Dr. Mark Kennard, a principle investigator from Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University, paid a visit to IHB on April 27th, 2017.

Dr. Mark Kennard, a principle investigator from Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University, paid a visit to Institute Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) on April 27th, 2017. During his visit, he gave an academic lecture with the title of "Freshwater biodiversity assessment and conservation planning - Australian perspectives”.

Biodiversity is facing a severe loss with intensifying global changes and biological invasions. One prominent aspect of biodiversity conservation is to identify high-biodiversity region using comprehensive approaches. To provide suggestions on the conservation of Australian freshwater fish, Mark and his lab predicted potential distribution of Australian spring fish and freshwater fish in Northern Australia by overlaying maps of species suitable habitat with layers of multiple threats of oil and gas exploitation, species invasions and anthropogenic activities. Their research shed lights on the conservation of Australian aquatic biodiversity and provided constructive suggestions to stakeholders on how to prioritize aquatic ecosystems. Mark’s lecture gave abundantly new insights to IHB researchers on China’s biodiversity conservation under current increasing human disturbance.

During his travel, Mark discussed future collaboration with researchers from the Research Group of Biological Invasion and Adaptive Evolution at IHB. He also visited Museum for Aquatic Organisms and Baiji Dolphinarium. Led by researchers from IHB, he attended the field survey about river ecosystem in water source region of Danjiangkou reservoir.

Mark and his team mainly focus on researches in the fields of freshwater fish ecology, biodiversity conservation, biological monitoring and evaluation of environmental healthy. He has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals like Ecology, Ecography and Journal of Biogeography, and now he is on the editorial board of Aquatic Sciences and Biodiversity & Conservation.