This week the LVVN China Team highlights its support for the Chinese – Dutch research collaboration in sustainable agriculture and healthy food systems. The research aims to better understand how plants, herbivores and predators interact.
Since this year LVVN China supports a Chinese – Dutch biodiversity research project led by the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS), a leading national research institute specializing in plant science, botany, biodiversity and ecosystem research to better understand how biodiversity enhances food systems.
The project and LVVN China’s support for it align with several goals to which the Netherlands is committed, including biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, sustainable reforestation and sustainable agriculture. Based on research insights next steps will be considered later this year.
Research site Zhejiang province, China
The project is being carried out in Qianjiangyuan National Park in Zhejiang Province. It aims to investigate how plant diversity influences ecosystem functioning by examining both bottom-up effects driven by plants and top-down effects involving herbivores and predators. The research explores how biodiversity at different trophic levels affects ecosystem productivity and stability.
Better understanding the agriculture – biodiversity – forestry interlinkages
While biodiversity research often focuses primarily on plants, this project also examines interactions between plants, herbivores and predators. Through controlled experiments with saplings, the researchers will vary herbivore and predator diversity to investigate the mechanisms linking plant diversity, trophic interactions and ecosystem stability. Goal is to find out how these relationships help maintain ecosystem productivity and stability.
By improving our understanding of plant–insect interactions and ecological balance, the research contributes to more sustainable agriculture and forestry practices, including species-rich cropping systems, biological pest control and other biodiversity-based approaches. It will also provide a scientific foundation for the conservation of predator species. In this way, the research contributes to a better understanding of how biodiversity can support more resilient agricultural and forest ecosystems.
The project reflects a shared goal for China and the Netherlands: protecting biodiversity as the foundation for healthy ecosystems, sustainable food systems and a greener future.
For more information contact pek-lvvn@minbuza.nl