Research Center Orientation
This research center on water resources and water environment focuses on studying microbial geochemistry in a changing hydrological environment, particularly in the Three Gorges Reservoir in the upper Yangtze River basin and China’s southwestern rivers. The research center aims to explore the microbial-mediated hydrological and ecological mechanisms of biogeochemical cycling and elucidate the processes that underpin the ecological evolution of damming rivers under the influence of climate change and human activities. The research center also seeks to explain the scientific laws governing the water cycle and the biogeochemical cycle of biogenic elements in the river basin and the impact of large-scale hydro projects on river ecosystems. Finally, the research aims to develop methods for simulating and predicting the ecological evolution of the river-reservoir system and adaptive management and ecological restoration techniques towards one health of river basins.
Research Direction
1. Microbial mediated biogenic element cycling
2. Microbial geochemical processes of carbon cycling in water systems and their regulatory mechanisms
3. Carbon footprint inventory methods and applications for basin water resources development and utilization
Team
The research center has 10 staff members, including 2 researchers, 4 associate researchers, and two special research assistants and 2 research assistants. The team members have an average age of 35 and are composed of individuals born in the 1980s and 1990s. Their academic backgrounds cover environmental science and engineering, microbiology, hydraulic engineering, geochemistry, etc., forming a strong interdisciplinary team. In addition, the center has more than 30 graduate students. It has formed a good team atmosphere with clear research directions, career paths, solidarity, cooperation, and mutual assistance. Most graduates pursue doctoral studies or work for large state-owned enterprises.
The team continues to promote the training of young talents and has received support from various provincial and ministerial-level talent programs, such as the "Outstanding Youth" of Chongqing, Chongqing's top young talents, the "Western Light" Western Young Scholars of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, innovation interdisciplinary team projects, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Youth Promotion Association. The team has been awarded the third batch of "Young Expert Workstations" in Chongqing and the honorary title of "March 8th Red Flag Collective." Establishing the "China-Arab Water Reservoir and Lake International Joint Center," has also been approved, a new overseas technology cooperation platform in Chongqing.
International cooperation and representative Research Achievement
Our center also actively participates in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UNESCO International Hydrological Program (UNESCO-IHP), the International Hydropower Association Reservoir Greenhouse Gas Research Program (IHA G-res Tool), and the International Energy Agency’s Reservoir Carbon Management Program (IEA-Hydro), etc. Our center has established close academic contacts with many well-known universities or research institutions in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, etc. Our center has carried out substantive international cooperative research, which presents specific academic impacts in the international arena, and the related research results have been adopted or applied by well-known domestic hydropower companies.
The Center has carried out continuous scientific research on the water ecological environment in the upper Yangtze River for more than 10 years, published more than 100 academic papers on river-reservoir carbon emissions and accounting, and microbial geochemical cycles, published 3 monographs (translated or edited) in science press, and participated in the preparation of 2 technical guidelines of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Our center also presided over the compilation and promulgation of the 3 technical standards of China Three Gorges Group Co., Ltd. / China Hydropower Engineering Society, and won the first prize of Dayu Water Conservancy Science and Technology Award, the second prize of Chongqing Science and Technology Advancement Department, the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission Science and Technology Award and other provincial and ministerial awards.
Contact Us
Address: No. 266, Fangzheng Avenue, Beibei District, Chongqing, 400714
Center mailbox: lizhe@cigit.ac.cn