Brief introduction of a book

<正>Ecological Environment and Its Protection of the Northern Slope of Karlik Mountain to the Naomaohu Basin,East Tianshan Mountains, written by Professor Qian Yibing et al., from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was published by Xinjiang Science and Technology Press in December     

Felidae(Wild Cats) in Xinjiang was published

<正>A book,Felidae(Wild Cats)in Xinjiang was published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing(Germany)recently,and was mainly edited by Prof.Ablimit Adbukadir from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences.     

A Checklist on the Distribution of the Birds in Xinjiang was published

<正>A book, A Checklist on the Distribution of the Birds in Xinjiang, was published by Science Press recently, which was mainly edited by Prof. Ming MA from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The book summaries the observations of birds in Xinjiang, Western China, including the Chinese name, Latin     

Evolution of groundwater recharge-discharge balance in the Turpan Basin of China during 1959–2021

Groundwater overexploitation is a serious problem in the Turpan Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, causing groundwater level declines and ecological and environmental problems such as the desiccation of karez wells and the shrinkage of lakes. Based on historical groundwater data and field survey data from 1959 to 2021, we comprehensively studied the evolution of groundwater recharge and discharge terms in the Turpan Basin using the groundwater equilibrium method, mathematical stat...     

Status and distribution of ungulates in Xinjiang, China

Based on a long-term field investigation and other research results,we reviewed the status and distribution of ungulates in Xinjiang,China. The ungulates in Xinjiang included 19 ungulate species(30 subspecies) from 6 families and 2 orders. Among them,3 species(2 subspecies) relate to Equidae(Perrisodactyla) ,and 16 species(28 subspecies) are from 5 families of Artiodactyla. In this paper,we analyzed the conservation status of most rare and important 13 ungulate species. Firstly,we proposed the protection of genetic diversity of Camelus ferus and the distribution areas of Moschus sifanicus,Procapra przewalskii and Saiga tatarica in Xinjiang. We found that Moschus sifanicus but not Procapra przewalskii distributed in Xinjiang. It was not clear whether the remnant populations of Saiga tatarica existed in Xinjiang and China-Kazakhstan border or not. We discussed that the protection level and rational use of Capra sibirica and enhancing protection level and enlarging monitoring and research projects for Pantholops hodgsoni and Gazella subgutturosa. And we would like to suggest Forestry Department to develop the captive breeding of Tibetan antelope for rational use. In addition,the captive breeding of Cervus elaphus in Xinjiang was reviewed. Local government should lessen strong control to Cervus elaphus because of many breeding centers' establishment.     

A brief introduction to Physical Geography of Arid Land in China

<正>A book, Physical Geography of Arid Land in China, mainly edited by Prof. Xi CHEN from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences has been published by Science Press in July of 2010.     

IRRIGATING WARPED SOILS——ANTHROPOGENIC SOIL IN ARID AND SEMI-ARID REGIONS OF CHINA

<正> The irrigating warped soils occur in the old irrigation areas of arid and semi-arid re-gions of China, and distributed from Zhangjiakou of Hebei province, through InnerMongolia Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Gansu province,Qinhai Province, down to Xinjiang Autonomous Region, including the arid subalpine rivervalleys in the western part of Tibet.     

EVAPORATION AND WATER BALANCE IN ARID LAND——AN EXAMPIE IN TURPAN,XINJIANG,CHINA

<正> This paper discussed some observation and calculation methods of evaporation and itscharacteristics in arid land taken an example in Turpan, Xinjiang, China by using the dataobtained from July 1, 1991 to June 30, 1992 in the observation station which was settled forthe Japan-China cooperation study in the marginal area of an oasis in Turpan, Xinjiang,China. It is pointed out that due to very low water content in arid land, real evaporation de-     

Brief Guide for Authors

正Journal of Arid Land(JAL)is an international journal(ISSN 1674-6767;CN 65-1278/K)for the natural sciences,sponsored by the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Science Press and China Society of Natural Resources.It is published by Science Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg bimonthly.JAL publishes original,innovative,and integrative research from arid and semiarid regions,addressing various     

Brief Guide for Authors

正Journal of Arid Land(JAL)is an international journal(ISSN 1674-6767;CN 65-1278/K)for the natural sciences,sponsored by the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Science Press and China Society of Natural Resources.It is published by Science Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg bimonthly.JAL publishes original,innovative,and integrative research from arid and semiarid regions,addressing various     

Brief Guide for Authors

正Journal of Arid Land(JAL)is an international journal(ISSN 1674-6767;CN 65-1278/K)for the natural sciences,sponsored by the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences and Science Press.It is published by Science Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg bimonthly.JAL publishes original,innovative,and integrative research from arid and semiarid regions,ad     

