Welsh tie to tropics

The ecology of tropical coastal zones is the subject of an unique joint between the University of Wales and Khulna University in Bangladesh.

The British Council and the Overseas Development Administration were keen to establish a centre of excellence in biological research at Khulna. So to get the project off the ground, they invited Bangor's school of agriculture and forest sciences and Aberystwyth's institute of biological science to organise the centre.

Armed with Pounds 100,000, staff from Bangor and Aberystwyth will spend the next three years training Khulna's scientists and developing a series of research projects.

"As Khulna is located in the Ganges delta, just north of the world's largest mangrove forest, it is an ideal location to study global temperature and tidal changes," says Terry Thomas, Bangor project coordinator. "Tree growth in the Sundarbans Forest will also be evaluated, as will the region's fish population and its water quality."