The Institute of Element Utilization & Management in Grassland Ecosystem originated from the research laboratory of Grassland Ecological Chemistry, in the College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology at Lanzhou University. The institute was renamed in 2015.

The faculty members in the institute include two professors, four associate professors, two lecturers，and one lab technician. Among the faculty members, there are one senior expert with the State Council Special Allowance, one Young Professor, one winner of Baogang Excellent Teacher award, one doctoral supervisor and six master supervisors. Over 89% of the faculty members hold Ph.D. degrees.  The personnel list is as follows: Hua Fu, Quan Liu, Lijing Zhang, Decao Niu, Jing Wang, Xudong Li, Haiyan Wen, Ding Guo, Shujuan Wu.

The research of the institute is focused on the Grassland Eco-chemistry. Graduate research is organized into the following areas: 

1. Grassland productivity and nutrient management. The main goals of this research are to study the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements in grassland systems and the stoichiometric covariant relationship between organisms and the environment, the formation and maintenance mechanism of grassland productivity, and grassland restoration management and sustainable utilization technology.

2. Herbage nutritional biology. This subject is focused on the elements and quality characteristics of grass and their biological rules of formation, identification of the influencing factors and control measures, forage quality breeding, and development and utilization of quality resources.

3. Chemical ecology. The major goal of this research is to study the allelopathy of plant secondary metabolites to neighboring plants, the response of secondary metabolite synthesis to biological and abiotic adversity, the effects and regulation of root exudates on soil microorganisms, and development of plant-based pesticides.

Base on the process of grassland productivity formation and nutrient cycling, the institute established three research platforms in Alxa Desert Grassland, Yuzhong Loess Plateau Grassland, and Maqu Alpine Grassland, respectively. The relevant research includes the biological law of growth regulation and quality formation of desert plants, formation and maintenance mechanism of grassland productivity and sustainable utilization technology in grassland, the responses of grassland productivity and nutrient cycling to management, precipitation, and nitrogen deposition.

Over the past five years, the institute has undertaken 36 research projects including one sub-project of “973” program, three sub-projects of National Key R&D Program of China，10 projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, two Strategic Priority Research Program, four international collaboration projects and seven provincial and ministerial projects. The institute owns 10 invention patents, five utility model patents and has published 100 scientific papers, 28 of which were published on the SCI journals. In addition, the faculty members as the main participants of projects have received a second prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award, and are a first- and a third-place winner of the Gansu Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress Award.

The undergraduate and graduate courses undertaken by the faculty members include Soil Science, Botany, Grassland Eco-chemistry, Nutrition of Forage and Turfgrass, Instrumental Analysis Methods in Grassland Agriculture Systems. The course of Grassland Eco-chemistry has been selected as the Gansu Provincial Quality Course. Over the past five years, seven doctoral students and 32 master students have graduated from this institute. At present, there are 10 Ph.D. candidates and 18 master candidates. Until now, three graduate students have won the Wangdong Scholarship for Grass Science, and another three graduate students have won the National Scholarship.

The institute conducts international collaboration and scientific communication with many research institutes and universities, such as Arizona State University and Montana University in the United States, and the Department of Primary Industries in Australia. In June 2014, the institute successfully held “the International Workshop of Grassland Ecology and Management” jointly with the College of Life Science at Arizona State University. In addition, three doctoral candidates have been trained at famous American universities.