Advanced Field course in Ecology and Conservation-Xihuangbanna 2016 (AFEC-X 2016), which is the 8th of the course organized by Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), was opened on October 10. The opening ceremony brought together its eighth group of students of 39 trainees from 11 countries, teacher representatives, and officials from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS).
Chief lecturer of the training course, introduced targets of the advanced field course in ecology and conservation, and curriculum of this course. Prof. Hu Huabin, deputy director of XTBG, delivered an opening speech and encouraged the trainees to study hard and have a better understanding and play a better role in biodiversity conservation.
Advanced Field course in Ecology and Conservation is an intensive course in field research methods, including research design, sampling and data analysis, intended primarily for early-stage graduate students in Ecology and Conservation. XTBG invites professional and experienced ecologists and conservation scientists to guide through the course.
The training course includes lectures, practical work in the field or laboratory, and informal discussion. Participants will take part in established long-term field monitoring experiments and gain experience in independent project design. The course is based mainly at XTBG, with excursions organized to different field sites in the region.
With guidance, participants will develop and present research proposals and conduct field-based data collection. The statistical program R will be introduced and used for the data analysis throughout the course.
The course will last 6 weeks from October 12 to November 23.When the course draws to end, a symposium will be held for the participants to present results of course activities amongst their peers and instructors.
Ms.Song Xia of UCAS introduces education foundation
Ms.Tian Yanqiong of UCAS introduces CAS-TWAS fellowships
Prof. Hu Huabin delivers an opening speech
Trainees and teachers pose a photo
