Young Maltese scientist for Belgian Science Expo

Arnold Sciberras, a student at the MCAST Institute of Agribusiness, will be representing Malta at the Belgian Science Expo to be held in Brussels between Tuesday and Sunday following his successful participation in the National Student Travel Foundation Contest for Young Scientists IX, held in collaboration with the Malta Chamber of Scientists, Air Malta and Tumas Group.

Arnold will be presenting a project entitled "Observation on the endangered subspecies of the Maltese Wall lizard of Selmunett Island - Podarcis Filfolensis Keiselbachi". The Maltese wall lizard, Podarcis filfolensis, exists in a number of isolated populations, some of which have been given formal scientific names as subspecies.

In his research, special attention was given to the population of P. filfolensis keiselbachi, which is endemic to Selmunett Island, due to its rapid decrease. The prime suspect for this is Rattus sp. Through the literature read it was noted that between the late Eighties to early Nineties, the population of Pfk was very dense all over the island. In 1997 there was still quite a good stable population. Since 1999 Arnold divided the island into sections for observation purposes.

Today, lizards inhabit approximately one-tenth of the island and they are all located in one particular section of the smaller islet. Arnold has pointed out that this very small population is a matter of concern and some action needs to be taken to reverse the decline.

On the same lines of the NSTF Contest for Young Scientists, the Belgian Expo Science is a contest of science projects and serves as a meeting ground for established and not yet so-established scientists. It is an opportunity for science-related companies to attract young blood and encourage them to take up scientific careers.

The Belgian participants will be joined by young scientists from Mexico, Russia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany and Malta. They will all have the opportunity to exhibit their scientific research to each other as well as to the visiting public. Scientific workshops and lectures will also be taking place.

For further information related to the NSTF Contest for Young Scientists contact Alexandra Scicluna, head of Educational and Cultural Affairs, NSTF (Malta) at sscic@nsts.org or tel. 2558-8241.