On July 20th, the plaque unveiling ceremony of the CAS Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation was held at IHB. Prof. Yiyu CHEN, president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Prof. Ronghui SU, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Life Sciences and Biotechnology (CAS), Prof. Ning ZHAO from Federal University of Amazonas in Brazil and leaders and professors at IHB attended this ceremony.

IHB’s deputy directors Prof. Xudong XU hosted the ceremony and Prof. Zhengyu HU made welcome speech at the ceremony. NSFC president made extemporaneous speech, mentioning the 3rd International symposium on integrative zoology & the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth which was held in China last month. He said that we should carry forward the innovative spirits Darwin advocates so as to advance the harmonious relationship between mankind, nature and creatures. We should adopt effective measures to handle the serious influence of human activities and climate changes on biodiversity and global ecosystem.

Deputy director-general of the Bureau of Life Sciences and Biotechnology (CAS) expressed his sincere congratulation and encouragement to the formal establishment of the lab. Prof. Yiyu CHEN and Prof. Wenxuan CAO, academicians of the CAS jointly unveiled the plaque for the lab.

IHB’s deputy director Prof. Shouqi XIE hosted the following symposium. Prof. Ning ZHAO made a presentation on the “diversity and conservation of drumfish” and presented a specimen of drumfish to the lab. IHB Prof. Shunping HE introduced the tasks and objectives of the CAS key laboratory in the future.

Prof. Yiyu CHEN made a presentation entitled “research on aquatic biodiversity of inland waters”, bringing forward the opinion that aquatic biodiversity is the combination of all the organisms in a specific region or in the world at large. It carries strong spatial and temporal characteristics. He said that researches on the origins and evolution of biodiversity and on the pattern of biodiversity in China should be strengthened. The regions that boast the most diversified aquatic organisms are the floodplains locating in the eastern part of China which comprises of Yangtze River basin and Yellow River region. The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, arid region of the north-western China, Hengduan mountainous areas in Sichuan province are also important regions that boast diversified aquatic organisms.

Prof. Chen stresses that only if we are acquainted with nature can we understand the influence of human activities on nature in a better way. He also pointed out that species protection and ecosystem conservation should be combined together.

The audience of the symposium

IHB Prof. Shunping HE (R) reveived the drumfish specimen from Prof. Ning ZHAO from Federal University of Amazonas in Brazil.

NSFC president Prof. Yiyu CHEN made a presentation on aquatic biodiversity for the audience