The inaugral conference of the Asian Chapter of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) is held at Mahabalipuram, India during March 6-8, 2007. The conference is organized by Pondicherry University. Dr. Chen Jin, the founding chairman of ATBC Asian Chapter, headed up an 8-person XTBG delegation to participate.

  Renowned tropical biologists as Peter S. Asthon, William F. Laurance were invited to the meeting. Dr. Kang Le, director of the CAS Bureau of Life Sciences & Biotechnology, was also present.

   With the central theme “Averting Biodiversity Meltdown in the Asian Tropics”, the first conference of ATBC Asian Chapter attracted over 200 scholars from 20 countries. 8 scholars including Dr. Chen Jin delivered inaugral speeches at the conference, and 70 scholars (3 XTBG scholars included) made thematic reports. In addition, 26 posters were received.

   During the sessions, the participants who are biologists working on biology and conservation in the tropics had discussions on the problems of common concern.