspian Sea. We believed hydrology regime variations, depletion of silicate level, and increased nutrient concentration have played important roles in blooming of non–diatoms phytoplankton such as dinoflagellates and cyanophytes in the southwestern Caspian Sea.

  

References

Bagheri, S, M. Mashhor, M. Makaremi, A.R.  Mirzajani, H. Babaei, H. Negarestan, W.O.  Wan Maznah, 2010. Distribution and Composition of Phytoplankton in the Southwestern Caspian Sea during 2001-2002, a Comparison with Previous Surveys.  W J Fish and Mar Sci, 2: 416–426.

Bilio, M., U. Niermann, 2004. Is the comb jelly really to blame for it all? Mnemiopsis leidyi and the ecological concerns about the Caspian Sea. Mar Ecol Prog Ser. 296: 173–183.

CEP, 2006. National report, Iran. Caspian environment programme, Tech. Rep.,    Programme Coordination Unit, Baku, Azerbaijan. www.caspianenvironment.org

Dumont, H.J, 1995. Ecocide in the Caspian Sea, Nature, 377: 673–674.

Kideys, A. E.,  A. Roohi, E. Develi, F. Melin and  D. Beare, 2008. Increased chlorophyll a levels in the southern Caspian Sea, following an invasion of jellyfish. Research Letters in Ecology, Article ID 185642. pp:1–4.

Mirzajani, A.R., S.H. Khodaparast., H. Babaei., A. Abedini and A.D. Ghandi, 2010. Eutrophication trend of Anzali wetland based on 1992-2002 data. Journal of environmental studies. 35: 19-21.

Polonsky, A. B.,  D.V. Basharin, E. N., Voskresenskaya and  S. Worley, 2004. North Atlantic Oscillation: description, mechanisms, and influence on the Eurasian climate, Phys. Oceanogr. 15: 96–113.

Sharifi, M., 1990. Assessment of surface water quality by an index system in Anzali basin. The Hydrological Basis for Water Resources Management. Proceeding of the Beijing Symposium, IAHS Publ, Beijing, Chain, pp:1-197.

Stolberg, F., O. Borysova, I. Mitrofanov, V. Barannik and  P. Eghtesadi, 2006. Global international waters assessment Caspian Sea, Regional Assessment Report. University of Kalmar, Sweden. http://www.unep.org/dewa/giwa/areas/reports/r23/.

Salmanov, M. A., 1999. Ecology and Biological Productivity of the Caspian Sea. Institute of Zoology, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Cooperation between USM and ITB on Aquatic Resources

by Siti Nabilah Bt Mohd Tarmizi

The fish cages at Jatiluhur Lake

People once quote; “The world is the book, and those who do not travel read only a page”, and I could not agree more! I was involved in the 1st symposium between ITB and USM on 20 to 21 December 2010. As a graduate student, my paper on “The release of Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) to BJ Island; A case for ex-site conservation study”  have been accepted during the symposium. During the final day, Dr. Gede Suantika from ITB has invited us to visit his study site at Jatiluhur Lake. This cooperation will be pursued on future  by ITB and USM team to study the river basins and man-made lake.  

Cages are made from bamboo to prevent rotting

The trip to Jatiluhur Lake was really exciting yet opened up our minds on what we should learn from other people when travel to their places. Jatiluhur Lake, which is located halfway between Bandung and Jakarta, is the main water supply for Jakarta and had been used to generate electrical power for the region. Besides that, the lake had also been used for the irrigation of paddy fields in the surrounding areas.  The water level can reach 100m in depth, and the lake has been used by the local and foreign people to commercially breed fishes such as goldfish, carp fish and tilapia. The interesting part was when we learnt that they make the fish cages in two layers. The upper part is for the carp fish, while the lower part is for the tilapia fish. They will provide the food five times a day for two cycles. The oddment from the first layer will be eaten by the fish from the second layer, and this is the main factor why the lake is still clean and manageble although there are thousands of fish cages operating for long periodsof time at that lake. They make about about 16 billions rupiah (which is almost ten thousand ringgit) per month by practising these techniques.

