On January 17-18, 2019, the seminar on “Forest Nitrogen (N) Cycle and Its Response to Global Change: Multi-site Networking and Model Simulation” was held at the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The seminar was organized by the CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology & Management. FANG Yunting, deputy director and researcher of IAE, delivered a speech. Approximately 20 experts who are active in the field of N cycle research attended the seminar. These expert attendees came from 13 research institutes or universities such as Peking University, Beijing Normal University, Northeast Normal University, Heilongjiang University, East China Normal University, Tsinghua University, Tianjin University, CAS Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden, CAS Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, CAS Institute of Botany and the IAE. The seminar consisted of 17 academic talks, and it attracted more than 80 audiences from the IAE and other institutes.
Professor DUAN Lei from Tsinghua University gave a talk entitled “The impact of nitrogen deposition on a N-saturated subtropical forest ecosystem”. In the past ten years, Prof. DUAN and his collaborators at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences systematically studied the N cycle in forest watersheds in the Sichuan Basin, and estimated the N budget there. Prof. DUAN’s talk aroused interest and discussion of the audience.
Later, Dr. SUN Tao from IAE gave a talk entitled “The above- and below-ground litter decomposition in forest ecosystems”, in which he described his latest research results in forest fine root decomposition and its sharp contrast with the patterns of leaf decomposition. Researcher LIU Lingli from the Institute of Botany, CAS, demonstrated their team's finding on the shifting relationship between N re-absorption and N mineralization at the plant individual and ecosystem level, which can promote the N use efficiency.
Then some other scientists gave talks focusing on the spatial & temporal distribution characteristics of atmospheric nitrogen deposition, in relation to carbon-nitrogen cycle, land-air exchange, plant nitrogen & phosphorus utilization in different forest types (e.g., karst system, cold temperate forest, temperate forest, subtropical forest, alpine forest). FANG Yunjun then stated the possibility and necessity to conduct the multi-site collaborative research. During the seminar, attendees held a heated discussion, and the audience actively asked questions and exchanged ideas with the experts who gave talks. This seminar provided an excellent, face-to-face opportunity for scholars in the field of nitrogen cycle research, and would be a good start for the future cooperation among different research institutes and networking sites.
