Relay on State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, RCEES, Beijing urban ecosystem research station (BUERS) is the first research station of Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) which takes urban ecosystem as the research object. BUERS aims to systematically monitor Beijing urban ecosystem, the evolvement process of city establishment, natural environment and socioeconomic formation. It intends to study the structure of urban ecosystem, ecological processes, ecological functions, and the relationships among them, with which to find the evolvement laws of ecosystems under the control of human beings, to illustrate the forming mechanism of the eco-environmental problems and the relationships between urban environment changes and safeties. These researches will further provide scientific evidences for urban planning, urban development and urban management. After BUERS was established in 2011, it has published more than 300 research papers in scientific publications. Dozens of post graduate students graduated from BUERS.

Research Objectives

(1) Observe changes of key elements such as water, soil, air and ecology and the major ecological process in Beijing.

(2) Study the temporal and spatial changes of urban ecosystem; reveal the long term evolution mechanism urban ecosystem’s structure, process, function and pattern.

(3) Study the interactions among social, economic and natural elements of urban ecosystem; reveal affecting mechanism of human being to ecosystem; develop society-economy-nature compound ecosystem theory.

(4) Develop and extend planning methods of ecological engineering, ecological management and ecological planning aiming to promote ecosystem structure and function; provide scientific foundation and policy suggestion for urban sustainability.

Sampling plots distribution of BUERS

Plant run off observation

Storm run off observation

Observation of storm run off

Air quality monitoring