December 28, 2020, General Office of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China issued a notice on the Implementation Plan for the Construction and Operation of the National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, which included 69 field stations on the priority list of national field stations to be constructed. The Qingyuan Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station (hereinafter referred to as Qingyuan Station), which is affiliated with the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is on the list. 

Up to now, IAE has established 4 national-level field stations (Huitong Station, Changbaishan Station, Shenyang Station, and Qingyuan Station; all of which are also member stations of the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network), 4 institute-level field stations (Daqinggou Station, Wulan'aodu Station, Erguna Station, Shenyang Urban Ecosystem Research Station/Arboretum), and 2 field stations jointly established with the State Forestry and Grassland Administration (Changbaishan West Slope Station and Erguna Wetland Research Station), involving forests, farmlands, grasslands, sand land, cities and other types of terrestrial ecosystems. 

IAE is a "Feature Institute" in the field of Ecological Civilization Construction of CAS. These field stations play an irreplaceable role in IAE's scientific and technological innovation. IAE will continue to strengthen the construction of these field research platforms, and actively promote other institute-level field stations that has disciplinary and regional importance to join the CERN and become the national-level stations. 

Profile of Qingyuan Station 

Qingyuan Station was founded in 2002 and is located in the eastern mountainous area of Liaoning Province, at the northern foot of Longgang Mountain, which is a far extension of Changbai Mountain. Initially, Qingyuan station was a small, institute-level station. In 2012, it became a station affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It joined the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) in 2014, and became a National Field Observation and Research Station in 2020. Qingyuan Station has now become a comprehensive field research platform for temperate secondary forest monitoring, research, experimentation, demonstration, talent training, science popularization, and technology development in Northeast China. 

Research at Qingyuan Station focuses on the typical secondary forest ecosystems in the temperate zone. Researchers there carry out long-term observations, experiments, and research at scales from individuals, populations, communities to ecosystems and landscapes. The station has achieved remarkable results in many research areas, for example, the researchers developed new technologies for precise quantification of forest stand/gap structure; established a secondary forest understory ginseng cultivation technical system based on the principle of forest stand structure optimization and regulation; clarified the ecological significance of nature disturbance process, e.g., its influence on material cycle, biodiversity, regeneration and succession of secondary forest ecosystems; proposed the technical system by simulating natural disturbance regimes to promote forest restoration and understory Chinese herbal cultivation and utilization; revealed the regrowth and coexistence mechanism of key tree species of secondary forests; established the structural regulation approach to promote the positive succession of secondary forest ecosystems and the composite management model for understory cultivation of edible wild plants; revealed the reasons leading to the decline of fertility in larch plantation forests and the low quality of water conservation forests; revealed the maintenance mechanism of long-term forest productivity; and proposed the technical specifications (mainly via litter layer protection) to guide forest function improvement and wood frog breeding. 

Qingyuan station currently has 30 permanent researchers, including the chief scientists of the 973 Project and the National Key Research and Development Project, winners of the Outstanding Youth Science Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSF), members of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, winners of the CAS Hundred Talents Program, overseas distinguished professors, and principal investigators of NNSF and other national- and provincial-level funding sources. The researchers have published more than 400 journal articles (SCI articles > 300), and have been granted more than 30 patents. Several suggestions for decision making were adopted by the State Council of China. Its scientific and technological achievements won 2 second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award of China, and 10 other awards including the first prize of Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Award, the first prize of Liaoning Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, the Science and Technology Development Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It also has more than 50 personal honor awards including the Scientific Achievement Award of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). 

Qingyuan Station has 1450 ha of typical secondary forest lands for scientific research and ecological monitoring, and has set up 300 ha of experimental plots. It has the world-class tower network system for flux monitoring, the LiDAR system, field warming and nitrogen deposition experimental platforms, secondary forest ecosystem research plots, classic and automatic weather stations, online air quality monitoring system, and standard permanent plots for hydrology, soil, atmosphere and biology monitoring. 

The researchers at the station has established cooperation and exchange relationship with more than 30 foreign scientists from over 10 countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Finland, Japan, South Korea, etc. It has established the "Sino-US Forest Silviculture and Ecology Joint Laboratory" with Clemson University, and has co-established the Ker Joint Laboratory for Forest Trace Gas and Isotope Flux Monitoring and Research (Ker Joint Laboratory) with Campbell Scientific Inc. It also carries out long-term cooperative research with many domestic research institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, etc., as well as all forestry-related institutes in Liaoning Province. 

After becoming a National-level Station, Qingyuan Station will be committed to building a world-class field experimental platform with international influence, and will continue to be rooted in Northeast China and provide scientific and technological support and decision-making advice for authorities in order to maintain the sustainable development of China's forest ecosystems, meet the needs of the country's development, and contribute to the construction of an ecological civilized, beautiful China.