Farid's Mangrove Homepage

Farid Dahdouh-Guebas' Mangrove Biocomplexity Homepage

The tsunami disaster on December 26, 2004 affected our mangrove sites and many people we know... read more

Aquatic Botany special issue dedication to Samuel Curry Snedaker (22 May 1938–21 March 2005)... read more

Also see : Gazi Women Mangrove Boardwalk

A	... or use links in text below

deeper

view into a

wonderful and

endangered habitat

Welkom Karibuni Benvenuti Welcome Bienvenue Ahlan-wa-sahlan

Identification	Experiences	Publications	Language, Culture & Hobby	Contact
Education assignments / Onderwijsopdrachten

Who I am...

(also have a look at a short Biographical sketch)

My name is Farid DAHDOUH-GUEBAS and I am from Belgium. I graduated from high school in the Koninklijk Atheneum of Zaventem - located in Zaventem - and my great biology teachers (J. Engel & H. Verwacht) were the incentive to my becoming a biologist. Furthermore, I love Zaventem !

I studied at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB and obtained a MSc. in Biology and an additional MSc. in Human Ecology followed by a PhD degree. During the Biology curriculum I specialised in Mangrove Ecology, more particularly my thesis was dealing with Kenyan Mangrove Crabs. For the post-graduate program in Human Ecology I remained in the field of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, but learned to situate and understand the problems involved in a holistic context. In the Laboratory of General Botany and Nature Management I then did my PhD research on Mangrove vegetation structure dynamics and regeneration (fellowship financed by the IWT) and my postdoctoral research on Monitoring and modelling of coastal, vegetation and biodiversity changes in natural and restored mangrove forests on a fundamental and applied level (fellowship financed by the FWO). See also : Mangrove Management Group.

I am now attached to both the Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB and the Université Libre de Bruselles - ULB, once a single institution but in the 1960s split into autonomous Frech-speaking and Dutch-speaking universities by the name unofficially translated in English as "free university of Brussels". Within both institutions I am now leading the Biocomplexity Research Focus which has a major focus on mangroves and I have the teaching assignments below. See also : Laboratory of Complexity and Dynamics of Tropical Systems.

This research is within the objectives of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Past Global Changes (PAGES) Focus 5 : Past Ecosystem Processes and Human-Environment Interactions and Human Impact on Terrestrial Ecosystems.

Keywords characterising my biocomplexity research in the folowing categories are :

(keywords merely correspond to the ones in the GLObal Mangrove database & Information System)

Biology :

mangrove, vegetation structure, succession, zonation, dynamics, biodiversity, biocomplexity, stability, functionality, recovery, crabs, gastropods, propagule predation, socio-ecology, ethnobiology

Management :

sustainable management, human impact, aquaculture, afforestation, restoration, wood products, education, traditional values

Research methods :

remote sensing, GIS, mapping, sampling, modelling, assessment, monitoring, interviews, archive research, retrospection, prediction

Geography (in alphabetic order) :

active (personal data collection) : China, Kenya, Mauritania, Sri Lanka

passive (data collection by team members) : Brazil, Cameroon, Florida, Gabon, Gambia, India, Mexico, Mozmbique, Tanzania, Vietnam, Jamaica, French-Antilles

What my professional-educational experiences are...

