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
