Introduction to the Discipline of Forestry

Established in 2000, the first-level Doctoral Discipline of Forestry (postdoctoral research station) of Northeast Forestry University has been identified as a national key discipline by the Chinese Ministry of Education since 2007. It consists of seven second-level disciplines, including forest genetics and breeding, silviculture, forest protection, forest management, wildlife protection and utilization, landscape plants and ornamental horticulture, soil and water conservation and desertification combating. From 2003 to 2008, four independent subordinate doctoral disciplines were established, including forest bioengineering, forest plant resources, and science of nature reserve and forest genomics. The first-level discipline of Forestry covers a series of schools, including the school of forestry, wildlife resources, landscape, and life sciences, and possesses 1 national key laboratory and 8 provincial key laboratories or research stations). The total area of the key laboratory is 22,000m2.

 

Objectives

 

A sound system of the discipline has been developed including forest germplasm genetic improvement, multifunctional and efficient forest cultivation, forest protection, economy of forests and non-wood forest products, landscape plants, forest sustainable management, soil and water conservation, combating desertification, and biodiversity conservation. Aiming at the frontiers of domestic and international academics, industry and regional needs, we will converge innovative academic teams, build a scientific research base, establish the theory and technology systems of modern forestry, form the connection of basic theory research and application technology, adapt the research direction to national major demands, and combine science and technology innovation and personnel training. The research of the discipline represents the unique features and the highest level of research development of forestry in China. It aims to form a discipline group that aids in consulting and decision-making of forestry strategies in China and will continue to keep the leading level domestically and strive to be a world-class discipline in the next several years.

 

Discipline directions

 

The research focuses are as follows: forest genetic improvement and seed breeding technology; individual and group physiological and ecological processes and efficient cultivation technology of trees and plants; forest disaster monitoring and integrated control technology; forest growth simulation and sustainable management techniques; wildlife protection and utilization technology; land productivity restoration and forestry ecological engineering construction technology. There are nine research areas: 1. Forest genetics and breeding; 2. Forest cultivation; 3. Forest protection; 4. Forest management; 5. Wildlife protection and utilization; 6. Landscape botany; 7. Soil and water conservation and desertification combating; 8. Forest genomics; 9. Forest plant resources; 10. Science of nature reserve; 11.Forest biological engineering.

 

Academic leader

 

Professor Yang Chuanping (1957-), Ph.D., academic leader of the discipline of forestry in Northeast Forestry University, director of State Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Breeding (Northeast Forestry University), editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forestry Research, vice president of Chinese Forestry Society, director of Forest Genetics and Breeding Branch in China, awarded as the National Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor. 

 

Professor Yang Chuanping was awarded the Special Allowance of the State Council in 1993, and won Liang Xi Award of Chinese Forestry Society in the same year; obtained the title of "young and middle-age expert with the national outstanding contribution" in 1994; obtained the title of  “cross-century academic leader” issued by the Ministry of Forestry in 1995, also winning the title of outstanding young and middle-age expert of Heilongjiang Province in the same year; won advanced individual award of the national "85" scientific and technological research in 1996; was selected a one of the first- and second- level talents of “national one million talent project" issued by the National Ministry of Personnel in 2000. In 2002, he re-won the Liang Xi Award of Chinese Forestry Society. He was appointed as the president of Northeast Forestry University in 2007, won the National Teaching Masters Award and the National Green Medal in 2009, won outstanding contribution award of the national ecological construction in 2010, won advanced individual award of the national "95" scientific and technological research and obtained the honorary title of national outstanding scientific and technological faculty in 2011. He won forestry dedicated fund award of both sides of the Taiwan Straits in 2014. He was appointed as one of the conveners of the Forestry Discipline Review Group of Degree Office of the State Council in 2015 and vice director of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Education in 2016. He successively undertook more than 20 projects, including national science and technology support projects from "six five" to "twelve five", national "865", "973" and "948" projects, special project of Science and Technology Foundation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and project of National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has won three second-prize of the national scientific and technological progress award, more than 20 provincial and ministerial level and other types of awards. He was the chief editor for ten monographs and has published more than 300 research papers.

 

Discipline echelon

 

The Forestry discipline has 150 full-time faculty members, including one academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, one young and middle-age expert with the national outstanding contributions, two special allowance winners of the State Council, one national distinguished teacher, one “ Hundreds of talents plan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences”, one “Thousands of young talents” , one National Youth Foundation winner, six “excellent talents in the new century” selected by the Ministry of Education, and three young and middle-age experts with the outstanding contributions of Heilongjiang province. 

 

Additionally, there are currently 28 part-time Ph.D. advisors from15 institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Southwest Forestry University, the State Forestry Bureau, Beihua University, etc. Two advisors are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. There are currently 34 full time Ph.D. students.

