Activities carried out by the Department of Biology
The Biology Symposium
Student research presented at the Biology Symposium 2011
The 2011 edition of the Department of Biology’s annual Biology Symposium was held last December in the John Borg Hall at the University of Malta. As in previous years, the Symposium served to showcase undergraduate (BSc) and postgraduate (MSc and PhD) research undertaken by students in the Department. The project presentations resulted from one PhD, six MSc and 23 BSc studies, and featured topics in aquaculture, botany, conservation biology, population genetics, freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecology, fisheries biology, marine pollution, impacts of coastal development, biofuel production, the use of 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 focussed on the biology of the Wild Carrot Daucus carota. 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 Mellieha Bay and Birzebbuga, 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, and the environmental impacts of boathouses. Another project dealt with the use of remote sensing and GIS models in assessing the impacts of suspended solids in coastal waters on environmental quality and marine life. A microbiology project concerned Salmonella.
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 (Accjola), 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 Mr David Dandria, with a foreword by the Head of the Department of Biology, Dr Joseph A Borg. Copies of the booklet may be purchased from the Department of Biology (Tel: 23402850). The 2011 Biology Symposium was partly sponsored by the Environment Protection Directorate of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. 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 during the symposium were supported by funding received from the University’s Research Fund.
The Maltese Wall Lizard Podarcis filfolensis maltensis, which featured in two research projects on the local reptile fauna. Photo by Charlot Attard.
The newly discovered crab Pachygrapsus maurus, which featured in a research project on local shore crabs. Photo by Ramon Grech.
Erasmus Mundus Masters degree in Marine Biology and Convervation (EMBC)
The Department of Biology (at the University of Malta) recently hosted a group of 46 postgraduate students reading for an Erasmus Mundus Masters degree in Marine Biology and Conservation (EMBC), together with seven of their tutors, for their 2010 summer school. The visit, which was held during the period 10 to 20 July, mianly focused on project work in marine biology carried out in the field and the laboratories of the Department of Biology but also included lectures, seminars and site visits. During their visit, participants aquired knowledge of the particular physical and biological characteristics of Mediterranean marine habitats anba as exemplified by the local marine environment, which, givn that the Maltese Islands are situated practically at the centre of the Mediterranean, are very representative of the diversity of Mediterranean marine habitats and biota. Department of Biology Academic staff members Dr Joseph A. Borg and Prof Patrick J. Schembri delivered lectures and contributed to field and laboratory sessions, while the technical staff of the Department provided logistic and material support. The summer school was co-ordinated by Dr Tim Deprez from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and Dr Joseph A. Borg form the University of Malta.
For further information, please access the EMBC website from here.
The Mediterranean Seagrass Workshop 2006
Click here to proceed to the MSW Website
UNESCO-funded Practical Course in Field Biology being held as an integral part of the BSc course
The Department of Biology of the University of Malta is holding a course in field biology, on an annual basis. The course, coded ‘BIO3060 Field Biology’, now forms an integral part of the B.Sc. (Hons) degree and is held during the third year. The course was held for the first time in 2003 through funding received from UNESCO Read more....
