Introduction:

Dr. Zaheer Abbas joined University of Education (UE) Lahore Campus DG Khan as Assistant Professor of Botany (TTS) in March 2021. Previously, he was an IPFP Fellow in the same institution. He received his Ph.D. from Hazara University Mansehra in 2018. Dr. Abbas did his M.Sc. and M.Phil. from the University of Karachi, Karachi, and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad respectively. Before joining UE He has worked as a Consultant Botanist and Medicinal Plant expert in an Italian-based non-governmental organization EvK2CNR devoted to the biodiversity and conservation of high altitude national parks of Gilgit-Baltistan "Deosai National Park (DNP)" and "Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP)". He has also served as Plant Taxonomist in International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry University of Karachi. He has immense field experience of plant collection, identification and vegetation survey of  different  ecosystems of Pakistan like coastal zone, hot desert, cold desert, sub-tropical mountain,  dry temperate mountain, sub-alpine, and alpine. Generally, he conducts research in the lofty mountain ranges of the Himalaya and the Karakoram. He teaches at graduate and post-graduate courses. He has completed a project entitled "Establishment of Herbarium in the University of Education Lahore Campus Dera Ghazi Khan Pakistan” under HEC Start Up Research Grant Program (SRGP) as Principal Investigator. So far, he has published more than 35 research articles and two book chapters. He is reviewer of more than 25 reputed national and international academic journals. He is a member of different academic societies like International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG). He has supervised 15 BS and 11 MS students. Currently, he is advisor of 07 MS and 03 BS research students. His research is focused on plant biodiversity and conservation, vegetation ecology, ethnobotany, phytogeography, endemism and phytochemistry.