Causes of recurring drought patterns in Xinjiang, China

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, with its unique topography and geographical location receives very less precipitation in summer as compared with other parts of China. The region is a land locked where moisture is supplied only by westerly winds from Atlantic Ocean as the moisture coming from Indian Ocean is mostly blocked by the Himalayas Range and the Tibetan plateau. In such a scenario, Xinjiang faces severe drought conditions offering significant challenges to water management. In this paper, we analyzed the drought periods in Xinjiang and discussed the various factors that might have influenced precipitation over the past forty-four years. For this purpose, we defined three periods of consecutive four years for high and low precipitation intensities. The average observed precipitation was 1.05 mm/day and 0.7 mm/day in summer (June-July-August) for the Tianshan Mountain region and Junggar Basin of Xinjiang, respectively. The drought conditions indicated that high sea level pressure, wind divergence and low convection were the prominent features that caused the droughts, which often do not allow the condensation process to coagulate the tiny water droplets into relatively large raindrops reducing the amount of precipitation in the region. The period of 1983-1986 is the lowest precipitation interval indicating the severe drought in the western Xinjiang (i.e western Tianshan Mountain region), for which, less moisture availability, strong divergence and less convection could be the most influencing factors.     

The climatic and hydrological changes and environmental responses recorded in lake sediments of Xinjiang, China

Based on the analyses of environmental proxy data in lake sediments and instrumental records of Xinjiang in northwest China,the Holocene climate and hydrological variability and its environmental responses were studied in different time scales and regions. The results showed that the Holocene climate variability had obvious differences between the north and south of Xinjiang. In northern Xinjiang,the Holocene climate was dry in the early period,humid in the middle period,and then changed to dry in the late period. However,the climate transition times were not consistent in different regions. In southern Xinjiang,although there were many different types of climate change patterns inferred from different catchments,the warm and wet climate was recorded in most lake sediments in the middle Holocene. According to comparisons of some millennium scale records in lake sediments,the climate was warm and dry in the past 100 years. It can be concluded the climate showed a trend of aridity in Holocene. Especially in recent 50 years,the lake area has been shrinking rapidly because of the population growth and social economic development,which brings some environmental problems. Lake level and area changes were sensitively affected by the climate variation in geological history of Xinjiang and the lake level will continue to shrink because of the drought climate and strengthened human activities.     

Distribution and migration of houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata) in China

The distribution and migration of houbara bustard in China was studied by range investigation and tracking through PTT satellite transmitter from 1997 to 2004. The houbara bustard occurs in the Junggar Basin, north part of Tacheng Basin and valley of Ulungur river in northern Xinjiang, southern part of Turpan Basin and Barkol in eastern Xinjiang. In Inner Mongolia, the houbara bustard occurs in Urathouqi, Alxahouqi and Ejinaqi. In Gansu province, the houbara bustard occurs in Wuwei, Minqin and Shandan. The whole range is not contiguous area. Houbara bastard started migration from Junggar Basin in northern Xinjiang, Turpan Basin and Barkol in eastern Xin-jiang, Wuwei in western Gansu Province and Bayan Nur in western Inner Mongolia in the middle of September. Flying to the west and northwest, via Junggar Basin and area between Bole and Habahe in northern Xinjiang, entered Kazakhstan, they turned toward southwest, passed Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, arrived in Arabia Bay of southern Iran or flied over Afghanistan, arrived in southern Pakistan for wintering. The whole migration usually took 35 ± 13 days covering a distance of 4 800-7 000 km. In the next year, houbara went back to the breeding grounds in China through the same routes at the beginning of March. However, it took the birds 64 ± 17 days to finish the spring migration. They arrived in breeding site between middle of April and late May. The sub-adults arrived later and did not breed.     

Brief Guide for Authors

正Journal of Arid Land(JAL)is an international journal(ISSN 1674-6767;CN 65-1278/K)for the natural sciences,sponsored by the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences and Science Press.It is published by Science Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg bimonthly.JAL publishes original,innovative,and integrative research from arid and semiarid regions,addressing various aspects in geogra-     

Research progress and developing trends on microorganisms of Xinjiang specific environments

Microorganisms and its metabolic types are diverse in Xinjiang because of those extreme/special environments of drought, high or low temperature, saline and alkaline, oligotrophy. This article reviewed the research progress and achievements of various microbial resources (bacteria, fungi and actinomycete) in the special environments from the point of its ecology, development and application. Meanwhile, the development trend, protection and sustainable utilization of the microorganism resources were discussed.     

