Over 30 delegates of China’s biosphere reserve visited the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) on August 4, 2017.

Delegates of the nature reserves actively spoke and said that the nature reserves were the concentrated distribution areas of some precious and rare animal and plants including fungus and other microbial resources, but lack of understanding and utilization of resources. They hoped to develop cooperation in regard to fungus and data and so on with IMCAS.

Prof. YAO Yijian, curator of Herbarium Mycologicum (HMAS) in IMCAS said, “HMAS has specimens collected from 34 provinces and autonomous regions throughout China and 111 other countries and regions including north and south poles. The domestic specimens account for 73%, and foreign specimens account for 27%.” HMAS is the only mycological herbarium with comprehensive collections and is also the one with the largest collections in Asia.

The institute also set up the World Data Center for Microorganisms (WDCM) attached to the World Federation for Culture Collections. “The Center settled in the Institute in 2010 is the first important world data center in the field of life sciences.” Dr. MA Juncai, director of WDCM added.

LI Junxiong, deputy director of the institute, also emphasized the importance of cooperation. All hoped the visit and exchanges could kick off the cooperation between experts in the institute and biosphere reserve.