Posted by Dr Wenyan Zhang, Department Matter Transport and Ecosystem Dynamics
The Sino-German Mobility Programme project CHESS (Chinese and European Coastal Shelf Seas Ecosystem Dynamics – a Comparative Assessment) is coordinated by Prof Xueen Chen from Ocean University of China (OUC) and Prof Corinna Schrum and Dr Wenyan Zhang from Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG). It is funded jointly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the period of 2020-2024.
CHESS is designed to facilitate more efficient knowledge transfer through a comparative assessment between distinct coastal shelf systems in China and Europe to further our understanding on complicated ecosystem dynamics in response to a changing climate and increasing anthropogenic stress. By using the four seas (North Sea, Baltic Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea) as exemplary, scientists from both sides focus on knowledge exchange of two topics, namely
- the seasonal-to-decadal variability of atmospheric forcing and impact on primary production and ecosystem structure
- and the benthic ecosystem response to organic enrichment.
The expected outcomes will allow us to better understand the sensitivity of coastal shelf ecosystem functioning to physical and biogeochemical perturbations, the role of coastal shelf seas in the global carbon cycling and the resilience of the four coastal shelf systems to future warming and increased nutrient loading. In addition to the academic exchange, local authorities and stakeholders will be invited to join the discussions (e.g. workshops) as well as planning for next-step joint work. A direct interaction between researchers and decision-makers will facilitate knowledge transfer at the science-policy interface.
A first bilateral workshop was held online on November 23rd-25th, as an adaptation to the Corona pandemic. In this three-day virtual workshop, scientists from both sides shared their research experience and results for the four seas, and extensively discussed the results and compared the different shelf sea systems. It is particularly worth to mention that young scientists, namely PhD students and young Postdocs, contributed to a major portion (11 out of 20) of the presentations and actively discussed perspectives of their on-going research work. The workshop was run in a very friendly and stimulating atmosphere. As an outcome of the workshop, next step of solid cooperation based on the inspiring preliminary results was clarified.
It was also agreed by both sides that the next workshop of CHESS (planned for summer of 2021) will be organized on-site in Qingdao, with the hope that the pandemic will be under control and international travels are flexible again.