To promote the communication and cooperation between Chinese and overseas youth ecologists, a conference entitled "The 1st International Young Ecologist Forum" was held at Lanzhou University in June 29-30, 2009. This conference was organized by outstanding overseas ecologists and hosted by Lanzhou University. The presentations covered broad areas of ecology, including plant-soil interactions, structure and function of regional ecosystems, ecological security and ecological planning, global change ecology, and environmental sustainability, demonstrating that the development of China ecology is gradually from traditional basic research transforming into applied research. The presentations also reflected in some extent the development characteristics, evolution direction, and distribution pattern of China ecological research. China ecological research has gradually formed four centers, the Northeast, North, Northwest, and Southeast China, and each of them has its definite regional characteristics. Some suggestions about the organization form and future planning of the forum were put forward.