Research Interests:
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Systematics and ecology of crabs (Indo-West
Pacific)
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Larval development and ecology of crabs and
Crustaceans
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Freshwater fish
taxonomy and ecology (Southeast Asia)
My research over the last two decades
has focussed primarily on the systematics of decapod crustaceans
in the Indo-West Pacific, with forays into systematic freshwater
ichthyology of Southeast Asia, ecology of brachyuran zoeae, ecology
of peat swamps, conservation biology in Malesia, and museology.
To this effect, my research team of over 30 graduate students over
the last 10 years and myself have made the Systematics and Ecology
Laboratory one of the international leaders in carcinology and aquatic
biology. Much of the current work focuses on systematic revisions
of key groups of crabs and fishes, which invariably involve comparative
material from around the world. This has also involved extensive
travelling - members of the laboratory have gone to as desolate
areas as Lake Baikal in Russia, Palau in the Pacific and the heart
of Borneo, as well as to research centres all over the world.
Current Projects:
- Synthesis and revision of world crab nomenclature and a re-classification
of the modern Brachyura.
- Systematic family- and genus-level revisions of many groups
of Asian freshwater and marine
crabs, shrimps and freshwater fishes.
- Biodiversity of East Asian crabs and prawns.
- Taxonomy of anchialine Pacific Brachyura.
- Morphological and molecular phylogeny of land and caltrop crabs.
- Molecular phylogeny and fingerprinting of selected commercial
crab species.
- Elucidation of the marine crab and freshwater prawn diversity
of Guam.
- Ecology of mangrove Grapsidae.
- Historical biogeography and systematic of ancient Sundaic lakes
using endemic crabs.
- Revision of the brachyura for the TREATISE ON INVERTEBRATE
PALEONTOLOGY.
Research Accomplishments:
With over 510 technical papers (mostly in international journals)
published over the past 15
years, the laboratory is now a regional leader in systematic and
applied zoology, and has garnered numerous national, regional and
international awards, honours and kudos. There has also been funding
from external agencies like UNEP, FAO and foreign conservation bodies.
I have been or am still on the scientific committees of some 30
international organisations, ranging from external academic review
boards for major organisations (e.g. Smithsonian Institution and
the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, a select
team of some 28 senior scientists tasked with overseeing the naming
of animals.), conservation agencies (e.g. World Conservation Union),
global and regional biodiversity agencies (e.g. UNEP), as well as
numerous peer-reviewed journals from Europe, America and Asia.
The Systematics and Ecology Laboratory
of the Department focuses its work on the taxonomy and Ecology of
crustaceans in the Indo-West Pacific and freshwater fishes of Southeast
Asia. Members and graduate students of this laboratory are currently
working on broad systematic and regional revisions of various groups
of freshwater and marine crabs (including deep water families),
the freshwater prawn (Palaemonidae and Atyidae) fauna of East and
Southeast Asia, revisions of selected groups of commercially important
riverine catfishes, ichthyological freshwater fish fauna of Sumatra,
systematics of air-breathing fishes in Southeast Asia, general ecology
of mangrove crabs and swamp fishes, vicariance biogeography of freshwater
crabs and fishes, and the conservation ecology and management of
regional freshwater ecosystems (especially peat swamps). Many of
these studies are ongoing collaborative efforts with crustacean
and fish specialists from over a dozen countries internationally.
Selected Publications:
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Bossuyt, F; Meegaskumbura, M; Beenaerts, N; Gower, DJ; Pethiyagoda, R; Roelants, K; Mannaert, A; Wilkinson, M; Schneider, CJ; Bahir, MM; Manamendra-Apachchi, K; Ng, PKL; Oommen, OV; Milinkovitch, MC Biodiversity in Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats - Response. Science (2005) Vol 308: 199
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Bossuyt, F; Meegaskumbura, M; Beenaerts, N; Gower, DJ; Pethiyagoda, R; Roelants, K; Mannaert, A; Wilkinson, M; Bahir, MM; Manamendra-Arachchi, K; Ng, PKL; Schneider, CJ; Oommen, OV; Milinkovitch, MC. Local endemism within the western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. Science (2004) 306: 479-481
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Jeng, MS; Ng, NK; Ng, PKL. Feeding behaviour: Hydrothermal vent crabs feast on sea 'snow' Nature (2004) 432: 969
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Ng, H.H. & Ng, P.K.L. A revision
of the akysid catfish genus Acrochordonichthys Bleeker. Journal
of Fish Biology (2001) 58:386-418.
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Ng, P.K.L. & Clark, P.F. The
eumedonid file: a case study of systematic compatibility using
larval and adult characters (Crustacea:Decapoda: Brachyura). Invertebrate Reproduction and Development (2000)
38 (3):225-252.
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Ng, P.K.L. Biodiversity challenges
for Southeast Asia in the new millennium and the role of the
Raffles Museum. In: Proceedings of theFirts and Second Symposia
on Collection Building and Natural History Studies in Asia.
Ed. K. Matsuura. National Science Museum Monographs (2000) 18:3-23.
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Ng, P.K.L. The deep-water swimming
crabs of the genus Benthochascon Alcock and Anderson, 1899 (Crustacea:
Decapoda: Brachyura:Portunidae), with description of a new genus
for the American B. schmitti Rathbun, 1931. Journal
of Crustacean Biology, (2000) 20(2):310-324.
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Kerle, R., Britz, R. & Ng, P.K.L.
Habitat preference, reproduction and diet of the earthworm eel,
Chendol keelini (Teleostei: Chaudhuriidae),a rare freshwater
fish from Sundaic Southeast Asia. Environmental Biology of Fishes,
(2000) 57(4):413-422.
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