Worldwide Ecologists Eye on Changbai MountainsResearch fellows from Taiwan, Chinese mainland, US, Canada and Austria have cooperated in the research of soil, hydrology, meteorology and zoology in the Changbai Mountains.Changbai mountains in north east China's Jilin Province is well known as an "international genepool of species" and an area with the most intact ecological system internationally featured by over 70 species of trees, 90 kinds of ferns, over 1,250 species of plants, some 50 species of wild beasts, more than 200 kinds of birds and some 1,000 kinds of insects. Dr. Hao Zhanqing, a research fellow in charge of the mountains' ecological research, said, "The Changbai Mountains is a typical research base for East Asia's ecology. It is also an ideal global base for the integrated study of three hot research topics: creature variety, climate changes and sustainable development." In recent years, more zoologists and botanists from overseas have turned their eyes to the research of the mountains. To date, China has set up co-research programs in the mountains with research institutions from over 20 countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Japan. And hundreds of scientists and scholars from more than 40 countries would come here to conduct study tours in the mountains and academic exchanges with Chinese experts. The Changbai Mountains Ecological System Research Station established in 1979, has joined the United Nation's Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB). In 1992, the research station was approved as a key station in the research network of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and became a member of the International Long- term Ecological Research program of the United States in 1993. |
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