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ZJU-NCSU Joint Field Course Enters its 10th Year

2017-10-17

    From June 30 to July 22, 23 students from North Carolina State University (NCSU), Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University participated in the ZJU-NCSU Joint Field Course titled “Plant Resources, Ecology & Culture of Eastern China”.

    Headed by NCSU professors Jenny Xiang and Tom Wentworth, this is the fifth year that a delegation from NCSU’s Department of Plant & Microbial Biology has come to ZJU for the field course. For summer 2017, course instructors consist of professors from both the U.S. and China.

    This year's course comprises three phases, namely, lectures at ZJU, field work at Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang province, and field work at Yellow Mountain in the neighboring Anhui province.

    Before the field work, students were introduced to the floristic comparisons between eastern Asia and eastern North America as well as recent advances in US-China collaborative studies. In practical lab time, they studied the morphology of roots, stems, and leaves and leant how to identify species.

    The subsequent visits to Tianmu Mountain and Yellow Mountain turned out particularly invaluable, as students were enabled to develop their research skills while observing and experimenting with diverse plants. For instance, they practiced plant collecting, pressing, and identification of specimens. They also conducted a test survey of plant communities using plot analyses and further studied them in terms of phylogenetics and functional traits.

On the left: Kirengeshoma palmata, a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangaceae, native to Japan and eastern China (Yellow and Tianmu mountains), but commonly cultivated as ornamentals in the US. Photo credit: LI Pan; On the right: Group photo in the Yellow Mountain

    Through the joint course, students have deepened their understanding of global biodiversity and ecological environment changes in a real-life setting. Equally important, they’ve developed a better command of plant identification and preservation techniques.

     The ZJU-NCSU field course is part of a comprehensive package of international joint courses initiated by the College of Life Sciences in 2004. Over the past decade, more than 100 ZJU undergraduate students have benefited from the joint course.

    With support from national organizations and the University, the course has been expanding its influences outside its founding partners. Recent years have witnessed a growing number of participants from other Chinese universities, such as Nanjing, Nanjing Normal, and Shanghai Jiao Tong universities.

    Many professors, Jenny Xiang (NCSU) and Chengxin Fu (ZJU) in particular, have contributed to the success of the field work, which has become one of the signature courses representing ZJU’s internationalization momentum.