Webinar to highlight diversity of parasites living inside sharks, stingrays in Borneo
KUCHING: An international marine expert will unveil the remarkable and unexpected beauty of the vast diversity of parasites that live inside sharks, stingrays and guitarfish of Borneo, during a webinar scheduled this May 18.
Dr Janine Caira, who is director of Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at the University of Connecticut in the US, will speak about ‘Borneo’s Hidden Biodiversity’ during the session hosted by Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) via Zoom, set to commence at 10am.
According to SBC, the webinar will feature a unique glimpse into the world of parasites that is essentially ‘all new to science’, and learn what parasites can tell us about the diversity and biology of their shark and stingray hosts.
This session is a part of programmes being run in connection with the International Day for Biological Diversity, which falls on May 22.
This year’s theme is ‘Building a Shared Future for All Life’.
Dr Caira is a parasitologist whose work is run on global scale and has led to the discovery of more than 200 new species and 30 new genera, the reconfiguration of tapeworm ordinal-level relationships using both morphological and molecular approaches.
She has published more than 160 papers, books, and monographs.
Her six-year study on Borneo’s sharks and stingrays was funded by the US National Science Foundation. Those wishing to get first-hand insights from an international expert are welcome to register for the webinar via https://bit.ly/3whsH0v.
The session will also be streamed live on SBC’s official Facebook page (www.facebook. com/sarawak.biodiversity. centre).
Social media users are encouraged to ‘Like’ or ‘Follow’ SBC’s official Facebook pagefor the latest updates and information.