Waves dancing and surging in the blue ocean, seabirds skimming over the glittery sea, and lighthouses flashing in the gathering dusk... Amidst this breathtaking view on the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, a young man was busy collecting plant and soil samples and carefully placing them into sample boxes. He has repeated the same job for multiple times and for several days on end, but just as he has done thousand times before, he didn’t relented by a fraction in his efforts. He knew with these samples, he might find something about the impacts of climate change and increased human activities on the island ecosystem, and have a clue about how the coral reef ecosystem in the Xisha Islands will develop under the background of global climate changes.

This young man is Dr. Wu Libin, an associate professor from Tianjin University’s School of Earth System Science. As a geoscience researcher, he is doing the field study in the South China Sea.

Wu Libin on the scientific expedition to the Xisha Islands

Scientific research, a way to embrace mother earth

"I don't give much thinking to whether geoscience is popular or not," said Dr. Wu, "The key lies in whether this is something you like to do. Geoscience research could be challenging at times, but for me it provides more fun, joy and fulfillment. Every field trip is a memorable experience.”. After he obtained the doctorate of environmental science in 2018, Wu joined Tianjin University’s School of Earth System Science and engaged in the research on nitrogen cycle at the earth-atmosphere interface. He now serves as the deputy director of the Department of Geographical Science and the class adviser for the Department’s first batch of undergraduate students in2020.

“Our school is a compraratviely new school, establised in 2015, but it provides world-class experimental analysis platforms and a group of like-minded people who harbour the same dream to unravel the mysteries of the earth.” Dr. Wu thought highly of his school, claiming that it gives strong support for him and his colleagues to study about many baffling problems in earth science or geographical science. “We’d like to be the earth and sea whispers who understands what the mother earth is really like and conveys its needs and beauty to the world.”

To read as much as possible is necessary, but to travel more is even so.

Reading and traveling constitute Dr. Wu's academic life. He has been to many places around the world, from the snowy and freezing Antarctic continent to the whole length of Yangtze River, from the scorching Badain Jaran Desert to the Xisha Islands. He has seen the sunrise from the top of Mt. Tai and enjoyed the sunset from the Indian Ocean.

During his trip to the Xisha Islands, Dr. Wu visited more than ten islands from which he collected soil, vegetation and other samples for research. Once he got here, the first word that came to his mind was "speechless" -- he couldn’t think of an exact word to describe its beauty. As he described, the azure blue sea rippled and sparkled, surrounding the lush green islands and white sand bars, like jades and pearls scattered in the South China Sea. "But today, rapid climate change and increasing human activities have severely affected the ecosystem of the Xisha Islands. For example, some islands have undergone dramatic changes over the past few decades or few years, and a vast majority of islands have seen a sharp decline or even extinction of seabirds. By bringing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus to the islands through their excrement, seabirds help promote the islands’ vegetation growth and ecosystem development. So the decline in their population inevitably affects the evolution of island ecosystems." Dr. Wu said. He believed that conducting research from the perspective of earth system science is of great significance for the development, utilization and ecological environmental protection of the Xisha Islands.

Wu on the Antarctic scientific expedition

Expose the students to the fun of learning and research

For his students’ perspective, Dr. Wu never hesitates to give encouragement and takes lengths to help them explore the fun of learning and scientific research. In Wu's opinion, it is more important for students to be willing to learn than to be taught to learn, more important to arouse students' enthusiasm in learning than to teach them specific knowledge. Therefore, he pays special attention to guiding students to discover the fun of learning and scientific research and make the process less boring. "I'd rather call it a tour rather than a class!" said a student surnamed Wang who attended Wu's public elective course "Chinese Tourism Geography". "Mr. Wu's class contains rich knowledge of physical geography, human geography and regional geography. We were led to enjoy magnificent sceneries and marvel at wonders of nature from time to time. Another wonderful thing is that you have chance to get postcards made from photos Mr. Wu took in relation to the course content if you answer questions."

Dr. Wu tries to be a good teacher as well as a helpful friend to students. He works together with students to determine the research purpose of their subjects, clarify scientific problems to be solved and discuss implementation plans. "The process of learning and research is not always interesting. We may be bored sometimes, but we can't back off." He will tell students that most of the time, people don’t do things out of interest, “It’s the other way around--we find fun when we have done a good job."

Photos taken by Wu during his scientific expeditions to the source region of the Yangtze River, Mt. Tai, the Indian Ocean and the Xisha Islands

"Earth science is where my future lies. Doing interesting research and appreciating natural beauty will be my life pursuit.” While enjoying the field work all over the world, Dr. Wu knows the foundation of his academic research is built on TJU campus. “The most strenuous part of research is carried out on our campus. Only by down-to-earth work, can we find answers to those interesting scientific issues.” Dr. Wu deemed it a blessing to make his share of contribution to unraveling the mysteries of the earth and protecting her accordingly.

By Dang Xinuo

Editor: Eva Yin