Research by University students presented at Biology Symposium

Research undertaken by undergraduate (B.Sc.) and postgraduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) students was highlighted in the 2011 edition of the annual Biology Symposium organised by the University of Malta’s Department of Biology.

Seven marine ecology projects concerned sea cucumbers, an invasive alien mussel...

The symposium was held in the John Borg Hall of the Msida campus last December.

The project presentations resulted from one Ph.D. six M.Sc. and 23 B.Sc. studies, and dealt with aquaculture, botany, conservation biology, population genetics, freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecology, fisheriesbiology, marine pollution, impacts of coastal development, biofuel production, the useof plant extracts against microbes and tumour cells, and microbiology.

Three projects on terrestrial vegetation concerned studies of the vegetation associated with garrigue, sand dunes and coastal habitats, while another focused on the biology of the Wild Carrot Daucuscarota.

Two projects dealt with the influence of habitat disturbance on reptiles, and on boundary walls as a habitat for reptiles.

Seven marine ecology projects concerned sea cucumbers, an invasive alien mussel, deep-water muddy bottom habitats, habitats important for fisheries, shore crabs, the influence of fish farming on wild fish, and the impacts of desalination effluent on near-shore seabed habitats.

Conservation biology projects addressed the marine biodiversity of Merkanti Reef and Anchor Bay, and the terrestrial biodiversity of two valleys, while another project assessed two of the Malta Tourism Authority’s countryside walks. Another conservation biology project concerned the population genetics of the Painted Cromber (burqax).

Five projects on marine pollution discussed water quality at Mellieħa Bay and Birżebbuġa, the nutrient status of inshore waters, imposex (the acquisition of male sexual characteristics by females) in the Murex snail, use of a marine alga as an indicator of heavy metal pollution, andthe environmental impacts of boathouses.

Another project dealt with the use of remote sensing and GIS models in assessing the impacts of suspended solids incoastal waters on environmental quality and marine life. A microbiology project concernedSalmonella.

Catches from the kannizzati fishery were assessed in one project, while two others dealt with the effects of salinity on growth of the Greater Amberjack (aċċola), and with integrated aquaculture.

The use of microalgae for biofuel production was studied in one project, while the effects of extracts from plants belonging to the anacardiaceae (the cashew family), and others from the prickly pear, on cancer cells, were assessed in another two projects.

Abstracts of all these projects have been published in a booklet edited by David Dandria, with a foreword by the head of the Department of Biology, Joseph Borg. Copies of the booklet may be purchased from the Department of Biology (tel: 2340 2850).

The 2011 Biology Symposium was partly sponsored byMepa’s Environment Protection Directorate.

Funds for the event were also made available through the University of Malta’s Local Conferences and Exhibition Fund, while several of the research studies presented duringthe symposium were supported by the University’s Research Fund.