Dr Asyraf Mansor is a senior lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences, USM. He obtained his PhD in Plant Ecology from the University of London. Currently, his two main research areas are the population dynamics of rattan and the invasive plant species, Mimosa pigra and the role of plant animal interactions in seed dispersal and seedling survival. Dr Asyraf has been involved in a number of scientific expeditions, field studies, and consultancies including a major research project to study the biodiversity and ecology of tropical peatswamp forests in both Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.
In collaboration with several research institutes from Southeast Asia and Europe, Dr Asyraf has been involved with exploring various aspects of peatswamp forests including sustainable use of peatswamp resources. For the Penang State Forestry Department, he has assisted with gathering important baseline data on biodiversity and ecology of Permanent Forest Reserves in Penang. The findings of this work are featured in two USM publications: Ecological Survey on Natural Forests: A case study of Teluk Bahang and Bukit Panchor and Ecological Survey on Mangrove Forests: A case study of Balik Pulau and Pantai Acheh.
