Collaborative Research: Field course in next-gen forest survey and monitoring in tropical China

生物多样性的迅速丧失在很大程度上是由于与农业和发展有关的土地利用的变化，这使得记录和了解生物多样性的模式及其丧失的潜在影响的努力变得更加紧迫。该项目将把在美国国内招收的研究生中国带到热带地区，为期四周，在那里他们将与从该地区许多热带国家招募的亚洲研究生合作，学习森林管理和恢复问题，并学习使用尖端技术进行快速生物调查的方案。该课程将设在西双版纳热带植物园，这是中国科学院的一个著名研究机构。该项目将大大增加我们对西双版纳、云南、中国森林生物多样性的了解，这些森林是独特物种的家园，面临着扩大人工林的严重压力。已经开展了几项试验，以开发环境友好型农林混合管理系统，并促进恢复退化和非生产性地点的天然林。数字图像、音频和基于网络的共享技术将被用于研究森林生物多样性，从微观到宏观尺度，并将收集环境样本，使用下一代基因测序方法进行分析。该项目将有助于培训生物多样性领域的下一代专家，并将开创以现有设备为基础的调查方法，以加快收集和分发有关森林状况的有意义的数据。由此产生的议定书将免费提供，并积极更新和改进。该课程将侧重于国际协作技能的发展，并将通过在下一个秋季开设的“分布式讨论”课程来鼓励参与者之间的持续互动。除了森林恢复的主题外，本课程还将允许学生学习基于网络的实时互动和合作的最佳实践。该项目由生物多样性维度计划和国际科学与工程办公室联合支持。

The rapid loss of biological diversity, due in large part to changes in land use related to agriculture and development, has lent a new urgency to efforts to document and understand patterns of biodiversity and the potential impacts of its loss. This project will bring US graduate students, recruited nationally, to tropical China for four weeks where they will work with Asian graduate students, recruited from the many tropical countries in the region, to study issues of forest management and restoration and to learn protocols for rapid biological surveys using cutting-edge technologies. The course will be based at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, a well-established research institute in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This project will substantially increase our knowledge of the biological diversity of the forests of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China, which are home to a unique complement of species and which are under severe pressure from expanding plantation forests. Several experimental trials have been established to develop environmentally-friendly mixed agro-forestry management systems and to promote the restoration of natural forest on degraded and unproductive sites. Digital imagery, audio, and web-based sharing technologies will be used to study forest biodiversity, from micro- to macro-scopic scales, and environmental samples will be collected for analysis using next-generation gene sequencing methods. This project will contribute to the training of the next generation of experts in the field of biodiversity and it will pioneer survey methods based on commonly available equipment to accelerate the collection and distribution of meaningful data about forest condition. The resulting protocols will be freely available and actively updated and improved. The course will focus on the development of international collaboration skills, and continued interaction among participants will be encouraged through a 'distributed discussion' course to be offered in the following fall. Beyond the topic of forest restoration, the course will allow students to learn best practices for live web-based interaction and cooperation.This project is jointly supported by the Dimensions of Biodiversity program and the Office of International Science and Engineering.