Data are recorded and analyzed every month

USM and ITB team

I strongly think that we should try at our place too, not only because of the profit that we could get, but the plan they make to maintain and conserve the lake from become polluted. The choice to care for the conservation should be proud of, as caring for the lake means caring for the precious; clean air and healthy environment. “You lose sight of things..and when you travel, everything balances out” –Daranna Gidel.

The First Joint Symposium of Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) was held at Aula Timur, ITB, Bandung, Indonesia from 20-21 December 2010. The theme was " Science for Sustainable development and a better life. Fifty staff including six professors and students from USM attended the Symposium. 

The participants from USM

The Symposium was divided into four sessions. The sessions were 1) Ecology, Behaviour & Biosystematic ; 2) Physiology , Developmental Biology & Biomedicine ; 3) Microbiology, Genetics & Molecular Biology ; 4) Plant Science & Biotechnology. 

Keynote speakers, Professor Mashhor Mansor

(USM) & Professor Joko Iskandar (ITB)

Keynote lecture 1 entitled 'Conservation Ecology and Biodiversity of Malaysian flora and fauna" by Prof. Mashhor Mansor. Keynote lecture 2 entitled "Biodiversity and Conservation study in the Sundaland".

Professor Mashhor and Dr. Peter C. Boyce at Bali Botanic Garden

by Wetecol Admin 
(summary based on report entitled Laporan Kunjungan Peneliti Tamu, written by Bayu Adjie, Agung Kurniawan, Ni Putu Sri Asih)

Professor Mashhor and Dr Peter C. Boyce was invited to visit Bali Botanic Garden from 1-4th December 2010.  It was an joint effort between Kebun Raya 'EkaKarya' Bali, LIPI and School of Biological Sciences, USM to promote co-operation in research and education between the two institution.  During the visit, a series of discussions, presentation, field trips were arranged for the visiting specialists. 

During a presentation session moderated by Dr. Bayu Adjie, Professor Mashhor presented a paper entitled "The massive infestation of Mimosa pigra populations on the Lower Mekong Basin".  Dr. Peter C. Boyce then presented a paper "Taxonomy, phylogeny, and phylogeography: perspectives from the Araceae of Borneo and beyond".

The two visiting specialists made field trips to Danau Buyan and Singaraja to survey invasive plants species.  Then Dr. Peter C. Boyce with Bayu Adjie, Agung Kurniawan and Putu Sri spent time describing three suspected new species of Areaceae.  Another trip was made to Bandara Ngurah Rai, where Professor Mashhor, Dr. Peter C. Boyce and Agung made identification of the collection of Araceae climber species.

The NaGISA Western Pacific Marine Biodiversity Conference : An Overseas Experience

by Wong Yun Yun

NaGISA (Natural Geography In Shore Areas) is a Census of Marine Life field project with 8 regional offices worldwide which target to produce the first near shore habitat-specific global census. The NaGISA Western Pacific Marine Biodiversity Conference was hosted in Nagoya University of Japan on 23^rd and 24^th October 2010 to gather the near-shore benthic ecologists and taxonomists from Western Pacific regions. 

As a mangrove research student of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), I was granted to present my work in the conference under the support of The Nippon Foundation. There was another 11 participants from Malaysia, consisted of a group of 8 researchers from Marine Science Lab, USM (led by Prof. Zulfigar Yasin and Dr. Aileen Tan Shau Hwai), Mr. Sim Yee Kuang from CEMACS (Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies), USM, and Dr. Zaidi Che Cob from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Mrs. Nurul Huda binti Ahmad Ishak from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Researchers from Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and many other countries were also joining the conference.