This is only a selection of fieldwork expeditions and major symposia


KE2009 expedition	1.5 month research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa (supervising PhD student Fleur Van Nedervelde).
CN2009 exploration	2 week exploration mission in China at the Guangdong Ocean University.
2008	Séminaires de l’Institut Océanographique de Paris/Seminars of the Oceanographic Institute of Paris (22 February, Paris, France.
2007	Symposium on Advances in Tropical Aquatic Science Research and Management in Kenya, 9-13 February, Mombasa, Kenya.
2007	Second International reunion of the PUMPSEA project (Peri-urban mangrove forests as filters and potential phytoremediators of domestic sewage in East-Africa), 5-9 February, Mombasa, Kenya.
AU2006	Two month post-doctoral research stay in Australia at the University of Queensland.
2006	Participation in Society of Wetland Ecologists' ‘Catchment to Coast’ Conference (9-14 July, Cairns).
2006	Participation in the Daintree Workshop, 1-7 July, Daintree, Australia.
2006	Participation in the Mangrove Macrobenthos Meeting 2, 25-30 June, Coolangatta, Australia.
LK2006 expedition	One month post-doctoral research expedition in Sri Lanka at the University of Ruhuna in Matara and at the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka;
2006	Participation in International Symposium on Aquatic Vascular Plants, 11-13 January, Brussels, Belgium.
2005	Chief Rapporteur on the International conference on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in Africa and their Relevance for Sustainable Development, 21-23 November, Brussels, Belgium.
2005	Participation in the International Conference Bridging the Gap : policies and science as tools in implementing sustainable forest management, Alnarp, Sweden, 17-19 October.
KE_TZ2005 expedition	Two month post-doctoral research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa, and in Tanzania (supervising PhD students Diana Di Nitto and Griet Neukermans, MSc. Biology students Bert Pecceu and Kris Van Den Bossche);
2005	Participation in the 3rd GBIF Science Symposium on Tropical Biodiversity : science, data and conservation, Brussels, Belgium, 18-19 April.
2005	Participation in the Gordon Research Conference on Past Ecosystem Processes and Human-Environment Interactions, Buellton, California, U.S.A., 13-18 February.
2004	Participation in NECOV (Nederlands-Vlaamse vereniging voor ecologie) Syposium on Exploitation and Restoration of Tropical Aquatic Ecosystems, Brussels, Belgium, 7 October.
LK2004 expedition	Two month post-doctoral research expedition in Sri Lanka at the University of Ruhuna in Matara (supervising PhD student Diana Di Nitto, MSc. Biology students Kriki De Smet, Maite Bauwens and Sara Mulder, MSc. Natural Sciences students Filippo Cimò, Marco Fusi, Riccardo Simoni, Lucia Toccafondi, and Valeria Tomasello, and MSc. Zoology student R.G.K Vijayakumara);
2004	Participation in International Society of Ethnobiology 9th International Congress on Ethnobiology, Social Change and Displacement, in collaboration with the 45th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany, and the 8th International Congress of the International Society of Ethnopharmacology, Canterbury, U.K., 13-18 June;
2003	Participation in Bibliometry as measure of performance for culture- and behavioural sciences ? Brussels, Belgium, 10 December;
KE2003 expedition	Two month post-doctoral research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa (supervising MSc. Biology students Helen Defever and Anneleen Van Tendeloo and MSc. Ecological Marine Management Griet Neukermans);
2002	Participation in The colour of ocean data – international symposium on oceanographic data and information management with special attention to biological data, Brussels, Belgium, 25-27 November;
2002	Participation in the European Research Conference 2002, Brussels, Belgium, 11-13 November;
2002	Participation in the International conference on the assessment of mangrove degradation and resilience in the Indian sub-continent, Pondicherry, India, 21-25 October;
LK2002 expedition	One month post-doctoral research expedition in Sri Lanka at the University of Ruhuna in Matara and at the Mangrove Conservation and Demonstration Centre of the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka in Pambala-Kakkapalliya (supervising MSc. Biology students Ivy Meert and Sven Princen, , MSc. Natural Sciences student Paola Savinelli, and MSc. Zoology student R.G.K Vijayakumara);
2002	Participation in NECOV (Nederlands-Vlaamse vereniging voor ecologie) Syposium on Ecological Research in Tropical Coastal Systems, Leiden, Nederland, 14 June.
2002	Training in Multivariate Statistical Analysis and Interpretation of Community Data from Ecology / Environmental Science using Plymouth Routines in Multivariate Ecological Research (PRIMER) at the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, U.K., 4-8 March;
2001	Participation in the Belgian meeting of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) 'Scientific tools for in-situ biodiversity conservation (monitoring, modelling and experiments)', Brussels, Belgium, 2-4 December;
2001	Participation in the Young Botanists Day of the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, 10 November;
