Udayangani Liu

Job Title

Seed Bank Database Manager

Department

Seed Conservation

Section

Botanical Information

Science Teams:

Joined Kew: 2006

Foreign Language(s):

Sinhala (mother tongue)

Qualifications & Appointments

PhD Behaviour Ecology, Univ. of Aberdeen, 2002
MSc & PG Dip. Management of Natural Resources & Sustainable Agriculture, Agricultural Univ. of Norway, 1998
BSc (Hons) Zoology, Univ. of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 1991
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) Fellowship 1996 – 1998
Commonwealth Scholarship, UK 1999 – 2002
Visiting Lecture, Eastern University, Sri Lanka, 1991
Lecturer, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 1991 – 1992
Lecturer, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, 1992 – 2002
Member of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS)


 

Role

 

I manage and administrate the Seed Bank Database (SBD) which holds a wide range of field, processing, germination and storage data of seed collections stored at the Millennium Seed Bank. My activities include maintaining high data standards of SBD through liaison with international co-ordinators and overseas partners, liaising with Information Systems Development team regarding enhancement to the SBD and associated database applications, updating SBD user manual and standard operating procedures for data entry, extracting and analysing seed intake, processing and germination data and providing statistics to the Seed Conservation Department, supervising the data exchange project, setting up and maintaining access restrictions to seed collections laid out in Material Acquisition Agreements, repatriating data to overseas partners, providing data and statistics to external institutes, advising overseas partners on seed bank databasing, and training staff, visitors and students on  the use of SBD and associated applications. I also manage the Kew’s Restoration Ecology Database.

Projects

Selected Recent Publications

  • Goss-Custard et al., ~ Udayangani-Fernando, P.U. (2006). Intake rates and the functional response in shorebirds Charadriiformes eating macro-invertebrates. Biological Reviews, 81: 501-529.

Selected Earlier Publications

  • Fernando, P. U. U. (2004). The impact of macroalgal mats on the feeding distribution and feeding behaviour of mussel-feeding birds on the Ythan estuary, Aberdeenshire. Wader Study Group Bulletin, 104: 19 – 20.

  • Fernando, P. U. U. & Liu, K. (2004). Correcting the individual biases made in collecting mussel shells opened by oystercatchers ‘ex-situ’. Wader Study Group Bulletin, 104: 56 – 59.

  • Fernando, P. U. U. (2002). The impact of macroalgal mats on the feeding distribution and feeding behaviour of mussel-feeding birds on the Ythan estuary, Aberdeenshire. PhD Thesis, University of Aberdeen, UK.

  • Fernando, P. U. U. & Amarasingha De. S. N. J. (2002). Species abundance distributions of bird communities in four agroecosystems. Tropical Agricultural Research & Extension, 5(1 & 2).
  • Fernando, P. U. U. & Amarasingha, De. S. N. J. (1999). Comparative study of bird communities inhabiting slash and burn agriculture and vegetable cultivation. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceedings of the Fifty-fifth Annual Session, Part I, D-1, 137p.
  • Fernando, P. U. U. & Amarasingha, De. S. N. J. (1999). Assessing the conservation value of tea plantations on bird diversity. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceedings of the Fifty-fifth Annual Session, Part I, D-2, 138p.
  • Fernando, P. U. U. & Amarasingha, De. S. N. J. 1999. A study of avifauna associated with four different agroecosystems in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceedings of the Fifty-fifth Annual Session, Part I, D-4, 140p.
  • Fernando, P. U. U., (1998). Avian community structure as a bio-indicator to assess the sustainability of four agroecosystems in the southern province of Sri Lanka. MSc Thesis, Agricultural University of Norway, Norway.
  • Fernando, P. U. U., Amarasingha, De. S. N. J., Senaratna, K. A. D. W. & Kotagama, S. W. (1996). The diversity and abundance of avifauna at the Kekanadura Rain Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka as a bio-indicator to determine the human impact. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceedings of the Fifty-second Annual Session, Part I, D - 24, pp 125 - 126.

  • Fernando, P. U. U., Amarasingha, De. S. N. J., Senaratna, K. A. D. W. & Kotagama, S. W. 1996. Recorded avifauna at the Kekanadura Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceedings of the Fifty-second Annual Session, Part I, D - 23, pp 124 - 125.

Scientific Research & Data

Sign up to Kew News