Acopian Center Hosts Second International Scientific Conference on Biological Diversity and Conservation Problems of the Fauna of the Caucasus

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YEREVAN, Armenia – The American University of Armenia (AUA) Acopian Center for the Environment hosted the “Second International Scientific Conference on Biological Diversity and Conservation Problems of the Fauna of the Caucasus” from September 23-26, 2014.

The conference was organized jointly by the Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment.

The conference attracted an even greater number of participants than the previous, which was also held at AUA in 2011. Close to 200 scientists from around the world attended the event. Presenting countries included Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Iran, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and more.

This year’s conference added an important component – a contest for young scientists to present their work. “We hope that this will become additional motivation for young wildlife biologists, helping further develop scientific research in this field,” said Dr. Karen Aghababyan, chief scientist of the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment. Earning third prize in the contest was AUA graduate student Ms. Tatevik Arushanyan (see here for related article).

The conference covered a variety of topics related to the study of biodiversity conservation. These included:

–  Fauna, particularly species diversity, evolution, taxonomy, morphology, zoogeography, forming of flora and fauna, ecology, ethology, etc.

–  Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

–   Influence of the climate change in the biota

–   Parasitic fauna: biodiversity, ecology, host-parasite relationship, malignancy of parasites for animals and plants

–   Invasive species

–   Environmentally friendly methods (genetic, biological, chemical) of the control of parasites for animals and crops

–       Assessment and sustainable use of biodiversity and bio-resource of the Caucasus

–       Ecotourism

–       Ecological Education

The presented materials are published in the Conference Proceedings available at AUA’s AGBU Papazian Library.

Conference participants