• Dr. K.N. Ganeshaiah: Genetics & Plant Breeding, Evolutionary Ecology, Genetic Diversity, and Developmental Biology.
• Dr. R. Uma Shaanker: Plant Reproductive Physiology and Ecology, Physical Basis of Biological Phenomena, Conservation Biology and Forest Genetics, and the Biology of Invasive Species.
• Dr. K.D. Singh: Forest Policy/Planning, Biological Diversity, Biometrics, and GIS/MIS/Remote Sensing.
• Dr. Gladwin Joseph: Tree Physiology, Sustainable Agroforestry, and General Forestry.
• Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy: Landscape Ecology and Watershed Hydrology, and Applied Statistics.
• Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan: Insect Taxonomy, Bio-Informatics, Conservation Ecology & Management, and Integrated Pest Management.
• Dr. T. Ganesh: Long Term Phenology of Canopy Trees in the Wet Evergreen Forest, Fruit-frugivore Interactions-the Impact of Forest Fragmentation on Plant-animal Interactions, Diversity and Abundance of Mammals and the Role of Forest Disturbance on their Survival, and Conservation of Wintering Harriers at a Landscape Level.
• Dr. Harini Nagendra: Landscape Ecology, Collective Action and Common Property Management, Land Use and Land Cover Change, and Mountain Area Research.
• Dr. M. Soubadra Devy: Setting up a Model Tropical Canopy Research Program in India, Effect of Disturbance in Plant-pollinator Interactions, and Urban Biodiversity Assessment Around Bangalore.
• Dr. Kartik Shanker: Sea Turtle Ecology and Genetics, Amphibian and Reptile Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Small Mammal Ecology, and Community Ecology and Diversity.

Besides regional cooperation for biodiversity conservation in two hotspots of the Indian subcontinent, the workshop aimed at assessing the potential and future prospects of internet based taxonomic initiatives in the country, and to plan new programs through networking of taxonomists and utilizing new techniques in the area of web based taxonomy for biodiversity conservation.

The theme on conservation of hotspots of the Indian subcontinent included presentations on topics (number of presentations in each topic is indicated in parentheses) such as Natural History of the Hotspots (5), Conservation Concerns (5) and Effectiveness of the Present Conservation Efforts in the Hotspots and Cooperative Policy Issues (3). The theme on taxonomic databases for conservation included topics such as Conceptual issues in Taxonomy Databases (3) and Efforts in Developing Taxonomic Databases (12). There was also a panel discussion on both the themes.

At the inaugural session of the workshop, Dr. M. N. Sheelavantar, Vice Chancellor, UAS, Bangalore, released the CD-ROM on Plant Resources of south India (Sasya Bharati- Dakishinamnaya). The CD-ROM includes various data recovery modules and gives information on taxonomic hierarchy, distribution maps and data, checklist of flora and images of South Indian plants. In a special program at the workshop venue, Dr. Jayaram Ramesh, Member of Parliament and member of the National Advisory Council launched the website www.plantsindia.org. This website, which is the first of its kind on plant resources of India, contains checklists and images as well as comprehensive information on taxonomy and distribution, of Indian plants.

The workshop was successful in achieving the set objectives and produced valuable recommendations. In the area of conservation of hotspots of the Indian subcontinent, transboundary collaboration was sought in the spheres of research, policy, training and conservation management. The mechanisms and action plans for achieving this through the establishment of a regional consortium, research groups and networking were also thoroughly worked out. Recommendations such as establishment of a regional consortium, development of a locally controlled, distributed taxonomic information system with the component of capacity building, and building a pilot project on a cyber facility for regional taxonomy were evaluated. – Initially for plants / specific biotic groups with the features such as taxonomic information, type images, taxonomic literature and technical expert groups involving taxonomists, software professionals and other experts were featured in the section on taxonomic databases for conservation.

Dr. Suman Rai has jointed ATREE as the new regional director, Bagdogra from October 1, 2004. He was working with ICIMOD, Kathmandu, as its regional coordinator for 5 countries in South Asia and China.
Ms. Kalyanee Chetia, M.Sc. has joined ATREE-North East Office as Office Administrator with effect from October 1, 2004.
Mr. Pravat Chandro Sutar has joined ATREE from October 1, 2004 as a Research Associate. Pravat has a masters from School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi and was working with "Vasundhara" at Bhubaneswar as Programme Officer. He will be stationed at Bhubaneswar .
Ms. Vishakha Das is the new development/administrative officer at Bangalore. She has an MS in Ecology and Environment from the Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment and a Masters in Environment Management from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management. She was previously working with FICCI (New Delhi) as a research associate in the environment division.

M. Irfan Ullah and Sham Davande. (2004) Effectiveness of Genetic Algorithm for Ruleset Prediction based Modeling in Predicting Invasion of Prosopis juliflora – A Case Study. Presented at the conference on The Invasive Alien Species and Biodiversity of India” 18-20th August 2004 at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, has delivered a lecture on “Threats to Biodiversity, habitat loss, poaching and man animal conflict” at the Academic Staff College of Guwahati University on 10th September 2004 as per new initiatives of the University Grant Commission to introduce Environmental Studies in college curriculum. About 50 teachers from various parts of Assam participated in the lecture.