At the invitation of professors of the Ecosystem Microbiology research team at the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), professor Bahar Razavi of Keele University, Germany, associate professor LUO Yu of Zhejiang University and professor NIE Ming of Fudan University visited IAE for academic exchanges.

The visiting experts conducted research and project discussions with researchers and graduate students of IAE on the afternoon of March 10, and made wonderful academic talks on March 11. FANG Yunwei, deputy director and professor of IAE, as well as other researchers (including WANF Peng, LU Caiyan, HAO Guangyou, LI Hui) and nearly 60 graduate students of IAE attended the academic meeting (which was jointly organized by the Youth Promotion Association and the Soil Ecology & Agricultural Ecological Engineering Research Center of IAE).

Professor Razavi's talk was entitled "Plant-Soil microbial interactions: Molecular to ecological perspective". She revealed the effects of environmental factors such as temperature and oxygen on enzyme activities by using advanced methods, explored microbial communities and their functions by taking account of rhizosphere secretions and bio-pores, and presented her in-depth research on effectiveness and expression of enzyme activities.

LUO's talk was titled “Carbon allocation, turnover and driving mechanisms in plant-soil-microbe systems”. LUO used techniques of isotopes and molecular biology and explored regulation mechanisms of microbes on soil organic carbon under long-term fertilization conditions by studying the relationship between carbon, mineral nutrients and microbes in root and rhizosphere samples.

The talk given by professor NIE was titled “Coping with and Managing Global Climate Change – The Challenge of the Paris Climate Agreement”. Through statistical analysis of global data, the professor discussed the feasibility of the Paris Climate Agreement and proposed corresponding measures.

These talks aroused the interest of researchers and graduate students who attended the academic meeting. The participants, with the three professors who gave the talks, had a heated and in-depth discussion on scientific issues such as the research methods involved in these studies. Through the academic meeting, the graduate students got a better understanding on relevant scientific topics, and the young scholars widened their horizons as well.