Guest Speaker Series: Invasive, Non-Native Species ‒ Impact on Ecological Networks and Specially Protected Areas

About the Event:

Invasive, non-native species are a key threat to biodiversity. To reduce their disruptive impact on ecological networks and ecosystem services, invasive species need to be controlled or eradicate. Specially protected areas of nature pose particular challenge for management of invasives. Limited anthropogenic activities create favorable conditions for them. This becomes particularly threatening to endemic or rare species which typically inhabit protected areas. If unmanaged, invasives can cause irreversible loss of species, ecosystems and ecosystem services. All these issues are important, and at times urgent, in specially protected areas globally as well as in Armenia. Dr. Alla Aleksanyan will discuss problems of invasive species in Armenia, their current distribution and prediction of future distribution, population dynamics, influence on other species and ecosystems. Armenia-specific cases and research will be discussed in the context of international work being done on the topic.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Alla Aleksanyan is a biologist with a background in forestry, biodiversity and ecology. She conducts fundamental scientific research as well as practical policy research on botany and ecosystems. Her main interests are invasion biology, nature conservation, climate change, and sustainable resource management. She is a member of many international ecological networks and associations and also involved as an expert in different projects of international organizations in Armenia. In addition to her scientific work, Dr. Aleksanyan heads the International Grant Projects Division of the Armenian National Agrarian University. She earned her biology Ph.D. in 2012 from the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

Language: English