 

Advantages and characteristics

 

With 64 years of development, the forestry discipline has become the featured discipline of Northeast Forestry University. Its research level holds the leading position domestically and is advanced position in some aspects worldwide. The NEFU Wildlife protection and utilization is the earliest discipline in China, and remains internationally advanced in the fields of wildlife protection and management, domestication and breeding, product development, and disease prevention and control. The Forest protection discipline is a domestic first-class discipline in the fields of forest insects and forest fungi classification, forest pest monitoring and sustainable control, and coevolution of forest insects and plants. Based on the State Key Laboratory, the forest genetics and breeding discipline has made a breakthrough in Birch gene sequencing, the development and utilization of tree resistance gene resources, and breeding of stress-resistant genetic engineering. The other two-level disciplines have also made important contributions to forest resource cultivation in China, forestry, senior personnel training, forestry research and innovation, local economic construction, and industry development. The discipline possess the largest teaching and scientific research bases in China, which are "Liangshui National Nature Reserve" and "Maoer Mountain Experimental Forest Farm" with a total area of more than 33,000 hectares. The research base has original broad-leaved Korean pine forests and typical natural secondary forests with abundant wildlife resources and various ecosystem types, and has a high reputation in the international community.

 

Talent training objectives

 

In order to establish a domestically leading and world-class discipline, the discipline will strengthen the building of the discipline team and constantly optimize the academic team structure to create an academic group which has great strength of teaching and scientific research, a high level education, reasonable echelon structure, active academic thinking and strong innovative capabilities, that is capable of undertaking major national research programs, cultivating high-level professionals, and having a great impact on the domestic and international academic community. Taking the principles of expanding master’s graduates and properly increasing doctoral students enrollment, increasing the number of foreign students year by year and actively promoting post-doctoral research, the discipline insists “characteristics first, quality oriented” and the concept of environmental education, continuously improving the quality of personnel training, and will establish a training center of advanced forestry specialists in China and even the whole world, with the guidance of development concepts of innovation, cooperation, green, open and sharing. 

 

The disciple currently has 247 doctoral students and 483 master’s students and has cultivated 172 Ph.D.sand 541 masters’ in the past five years. 

 

Scientific research level and achievement

 

In the past five years, the forestry discipline has taken the responsibilities of 96 state-level projects with funding of 150.28 million Yuan, including three “863 National Projects”, three “973 National Projects”, two projects and tasks of “National Science and Technology Support Project”, 66 “National Natural Science Fund Projects”; have has also been in charge of 75 provincial and ministerial level projects with total funding of 30,860,000 Yuan and 254 horizontal projects with total funding of 27 million Yuan.

 

In the past five years, the forestry discipline has won the “second prize of the National Scientific and Technological Progress Award”, two “Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress Awards”, one “second prize of Provincial Natural Science Award”, 11 “second prize of Provincial and Ministerial Scientific and Technological Progress Awards”, one “second prize of Provincial Natural Science Award” and 19 “Provincial and Ministerial Scientific and Technological Progress Awards”.

 

Domestic and International Influence

 

The discipline has made remarkable achievements in the scientific research fields of forest genetics and breeding, forest resources cultivation, protection, management, wildlife protection and utilization, etc. Many researches are in a leading position among the similar institutions domestically. The discipline has established good relationships in academic exchanges, expert visits, cooperative research and other aspects with related universities and institutions of more than 30 countries, and has a certain influence in the international forestry community.

 

The discipline had held more than 10 high-level domestic and international academic conferences, such as “The International Wild Animal Management Symposium”, “The 8th International Conference on Deer Biology”, “The 1st Asia-Pacific Agricultural Proteomics Symposium and the 5th National Plant Proteomics Workshop”, and effectively promoted the domestic and international academic exchanges and cooperation.

 

Based on forestry discipline, as the editor of Professor Yang Chuanping, the full-text of the "Journal of Forestry Research" (English version) has been included in SCIE since 2003, and has become the first SCIE journal in Chinese forestry. In 2014, the journal was named one of "The most influential international academic journals of China", and entered into top 5% of science and technology journals. The impact factor (IF) of the journal was 0.658 in 2015 and entered into Q3 area, which has been one of outstanding international journals. The journal greatly contributes to the promotion of the international influence of Chinese forestry science, participating in international competition and advancing international academic exchange.

 

Social services

 

The discipline radiates from the northeast of China nationwide and takes advantages of disciplines, platforms and geography. For the major needs of ecological civilization construction of China, national timber security, northeast forest economic transformation, centering on forest resources protection, cultivation and management, forest pest prevention and treatment, forestry ecological construction, under-forest economy and industry development, wildlife protection and other fields, the discipline carried out a series of technical support, consulting and decision-making services and had made outstanding contributions to local economic construction and industry development.

 

From 2012 to 2015, the discipline has formulated more than 20 industrial and local technical regulations (standards), drawn up more than 70 plans, and completed more than 600 cases of wild animal evidence identification, including the case of Zhou Yongkang. The discipline has undertaken 254 horizontal projects with funding of 27 million Yuan, established more than 80 demonstration bases, and cumulatively created economic benefits of nearly 10 billion Yuan by extending applications.

 

The discipline provides an intelligence service for major strategic decision-making, major policy formulation and major problem solving of national ecological security, industrial development and local economic construction.