On June 21, 2005, an Adjunct Professorship appointment letter was conferred to Prof. Dr. Frans Bongers from Wageningen University, the Netherlands by Prof. Cao Min, deputy director of the Garden, on behalf of XTBG. His appointment tenure is from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2006.

     Accepting the Appointment Letter, Prof. Dr. Frans Bongers showed his satisfaction at being overseas advisory expert of XTBG and considered it as a great honor. Cooperative studies on tropical forest ecology and plant physiological ecology have been carried out between him and Prof. Cao Kunfang, head of the plant physiological ecology research group for years. A Ph.D candidate is now under their joint supervision. He is very satisfied with the great achievements made in research and species conservation since his first visit to XTBG two years ago. He will visit the Garden again in 2006 to attend the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) hosted by XTBG. As member of the Academic Committee of ATBC 2006, Prof. Dr. Frans Bongers said that he would encourage his colleagues and students to take part in the annual meeting and try to promote international cooperation and exchanges in scientific research and personnel training.

        Prof. Dr. Frans Bongers has long committed himself to the studies on tropical forest ecology. More than 60 high-level papers of his have been published in SCI journals. He is a world- renowned tropical forest ecologist and member of the editorial board of Journal of Tropical Ecology.