As part of a joint research project entitled “The impacts and adaptation of climate change on ecosystems in the arid lands of Central Asia—Joint research of the ecological transects in China and Kazakhstan”, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG), Chinese of Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Institute of Soil Science and Agriculture Chemistry (ISSAC), Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, conducted a joint scientific investigation in northern Xinjiang in September, 2011.

The joint team investigated the Fukang National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station for Desert Ecosystems, the Mosuowan Station for Desert Research, and Baijiantan, Wuerhe and Burqin regions.

During their investigation, researches from XIEG introduced the research achievements in desertification control as well as the instruments and equipment to be utilized to the Kazakhstan researchers. The joint team investigated the desertification status and the synthetic control in the southern margin of the Junggar Basin, and visited the modern agricultural equipment in Fukang. In Baijiantan, Wuerhe and Burqin, the researchers investigated the local soil and vegetation in detail, constructing recognitions for the landscape homogeneity and heterogeneity between the same latitude in China and Kazakhstan.

The ISSAC researchers praised and congratulated the XIEG’s achievements, giving a high appraisement to this joint scientific investigation. They acknowledged the significance on the study of climate change’s impacts on Central Asia’s arid land ecosystems, and hope China and Kazakhstan has closer scientific cooperation in the future. 　 

Joint investigative field work between Chinese and Kazakhstan researchers