Response of vegetation to temperature and precipitation in Xinjiang during the period of 1998-2009

In this paper,10-day spatio-temporal response of vegetation to the change of temperature and precipitation in spring,summer,autumn and whole year during the period of 1998―2009 was analyzed based on the data of SPOT VEGETATION-NDVI and 10-day average temperature or precipitation from 54 meteorological stations in Xinjiang.The results show that the response of 10-day NDVI to temperature was more significant than that to precipitation,and the maximal response of vegetation to temperature and precipitation lagged for two 10-day periods.Seasonally,the effect of temperature and precipitation on vegetation NDVI was most marked in autumn,then in spring,and it was not significant in summer.The response of vegetation to 10-day change of meteorological factors was positive with a long affecting duration in spring,and it had a relatively short affecting duration in autumn and summer.Spatially,the 10-day maximal response of NDVI to temperature in northern Xinjiang was higher than that in southern Xinjiang.The correlation between the 10-day NDVI in whole year and the temperature in the 0-8th 10-day period was significantly higher than that between the annual NDVI and the annual temperature at all meteorological stations;the interannual change of NDVI was accordant well with the change of annual precipitation.However,the effect of precipitation within a year on NDVI was not strong.The results indicated that interannual change of temperature was not the dominant factor affecting the change of vegetation NDVI in Xinjiang,but the decrease of annual precipitation was the main factor resulting in the fluctuation of vegetation coverage.Ten-day average temperature was an important factor to promote vegetation growth in Xinjiang within a year,but the effect of precipitation on vegetation growth within a year was not strong.     

Modeling and analyzing supply-demand relationships of water resources in Xinjiang from a perspective of ecosystem services

Water shortage is one bottleneck that limits economic and social developments in arid and semi-arid areas.As the impacts of climate change and human disturbance intensify across time,uncertainties in both water resource supplies and demands increase in arid and semi-arid areas.Taking a typical arid region in China,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,as an example,water yield depth(WYD)and water utilization depth(WUD)from 2002 to 2018 were simulated using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs(InVEST)model and socioeconomic data.The supply-demand relationships of water resources were analyzed using the ecosystem service indices including water supply-demand difference(WSDD)and water supply rate(WSR).The internal factors in changes of WYD and WUD were explored using the controlled variable method.The results show that the supplydemand relationships of water resources in Xinjiang were in a slight deficit,but the deficit was alleviated due to increased precipitation and decreased WUD of irrigation.WYD generally experienced an increasing trend,and significant increase mainly occurred in the oasis areas surrounding both the Junggar Basin and Tarim Basin.WUD had a downward trend with a decline of 20.70%,especially in oasis areas.Water resources in most areas of Xinjiang were fully utilized and the utilization efficiency of water resources increased.The water yield module in the InVEST model was calibrated and validated using gauging station data in Xinjiang,and the result shows that the use of satellite-based water storage data helped to decrease the bias error of the InVEST model by 0.69×10⁸m³.This study analyzed water resource supplies and demands from a perspective of ecosystem services,which expanded the scope of the application of ecosystem services and increased the research perspective of water resource evaluation.The results could provide guidance for water resource management such as spatial allocation and structural optimization of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas.     

Spatiotemporal variation of land surface temperature and its driving factors in Xinjiang,China

Land surface temperature(LST) directly affects the energy balance of terrestrial surface systems and impacts regional resources, ecosystem evolution, and ecosystem structures. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is located at the arid Northwest China and is extremely sensitive to climate change. There is an urgent need to understand the distribution patterns of LST in this area and quantitatively measure the nature and intensity of the impacts of the major driving factors from a spatial perspective...     

The qanats of Xinjiang:historical development, characteristics and modern implications for environmental protection

In China,qanats(kan’erjing/karez)exist only in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region,being one form of traditional irrigation technology that made great contributions to oasis civilizations.There are different opinions on the origin and date of the qanats in Xinjiang due to a lack of adequate evidences.And uncontrolled over-exploitation of groundwater by pumping wells,as well as the expansion of surface water interventions nowadays,has caused serious impacts on not only the qanats,but also local ecological environments.There exist long-time arguments on whether the qanats should be restored or preserved.This study aimed to examine the historical development, geological conditions and characteristics,and modern implications of the qanats for oasis environmental protection, and to discuss the initiatives taken by local governments.The whole Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was included as the study area,with a specific focus on Turpan prefecture.The materials and data were obtained from literature review and governmental documentation.Based on a systematic examination of three prevailing theories on the origination of Xinjiang’s qanats,it is suggested modern archaeological techniques could be good solutions to explore the origination in addition to historical records used normally.Although qanats fail to fully meet today’s enormous water demands,their rich historical,cultural,ecological and environmental implications in arid areas should not be underestimated.As a cultural heritage and ecologically-friendly engineering creation,qanat systems shall be kept in good condition and function by a valuable number.Recent initiatives to protect and restore target qanat systems in Xinjiang could provide positive examples for the practices in other regions of the world where the protection and restoration of qanats or similar technologies are desired.