Mangrove
vegetation structure
dynamics
and regeneration
Thesis Philosophiae Doctor Scientiarum
Farid Dahdouh-GuebaS
Expertise
Home expertise and co-operation in the research framework presented
Since
the 1980’s, Belgian universities have acquired an internationally recognised
leading expertise in the East-African mangrove research, and co-operated with
various international institutes and universities.
Under the VLIR/ABOS
(Flemish Interuniversity Council / Belgian
Development Cooperation Agency) funded Kenya-Belgium Project in Marine
Sciences (KBP), each university performed research in its domain in
co-operation with the Kenyan Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI).
The Free University of Brussels (VUB) concentrated on the functioning
of the mangrove-ecosystem, trophic relations, oyster farming and mangrove
regeneration
and
restoration, the
University of Ghent (UG) on
mangrove meiofauna and the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) on mangrove
fish assemblages.
The
VUB spread its expertise by co-operating with the United Nations Environmental
Program (UNEP), the Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology of the
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-CEMO), the University of Nairobi
(Kenya), the University of Dar-Es-Salaam
(Tanzania), The Eduardo Mondlane
University (Mozambique), the University of Lisbon
(Portugal), the University of Stockholm
(Sweden) and the University of Florence
(Italy).
Two projects funded by the European Commission (EC) also provided a
basis for in-depth research on ‘Interlinkages
between Eastern-African coastal ecosystems’ (Contract No. TS3*-CT92-0114)
and ‘Antropogenically
induced changes in groundwater outflow and quality, and the functioning of
Eastern African nearshore ecosystems’ (Contract No. IC18-CT96-0065).
Also
in the framework of research projects in India and Sri Lanka the research
teams of the Mangrove Management Group of the VUB play a role and co-operate
with the University of Andhra (India), the University of Ruhuna (Sri
Lanka),
the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka (SFFL), the Catholic University of
Nijmegen (KUN), the University of Stockholm and the NIOO-CEMO.
This research is also supported by an EC-funded project (Contract EBR
IC18-CT98-0295) and on the level of scholarships by the Belgian National
Science Foundation (FWO), the VUB and the Flemish Institute for the
advancement of scientific-technological research in the industry (IWT), the
latter in the framework of the doctoral research presented here.
The Mauritanian research framework was primarily funded by the Foundation to Promote Scientific Research in Africa.
Within the laboratory of General Botany and Nature Management (Algemene Plantkunde en NAtuurbeheer) of the VUB both MSc and PhD theses have covered a wide series of mangrove issues such as remote sensing, vegetation structure and zonation of mangroves (De Bondt, 1995; Thomaes, 1996; Verheyden, 1997; Van Pottelbergh, 1999; Dahdouh-Guebas, 2001, this study), physico-chemical factors in the mangrove (Matthijs, 1995; Ladavid, 1996; Deschuytter, 2000), mangrove tree architecture (Atuke, 2000), mangrove regeneration and restoration (Verneirt, 1994; Bosire, 1999), mangrove conservation genetics (Abeysinghe, 1999), impacts of socio-economic nature on mangroves (Mathenge, 1998; Zetterström, 1998; Kajia, 2000; Stolk, 2000) and studies on mangrove fauna (Vrancken, 1999; Mwangi, 2000).
Biographical sketch
Farid
Dahdouh-Guebas (°1972, Vilvoorde, BE) studied at the Vrije
Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and at the Università degli Studi di Firenze
(Italy), the latter within the ERASMUS program of the European Union, and
obtained a degree in Biology at the VUB in 1994. His MSc thesis was on the feeding ecology and behavioural
ecology of Kenyan mangrove crabs. In
1996 he finished a Master of Sciences in Advanced Studies in Human Ecology
with a thesis on the remote sensing
of
seagrass beds along the Kenyan coast and its link with groundwater outflow
(incl. a comparison with the situation in Florida, USA). In the
same year he obtained a PhD fellowship from the
Flemish Institute for the advancement of scientific-technological research in
the industry (IWT) after defending his research proposal for a professional
jury. Since then he traveled
back and forth between Belgium, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Mauritania for his PhD
research and spent many months in the mangrove.
In the 7 years since his first acquaintance with the mangrove, he
published 10 refereed papers, 7 special publications and 5 book reviews, he
participated in 34 presentations on various national and international
conferences, at which he was awarded twice for his research undertakings, and
he was asked as a referee for a number of scientific journals and books.
In his academic activities he guided 12 MSc students and gave seminars
on mangrove ecosystems in universities and other academic institutions in
Belgium, Sri Lanka and Mauritania. Currently
he is lecturing in the MSc Program in Human Ecology and is part of the
assisting academic personnel at the Unit of General Botany and Nature
Management of the Free University of Brussels, where he also continues
research and other academic activities related to mangrove ecosystems.
January 2001
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