Prabha Sharma,^1,*,** Prem Lal Uniyal,^1,*** Jolanta Slowik<sup>2,****

1</sup>1Department of Botany University of Delhi Delhi — 110007
²2Georg-August-University Goettingen Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute for Zoology & Anthropology

^* Corresponding author: sharmaprabha3@gmail.com; Tel. 08010575034
^**Dr. Prabha Sharma is a Research Scientist for Societal Benefits, Honorary Fellow — North East Centre for Environmental Education and Research (2009), Fellow Erasmus Mundus Europe Asia Program (2011) and Fellow of Research Marketing Initiative Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2012). Prabha was Associate Staff at UCL London (October 2011) for a discussion with Professor James Mallet (Distinguished Lecturer, OEB, Harvard), about sympatric speciation and evolution in Indian Ephedrales; wherein she identified three novel species of Ephedra. Prabha lives in New Delhi, India; visited RBG Kew, RBG Edinburgh, to see Ephedra and Taxus and make international collaborations. Her work had been well appreciated in North America in a global partnership for plant conservation supporting the worldwide implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, Missouri, during 5–7 July 2011. Recently she has been awarded best presenter award in senior category for her traditional knowledge and conservation efforts for societal benefits at the Indian Science Communication Congress on December 21, 2012. She is an international scientist credited with her work in 21 international and 14 national conferences. Also, as an international author, she has been published in front-line journals such as NeBIO, Systematic Botany, and the Natural Areas Journal.
^***Dr. Prem Lal Uniyal is presently working as Associate Professor in the Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi. He completed his Ph.D. in 1991 in the field of bryophyte biosystematics. He has been teaching the subjects of bryology, pteridology, and gymnosperms at the postgraduate level for the past 18 years. His research interests include bryophyte biosystematics, developmental biology of pteridophytes, evolutionary ecology of Ephedra, chemistry of lichens, and developmental biology and ecology of Podostemaceae. His publications include nearly 40 original research papers, 15 review/chapters, and 10 popular scientific articles. He has supervised six Ph.D students.
^****Dr. Jolanta Slowik is presently an Associate Professor, born in 1947 in Wroclaw (Breslau), Poland. Master studies of biology at the University of Wroclaw (Breslau) Poland and earned a Ph.D. in environmental protection from the Technical University of Wroclaw, Institute for Environmental Protection, Poland, in 1976. Since 1979 in Germany, a Scientist at the Ecological Field Station of the University of Wuerzburg, Bavaria; since 1995, assistant Professor at the Centre for Nature Conservation, and currently at the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Goettingen. Dr. Slowik teaches courses in Biodiversity and Nature conservation, supervises master thesis and Ph.D. students in conservation biology, tutors foreign students at the Centre for Nature Conservation in Goettingen, and focuses on capacity building in nature conservation in the countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. Dr. Slowik's main topics of research are conservation strategies, biological monitoring, the cultural aspects of nature conservation, natural Sacred Sites, and the evaluation and indicators of biodiversity.