Introduction
Faculty Members

Introduction

Department of Zoology is one of the most active departments in the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Muzaffarabad. Zoology as a subject is multidisciplinary in nature, involving study of organisms and their genetic, morphological and physiological attributes, their surrounding environment, and their role in conservation of environment. Zoology is a combination of various disciplines such as Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Toxicology, Genetics, Physiology, Ecology, Developmental Biology, Microbiology, Parasitology, Entomology, Freshwater Biology, Fisheries, and Wildlife etc. This subject has significant role in human resources development, food security, environmental conservation, sustainable development and ultimately in alleviation of poverty. The department has a unique feature of degree programs, as it presents a balanced blend of the classical as well as modern trends of the new era. These programs range from invertebrate Zoology to Biotechnology. Every discipline has a unique importance in its place. For example, Biotechnology is an emerging broad field that employs an industrial technology on the biological synthesis of important compounds specially proteins, genetic engineering of the animals etc. Microbiology represents the basic knowledge of viruses, bacteria and micro-organisms which are mostly pathogenic and its impact on the other related field is immense i.e. agriculture, food pollution etc. As for as the importance of Physiology, Endocrinology and Toxicology is concerned, every person is keen enough to know how its body work and meets the changing demands. To keep pace with rapid advances in the health sciences, Physiology, Endocrinology and Toxicology are very important. Our environment plays a key role in maintaining our good health. To keep it free form pollution caused by industrial effluent, ways of bioremediation (removal or degradation of environmental pollutants or toxic materials by living organisms) are applied, and for this, study of Bioremediation and environmental Biotechnology, Environmental Biology is obligatory. The State of Jammu and Kashmir is extremely rich in wildlife resources and several threats are operating to deplete these resources without any sustainable development. Accordingly, some wild animals have become threatened which if not protected would soon become extinct. There is an intense need to explore these precious resources to manage them for their sustainable utilization to uplift the socioeconomic conditions of the local communities. Keeping in view the national and global trends the department has currently initiated the BS-4 year degree program in Zoology. The department admits under graduate and graduate students for BS-4 Year, M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degree programs in Zoology.