Title: Advanced Field Course in Ecology and Conservation – XTBG, China 2014
Type: Field course
Venue: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China
Dates: 12 Oct – 23 Nov 2014 (6 weeks)
Organiser: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Registration: Registration is openuntil 20 Aug 2014
Sponsors: Centre for Integrative Conservation, Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, and Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resource and Sustainable Use of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS
Course Fee: RMB 8,000 (or equivalent US$, high-income countries/regions), RMB 2,500 (or equivalent US$, other countries/regions) based on your salary country, which is not necessarily your home country.
Accommodation, food and local transport: the course fee will cover local transport but will not cover food and accommodation (except during field trips). Participants should expect to spend approximately RMB 50 per day on food, which is available through the XTBG canteen or in Menglun town. We can also help to arrange accommodation for participants at a budget hotel in Menglun town (RMB 80/day). We are happy to help arrange room sharing. Please indicate your hotel preference and room sharing preference when registering for the course.
Fellowships: We have a limited budget for full fellowships (fee exemption + travel grant), and half fellowships (fee exemption only), which will be awarded based on both merit and financial need.
Course credits: AFEC-X has obtained accreditation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Graduate students from the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (GUCAS) and institutes under CAS will receive two course credits towards their degree program upon completion of the AFEC-X field course. Other participants may be able to arrange recognition of these credits by their home institutions.
About: This program 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. A typical day will include lectures, practical work in the field or laboratory, and opportunities for informal discussion. Participants will take part in established long term field monitoring experiments and gain experience in independent project design. 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 concludes with a symposium, where participants present results of course activities amongst their peers and instructors. The course is based mainly at XTBG, with excursions organized to different field sites in the region. During the training course participants are encouraged to approach the XTBG professors to discuss their current research and future plans. For more details, see Modules and People.
Topics: Tropical Environments, Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Systematics, Evolutionary Ecology, Plant-Animal Interactions, Ecophysiology, Invasive Species, Climate Change Biology, Molecular Ecology, Soil Ecology, and more. Both natural ecosystems and human-dominated landscapes will be covered.
Please help us to circulate the course flyer in English and Chinese! Thanks a lot!!
If you have any questions about the course, please email liujingxin@msn.com and/or corlett@xtbg.org.cn
