Location: Stations--Agricultural Stations--Feng Qiu National Agro-ecological Experimental Station-Fengqiu Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences
1. Introduction
Environmental problems associated with salinization, alkalization, and sandstorm had aroused great attention for scientists with various disciplines at the beginning of 60 s of last century in North-China Plain. An experimental research base to ameliorate alkali-saline soil was established in Fengqiu County, Henan Province at that time by Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS). To meet the need of regional development and improvement required by the government and permitted by the CAS, Fengqiu Agro-ecological Experimental Station of CAS was founded in May 1983, and managed by Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, CAS. It is located in Pandian, Fengqiu County (114o24 east longitude and 35o00 north latitude). As one of the earliest stations open to the public in CAS, the station was formally made open to national and international scientists in 1988, and joined the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network(CERN) in 1992 as a key station. In 2001, the station was raised to a national level and became a National Agro-ecological Experimental Station, which was ratified by the Ministry of Science and Technology. At the same time, the station was selected as a positioning observation and research station by Global Terrestrial Observation System (GTOS) of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The station, therefore, has become an important research and observation field base in North-China Plain deployed by CAS, the government, and FAO, and is involved in different research areas covering agriculture, natural resources, ecology, and environmental pollution.
2. Staffs and research areas
Name Title Research area
Dr Jiabao Zhang Professor and director Soil water, solute movement, and modeling
Mr Lingyun Zhou Professor and deputy director Agricultural ecology and soil water
Mr Deping Li Deputy director Environmental pollution
Mr Qiao Jiang Researcher Environmental monitoring
Mr Jian Liu Administration
Mrs Xin Li Secretary
Mr Fuan Xu Professor Computer-controlled irrigation
Dr Shaohui Xu Associate Professor Hydrology and ground water
Dr Bingzi Zhao Senior researcher Soil physics
Mr Weimin Li Researcher Plant physiology
Dr Zhuhua Cheng Researcher Soil physics
Mr Anning Zhu Researcher Agro- ecology
Dr Jianli Liu Post-doctoral researcher Hydrology and modeling
Dr Jie Feng Post-doctoral researcher Water resources
3. Research fields
Long-term field positioning monitoring of various environmental factors associated with soil, water, atmosphere, and biology; predicting and understanding a general change trend of an ecological environment in a regional scale.
Understanding the structure, function, and productivity in different agricultural and ecological system; at the same time, the underlying processes of material cycling and general rule of energy transformation among different subsystems or within a subsystem, i.e. water, soil, atmosphere, and biology, will be well understood; and finally developing associated regulation theory.
Developing a new technology system for reasonable utilization of various resources such as water, fertilizer, and land; installing and demonstrating artificially ecological system. In other words, the station is expected to pinpoint theoretical base and demonstration model for improvement of ecological environment, sustainable use of various resources, optimization of agricultural structure and agricultural overall arrangement, and development of associated technology.
4. Achievements Since the station was established, it has been conducting many projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Natural Sciences Foundation, CAS, local government, and different foundations from foreign countries. Great achievement has been made, such as, amelioration of alkali-saline soil by well irrigation and well drainage ; improvement of farmland with low- and medium-productivity by reasonable regulation of water, fertilizer, and residual salt; demonstration of some reasonable agricultural models in North China Plain; and establishment of a database which includes long-term research and monitoring information associated with atmosphere, soil, water, salt, and biology and provides first-hand information for further research on transformation trend in agricultural resources and ecological environment. More than 10 scientific books and 15 books developed from a series of symposia were published. About 600 scientific papers were published in various national and international journals. Twelve and 4 patents were and will be authorized, respectively. Thereby the station has gained various awards from different departments for its great achievements in developing sustainable agriculture in North-China Plain.