On November 3, according to a notice issued by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the program “Carbon Sequestration Potential, Stability Mechanism and Increasing Model of Grassland Ecosystem in Shanxi Province” led by our school and jointly applied by Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanxi University was approved by the NSFC as a key program foundation of regional innovation development. Professor Wang Changhui, the Project Leader, from College of Grassland Science, was supported 2.5 million RMB for a four-year research. The program is the second key program foundation of NSFC approved this year and the third since 2019. So far, a total of 57 foundations applied by our school were approved by NSFC.

Grassland is an ecosystem with crucial Carbon Sequestration Potential which soil organic carbon storage is a crucial reference for estimating the condition of grassland soil organic carbon, carbon sequestration potential and stability. The program aims to find out the heterogeneity distribution pattern of soil organic carbon storage of the grassland ecosystem in Shanxi Loess Plateau, clarify the carbon sequestration process and sequestration model of degraded grassland restoration, and reveal the response mechanism of Shanxi Loess Plateau grassland carbon cycle to global warming and grazing.

Professor Wang Changhui was introduced as high-level talent by our school in 2021. So far, she has led the establishment of the "Grassland Ecological Protection and Native Grass Germplasm Innovation Key Laboratory of Shanxi Province", a key program foundation of regional innovation development of the NSFC and a subsidiary special program of the National Program on Key Research Project of China. She also published 8 high-level academic papers as the first author/corresponding author, among which 5 papers were published in the TOP of First District, edc., Soil Biology & Biochemistry, Geoderma, Functional Ecology, Agricultural Ecosystem and Environment.