           

The first day was the joint conference of ESABII (The East and Southeast Asia Biodiversity Information Initiative) and NaGISA in commemoration of the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) COP-10. The opening remarks were given by Prof. Yoshihisa Shirayama (NaGISA International Senior Advisor), Mr. Tomoo Mizutani (Director of Biodiversity Centre, Ministry of the Environment), Mr. Masazumi Nagamitsu (Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation) and Mr. Jesse Ausubel (Vice President of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation). The subsequent section was highlighted by the scientific presentations of the representatives from various institutes and organizations, included IPBES, Census of Marine Life, Duke University, University of Tokyo, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Biodiversity Conservation Agency of Vietnam.

During the poster exhibition, I was delighted to meet one mangrove researcher, Ms. Eunice M. Becira from Western Philippines University. She was presenting her research work namely “Bio-impact in the Mangrove Community of Tiniguiban Cove, Puerto Princesa Bay, Palawan, Philippines”. We passionately shared our ideas on the issue of mangrove research and conservation. The first day conference was then closed by a hearty welcoming dinner.

The second day was the NaGISA Western Pacific Marine Biodiversity Conference with the theme of “Conservation of Marine Biodiversity”. The researchers from Southeast Asian countries were presenting their scientific studies and the topics covered meiofauna, macrozoobenthos, corals and mangroves. I was orally sharing my research findings with the title “Propagule Dispersal and Early Development of the Mangrove Avicennia marina and Rhizophora apiculata in the Southwest Coast of Penang Island”. Even though mangrove research is not a common subject in NaGISA, I still received a lot of encouragements and good suggestions from other researchers. After the presentations, we were having the farewell dinner together and the conference was officially closed by awarding the best poster presenters (Congratulate to Ms. Teh Chiew Peng from Marine Science Lab, USM for winning this prize).  

 

It was truly a fruitful experience since I was very much inspired by the international expertises and learned valuable knowledge from their professions. I am very grateful to NaGISA, Nippon Foundation, Universiti Sains Malaysia and all the mentors for giving me a chance to have such a good exposure.    

*The full article has been submitted to DIWPA newsletter

Professor Mashhor visiting Primate Research Institute Kyoto University

Go to full link HERE

Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants from Mangrove Forests in North Sumatra, Indonesia

¹Onrizal, ²Mashhor Mansor

¹Forestry Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sumatera Utara

²School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia

The conservation of ethnomedicinal plants of mangrove forests in North Sumatra is reported.  Ethnobotanical data were obtained by using semi-structured interviews and field observations. Four field sites namely (1) Kuala Serapuh-Kuala Gebang, (2) Jaring Halus, (3) Pulau Sembilan and (4) Bandar Khalifah were selected. Traditional medicine practitioners in four field sites were interview. Forty eight plant species of mangrove plants belonging to 23 families was identified in the four sites. The mangrove plants consist of 29 species of true mangroves and 19 species of mangrove associate. Based on our observation there are several local communities that commonly use nine mangrove plants, i.e. Acanthus illicifolius, Avicennia alba, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Excoecaria agallocha, Rhizophora apiculata, Nypa fruticans, Sonneratia alba and Xylocarpus granatum for curing various diseases. Indigenous knowledge of mangrove plants as medicinal material was relative different between field sites where Jaring Halus community was the highest users of mangrove plants (7 species) and followed by Serapuh community (3 species) and Banda Khalifah community (1 species). No mangrove plant is used as a medicinal plant by the Pulau Sembilan community. The decreasing population of mangrove plant community is due to widely destruction of mangrove sites. Apparently with this massive destruction, several species of medicinal plants are destroyed. Therefore this result can be used as a basis for developing management plans for conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants in the area.

Keywords: mangrove plants, enthnobotany, medicinal plants, North Sumatra

The conservation of inland fish in Endau Rompin State Park, Johor

by Mashhor Mansor

(From left) Professor Mashhor Mansor, Karam Singh Walia,
Dato Sri Ghani Othman, Tun Abdullah Badawi

On 30^th July 2010, I was invited by Hj Abu Bakar Mohamed Salleh, Pengarah Taman Negara Johor to give a briefing on the protection of inland fish in Taman Negara Endau Rompin to Tun Abdullah Badawi, and Johor Menteri Besar Dato Sri Ghani Othman. 

