BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Two new research stations under the Integrated Research Center for Islands and Reefs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have been officially put into operation.
The Yongshu research station and Zhubi research station, with a number of laboratories on ecology, geology and environments, can support scientists in field investigation, sampling and scientific research on Nansha Islands, according to a source of the CAS.
The Yongshu station has built several real-time monitoring systems for coral reef ecosystem, vegetation ecology and freshwater conservation.
The Zhubi station has completed the project design of monitoring systems for geological disaster and freshwater conservation.
The two new stations, together with the previously-established Meiji Research Center, have formed an integrated scientific research base on coral reef and deep-sea, said the CAS source.
The base will support interdisciplinary research of oceanographers and improve the in-situ observation and experimental capabilities on ecology, geology, environments, materials and marine energy utilization in the tropical marine environment.
The research conditions and facilities will be further optimized for better support.
In the future, the Integrated Research Center for Islands and Reefs of the CAS will focus on research areas in the fields of ocean acidification, micro-plastic pollution, coral reef ecosystem conservation and marine disaster treatment.
Giving full play to regional advantages, it will promote innovation capability and the supply of public service products of marine science and technology to meet the needs of both China and other littoral countries around the South China Sea, making contributions to the building of a maritime community with a shared future.
The Integrated Research Center for Islands and Reefs has been established as an offshore experimental base by the CAS to solve science and technology problems on the ecological environment, resource utilization and sustainable development of the South China Sea.
Operated by Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, the CAS, the Integrated Research Center for Islands and Reefs provides service to research groups at home and abroad. Its main research center in Meiji Reef was opened in 2018.
