Dr. Alan Warren with the members of the Research Group of Taxonomy and Ecology of Protozoan at IHB.

 

During May 8th to 12, Dr. Alan Warren, Research Protistologist from Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK, paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences（IHB）.  

On May 8th, Dr. Warren attended the "Freshwater Ecology Seminar", and gave an oral presentation with the title of "Ciliates in wastewater treatment process: their ecological role and use as bioindicators". He explained comprehensively the diversity of protozoa especially the ciliates in the wastewater treatment system and their important role in reducing BOD, COD and organic matter content.  

Moreover, Dr. Warren introduced an identification key specifically for rapid identification of ciliates in the wastewater treatment system. As the key integrated images, videos, morphological characters, habitat characteristics, and reference literatures, it showed important academic value and practical significance. At the meeting, Prof. Wang Hongzhu, director of Center for Freshwater Ecology, discussed with Dr. Warren about establishing a standard for the application of ciliates in water quality monitoring in different water bodies.    

On May 12th, as invited by Museum for Aquatic Organisms, Dr. Warren gave another presentation with the title of "The Natural History Museum, London: collections, research and public engagement", and Prof. Song Lirong and Zhang E, communicated with him about the similarities and differences between British and Chinese museums regarding the collection and preservation of specimens, the operation of museum, and the supports from government.