From 5 to 10 August, Profs. REN Hai and LI Zhi-an from the South China Botanical Garden (SCBG), supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, attended the 18th International Restoration Ecology Conference and the 92nd American Ecology Annual Conference held in San Jose City, California, USA. Over 4000 delegates from different nations and regions all over the world participated in the conference.

The theme of this conference was Restoration Based on Ecology in the Changing World. All the delegates discussed various ecological issues of global significance ranging from global change, invasion biology, biodiversity, to human sustainable development in agriculture, grassland, wetland, and forest. Dr. Ren presented a report on natural colonization of native mangroves into exotic mangrove plantations in LeizhouBay, South China.

During the conference, Drs. Ren and Li reached an agreement with the research members abroad of SCBG in USA on applying for co-holding the International Senior Symposium of Restoration Ecology.