U.S. - China Exchange: Laying the foundations for collaboration

An LTER delegation, under the chairmanship of James Gosz, visited China for three weeks in September, completing an exchange between the LTER Network and the Chinese Ecological Research Network (CERN) that began with a CERN delegation visit to five LTER sites and the LTER Network Office last May. Others in the LTER delegation were Carl Bowser, James Brunt, Debra Coffin, Kay Gross, Art McKee, Bill Michener, and John Pastor.

The main objective of the exchange was to increase opportunities for collaboration between the two networks at scientist-to-scientist, site-to-site, and network-to-network levels. Both sides agreed the China visit would focus on developing cooperative research, data management, modeling and geographic information system (GIS) capabilities.

CERN U.S. Visit

Following visits to the LTER Network Office, and the Andrews, Kellogg, Konza, Central Plains and Sevilleta LTER sites, the Chinese concluded that the United States leads all other countries in the development of successful long-term ecological research through a combination of solid theoretical and practical science and good management. They found that the log decomposition study has implications for Chinese forest management; the burning trials in the tallgrass show fire’s role in sustaining prairies for rangeland production; shortgrass steppe carrying capacity studies also show the relevance of basic science studies to rangeland productivity and sustainability for animal production; and that many studies, such as the carbon cycling component of the log decomposition study, are relevant to Chinese IGBP projects. Furthermore, their visit reinforced the importance of variable—especially large-scale—long-term ecological research, and the value of both cross-site and intersite studies.

The Chinese identified five LTER characteristics of key value to CERN. They observed that LTER:

1. Conducts basic science that has important practical applications
2. Research is conducted in an integrated manner with universities, government agencies and local communities
3. Studies emphasize dynamics and elements
4. Research is multidisciplinary
5. Relies on sound data management and is built on successful collaborative research

Because the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is still in the process of establishing CERN, LIER organization and management were of particular importance to the Chinese delegation. The LTER Network Office made a very strong impression about how to manage the administrative and communications links among sites. The Chinese felt the publications program, workshops, and the All Scientists Meeting provided instructive means for transferring knowledge. They saw the LTER Coordinating Committee as an important management tool, and were very interested in the idea of having co-principal investigators (PIs) to offset administrative demands that can detract from a PI’s ability to both conduct research and attend well to site and network demands.

LTER China Visit

In Beijing, the LTER delegation met with CERN representatives and visited the main CAS institutes involved in the development of CERN, the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Chinese National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). They were then organized into three ecosystem subgroups—agriculture and hydrobiology, forestry, and transition—which were dispersed to different regions of China to explore research opportunities at actual sites.

The agriculture group traveled to CERN stations on the North China Plain, and to the hydrobiology station at Donghu bike in Wuhan. The forestry group started at the largest intact temperate forest near the North Korean border, then visited a tropical area near the Laotian border and a subtropical area in Guangzhou. The transition group followed a rainfall gradient in the grassland areas of Northeast China, through Inner Mongolia, to a grassland-to-desert transition zone in western Xinjiang Province.

During its visits across China, the LTER delegation observed that:

1. Sustainability of production is the primary objective of Chinese science policy
2. Heterogeneity exists in the CERN sites, scientific concepts, staffing and infrastructure
3. Integration of science is affected by socioeconomic issues and economic and institutional constraints and, when such integration is found, it is at the local level
4. Data management is variable and rudimentary at most stations

The LTER delegation refined the list of cooperative research topics proposed in May to:

1. Nutrient and carbon cycling in ecosystems
2. Local to regional water balance
3. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity and landscape analysis
4. Continuation of current initiatives in data management

They recommended that the research be carried out using decomposition experiments, micrometeorological and gas exchange studies, spatial sampling and statistics and, at the CAS institute level, GIS appropriate to research design, modeling and training. It was agreed that collaboration will necessarily proceed at different rates and will be implemented over the next five to 20 years, coupling a long-term perspecfive with short-term scientific results and productivity. The approach will emphasize appropriate technology and build on the success and experience at local and regional levels.