activities of our group was to organizeworkshops with training courses on sea-weed and seagrass taxonomy and ecology.During the periods from 2003 to 2010 weheld nine workshops, seven of which hadtraining courses in five member countries.In these workshops a total of ca. 150 par-ticipants attended (Table 1, Fig. 1).

In general, each workshop started withlectures on taxonomy of selected groupsof seaweeds for identification for one ortwo days, followed by lectures on ecologi-cal methods, including handling of gears(Fig. 2). This was followed by one or twodays of training for collection and identi-fication of seaweeds and seagrasses, andfor practical research in the field. The col-lected specimens were, if possible, identi-fied to species level and pressed on her-barium sheets (Fig. 3). The specimens thatrequired further examination were saltedfor anatomical observations under micro-scope in the laboratory. Most of thesespecimens were housed in an appropriateherbarium of the host country for futureresearch.

Publications

In addition to the scientific papers pub-

Chapter 11

Biodiversity of seaweeds and sea grasses: Capacitybuilding in Project-3

Shigeo Kawaguchi

Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan

Introduction

In the JSPS-Coastal Marine Science Pro-gram, members of the Seaweed andSeagrass Group have worked to enhancecapacity building for seaweed and seagrassdiversity research in the member countriesthrough various activities. These includeeducation in seaweed/seagrass taxonomyand ecology for young researchers throughworkshops with training courses. Our ac-tivities are summarized as follows.

Seaweed/Seagrass Taxonomy andEcology Workshops with

Training Courses

As in other marine organisms, taxonomyof marine plants, in particular seaweed,requires special knowledge and expertisein morphological characters and morpho-logical plasticity. In addition, long-termecological information on seaweed andseagrass communities are indispensablefor the biodiversity study. As mentionedin Chapter 4, however, there is a seriousinsufficiency of seaweed and seagrass re-searchers in the member countries, andbringing up of young rsearchers is of ur-gent need. Accordingly, one of the major

S. Nishida, M. D. Fortes and N. Miyazaki, eds.Coastal Marine Science in Southeast Asia —Synthesis Report of the Core University Program of the JapanSociety for the Promotion of Science: Coastal Marine Science (2001–2010), pp. 111–116.© by TERRAPUB 2011.

112 S. KAWAGUCHI

lished in periodical journals (Appendix-2),our leading members of the seaweed/seagrass group published a field guide forthe identification of East Asian seagrasses(Fortes and Ogawa 2006). In addition, abook on seagrass based on our researchesis now in progress for publication.

Education of Young Scientists

In addition to the training courses includedin the workshops, the project providedgraduate students and young researcherswith opportunities to join and collaboratewith the project members through field andlaboratory work and intensive discussions.In addition, some students were givenchances to be supervised by the projectmembers, resulting in one MSc and onePhD (two more PhDs are now in progress)as shown below.

Phooprong S (2008) Eco-physiologystudies on species of Gracilaria(Gracilariales, Rhodophyta) in thetropical to temperate western Pacific.Kiatasato University, supervised byOgawa H.We expect that these young experts will

play a major and active role in enhancingresearch and education of coastal marinescience in Southeast Asia, enhancing col-laboration not only among Asian countriesbut also on a global scale.

Conclusion

The workshops with training courses inthis project, as described above, providedthe young scientists in the Southeast Asianmember countries with many opportunitiesto learn much more about seaweed/seagrass taxonomy, ecology and their di-versity. These workshops also resulted inestablishing a tight human network amongyounger and elder scientists from the mem-ber countries, which will be very usefulfor further seaweed/seagrass studies in theregion. Through our activities over the past

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Biodiversity of seaweeds and sea grasses: Capacity building 113

Fig. 1. Photos from the workshops on seaweed/seagrass taxonomy. A–D: Lectures on sea-weed/seagrass taxonomy. E–H: Practices of young scientists to identify seaweeds and seagrasses.

A B

C D

E F

G H

114 S. KAWAGUCHI

Fig. 2. Photos from the workshops on seaweed/seagrass ecology. A–D: Practices of ecologi-cal studies using line and quadrat. E–H: Field trip and arrangements of the collected seaweed/seagrass specimens.

A B

C D

E F

G H

Biodiversity of seaweeds and sea grasses: Capacity building 115

Fig. 3. Group photos from the workshops. A: Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, 2003.B: Marine Science Institute-UP, Philippines, 2004. C: Bali Island, Indonesia, 2006. D: UniversitiPutra Malaysia, Sarawak, Malaysia, 2007. E: Kasetsart University, Thailand, 2009. F: KagoshimaUniversity, Japan, 2010.

A B

C D

E F

ous efforts to enhance capacity building forfuture progress in the research and educa-tion on marine plants are strongly neededin Southeast Asia.

10 years, it is quite evident that human re-sources, and particularly the training ofyoung scientists are the keys for promot-ing further researches on seaweed/seagrasstaxonomy, ecology and diversity. Continu-

116 S. KAWAGUCHI

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my special thanks to themembers of the Seaweed and Seagrass Group whoall made great contributions to the JSPS CMS Pro-gram. On behalf of this group, I would like to pro-foundly thank the JSPS for providing us with fundsfor workshops and field investigations. My thanks

also due to the Atmosphere and Ocean Research In-stitute, the University of Tokyo in Japan, the LIPI inIndonesia, the Kasetsart University and the Princeof Songkla University in Thailand, the Marine Sci-ence Institute, University of the Philippine, Diliman,in Philippines, the Universiti Putra Malaysia in Ma-laysia, and the Institute of Oceanography in Viet-nam for their continuous help for our Group.

Reference

Fortes MD, Ogawa H (2006) Field Guide to the Identification of East Asian Seagrasses. The JapaneseFunds-in-Trust for UNESCO and The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (in a form ofportable plastic sheet for fieldwork).