Expeditions

THE XINJIANG (CHINA) EXPEDITION

I travelled to Urumqi in Xinjiang in north-western China in order to explore for CAM plants in the deserts of the region and, to be honest, just to go there!

My host, Professor Guan Kaiyan, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, kindly gave me a botanist’s tour of the region. We drove from Urumqi to Turpan, an old Silk Road town situated at the edge of the Taklimakan desert. In Turpan, we stayed at the Turpan Eremophytes Botanical Gardens, of which Professor Guan is Director. The gardens are ca. 100 m below sea level.

The Taklimakan Desert, a formidable landscape and climate for plants, sits in the Tarim Basin (Altishar). Surrounded by mountain ranges that erupted following the collision of the Indian and Asian continental plates, the landscape is a rain shadow with a continental arid desert climate. Temperatures may reach the high 40^oCs in summer but plummet to ca. -30^oC in winter. Annual mean precipitation in the basin is only ca. 20 mm.

The trip was a memorable one. Fascinating places were seen (like the underground water canals near Turpan) and I met lovely people. The food was great. I even believe that I held my own in the evening baijiu-consuming stakes, a legacy of my rugby days as a student!

Scientifically, the trip was less productive. I saw few CAM species. I tested a few succulent Zygophyllum for CAM (most are C₄ as well) but have not detected any CAM-type acid fluctuations as of yet. Perhaps the foothills of the mountains further west, in the region of Kashgar (Kashi), might be more conducive area for CAM hunting (an excuse for another visit!).

Some photo galleries follow. Route maps may not be correct as I had to guess where we went.

On August 2nd, we explored the eastern part of the Turpan Desert. A few photos are shown below.

Vegetation has been planted alongside some desert highways in order to reduce sand drifts. The pattern seems to be shrubs and small trees alongside the roads and poplars on the outsides. Often the plants are drip-irrigated. Click on photos below to increase size.

I was also taken to a market built around a minaret…I’m unsure if the minaret was still in use, didn’t look like it. The market seemed a little ‘up-market’ but was still fascinating. There were even shops selling ‘singing’ crickets!

We did a day-trip into the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains southwest of Urumqi. An almost European highland landscape, very different to the arid hills in the vicinity of Turfan to the south. Once again we did not see any CAM plants but it turned out to be a beautifully clear day perfect for sightseeing. In the map below, the path that I think we took is outlined in blue.

Lunched in a yurt on mutton kebabs prepared by a Uyghur woman (I think) and continued to higher slopes where we visited the Nanshang Observatory with its 25 m radio telescope.

There were some beautiful views from the hills. In some places the hills are covered in grazed meadows (short-tailed sheep) peppered with pine groves. At other sites hillsides seem to be completely deforested.

Originally we also planned to visit the Gurbantünggüt Desert north of Urumqi, Xinjiang’s second largest desert. In the desert is the furthest piece of land from the sea of any land mass on the planet (2,600 km). Sadly to say, it was dropped from the schedule.