Overview

This program is offered by the Department of Ecology and the Department of Biology in the College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University. The program integrates a variety of aspects of the discipline of ecology, from microecology to macroecology, to allow students to learn all the important facets of ecology both in theory and practice. Students will learn the major components of ecology, including the traditional plant ecology, animal ecology, biogeography, and molecular ecology, and the recently developed ecological studies such as the global change ecology.

Introduction

The Department of Biology of Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU) was founded in 1982, and the College of Chemistry and Life Science was established in 1999. At present, this college offers graduate programs leading to the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry, Biology, and Ecology.

The Master Program of Ecology was initially set up in 2003, and the Ecology was evaluated as a Key Discipline of Zhejiang Province in 2005. Understanding the interaction of organisms with their environment and with one another is a classic task of ecological research and a practical issue in our society. However, people are having an enormous impact on the environment through resource use, habitat degradation, and climate change. The master degree in Ecology is designed to help students understand the interaction of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms with their environment and the relationship between people and the rest of the biosphere. The program covers the core conceptual issues of Ecology in its broadest sense. The degree covers a wide range of topics, including four key research directions: plant ecology, animal ecology, restoration ecology, and agricultural ecology. The training courses, practice, and master thesis will normally last for three years. In each year, 15–18 master students are recruited from universities in China, and currently, 46 master students were enrolled during 2017-2019. We will offer 8–10 positions for the international students in each year.

This master program relies on the provincial Key Discipline of Ecology, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Wildlife Biotechnology, Conservation and Utilization, and the ZJNU Collaborative Innovation Center for Ecology and Environmental Science and Technology, the Institute of Ecology, and the Institute of Special Aquatic Products. The Field Observation and Research Station of Subtropical Ecosystems in Jinhua Mountain and the Sino-European Research Center on Global Change Ecology are being built up. Sufficient working space and important field and lab infrastructures are located in six key laboratories at ZJNU: animal ecology, plant ecology, plant ecophysiology, pollution ecology, global change ecology, past environmental change, and paleoecology. Moreover, three labs are provided from the collaborative institution, the Zhejiang Institute of Agriculture: agricultural ecology, insect ecology, and the center for biochar engineering and technology.

Supervised by a member of staff and cooperated with some external organizations and funding agencies, the master degree-related projects aim to address crucial scientific and practical questions in the fields of ecological and environmental sciences. Based on multi-level and multi-disciplinary approaches such as from macroecology to molecular ecology, from field works to experiments, and combining theoretical and applied explorations, we focus on studies of biodiversity conservation of rare and endemic species, utilization of wildlife resources, ecosystem structure and functions and ecological restoration, ecotoxicology and environmental protection, and bio-resources of agriculture. Interdisciplinary scientists work together to educate master students and early careers of ecology and to achieve unique scientific research at local, regional, national, and international levels. The final aim is to provide the society and government with sound information for decision-making on the ecological construction and the sustainable development of livable environments in Zhejiang Province.

The Master Degree in Ecology has 28 researchers involved. A total of 15 supervisors are included, eight of whom are professors and five are associate professors.

More than 60 completed and ongoing projects are conducted during the past decade, including, seventeen projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, four key projects from the National Key Research and Development Program and the National Key Basic Research Program, and more than 40 projects from the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province.

We have published more than 100 papers in the international journals, such as Plant, Cell and Environment, Quaternary Science Reviews, PloS ONE, Journal of Experimental Botany, Mitochondrial DNA, Hormones and Behavior, Chemosphere, and Journal of Natural History. More than 100 papers have been published in top ecology journals in Chinese, such as Acta Ecologica Sinica, Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, Chinese Journal of Ecology, Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, Quaternary Research, Biodiversity Science, and Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

Research directions

Plant Ecology: Biodiversity conservation; ecosystem structure and functioning, pattern and processes of subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests; impacts of climate change and human disturbances on ecosystems and their feedback at local to regional scales and from past to the future.

Animal Ecology: Molecular phylogeographical and evolutionary studies on genetic diversity and biological adaptation of endemic and endangered wild animals; resource investigation, biological conservation and effects of habitat fragmentation and human disturbances on biodiversity change, extinction risk of rare animal species and conservation strategy; wildlife’s domestication and artificial breeding technology using functional genes and molecular methods and utilization of their biological active substances.

Restoration Ecology: Environmental and ecotoxicological impacts of environmental pollutants derived from industrial and agricultural productions on human and wildlife; risk assessment of environmental health; ecological restoration and recovery of polluted and degraded ecosystems, water, and soils.

Agricultural Ecology: Manufacture of new soil fertilizers; habitat recovery using biochar; functional diversity of agricultural insects and protection of natural predators of pests; comprehensive treatments of agricultural pests.

Goals

1. Nurture students’ abilities in creativity; cultivate students with the spirit of exploration and scientific ethics; help them to be able to flexibly apply scientific methodologies and logical thinking in their research.

2. Nurture students’ ability in systemically acquiring basic knowledge in modern agricultural biotechnology; Help them:

to be familiar with current status and future trends in their own research fields;

to master the modern techniques and skills required for their research;

to possess the ability in logical reasoning and in scientific management;

to acquire the ability in reading, writing, and presenting; and

to possess the ability to teach or pursue research independently in related fields.

Duration

The normal length of master's degree program of the first-level discipline is 3 years, no more than 5 years. Among the first three semesters, graduates should accomplish the study courses and the proposals of master's degree. Graduates should write papers of master's degree and conduct oral defense. Outstanding graduate students can apply for graduation in advance.

Training Strategy and Teaching Mode

1.Courses: The first through third semesters are the course-study stage. As required by the training program, students should actively attend the corresponding courses, and a minimum of 31 credits are required for master's degree thesis and oral defense.

2.Professional practice: The graduate students, combined with the features of this major, should actively participate in various social practices to enhance their understanding of the society and service for the society.

3.Academic activities: To broaden the academic vision, the graduate students should participate in related academic conferences or seminars no less than 10 times.

4.Research: Before the end of the third semester, the graduate students shall have a preliminary proposal defense, submit a dissertation work plan, and start conducting their research. The proposal should include the source of the selected topic, rationales, significance, research contents, research materials, and methods.

5.Dissertation defense: The graduate students must submit the final version of dissertation 3 months before the end of the graduation semester. The students must finish the dissertation defense 1 month before the end of the graduation semester.

Research Ability and Outcomes

1.Be able to read scientific literature independently and summarize literature for the related issues.

2.Be able to conduct inductive logic for the problems generated in the process of summarizing literature and then have a further improvement.

3.Be able to carry on research design and thinking independently, have a basic ability of investigating methods and problems, and propose some relatively mature views and ideas.

Thesis and Degree Conferment

1.The degree thesis topic has a big theoretical value and actual application prospect, correct and full argument, scientific method, novel viewpoint, original opinion, strict logicality, complete structure, and appropriate content.

2.The whole degree thesis should accurately summarized thesis topics (research direction) involving the necessary basic theory, latest results, and dynamic research state. The main content and viewpoints can reflect the latest research results and innovation in this field and the actual level of postgraduates to discover, analyze, and solve problems.

3.Graduates, who pass oral defense by all of the committee members, will be granted master's degree, provided that either he/she published one paper (as the first author or second author provided that the first author is the tutor) in the open academic journals or had thesis blind review scores of no less than 80.