there are more than 750 counties in 13 provinces and autonomous regionsconstituting 30% of china lands which are facing serious problem of desertification. theseareas are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas in the western part ofnortheast china, north central china and most of northwest china. biological methods are theultimate way for drift sand stabilization and a fu...

As one of the most important biological factors that maintain the stability of the largest fixed and semi-fixed desert in China, the Gurbantunggut Desert, the biological soil crusts (BSCs) develop well and play critical ecological roles in the desert ecosystem. In this paper, we briefly summarize our research findings since 2002 including species composition, distribution pattern and ecological...

In Northwest China, aridification and desert expansion play significant roles in promoting desert plant diversification and speciation. However, to date, little is known about the effects of the desert barrier on the population structure of montane, non-desert species in the area. In this study, we sequenced chloroplast DNA regions (trnL-trnF and trnS-trnG) and a nuclear gene (rpb2) to investig...

The UNCCD has been ratified by over 190 countries. It is the attempt by nations, both rich and poor to control the scourge of desertification. The definition of which is “land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. It is now widely accepted that desertification is not the relentless advance of des...

Yunhua Chang,†,§,∥ Xuejun Liu,*,‡ and Peter Christie‡,⊥ †State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China ‡College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China College of Geo...

Water resources are a key factor for regional sustainable development. However, the published water resource data in China is based on a large geographical scale, such as watershed units, and the data cannot reflect subtle differences in water resource distribution. The paper aimed to distribute water resources of the third-order basin of China into grid-cells of 1 km × 1 km. First, we used Mor...

Palynomorphs extracted from the mud coffins and plant remains preserved at the archaeological site of Xiaohe Cemetery (Cal. 3980 to 3540 years BP) in Lop Nur Desert of Xinjiang, China were investigated for the reconstruction of the ancient environments at the site. The results demonstrate that the Xiaohe People lived at a well-developed oasis, which was surrounded by extensive desert. The veget...

There are more than 750 counties in 13 provinces and autonomous regionsconstituting 30% of China lands which are facing serious problem of desertification. Theseareas are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas in the western part ofNortheast China, North central china and most of northwest china. Biological methods are theultimate way for drift sand stabilization and a fu...

the unccd has been ratified by over 190 countries. it is the attempt by nations, both rich and poor to control the scourge of desertification. the definition of which is “land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. it is now widely accepted that desertification is not the relentless advance of des...