Location: Stations--Desert Stations--Shapotou

The Brief Introduction of the Academic Research of Shapotou Station

1. Introduction of the academic achievements over the past five years

 Over the past few years, Shapotou Station has placed great emphasis on the basic theoretical research of the ecological process in desert region, restoration and reconstruction of the damaged ecological system, laws of the wind-blown sand and environment monitoring. Also, great attention had been paid to the development, demonstration and extension of the agricultural techniques in desert regions.

The following are the main research topics: Study on the Water balance in arid region Numerical simulation of the water and energy transfer in Soil-Plant-Atmosphere continuum in flow sand field and other different ground surface was conducted, which had never been studied in the arid desert regions in China. Some results about it have been published on the Science in China and Journal of Arid Environment. Research of the Vegetation Dynamics Following subjects were highlighted using the advanced methods and techniques during the third opening period:

1.Study on Biodiversity The result show that the composition of the plant species tend to be dynamic equilibrium and increases with community succession. The paper concerned it is published on Plant and Soil.

2.Study on microbiotic crust The evolvement process of the distribution, species and biomass of the cryptogam existing on the microbiotic crust have been further studied. The papers about it is published on Plant and Soil, Biology and Fertility of Soils, Arid land Research and Management and Acta of Botanica Sinica.

3.CIT models and numerical simulation of plant growth in desert region CIT numerical simulation models of plant growth in desert region have been developed using the method proposed by Olson. Papers about it is published on Plant and Soil, Biology and Fertility of Soils, Arid land Research and Management and Acta of Botanica Sinica.

4.Physiological adaptation to environmental stress Study on the gas exchange characteristics of the major dominant plant and the seasons change of photosynthetic characteristic of Ammopiptanthus mongoicus were conducted. The papers about it were published in Acta Botanica Sinica and Acta Ecological Sinica. In the field wind tunnel, the physiological status and water relationship of three kinds of sand-fixing plants were studied under wind blowing and wind current condition. The papers about it was published in Acta Botanica Sinica. Plant leaf epidermal feature, xeromorphic structures, micro-morphological characteristics of seeds and the relationship between content of chemical elements and species resistance to adverse environment were further studied. Parts of the results were published on Functional Ecology, Plant Cell; Using the molecular biological techniques, the effect of water stress and rewatering on turnover and gene expression of photosystem a reaction center polypeptide D1 was studied. More than ten papers were published in Australia Journal Physiolog and other science journal.

5.The study on experiment of ex-situ conservation of biodiversity more than 300 species were introduced successfully in the ex-situ conservation of biodiversity field which occupies 30 hm. And researches on the physiology and phenology about these plants were systematically studied. Monitoring of the dust deposition and study on the dust transfer The aeolian sediment has been monitored in the past five years. The dust vertical distribution in atmosphere was long term observed for first time in Northwest China using Laser Radar. Study on Sand-blown physics and desert environment The formation of the Tengger Desert and its climate change were studied. In the field wind tunnel, some experiment on the stability of the different sand dune and its dynamics as well as soil erosion were made. Parts of the results were published in the Geomorphology and Science in China and so on.