A lifelong love for the grasslands has inspired Xin Xiaoping's research that is key to cultivating a sustainable future for such environments, Li Yingxue reports.

As a leading expert in her field, Xin Xiaoping quite literally has a natural passion for the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and she loves nothing more than to travel out to the plains to take samples to study back at her laboratory.

Using a sampling square called a quadrat－a simple 1-square-meter frame－which she lays on the ground at a chosen spot, Xin takes samples of all the plants found within it, taking care to place each species of plant in a separate envelope. She then digs down to take soil samples every 10 centimeters to a depth of 80 cm beneath the surface.

"By using the quadrat, I gain a deeper understanding of the grasslands. Having visited nearly every region of grassland in China, I realize my passion for them is in my blood," says Xin, 49.

A researcher and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xin is also the head of the national field station at the Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station in Hulunbuir.

She was given the 2018 Technology Innovation Award by China Central Television and Chinese Academy of Sciences in January for her research on grassland ecology. And now, after spending three decades studying them, Xin's colleagues refer to her as "the daughter of the grasslands".

She says her main interest is the grasslands and through science she can actually do something for such ecosystems. She recalls how at the age of 11 her father first took her to the grasslands in the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Gansu province, where she was stunned by the verdant world that unfolded in front of her.