The research activities at the ECRC extend into a variety of academic subfields and are carried out by professional scientists from around the world. The research can be divided into three broad categories:
    The Birds of Armenia Project (BOA): This project has published A Field Guide to the Birds of Armenia (Adamian and Klem 1997), the most comprehensive field guide available for Armenian bird life, as well as the accompanying Handbook of the Birds of Armenia (Adamian and Klem 1999), the most thorough and up to date ornithological handbook for the region. The project is directed by Martin Adamian, a member of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, and relies on a technically-skilled international team of field, museum, and editorial contributors primarily from Armenia, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, including AdamianÕs coauthor Dr. Daniel Klem, Jr.

    The Fate and Transport of Environmental Pollutants: The ECRC pursues a variety of projects in metals and pollutant transport. From 1999-2001, the Center is funded through a NATO Linkage Grant to conduct research on metals contamination in Armenia's mining districts and in Yerevan in order to determine the extent of transboundary metals transport and the public health threats, and to establish a history and database of metals flux into the environment. The project is being carried out in cooperation with two colleagues at the Institute of Geosciences, and also involves three researchers at the University of California in Santa Cruz. With part of the NATO funding, a trace metal clean laboratory is being renovated at the Institute of Geosciences which will not only build capacity for environmental research in Armenia but through our collaborative ties will be a resource for AUA and itÕs students. Other work in environmental pollution includes a recent report funded by AUA compiling and summarizing all existing data on the Lake Sevan problem, and the development of a program to assess the extent of possible contamination of food, soil, and water with radionuclides from Medzamor nuclear power plant.

    Geographical Information Systems: In addition to being a powerful tool in our other research projects, the Geographical Information System (GIS) is being developed by ECRC as an Armenian Resource Information Database (ARID). ARID creates the framework for a national geographic database, and contributes to the compilation of environmental and health data. This system functions as a sophisticated environmental database and mapping system and is the only one of its kind in Armenia. Through ARID, the ECRC can facilitate the generation and dissemination of key statistical and geographically referenced data sets as well as information on environmental and natural resource issues. At present, the ARID system contains over 20 different maps ranging in theme from biodiversity to hydrogeology. Many of these maps are also found in our State of the Environment Report for Armenia, prepared for the UNEP GRID program in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Armenia.

Birds of Armenia Project Environmental Research Site Map
Education Programs Geographical Information Systems Text Only
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