On September 22, 2018, "Thirty Years of China’s Landscape Ecology and Mr. XIAO Duning's 60 Years of Scientific Research Symposium" was held at the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The symposium was hosted by IAE and co-sponsored by the China Branch of the International Association for Landscape Ecology as well as the Landscape Ecology Committee of the Ecological Society of China (ESC). It was launched to sum up and review the development of landscape ecology in China and to guide the future development direction for this discipline.

More than 120 experts, scholars and guests from universities and institutes across the country attended the symposium, including Mr. XIAO Duning, researcher of IAE and one of the founders of China’s landscape ecology, Prof. FU Bojie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. ZHU Jiaojun, director of IAE, Prof. HE Xingyuan, director of the Northeast Institute of Geography & AgroEcology (NIGA) CAS, LV Xianguo, researcher of NIGA, LI Xiubin, researcher of the Institute of Geographical Sciences & Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) CAS, CHEN Liding and MA Keming, researchers at the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, CAS, Prof. DING Shengyan of Henan University, Prof. WU Zhifeng of Guangzhou University and Prof. SHEN Zehao of Peking University.

The opening ceremony began on the morning of September 22 and was chaired by Prof. HU Yuanman, director of the Landscape Ecology & Regional Planning Research Center of IAE. ZHU Jiaojun, on behalf of IAE, gave a welcome speech. He spoke highly of Mr. XIAO for his dedication to the development of IAE and wished the symposium a complete success. FU Bojie recalled the contacts and friendship between himself and Mr. XIAO, and briefed the development of landscape ecology in China. Mr. XIAO reviewed the hardships of the establishment of China's landscape ecology as well as its rapid development in the past 30 years by showing a large number of historical photos, and expressed his hope for young scholars. Finally, ZHONG Linsheng, Secretary-General of ESC, on behalf of ESC, CHEN Liding, on behalf of the State Key Laboratory of Urban & Regional Ecology, presented congratulatory letters respectively, congratulating China on the development of landscape ecology for 30 years and Mr. XIAO for 60 years in his scientific research.

After the opening ceremony, Prof. DING gave a talk entitled “Agricultural Landscape Patterns and Ecological Processes in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and China's Food Security”. Prof. SHEN Zehou gave a talk entitled “Multi-scale Patterns, Mechanisms and Responses of Vegetation Fire Disturbance”. WU Zhifeng’s talk was entitled “Landscape Pattern and Process of Typical Coastal Zone in South China - Remote Sensing and Monitoring”. Li Yuehui of IAE gave a talk on Deer, home-range and Forest Landscape. The speakers and audience had a heated discussion on related topics.

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Prof. HU Yuanman informed the guests of the history of the landscape ecology research group (center) of IAE, which was considered to be the first research group focusing on landscape ecology studies in China. Professor GAO Jun from Shanghai Normal University, Prof. ZHOU Huarong from Xinjiang Institute of Geography & Resources CAS, Prof. LI Xiaowen from Beijing Normal University, Prof. JIAO Yuanmei from Yunnan Normal University, Prof. LIU Miao of IAE, LV Jiujun, director of Liaoning Academy of Environmental Sciences, and Dr. WU Zhifeng from the Institute of Urban Environment of CAS gave talks respectively. These researches covered wide geographical areas, from the Himalayas to the border of Yunnan, from the Yellow River Delta to the industrial city in the northeast of China, with landscape types varied from mountain to wetland, from Hani terraces (the semi-artificial landscape) to urban (the complete artificial landscape). The studies involved not only pattern & progress theories, but also planning and application, which fully reflected the current state and the strong vitality of future development of China’s landscape ecology.

The 30 years of development of China’s landscape ecology has verified Mr. XIAO's academic insights and demonstrated the unremitting efforts of Chinese landscape ecologists. This symposium affirms the long-term pursuit and achievements of Mr. XIAO and all the other Chinese landscape ecologists, and will promote the prosperity and development of landscape ecology in China.