The Institute of ecology and evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences established in 1934 by academician A.N. Severtsov is one of the leading biological institutes of Russia. The Institute is a scientific research centre on ecology, biological diversity, ethology, evolutionary morphology and nature conservation. The Institute has two branches, 24 laboratories. Currently, the Institute staff includes four Academicians, 23 Professors, 94 Doctors of Sciences (DSc) and 178 Candidates of Sciences (PhD). The Institute is one of the most famous biological and ecological research institutes in Russia, and also has a very high level of scientific research in marine biology and ecology.

Prof. Britayev and his group have been engaged in the long-term research in the benthic ecosystems of coral reef and mangrove. Especially, they have investigated in the coral reef and mangrove in Vietnam for a long time, and obtained a lot of first-hand data and samples, which can greatly enrich the mangrove benthic ecosystem data of the South China Sea and is a very good complementarity to the comparative study.

During the visit, our team visited the Institute of ecology and evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Lomonosov Moscow State University led by Prof. Britayev. We also took the opportunity to identify their collections of copepods, shrimps and polychaetes from the South China Sea. Additionally, we discussed the biological diversity and distribution in the South China Sea and summarized the situation of the ecological system in this area. In sum, this visit enhanced the communication between us and the Russian counterparts, and provided a good basis for our further cooperation in the future.