论中国干旱区湖泊研究的重要意义

据最新统计,在中国年降水量小于200 mm的干旱区,有大小湖泊近400个,在我国3大自然地理区域,即东部季风区、西北干旱区和青藏高原区中居第2位.内陆湖泊不仅是干旱区气候的指示器,而且对内陆河流域生态与环境状况的反应极为灵敏.干旱区的湖泊是以流域为单元实现水分循环的重要环节,是自然和人类经济活动系统中的最后一个环节,其生物和生态系统最早对人类活动的干扰作出反应,第一个抗争也是第一个受害.国内外干旱区湖泊衰亡带来的灾难等事实告诉人们:保护湖泊水体,就是保护人类自己.人与湖泊水体和谐共处,是干旱区经济社会和人的全面发展不可缺失的重要条件之一,为此应该对湖泊状况实行监控,持之以恒进行系统研究.

On the Importance of Research on the Lakes in Arid Land of China

There are about 400 lakes of varying sizes in the dry land with precipitation less than 200 mm in China according to a recent statistical work.The number of lake in the arid land of China ranks a secondary place in the three natural regions,i.e.,the eastern monsoon(humid) region,the northwestern arid region and the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau region,and occupies probably the first rank in the arid land of the world.Inland lake is not only an indicator of the climate variability/change in the arid land,but also a sensible respondent to the eco-environmental variation in the inland river valley.Inland lake is an important link of the hydrological circulation restricted to the unit of inland river valley,and is the last part in the natural-human economic system in arid land,its biological and ecological system,therefore,is the earliest respondent to the disturbance of the human activities,the first resistant whilst the first victim.The disastrous events that brought about to human by the decline and fall of the inland lakes all of the world reveal that to protect lake waters is to protect human beings.The harmonic coexisting relationship between the human and the lake waters is one of the most important and necessary prerequisites for the social economic development in an all-round way in arid land.The situations of the inland lakes must be monitored and researched in a systematic way perseveringly.