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Research Title
Inferring agricultural impacts on aquatic biodiversity in farmland ponds and ecological recovery following restoration
- More about Eftesum
Academic Qualifications
- PhD in Geography (2019-present), Department of Geography, University College London
- MSc in Conservation (2016-17), Department of Geography, University College London
- MS in Zoology (Fisheries) (2012-13), Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka
- BSc in Zoology (2008-12), Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka
- Teaching
I teach on the following modules:
- Publications
- Bashar, M.A., S. Rahman, Eftesum, K. Chowdhury, M.M. Alam, G. Moula and M.A. Islam (2015) ‘Conservation of plants and successive trophic levels by butterfly colonization in an open forest ecosystem of Bangladesh’, XIV World Forestry Congress, South Africa, 7-11 September, FAO, United Nations and Republic of South Africa.
- Bashar, M.A., S. Rahman, Eftesum, G. Moula and M. Alam (2014) ‘Butterfly open colonization and flora enrichment in the Bhawal National Park of Bangladesh’, Asian Plant Science Conference, Nepal, 1-3 November, Association for the Advancement of Biodiversity Science of Nepal.
- Research Interests
Farmland ponds are aquatic ecosystems embedded in agricultural landscapes. These ponds are ecologically significant, despite their small size, yet remain threatened by many factors; namely, agricultural intensification, pond terrestrialization, cessation of traditional management practices and pond loss through infilling and land reclamation etc.
During the 1960s-1970s, with agricultural intensification, it is widely thought that many lowland UK ponds started to become overgrown by scrub and trees due to the cessation of traditional pond management practices, rendering them of low biodiversity value and in need of restoration. Using a palaeoecological approach directed at pond landscapes in Norfolk, eastern England, this project investigates long-term change in pond ecosystems, especially due to pond terrestrialization and past pond management events.
In addition, the project examines the extent to which pond restoration returns pre-pollution and pre-terrestrialization of aquatic plant and animal communities to ponds.The long-term data afforded by sediment cores analysed for plant and animal macrofossils will afford decadal-centennial scale information on the timing, trajectories and nature of ecological change in ponds in the context of both past pond management practices, natural successional processes and ongoing and future pond restoration projects. The project is significant in terms of biodiversity conservation by assessing the aquatic biological responses of UK farmland ponds to agricultural impacts. Potentiality in restoration will be inferred through analysing palaeoecological records, which have been poorly studied.
Farmland ponds are aquatic ecosystems embedded in agricultural landscapes. These ponds are ecologically significant, despite their small size, yet remain threatened by many factors; namely, agricultural intensification, pond terrestrialisation, cessation of traditional management practices and pond loss through infilling and land reclamation etc. During the 1960s-1970s, with agricultural intensification, it is widely thought that many lowland UK ponds started to become overgrown by scrub and trees due to the cessation of traditional pond management practices, rendering them of low biodiversity value and in need of restoration.
Using a palaeoecological approach directed at pond landscapes in Norfolk, eastern England, this project investigates long-term change in pond ecosystems, especially due to pond terrestrialisation and past pond management events. In addition, the project examines the extent to which pond restoration returns pre-pollution and pre-terrestrialisation aquatic plant and animal communities to ponds. The long-term data afforded by sediment cores analysed for plant and animal macrofossils will afford decadal-centennial scale information on the timing, trajectories and nature of ecological change in ponds in the context of both past pond management practices, natural successional processes and ongoing and future pond restoration projects.
The project is significant in terms of biodiversity conservation by assessing the aquatic biological responses of UK farmland ponds to agricultural impacts. Potentiality in restoration will be inferred through analysing palaeoecological records, which have been poorly studied.
Past Projects
- Reconstructing shallow lake ecosystem dynamics in South-eastern Siberia using macrofossil analysis (MSc Dissertation, supervised by Professor Emeritus Anson Mackay, UCL)
- Zooplankton as reservoir of Cholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae) in Curzon Hall Pond, Dhaka (MS Dissertation, supervised by Professor M. N. Naser, DU)
- Research Grants, Prizes and Awards
- BSTFT Fellow, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2019-present
- Commonwealth Scholar, Commonwealth Scholarship, CSC in the UK, 2016-17
- Dean’s Award, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Dhaka, 2014
