This is enlightening. If they wait another decade or two will there be anything left of the environment to prioritize protection for? Steve
-----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Inouye Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 1:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ECOLOG-L] ecology in China I returned two days ago from a trip to northeast China, where I gave lectures at a couple of universities, and thought I'd share a few observations about ecological research in China. The Chinese government is putting significant resources into trying to enhance the quality of research in that country. Sending students and faculty overseas for training is one way they're doing this. My faculty host went to the Botanical Society meeting here in the US last summer, and a host at the other university I visited will spend 3-4 months at Yale this winter, in his first trip to the USA. They have access to funding to bring international visitors about once a year, and in addition to my visit this year, they've had guests from Australia and Germany in the past year or two. I gave a couple of seminars about my research, and a talk about how to publish in high-profile journals. The graduate student who served as my translator says that he won't get his Ph.D. until he has an article accepted in such a journal, and there are financial incentives for the faculty who do so. Ecology, and Ecology Letters, were mentioned as two journals that would be preferred venues for papers. I also spent a few hours providing feedback after a presentation about ongoing research there, and talked later with both faculty and grad students about their work. My host (Dr. Yan-Wen Zhang, Changchun Normal University) has had several papers published in good journals about the interesting work he does with plant-pollinator interactions, and the host at Northeast Normal University (Dr. Deli Wang, head of the Institute of Grassland Science, and director of Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology) also has a good publication record, and a large new grant for an experimental study of grazing (mammals and grasshoppers, on experimentally warmed plots that include manipulations of precipitation) in grasslands of northeast China. Both of these ("Normal") universities specialize in training teachers, and have about 10 -15,000 students. I learned that male Professors in China have a mandatory retirement age of 65, and female Professors must retire at 55. This is at least in part a way of ensuring job opportunities for the growing number of Ph.D. students. I was not told the rationale for difference in retirement age. The grad student who translated for me lives in campus housing ($100/yr for Ph.D. students, $200 for undergraduates) and eats his meals in the dining hall (about $5/day). He hopes to visit an international university in a few years, possibly for a postdoc. The amount of construction going on in Changchun, and in Shenyang (largest city in northeast China) is staggering, and automobile traffic was about as heavy as in the Washington, D.C. area. But there was quite a bit of what seemed to be natural forest in some areas outside the cities, and the protected Changbai Mountain park on the North Korean border was impressive (and apparently has two species of bears, tigers, and other wildlife). The ecologists I met with recognize the environmental problems (e.g., air pollution) that face their country, but are hopeful that in another decade or two, once economic development has improved, that the country will be able to afford to prioritize environmental protection. Although students study English in schools in China, writing papers in English is still a challenge for many of the ecologists (and spoken English even more so). The Ecological Society of America maintains an <http://www.esa.org/authorhelp/>ESA Author Help Directory (http://www.esa.org/authorhelp/ ) that lists volunteers who will help non-English speakers in preparing papers for submission, if you're interested in helping such authors. I expect that we'll be hearing more in the future about ecological research in China. There is already at least one NSF-funded collaborative program with China funded by the Dimensions of Biodiversity program. David Inouye Dr. David W. Inouye, Professor Associate Chair, Director of Graduate Studies Dept. of Biology University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-4415 Rocky Mtn. Biological Laboratory PO Box 519 Crested Butte, CO 81224 [email protected] 301-405-6946
