The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech will jointly study entomological diversity

When the loss of biodiversity is regularly cited, a new collaboration agreement has just been signed between the Zoology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing and Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech of the University of Liège in order to study entomological diversity together.

It is a question of federating the efforts by focusing on the conservation and the valorization of the hexapods. The CAS with the National Zoological Museum has the largest collection of insects in China. While more than 6.5 millions of naturalized specimens are in Beijing, more than 3 million insects are kept at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech and at Hexapoda - Jean Leclercq Insectarium in Waremme.

The joint activities targeted by this agreement aim in particular at:

• the development of entomological research in relation to systematics and biogeography ;
• the mobility of master's and PhD students as well as researchers and professors ;
• the valorization and the scientific communication including rotating exhibitions based on the respective collections in Beijing and Gembloux.

The implementation of this agreement corresponds to an initiative devoting to a willingness to manage the entomological collections and associated data's at the world level in order to develop not only the scientific but also the cultural and tourist domains with an international approach while promoting the specificities of each partner.