Interim Assessment on the NNSFC key project: Effect and Related Mechanisms of N Deposition on Biodiversity and Functional Process of Typical Grassland Ecosystem

Release Time:2017-05-22 Big Small

On 9 May 2017, a seminar on progress of the NNSFC key project that undertaken by IAE and managed by Prof HAN Xingguo was held in IAE. The persons in charge of the project and sub –projects and related research workers were presented. Prof YU Guirui, Prof LU Cungming and Prof YNAG Yuanhe  from Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research CAS, Prof WANG Deli from Northeast Normal University and Prof JIN Changjie, Prof FANG Yunting and Prof JIANG Yong from IAE were invited to the seminar.

Prof HAN Xingguo as the project manager and Prof FANG Yunting as the representative of supporting institution gave speech expressing thanks to the research workers and invited specialists. Then, Prof HAN introduced the background of the project proposal, key content and the work development. The persons for sub-projects and related graduated students reported the research advancement in the field of the effect of N deposition on plant biodiversity, on- ground and under-ground productivity and inter-annual steadiness, litter decomposition, soil microbial biodiversity and community structure, soil nematode diversity and so on. The specialists gave commands on each of the report and had discussions. The 2 sides- invited specialists and project workers had deep discussions on the problems appeared in the work and solutions. The specialists fully affirmed the advancement and future plan and suggested stressing on the achievement integration, deeply excavation of data and associated analyses among different trophy levels such as soil-soil microorganisms- soil animals- up-ground plant parts, strengthen the interactions to related disciplines, especially to isotope-technology, modeling and simulation methods to reveal the ecosystem entirety and the inner mechanisms of the component variations, so as to predict the future effect and provide scientific bases for the government decisions on environment protection.

The project was started from 2015, relying on Inner-Mongolia typical grassland ecosystem, constructed long-term sample plots, simulated the effect of Nitrogen deposition, systematically investigated the effect of N deposition on plant, soil animal, microbial diversity and functional processes and related adjust mechanisms. Attentions also given to the restoration process after the stress of N deposition was removed. Special attentions were given to the associations between on-ground process and under-ground process and responses of various components of the system to N deposition to illustrate the threshold level, saturated level and flexibility of N deposition that these components and their interactions will response.

The project have important theoretical and practical significance in the research on the mechanisms of human interference effect on terrestrial ecosystem, ecosystem functions of biodiversity and mechanisms of maintenance of the functions, biodiversity protection and grassland management. Since the project was started, ten papers has been published on Global Change Biology、Ecology、Functional Ecology. The specialists invited to the seminar believed that before the end of the project, more exciting progress is expected.