From January 18 to 19, Profs. Andrew Smith and Sue Serjeantson, academicians of Australian Academy of Sciences, paid a visit to South China Botanical Garden (SCBG), under the invitation of Prof. ZHOU Guoyi, deputy director of SCBG and station master of Dinghushan Forest Ecosystem Research Station (DFERS), CAS.

On 18 January, Dr. Smith firstly presented an academic lecture titled “Writing English-language Science Article – Increasing Your Chances of Success” to research fellows and postgraduate students of SCBG. As a senior reviewer, Smith talked the writing skills of academic paper in detail and gave many suggestions to audience. All the participants gave a high appraisal for the lecture and they discussed with Smith about all kinds of problems about writing academic papers.

On 19 January, both of the academicians went to visit DFERS. Prof. ZHANG Deqiang, deputy station master of DFERS, introduced the basic situation of the station and the work of research and observation to the guests, and then accompied them to visit the outdoor experimental ground. After finishing the visit, Smith and Serjeantson gave a high appraisal for long-term ecosystem observations and experiments, especially the change of precipitation pattern and the decomposition of coarse woody debris. They both also gave suggestions on strengthening cooperative research and exchange with foreign long-term ecological research stations to enlarge influences of DFERS.