The Conservation Biology Research team of the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science has been working toward the discovery of essential needs of vulnerable to endangered species including elusive marine species such as sharks, rays, whales, dolphins and turtles.
Decades of marine fieldwork led by Prof. Adriana Vella, (PhD Cambridge) has been published to allow local conservation policy-making and management to advance giving way to improved protection of species that are legally protected.
The latest peer reviewed publications on Loggerhead sea turtles include: 1) this species’ genetic diversity and identity in and 2) its embryonic development and nesting success rates in the Maltese Islands in . Such works allowed for the formulation of useful recommendations to better address conservation efforts. These publications also expand on the publication on the conservation genetics of turtles nesting in the Maltese Islands, published in Animals.
Population conservation research work of species ranging in vast marine areas and migration to and from distant locations demanded many years of sampling effort that also saw the input of various entities including: ERA, the ngo BICREF, dedicated sea users, fishermen and the AFM that aided in the consideration of dead turtle specimens found in Maltese waters therefore adding their contribution to this research as well. Protected species research was possible through ERA permitting.
The detailed molecular genetics research work carried out at the Conservation Genetics Research laboratory under the care of Prof. Vella was also possible through the research excellence funding by the University of Malta, BioCon_Innovate.
Biodiversity loss and environmental degradation are excalating and the need to research, manage and restore for effective long-term conservation are therefore urgent.
Collaboration between entities as seen by this research team and its dedication to seeing nature conservation and sustainability of human activities align with this target has allowed long-standing support by entities outside the university as well, paving the way to increasing local awareness and participation by responsible citizens.
This research team has also partnered with European-wide networks on biodiversity genetics and genomic which is vital to understand the real conservation status of species. This saw various network publications including: The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable biodiversity genomics in the Nature journal .
Prof. Adriana Vella also chairs the University Maritime Platform and invites researchers and practitioners in marine conservation and maritime sustainability to participate in the Marine and Maritime Conference in May 2025. Call for abstracts has been issued with the deadline on 25 January 2025. Thanks are due to various sponsors including ERA. Registrations are open and more info on the conference is available online.
