By S. Mounier, University of Toulon

Thanks to funding from the Cai Yuanpei Program of the Campus-France of the French Government, a visit to the universities of Shenzhen Zuhai and Xiamen enabled INCT-Ocean to be quickly introduced to students and researchers as a possible partner for environmental studies. These three universities have substantial budgets and are interested in international collaborations, and propose grant for post-doctoral position or researchers exchange.

The laboratories visited have in common the study of mangroves and the processes of carbon storage or degradation in these particular ecosystems. In Shenzhen, at the College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, we exchange with Dr ZHOU Haichou (zhouhc@szu.edu.cn) who works on the degradation of lingnous compounds in mangrove sediments. At Zuhai University, Prof. ZHILI’s team (hezhili@sml-zhuhai.cn) at Sun Yat-sen University is developing work on the microbiological processes involved in transforming organic matter into carbon (CH₄ production) and nitrogen (nitrification/denitrification). One of the flagship projects is the construction of a Sea-Mangrove-River mesocosm with control of all geochemical parameters (T°, tide, salinity…). Finally, at Xiamen University, the INCT was introduced to the team of Prof. GUO Weidong (wdguo@xmu.edu.cn), who is also working on the study of organic matter in coastal and oceanic systems. It was also an opportunity to discover the “Zhangjiang estuary station”, a mangrove observation station that continuously measures gas and weather emissions.  (https://wel.xmu.edu.cn/kypt/ywjd/zjkhslsdstz.htm) and has the capacity to host research teams for projects.

French consulate in Canton organizes this year a “Mangrove Tours” in China, organizing conferences and Coffee-Science exchange with the population and China is also particularly interested in mangrove conservation, notably with the recent creation of the International Mangrove Center with 18 countries¹.

1-https://english.news.cn/20241106/de037bbcf67849d6b2cc74eb690bed0c/c.html