In response to the growing need for biodiversity conservation and sustainability, NTU reorganized the Department of Zoology and the Department of Botany into the Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2003. The aims are to provide the best education program in this field to graduate students, and to serve as the best research integration for biodiversity research in Taiwan. Accordingly, our graduate program is designed to develop both the breadth and depth of knowledge that will enable graduates to respond to future advances in the field. And our research projects are mainly in the areas of ecology, evolution, behavior and biodiversity. The Institute has four research foci: molecular evolution, systematics, plant ecology, and wildlife ecology. There is a great deal of interaction and collaboration within these groups, though projects often cross these boundaries as well. Although our faculty and students in the Institute study a wide range of biological problems, ecology and evolution are the central themes, and a mixing of theory and empiricism is the style that guides us. Many of our research projects are interdisciplinary and have resulted in strong links to the other institutes of Molecular and Cell Biology, Plant Science and Fishery Sciences within the College of Life Science. The excitement and quality of the research that is done in the Institute creates an exceptional learning environment for graduate students. We now have 23 faculty, and approximately 100 graduate students and post doctorates. In addition, we plan to invite some faculty within NTU with related interests to form an integrated ecology and evolution group.