30 students from 13 countries presented their 8 interesting research projects to a panel of 9 judges on November, which marked the successful end of the 6-week Advanced Field Course in Ecology and Conservation-Xihuangbanna 2018. 

From October 16 to November 26, the 30 trainees learned such topics as tropical environments and ecosystems, biodiversity science, conservation biology, soil ecology, plant-animal interactions, invasive biology, climate change biology, molecular ecology, GIS, and spatial modelling, experimental design and R statistics, presentation and writing Skills, etc. 

The students were divided into 8 groups to carry out research projects in and around Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) as following: 

1.     The Unrevealed Facts of a Social Spider, Philoponella alata in XTBG  

2. Vertical stratification of predation risk and predator evasion tradeoff: an artificial caterpillar experiment  

3. Effect of light on the foraging activity of nectar-feeding bats  

4. What kind of plants have higher thermal tolerance?  

5. Nest Heat insulation On Different Substrate Associate with shelter：An Egg Cooling Experiment From Phytotron  

6. Do color and posture influence the protective value of snail poop masquerading by sawfly caterpillars?  

7. Are Spine, Thorn and Prickles able defenders of the plants against invertebrates ?  

8. Identifying High Conservation Priority Areas in Peninsular Malaysia  

The best research project award went to “Do color and posture influence the protective value of snail poop masquerading by sawfly caterpillars?” completed by Kelekoralale Gedara Dinelka Dihani Thilakarathne, NIU Ying, Ruhama Maya Sari, Sabita Gurung, Venus Saksongmuang. 

Prof. Chen Jin, director of XTBG, conferred certificates to the winners of best research project award. 

One of the award winners will be funded to present at the Annual Meeting 2019 of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) Asia-Pacific Chapter in Srilanka. 

It’s the 10th year that the Advanced Field Course in Ecology and Conservation - Xishuangbanna (AFEC-X) is organized and held at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden.  

“XTBG will continue organizing and holding the field course, so as to contribute to regional biodiversity conservation along Belt and Road regopn”, said Dr. Chen Jin.