ROPME hosted a Seminar/Webinar on Biodiversity Monitoring in the Mangrove Forests of the RSA titled “Dive into the Depth of Biodiversity Monitoring” on 15 January 2025, The session was led by Dr. Reza Naderloo, Director of the Department of Animal Biology at the University of Tehran, and moderated by Dr. Manaf Behbehani.
The event drew approximately 61 participants, both in person and online, including representatives from ROPME Member States, ROPME Professional Staff, and other stakeholders.
The event explored how advanced scientific methods are transforming biodiversity monitoring in the mangrove forests of the ROPME Sea Area. Discussions covered the key levels of biodiversity monitoring species diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity along with various data collection techniques, from traditional sampling and morphology based identification to cutting-edge methods such as environmental DNA metabarcoding and next-generation sequencing.
A case study on the biodiversity assessment of fauna associated with Iranian mangroves demonstrated how different approaches and levels of analysis can be integrated to enhance understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and evolutionary relationships.
