On September 26, 2018, at the invitation of the Ecological Stoichiometry Research Group of the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), Professor Seth Pritchard of Charleston College of the United States came to IAE for an academic visit and exchange. Professor Pritchard gave a talk entitled “Understanding the life history of Fine roots: Comments on methods of measuring turnover rates and quantifying decomposition" and shared his research experience in the past 20 years on fine root turnover and decomposition in forests. Professor Pritchard is engaged in forest ecology, underground ecology and global change ecology research. He is also one of the main promoters of minirhizotron method for the study of fine-root turnover and decomposition.

On September 27th, Prof. Pritchard visited Qingyuan Forest Ecosystem Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Qingyuan Station). Accompanied by Dr. SUN Tao and staff of Qingyuan Station, Prof. Pritchard visited the forest warming experimental platform and LiDAR towers located at the secondary forests nearby Qingyuan Station. He and the researchers there conducted heated discussions on several scientific topics, including the impacts of global warming on forest underground processes and the long-term positioning research in forest ecosystems. Finally, the two sides reached preliminary cooperation intentions.