Biodiversity Informatics in Asia

Prof. Keping Ma is a leading professor in the field of biodiversity research and informatics in China. He initiated biodiversity research in China in early 1990s and has worked on biodiversity informatics since the early 2000s. In collaboration with his colleagues, he initiated the establishments of Chinese Forest Biodiversity Monitoring Network, National Specimen Information Infrastructure, and the Asia Biodiversity Conservation and Database Network. He also led the setup of Nature Museum, Species 2000 China node, and GBIF CAS node. He has taken part in the Convention on Biological Diversity and its related meetings on thematic issues as a scientific advisor to Chinese delegation. Prof. K. N. Ganeshaiah is a leading plant biodiversity researcher in India. He was involved in mapping plant resources of the most bio-rich areas of the country at a very fine scale of 40 sq km grids. These data sets are now available for Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. For the past 15 years he has led a national-level network program to compile the data on Indian bioresources. He also founded the Indian Bioresource Information Network (IBIN), which is the largest database on biological resources of India. These data sets are used all over the country by ecologists, conservation biologists, and students. As Co-Chair of Asia Biodiversity Conservation and Database Network, he encourages scientists around the world to work together to make biodiversity research and conservation an international effort.