Guwahati – A northeast India based herpetologist and field biologist, noted for her outstanding working on India’s biodiversity did “Conservation Education and Awareness Raising” programme for students of the Schools of Social Sciences, and Life Sciences, at Assam Don Bosco University Azara campus, August 12.
Addressing a packed hall of some 180 students Dr. Rachunliu G. Kamei (Chun), a Postdoctoral Marie Curie Fellow at the Natural History Museum, London, UK said, “this community education programme involves raising awareness in the general public about our remarkable biological diversity, the threats our biodiversity faces, why it is important to conserve them, and how each of us can contribute to conservation.”
Hailing from Manipur, Dr Kamei’s research interest is in amphibians and reptiles (herpetology), with special emphasis on a group of extremely poorly known vertebrates (animals with backbones), which are snake-like, legless amphibians called caecilians (pronounced as seh-SILL-yens).
“My research has helped highlight the importance of North East India to the international audience (both the scientific and the general public), and put North East India in the global amphibians map in a significant way,” said former professor at St Stephen’s College New Delhi placing on record her modest contribution.
Dr Kamei has the unique distinction of having conducted caecilian-dedicated soil-digging surveys carried out as part of her PhD project. It is the world’s most extensive caecilian-dedicated survey ever attempted.
Besides undertaking some 2000 person-hours of soil-digging in 240 plus localities throughout North East India, “it was as a pioneering effort to scientifically document North East India’s caecilian fauna,” Dr Kamei said.
Recognizing the contribution of her scientific research has made to the world so far, she was the only Indian Invited Speaker at the World Congress of Herpetology in 2012, at Vancouver, Canada.
The WCH is the largest meeting of world experts on amphibians and reptiles held once every five years.
Discovery of one new family of amphibians (Chikilidae), one new genus (Chikila), and nine species of amphibians (frogs and caecilians) from North East India are credited to her.
National Geographic Society selected the discovery of the new amphibian family CHIKILIDAE as 3rd in Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2012, and a photograph of a Chikila mother guarding her eggs as 2nd in 10 Best News Pictures of 2012.