On July 10, the offshore ecosystem controlled experiment platform, independently developed by the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was officially launched in the waters of Rongcheng, Shandong Province. This platform is currently China's largest, most functionally comprehensive, and highly open and shared offshore integrated controlled experiment platform, filling a critical gap in China's equipment for in-situ controlled experiments in coastal ecosystems. It marks the official entry of China's coastal ecological science research into a new phase of systematization, intelligence, and openness.
The platform covers a total area of approximately 2,000 square meters, with a marine experimental area of about 30,000 square meters. It integrates four core modules: automatic monitoring of ecological indicators, seawater environment regulation, enclosed ecosystem simulation, and comprehensive support. Its core enclosed ecosystem module can construct diverse simulated ecological systems, including planktonic, benthic, and mariculture environments, supporting multi-level, full-chain controlled scientific experiments ranging from biological community structure and population dynamics to food web energy flow, covering the multi-dimensional research needs of coastal ecology.
"The new platform breaks down the technical barriers between natural sea area observations and indoor controlled experiments," said Sun Xiaoxia, a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The new platform enables control over multiple environmental factors, simulation of various marine scenarios, and continuous observation over full cycles, capable of replicating coastal ecological evolution scenarios under multiple stressors such as climate change and human activities. Equipped with a high-precision ecological monitoring sensor system, the platform supports precise single-factor regulation and multi-factor interactive coupling regulation, revealing the intrinsic laws of coastal ecological succession from an ecosystem-wide perspective and identifying the dominant factors behind ecological degradation and disaster outbreaks. This provides a solid theoretical basis and technical support for the scientific prevention and control of coastal ecological disasters, precise restoration of damaged ecosystems, and the management and protection of marine ecological health.
As a landmark achievement of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' key scientific infrastructure construction for field stations, the launch of this platform will significantly enhance China's research capabilities in coastal ecosystems. It will help reveal the patterns of coastal ecological change and the causes of ecological disasters, promote the assessment of aquaculture carrying capacity and resource quality improvement, drive the innovative development of specialized disciplines such as planktonic, benthic, and aquaculture ecology, and provide a core experimental platform for marine ecological early warning, health assessment, and ecological restoration.
In the future, the platform will be open and shared with universities and research institutions worldwide, gathering high-quality scientific forces to jointly conduct cutting-edge research and tackle technical challenges, providing solid support for the protection and rational utilization of the ocean and the advancement of marine ecological civilization.