Under the coordination and organization of Executive Office of Three Gorges Project Construction Committee State Council of the People’s Republic of China, the Zigui Ecological Experiment Station of the Three Gorges Project, Chinese Academy of Sciences was officially founded in 1998. The Station is located in Zigui County, the head of the Three Gorges Reservoir and is an integrated scientific research station for the monitoring and study of sustainable agro-ecological environment in the Three Gorges reservoir area. The objectives of the station are to monitor the changes in ago-ecological environments, optimize the protection measures for improving ecological and environmental quality, and augment the productivity and efficiency of agronomics in the Three Gorge Reservoir area.

The main contents of monitoring and study include: (i) Long-term monitoring of local microclimate conditions, water and soil erosion, soil fertility, biological and physiochemical properties of terrestrial ecosystems, migration processes of soil nutrients as well as the hydrological processes in typical small agricultural watershed. (ii) Development of innovative theory of high-efficiency ecological agriculture and agricultural ecology, and constructions of hybrid agroecosystems and their high-worth and high-efficiency agricultural patterns. Ultimately, the research results from this station will provide decision-making basis for the protection and restoration of the ecological environment after implementing the major water conservancy project and ensure the sustainable development of the ecological environment in the Three Gorges Reservoir area.