2001	Participation in the Botanical biodiversity and Belgium's expertise Symposium, Bouchout-Meise, Belgium, 19-20 October;
2001	Participation in the Third International Congress of Ethnobotany : Ethnobotany in the Third Millennium: Expectations and Unresolved Issues, Napoli, Italy, 22-30 September;
2001	Participation in the 44^th IAVS conference : Vegetation and Ecosystem Functions, Weihenstephan, Germany, 29 July - 5 August;
2001	Public defence of PhD Mangrove vegetation structure dynamics and regeneration, Brussels, 19 January;
2000	Participation in the Symposium on Biodiversity : from genes to landscapes, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, 13-15 December;
2000	Participation in the Symposium Environment and Development in Vietnam : an overview of some relevant projects funded by the European Commission and Belgium, Brussels, Belgium, 14 November;
2000	Participation in the International Meeting on Mangrove Macrobenthos, Mombasa, Kenya, 7-11 September;
KE2000 expedition	One month PhD research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa;
2000	Participation in the International Conference 'AQUA 2000 : responsible aquaculture in the new millenium', Nice, France, 2-6 May;
LK1999 expedition	Two months PhD research expedition in Sri Lanka at the University of Ruhuna in Matara and at the Mangrove Conservation and Demonstration Centre of the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka in Pambala-Kakkapalliya;
1999	Participation in the 15^th Biennial International Conference of the Estuarine Research Federation 'Where THE River Meets the Sea', New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., 25-30 Sept;
1999	Participation in the Shallow Tropical Waters and Humans International Conference, Naivasha, Kenya, 11-19 April;
KE1999 expedition	Three months PhD research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa (supervising MSc. Biology student Ilse Van Pottelbergh);
1998	Participation in the Symposium on Recent Advances and Future Trends in Mangrove Research : Biodiversity, Genetics, Evolutionary Biology and Restoration, Toulouse, France, 8-10 July;
MR1998 expedition	Organisation of and participation in a small scale research expedition on the condition of mangroves in the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin (Mauritania), i.e. at the biogeographical limit of mangroves along the West African coast;
LK1998 expedition	Three months PhD research expedition in Sri Lanka at the University of Ruhuna in Matara and at the Mangrove Conservation and Demonstration Centre of the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka in Pambala-Kakkapalliya;
KE1997 expedition	Three months PhD research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa (supervising MSc. Human Ecology student Christine Mathenge);
LK1997 expedition	Two months PhD research expedition in Sri Lanka at the University of Ruhuna in Matara and at the Mangrove Conservation and Demonstration Centre of the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka in Pambala-Kakkapalliya (supervising MSc. Biology student Anouk Verheyden);
1997	Participation in the Symposium on Mangrove Ecosystems : Biodiversity, Functioning, Restoration and Management, Toulouse, France, 10-11 July;
1996	Participation in the Symposium on the Conservation of Mangal Ecosystems, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, 5-7 December;
1995-96	I worked at the Laboratory for General Botany and Nature Management in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment and as a methodological researcher for the estimation of the ecological value of natural sites;
1993-97	Participation in ecological (botanical-zoological) excursions to Toscana (Italy), Corsica (France), Perpignan (France), the Urals (Russia) and Madeira (Portugal);
1993	Participation in the International Senckenberg - Symposium on Crustacea Decapoda, Frankfurt a.M., Germany, 18-22 October;
KE1993 expedition	Three months research expedition in Kenya at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa for my MSc thesis' fieldwork. Mida Creek and Gazi Bay where the action sites;
1993	Studying for six months at the Università degli Studi di Firenze at the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Marco Vannini and associated MSc thesis' lab work;

Publications, Presentations and Awards ?

Really important in a 'publish or perish' academic reality, so click here

peer-reviewed publications

For details, PDF,...

conference presentations

113

scientific awards or nominations

From the research unit website you can also access citations in the media.

Farid Dahdouh-Guebas' Education assignments / Onderwijsopdrachten

1996-present

Thesis subjects / Thesisonderwerpen

Licenties Biologie

Literature compilation on Tropical Coastal Ecosystems

Presently

	Tropical Coastal Biocomplexity / Tropische Kustbiocomplexiteit (VUB-11352)
	Tropical Biocomplexity : natural dynamics, indigenous interactions and sustainable management (ULB : BING-F-526)
	Botanique 2 / Botany 2 (ULB : BIOL-F-305)
	Phytogéographie / Phytogeography (ULB : GEOG-F-314)
	Stage de terrain : Écosystèmes Terrestres / Fieldwork : Terrestrial Ecosystems (ULB : BIOL-F-414)