174 people from 20 countries met from 24-27 March in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, for the 2012 annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) Asia-Pacific Chapter, which is hosted by the CAS Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG).

The annual meeting is themed with “understanding and mitigating the impacts of global change in tropical Asia”. The conference covered such topics as forest dynamics, plant-animal conservation, functional traits, tropical forest restoration, peat swamps, soil dynamics and carbon, future of taxonomy, biogeography, insect-plant evolutionary ecology, etc.

During the course of the conference, over 116 oral presentations and 29 posters were given.

The opening ceremony of the Annual Meeting was chaired by Dr. CAO Min. The welcome address was given by Dr. CHEN Jin. Dr.Mochamad Indrawam, current chairman of the ATBC Asia-Pacific Chapter, delivered an opening speech.

Dr. CHEN Jin delivering a welcome speech.

The four-day meeting provided a platform for the scientists to have academic exchanges and discussions. The scientists from the nations of tropical Asia urged understanding and mitigating the impacts of global change. Scientists themselves should play a leading role in promoting the studies on forest biology and conservation in tropical Asia.

Participants exchange ideas during the sidelines.

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation is the world's largest professional society devoted to the furtherance of tropical biology and tropical conservation. It was founded in 1963 to promote research and to foster the exchange of ideas among biologists working in tropical environments. The ATBC published the journal Biotropica. ATBC has grown into a truly global organization with members from over 100 countries. In 2006, an Asia-Pacific Chapter was formed to further these objectives in this region. Dr. Chen Jin, director of XTBG, was elected as founding chairman of the Chapter.