Mt. West Tianshan (新疆西天山)

Mt. West Tianshan is located in the west of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Our study sites is located within the Mt. West Tianshan National Nature Reserve (43°03′～43°15’N, 82°51′～83°06′E) and Wild Walnut Vally Provincial Nature Reserve. The total area of Mt. West Tianshan National Nature Reserve is 31217 km2, and the mountain peak is at 4257 m a.s.l. This region is mainly influenced by the temperate semiarid continental climate, with mean annual temperature varying from 5℃ to 7℃, and annual precipitation ranging from 600 mm to 800 mm.

Vegetation

Mt. West Tianshan has an obvious vertical distribution zone of vegetations, including desert vegetation (<1100m), Malus sieversii and Armeniaca vulgaris mixed forest (1100-1300m), Populus talassica and Picea schrenkiana mixed forest (1300-1500m), Picea schrenkiana forest (1500-2950m), snow line (ca. 3200m), alpine meadow and flowstone lands (2590-3500 m), and permanent snow and glacier zone (>3500 m). This mountain is well known for a large number of endangered or endemic plants, such as Malus sieversii, Armeniaca vulgaris, Saussurea involucrate, Helianthemum songaricum, and Picea schrenkiana var. tianshanica.

The forest of Picea schrenkiana

Forest landscape in the elevation of ~ 1200 m

Forest landscape in the elevation of ~ 1500 m

Flora

According to the Biodiversity and Management of West Tianshan Mountain National Nature Reserve (Xiao, et al. 2015), there are 847 vascular plant species, belonging to 93 families and 390 genera.

Xinjiang Wild Apple (Malus sieversii)


Saussurea involucrate

Fauna

The incomplete list of the Fauna of West Tianshan is below.

Reference: Xiao W.F. Yasheng A. Qian F.W. Xu H.X. Chen K.W. Liu W.C. 2015. Biodiversity and Management of West Tianshan Mountain National Nature Reserve, Xinjiang. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing. Liu P., Kang L.J., Hou L.X., Tulson N. 2007. Fauna of terrestrial vertebrates in West Tianshan National Nature Reserve, Xinjiang. Endemic Diseases Bulletin, 22(41): 10-13.

Panthera uncia

Capra sibirica

Research sites of BEST network

In 2019, thirteen 20 m × 20 m plots along an elevational gradient were set up from 1200 m to 2800 m in West Tianshan National Nature Reserve. The plots were set at intervals of ~100 m in elevation. Within each plot, all woody stems with ≥ 1 cm DBH were tagged and identified to species. There were 981 individuals with DBH ≥ 1 cm recorded, belonging to 4 families, 7 genera and 8 species.


In 2019, sixteen 20 m × 20 m plots along an elevational gradient were set up from 895 m to 1794 m inWild Walnut Vally Provincial Nature Reserve

Principal Investigator

Zhongping Tian (田中平): tianzhongping007@163.com

Research Team:

  • Dr. Zhaochen Zhang (East China Normal University)

  • Dr. Jian Zhang (East China Normal University)

Selected Publications

Coming soon.

Site Support

This site has been supported by:

  • National Natural Science Foundation of China

  • School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University

  • West Tianshan National Nature Reserve

Copyright © Jian Zhang 2019 –
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