IHB signs a tripartite agreement on the construction of a joint laboratory of marine mammal research with two CAS institutes in Sanya, Hainan province, on March 23, 2020.   (Credit: IHB)

The Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed a tripartite agreement on the construction of a joint laboratory of marine mammal research with two CAS institutes - Institute of Deep-sea Sciences and Engineering (IDSSE) and Institute of Acoustics (IOA), in Sanya, Hainan province, on March 23, 2020.    

Marine mammals such as cetaceans are the key biological groups and flagship species that represent the biodiversity of the marine ecosystems, including the deep sea ecosystems, they inhabit. The biology, ecology, behavior, and bioacoustics of marine mammals has been at the forefront of international marine research.    

The three parties involved agreed that the IDSSE could make use of its unique geographical location and its findings in the survey of cetacean resources in the South China Sea, while IHB and IOA could share theirs in freshwater and marine cetacean research, and acoustics and information processing technology.    

Joining hands in these areas, the tri-party cooperation could enrich the studies of marine mammal and marine bioacoustics in China and ASEAN countries.   

The joint lab will be oriented to five main directions - in-depth survey of marine mammal resources, real-time tracking of innovative technology development, development and application of passive acoustic monitoring technology, advances in molecular biology techniques for the study of adaptive evolution, theory and innovation of bionic sonar techniques.    

The joint lab will be co-chaired by Prof. LI Songhai from IDSSE, Prof. WANG Ding from IHB, and Prof. ZHANG Chunhua from IOA.