Zhejiang University

 Zhejiang University (ZJU) has established a strong ecological discipline over the past 100 years. Zhejiang University is one of the earliest universities in China which have established the Master of Science (MS) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programs in ecology. Our MS and PhD programs in ecology were approved, separately, in 1983 and 1991 by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of China. In 2001, MOE approved the ecological discipline at ZJU as the State Key Discipline.

       The objectives of the ecological discipline at ZJU are 1) to explore frontiers of ecological sciences, 2) to educate talented undergraduate and graduate students in ecology, 3) to provide support for local economic development and 4) to serve the national strategy on ecological civilization. Our overall goal is to lead ecological research, education and social service in the coming decades.

       Currently, we have 33 faculty members among which 14 are senior and 19 are young faculties. In addition, our faculty have achieved many important national awards and/or titles. 

       Ecological research at ZJU has been mainly conducted through the associated key laboratories and ecological stations. The key laboratories include the National Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, the National Conservation Center for Germplasm Gene of Endangered Plants and Animals, the Key Laboratory of Endangered Plant and Animal Conservation of MOE, the Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Microbiological Resources Development and Application, and the National Center for Teaching (in Biology). The ecological stations consist of the Emei International Co-innovative Base for Endangered Animals, the Qintian Rice-Fish Coculture Research Base, the Changxing Chinese Alligator Research Base, the Deqing Crested Ibis Research Base, the One-thousand Island Biodiversity Teaching and Research Base, the Tianmu Mountain Systematic Evolutionary Biology Teaching and Research Base, the Yuhang and Shangrao Clover Production Bases.

       Supported by four ‘NSFC International Cooperation and Exchanges Project Fund’, research groups of this subject have established strong cooperation relationships with University of Florida, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Kyoto University. In 2015, supported by Zhejiang University Constructive Fund of Ecology Summit, we have established ‘Zhejiang University International Collaborative Base for Innovative Research on Endangered Animals’ led by Zhejiang University, together with University of Tokyo, University of Edinburgh, and USGS National Wildlife Health Center. We formed an international team with Prof. Sheng-guo Fang as the Principle Investigator and team leader, together with Prof. Kazushige Touhara, Prof. Graham N. Stone and Prof. John B. French of USGS National Wildlife Health Center (as vice team leader). The team is planning to focus on studying evolutionary history of panda, crested ibis and Chinese alligator, as well as mechanisms of them becoming endangered species, mechanisms of their behavioral adaptive evolution, and population monitoring and modeling of population growth. These four projects have already started since the end of 2015, and the cooperation with other international groups have become routine.

       The entire team of Ecology Research at Zhejiang University is now steadily marching towards the world’s top level of research capacity with great passion and historic sense of mission.