I was interviewed by Mr.Karam Singh Walia from TV3 on the protection and conservation of our riverine fishes from facing extinction.

Natural regeneration and rehabilitation of Aceh mangrove forests five years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

¹Onrizal and ²Mashhor Mansor

¹Forestry Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sumatera Utara

²School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract

The Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 caused catastrophic destruction to coastal communities. Disturbance is an important factor in structuring ecological communities, exerting its influence through changes to the physical environment and to the trajectories of succession processes. We conducted survey in Aceh to look at plant species that are resilient to the onslaught of 30-meter tidal waves which devastated the Aceh coastal zones killing more than 150,000 people in Aceh alone.  The surveys was conducted during April to December 2009 or around five years after the 2004 tsunami in order to observe and record the emergence of several existing plant species as well as new ones that were caused by the tsunami. We also studied the survival of the rehabilitated mangrove forests after the tsunami disaster. Our result show that the disturbance habitat of mangrove forest in Northern Sumatra due to earthquake and tsunami disaster caused change in plant community. In our research site, mangrove tree Rhizophora apiculata and mangrove palm Nypa fruticans was found to migrate land-wand via seedling recruitment, naturally. Some mangrove plants species such as Avicennia marina, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Bruguiera sexangula, Ceriops tagal, Rhizophora apiculata, Rhizophora mucronata, Sonneratia alba, Sonneratia caseolaris, Nypa fruticans and Acrostichum aureum (mangrove fern) seemed to thrive well in the natural stands. However along the intertidal coastal zone, new species such as Typha latifolia are widely colonizing the zone.  Most of the disturbed habitats are occupied with weedy species such as Calotropis gigantea and the noxious weedy species Mimosa pigra. Mangrove fern Acrostichum aureum population occupy the open areas left by mangrove plant communities or unmanaged aquaculture pond. The true mangrove species such as Rhizophora apiculata and Rhizophora mucronata are most popular selected in mangrove rehabilitation after tsunami disaster. The successful degree of mangrove rehabilitation are varied from low to middle survival due to some reason such as mistakes in the selection of planting sites, unsuitable choice of plants, insufficient preparation, inadequate guidance, no tending of the plants, and the low capacity of human resources. It should be noted that before 26^th December 2004, most of the mangrove coastal zones had been destroyed to make way for aquaculture ponds. Since the mangroves provide a natural barrier, more human lives could probably be saved during the tsunami. Unfortunately, due to high demand of aquaculture products such as shrimps, prawns and fish, the widespread destruction of these mangrove forests was unmanaged. Therefore, mangrove forests should be rehabilitated and conserved very well in the future.

Keywords: mangroves, natural regeneration, rehabilitation, resilient, tsunami, Aceh

Paper presented at “An International Workshop for Conservation Genetics of Mangroves will be held on 11-12 Feb. 2009 at the Iriomote Station of the Tropical Biosphere Research Center, the University of Ryukyus”

Carbon reserve at mangrove forests in North Sumatra

Onrizal & Mashhor Mansor

Abstract

Mangrove deforestation and degradation will be influence on the forest carbon stock and to be one of substantial factor of climate change. The objective of this research was to estimate the carbon stock of mangrove forests under different management type in North Sumatra. A total of 16 sampling plots on the four mangrove management types (4 on each type) were surveyed during July-August 2009. At each sampling site, four plots (30 m x 30 m) were layout, and all trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 5 cm were identified and the DBH and height were recorded. The highest of carbon stock was found in village/community forests (78.39 ± 43.31 t C/ha), and followed by conservation forests (22.39 ± 9.54 t C/ha), production forests without cutting for charcoal (10.09 ± 3.29 t C/ha), and the lowest of carbon stock was found in production forests with cutting for charcoal (2.47 ± 2.22 t C/ha). The research result show that the mangrove forests under village/community forests is better than others forest management type within carbon reserve in North Sumatra. Therefore, the traditional wisdoms in mangrove forests management should be promoted to mitigate the climate changes.

