Details Announced for International Online Conference on Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Among the speakers is Dr. Chris Walzer, executive director of health at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York. A board-certified wildlife veterinarian, he also holds a tenured professorship in Conservation Medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Walzer specializes in One Health, focusing on the interactions among human, livestock, and wildlife across various regions including Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Prof. Adrian S.W. Tordiffe, a wildlife veterinarian with a PhD in biochemistry, will also present. Based in Gujarat, India, he serves as a senior veterinary consultant at Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (Vantara). His research targets the physiology and health of captive carnivores, particularly cheetahs, exploring topics such as metabolic diseases and gastrointestinal health. In 2018, he founded WildCat Nutrition, which offers supplements and feeding strategies for captive carnivores, merging veterinary medicine with nutritional science to improve animal welfare.

Dr. Dominik Fischer, curator for science at Zoo Wuppertal in Germany, will share insights from his extensive research and conservation efforts internationally. He is known for his numerous scientific publications and presentations at various conferences.

Claudia Martinez, a PhD candidate in Veterinary Science at the University of Adelaide, focuses on primate behavior and welfare, particularly in western lowland gorillas. Her research examines how social, environmental, and human factors impact the welfare of zoo primates, integrating psychology and veterinary science for evidence-based management.

James Brereton, a lecturer at University Centre Sparsholt, specializes in zoo animal research with a focus on enclosure design, nutrition, and animal welfare.

Dr. Costantino Bonomi, a botanist concerned with conservation biology, focuses on eco-physiology and germination. He has curated botanic gardens and founded the Trentino Seed Bank to support seed conservation efforts in the Alps and Mediterranean.

Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Paula Serres-Corral from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, who holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine and a PhD in Animal Medicine and Health, focuses on wildlife endocrinology and the development of non-invasive tools for assessing animal welfare and reproduction.

Dr. Daniel Ballesteros from the University of Valencia studies desiccation and low-temperature stress tolerance in plant propagules, contributing to germplasm conservation and cryopreservation techniques.

Dr. Annaïs Carbajal specializes in wildlife conservation and health research, particularly in developing non-invasive methods for evaluating animal wellbeing and applying conservation techniques such as cryopreservation.

Marco D’Antraccoli, a botanist at the University of Pisa, focuses on the management and documentation of living plant collections and their role in biodiversity conservation, alongside research into floristics and the development of digital botanical tools.

The late submission portal for the conference closes on September 24. The conference invites submissions in six thematic areas: zoo animal welfare, zoo animal behavior, zoo animal health, biodiversity conservation at botanical gardens, collections in botanical gardens, arboreta, and museums, and sustainability in botanical gardens.