Proceedings of the International Conference on Natural Sciences (ICONS) 2011

The First International Conference on Natural Sciences, July 9-11, 2011 in Batu, East Java, Indonesia, brought together scientists from nine countries from South-East Asia, Germany and Japan. South-East Asia is extremely rich in natural resources, many of them still untapped, but has also extremely densely populated areas that have to cope with the ensuing problems including infrastructure measures, intensive agri- and aquaculture, waste management, and nature preservation. Study, use and development of existing resources and coping with the aforementioned problems, requires interdisciplinary cooperation. Based on a network of Alexander von Humboldt alumni, the conference aimed at linking the wide professional expertise, at making the best use of existing equipment and pinpointing gaps, and at integrating basic and applied research. This book is a mosaic of the impressive oral and poster presentations of the conference. It reflects the scientific diversity, existing contacts, and areas of promising new joint ventures. Editing such a wide scope of subjects was fascinating and challenging, allowing at the same time to reflect the many discussions during the meeting that encompassed a world of science. We trust that the book may serve a similar function among the participants, as well as for a wider scope of readers.