Yingtan Ecological Experimental Station of Red Soil - China

The red soil region in Southeastern (south to the Yandtze River and east to the Yungui plateau) covered an area of 1.13 million km2, which is 11.8% of the total area of China. Its climate is belong to tropical and subtropical mason climate, with an potential climatic production of 46-54 ton ha-1 year-1. The Abundant resources of light, temperature and water make this region an important base for the development of agriculture and economy in China. Red Soil Station is located at Liujiazhan, Yujiang County, Yingtan city, Jiangxi Province (116°5′30″and 28°5′30″, altitude 45 m a.s.l) ,135 km away from Nanchang city and 13 km away from Yingtan city. The Station has an typical subtropical moist climate, with an annual rainfall of 1785 mm, an annual mean air temperature of 17.8 ℃, an annual accumulative temperature (>10℃) of 5528℃, and 262 days free of frost. The main soil is slightly eroded barren land with sparse mason pine (Pinus massoniana L.) derived from Quaternary Red Clay. The vegetations is sparse mason pine (Pinus massoniana L.) and wild grasses, such as centipedegrass (Ere- mochloa ophiuroides ( Munro) Hack), tufted love-grass( Eragrostis psuch ilosa (L.) Beauv.), and needle-grass (mperata cylindrical (L.) Beauv. Var. major Hubb.) etc. before the station established. Double-rice is main cropping system in the paddy field and peanuts for upland in the local farms. Its environment is typical for the hilly region of red soil in Subtropical China, and suitable for research of this kind of ecosystem on experimental biology. Moreover, The Station covers 106 ha of land and 6 ha of water body, which are used for fuel forests, tea plantation, citrus orchards, pasture lands, pig farm, fish ponds, paddy fields, uplands, etc. and possesses a comprehensive building of 3000 m2 including administration and guest offices, which equipped with computer, workstation and internet, and Laboratory building, which includes soil Physical-Chemical Analysis Lab., Microbial incubation Lab., Simulated Environment for Material-Cycling Lab equipped with precision instruments such as Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, Graphite Stove- Flame Spectrometer, Infrared Gas Analyzer, UV-Visible Spectrometer, Leaf Area Meter, Global Positioner, TDR Soil Moisture Meter, and field facilities such as Meteorological observatory, Nutrient Lysimeter Moisture Evapotranspiration Meter and Runoff plots.