Keywords: mangrove, carbon reserve, forest management, North Sumatra 

Paper presented at ATBC International Symposium 19-23 July 2010 in Bali, Indonesia

The University Networking for Wetland Research and Trainings in the Lower Mekong Basin

Mashhor Mansor

School of Biological Sciences

Universiti Sains Malaysia

(mashhor@usm.my)

wetecol@gmail.com

Although there are a number of cooperative programs that are being established by ASEAN countries, however one of the significant projects is the ASEAN universities networking on the training of wetlands. The eighteen consortium universities have been able to run these programs for eight continuous years on a yearly basis. It has produced 180 alumni in the 7 countries including China. Most of the universities are from countries in the lower Mekong Basin namely Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam.

On the 4^th July 2010 during the welcoming speech on the 8^th Regional Training Course on Wetland Ecology, Dr. Sansanee Choowaew from Mahidol University, Thailand, stated the reason why the 18 universities particularly from the Lower Mekong Basin established a networking. This is because the Mekong River about 4500 km long and the longest river in Southeast Asia, has a strong socio economic, cultural and environmental impact on counties in the Mekong basin. It flows through six countries including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It played a major role in providing the livelihood including food security and natural resources for these countries. Consequently there are several environmental threats to the river ecosystem.  

This networking was initiated during university executive meeting in 2002 in Vietnam. The 1^st signing of agreement on the academic cooperation was held at Mahidol University on 22^nd May 2003 with 8 members. The 2^nd signing was held on the 15th February 2008 at Mahidol University where 13 members including Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Datuk Professor Omar Othman represented USM during the signing ceremony. USM team directly involved during the 7^th Wetland Training Course in Lao PDR and the 8^th Wetland Training Course, currently held in Cambodia from 4^th to 18^th July 2010.

The participants of the 8^th Regional Training Course on Lower Mekong, 

Prof Dr.Ngo Bunthan is seated third from right.

Prof. Dr. Ngo Bunthan, the Acting Rector of Royal University of Agriculture officiated the 8^th Wetland Training Course. In his speech he described the history of the Royal University of Agriculture. The university was founded in 1964. Unfortunately the University was closed from 1975 to 1978 during the dark period. With the help of Soviet Union the Ministry started the education program with a degree. Currently eight faculties are established and most are closely related to agriculture.

The instructors for the 8^th Training Course on the boat in

Mekong River coming back from the field work

Each of the participants was selected based on merit and recommendation from their own universities. Most of them are MSc holders and a few with PhD degrees. They are mostly researchers or new lecturers. The universities involved are Mahidol, Chulalongkorn, Kasertsart and Mahasarakham from Thailand. The Vietnamese Universities are Nong Lam, Ho Chi Minh City, An Giang, Professor Tay Nguyen and Can Tho. The Royal University of Agriculture and the Royal University of Phnom Penh are from Cambodia. Lao PDR represented by National University Loa PDR and Champassack University. Yezin Agriculture University from Myanmar and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) from Malaysia and these countries are represented by one university. China is represented by National Plateau Wetlands Research Center. 

During the 7^th Training and Workshop that was conducted in Champassak Province Lao PDR., I was one of the trainers and Mr.Amir Shah Ruddin as one of the trainees. It was the first time that Malaysians involvement in the exercise. Among the trainers were Dr.Duong Van Ni from Can Tho University, Dr. Nantana Gajaseni from Chulalongkorn University, Dr. Tran Triet from Ho Chi Minh City University and Dr. Sansanee Choowaea from Mahidol University. The study wetland sites were Ban Chan Nai and Ban Chan Nok in Champassak Province Lao PDR.

Field work along Mekong River

Field preparation was one of the important component during the training program.  Field work was relatively tough and rough as we have to brave the swampy habitats where the biggest problems were leeches and hidden venomous snakes. Many of the participants cannot stand the leeches otherwise field exercise was relatively enjoyable. 

The field trip at the flooded forest at Stung Treng Province, Cambodia