Chinese ecosystem research network: Progress and perspectives

As a national innovative scientific and technological facility that integrates monitoring, research and demonstrations, the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) has become one of the largest networks in the world that consists of 40 field stations, 5 sub-centers and 1 synthesis center, covering almost all typical ecosystems in China: cropland, forest, grassland, desert, marshes, lakes, bays and urban ecosystem. Its unique features are the emphasis on understanding long-term structure and function, patterns and processes of ecosystems, combination of the inter-site comprehensive research or cross-site comparison research and the voluntary site-based exploration, and the data sharing both for domestic institutions and international networks at different levels. This paper provides a brief review of CERN by introducing its developing history, objectives and missions, summarizing its progress with the long-term ecological research in China including monitoring, scientific accomplishments in carbon cycle, ecosystem structure and functions, ecosystem restoration and data management. The paper also describes CERN's strategic plan to 2020 and its development perspectives in the future with focus on six core thematic areas.