From June 28 to July 3, 2026, the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) was held in Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The conference theme was "Sharing Ecological Civilization for Long-term Resilience." The meeting was organized by the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), hosted by the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and co-organized by the Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Guangxi University, the International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISIZ), and the Yunnan Ecological Society. Over 700 participants, including scientists, conservation practitioners, and early-career researchers from more than 60 countries and regions, attended the conference to discuss the future of tropical ecosystems and pathways for global biodiversity conservation.

Group Photo of the Conference

At the opening ceremony, guests from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province, and the Xishuangbanna Prefecture government delivered speeches, addressing the urgency and importance of tropical biodiversity conservation from various perspectives. Yaowu XING, Director of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, delivered the welcome address. He reviewed the history and development of XTBG and expressed confidence that, building on this conference, the Garden would play a greater role in global biodiversity conservation.

Catherine Cardelús, Executive Director of ATBC, highly praised the conference preparations and expressed her hope that attendees would engage in interdisciplinary and cross-border collaboration. She believed this conference would become an important milestone in the field of tropical conservation. Academician Yaping ZHANG of the Chinese Academy of Sciences called on the scientific community to use research to reveal the patterns of tropical biodiversity conservation, support decision-making with data, and encouraged young scholars to take up the next leg of the "relay race" of biodiversity conservation, providing scientific support for human sustainable development. Jun GAO, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province, noted that the ATBC annual meeting had returned to Yunnan after two decades, confirming the province's increasingly prominent role in global biodiversity conservation. He stated that Yunnan is willing to serve as a regional platform, connecting biodiversity science with conservation practice. Wen DAO, Deputy Secretary of the Xishuangbanna Prefecture Party Committee and Governor of Xishuangbanna Prefecture Government, shared collaborative pathways for "conservation and development" from the perspective of local governance. He emphasized the significance of ecological civilization construction in Lancang-Mekong cross-border cooperation as an important link for promoting regional sustainable development.

Opening Ceremony of the Conference

The conference featured 560 oral presentations covering topics including tropical forest ecosystem services to human well-being, sustainable ecotourism and tropical biodiversity conservation, cross-border conservation cooperation, forest ecology and carbon sequestration, wildlife-human coexistence, soil microbiology and tropical biology, restoration ecology and seed ecology, conservation policy and public participation, evolution and biodiversity, biological invasion and global change, tropical forest resilience, and artificial intelligence in conservation technologies. Based on extensive discussions, participants will consolidate consensus on tropical biology research and conservation and will formulate and release the "Xishuangbanna Declaration," providing academic support for international ecological civilization development in the new era. The ISZS organized two symposia during the conference: "Beyond Species: From Species to Interaction-oriented Conservation in a Changing World" and "Animal-mediated Seed Dispersal: Implications for Forest Restoration and Conservation."

The symposium "Beyond Species: From Species to Interaction-oriented Conservation in a Changing World" was jointly organized by Professor Xingfeng SI of Zhejiang University, Professor Gang WANG of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS, Professor Chuan YAN of Lanzhou University, Professor Youbing ZHOU of China Three Gorges University, and Professor Pedro Jordano of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). It included 10 oral presentations: Professor Chuan YAN (Lanzhou University) on " Predicting global terrestrial vertebrate food webs: Implications for conservation prioritization"; Associate Professor Bo Dalsgaard (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) on " Islands as laboratories of mutualistic interactions "; Dr. Chen ZHU (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) on " Ecology and conservation of frugivory networks in the insular fragmented landscape"; Dr. Jie WANG (China Three Gorges University) on " Seed dispersal promotes the resistance of subtropical forest to extreme ice -storm damage through increased structural diversity"; Professor Zhibin ZHANG (Hainan University) on " Seed dispersal drives competition between pair-growing trees: implications for forest succession "; Professor Shi-Xiao LUO (South China Botanical Garden, CAS) on " Pollination by ovipositing insects as a key innovation in early angiosperms"; Professor Gang WANG (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS) on " Plant-insect coevolution and integrative conservation"; Professor Zong-Xin REN (Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS) on " Plant-pollinator interactions on the mountains of southwestern China: conservation challenges in the context of climate"; Professor Rong WANG (East China Normal University) on " Urban pollinating insects: biodiversity, theats, and conservation implications"; and Professor Rodolfo Dirzo (Stanford University, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences) on "De-extinction of ecological interactions in defaunated tropical forests a long and windy road."

Symposium Organized by ISZS

The symposium "Animal-mediated Seed Dispersal: Implications for Forest Restoration and Conservation" was jointly organized by Professor Hongmao ZHANG (Central China Normal University), Professor Marcel Holyoak (University of California, Davis), Professor Xianfeng YI (Qufu Normal University), and Professor Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS). It included 7 oral presentations: Dr. Minghui WANG (Hainan University) on " Pulp has a reward saturation effect on seed removal by small rodents in a tropical"; Dr. Yang DING (Anhui University) on "Maternal individuality maters: Disentangling individual variation in regeneration to guide precision conservation of endangered species"; Professor Hongmao ZHANG (Central China Normal University) on "Urbanization altered the functional traits of acorns, weevil larva and their interactions"; Researcher Jing WANG (Shaanxi Institute of Zoology) on "Trait-mediated seed predation and dispersal is regulated by seed abundance for sympatric tree species"; Dr. Di ZENG (Zhejiang A&F University) on "Context-dependent outcomes of rodent-oak interactions in subtropical forested islands"; Dr. Lisa Ong (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS) on "Temporal niche differentiation in a Sundaic rainforest: seed predators and fruiting phenology"; and Professor Carlos Peres (University of East Anglia, UK) on "Surrounding landscape structure shapes species-area relationships in tropical forest remnants"

Additionally, ISZS hosted a "Face to Face" scientist networking lunch on June 30. Participants included Professor Rodolfo Dirzo (Stanford University, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences), Professor Zhibin ZHANG (Hainan University), Professor Marcel Holyoak (University of California, Davis), Professor Hongmao ZHANG (Central China Normal University), and Professor Shi-Xiao LUO (South China Botanical Garden, CAS). Students engaged with the professors in discussions about society and journal development, scientific questions, and sought advice on their academic and personal concerns.

"Face to Face" Scientist Networking Lunch

After the conference, Professor Rodolfo Dirzo, Professor Marcel Holyoak, and other experts visited the laboratories and research stations of Chinese experts to explore substantive international collaboration.

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), founded in 1963, is the world's oldest and largest international academic organization dedicated to the scientific research and conservation of tropical ecosystems. The association holds annual meetings in different countries and regions each year, providing diverse perspectives on critical issues in tropical biology and conservation. ATBC is committed to fostering collaboration among the broad tropical biology professional community by supporting research, cooperation, capacity building, and communication among tropical biologists and conservation practitioners, thereby advancing scientific understanding and conservation of tropical ecosystems.