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Tarim Basin Deciduous Forests And Steppe
The Tarim Basin deciduous forests and steppe is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. The ecoregion includes deciduous riparian forests and steppes sustained by the region's rivers in an otherwise arid region. Geography The Tarim Basin is a desert basin lying in westernmost China. The basin is surrounded by high mountains – the Kunlun Mountains to the south, which form the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau; the Pamir Mountains to the west; and the Tian Shan to the north. The basin is arid, but the surrounding mountains receive considerable rainfall and snow. Rivers drain into the basin from the mountains, including the northward-flowing Hotan River, which drains the western Kunlun Mountains, the Yarkand River, which drains the Pamirs, and the Aksu River, which drains the western Tian Shan mountains. These rivers join to form the Tarim River, which flows for 1300 km in an arc across the northern and easte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palearctic Realm
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Siberian region; the Mediterranean Basin; the Sahara and Arabian Deserts; and Western, Central and East Asia. The Palaearctic realm also has numerous rivers and lakes, forming several freshwater ecoregions. The term 'Palearctic' was first used in the 19th century, and is still in use as the basis for zoogeographic classification. History In an 1858 paper for the ''Proceedings of the Linnean Society'', British zoologist Philip Sclater first identified six terrestrial zoogeographic realms of the world: Palaearctic, Aethiopian/Afrotropic, Indian/Indomalayan, Australasian, Nearctic, and Neotropical. The six indicated general groupings of fauna, based on shared biogeography and large-scale geographic barriers to migration. Alfred Wallace ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taitema Lake
Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts in the southeastern portion of the Xinjiang (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region). Administratively, the lake is in Lop Nur town (), also known as Luozhong () of Ruoqiang County, which in its turn is part of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. The lake system into which the Tarim River and Shule River empty is the last remnant of the historical post-glacial Tarim Lake, which once covered more than in the Tarim Basin. Lop Nur is hydrologically endorheic – it is landbound and there is no outlet. The lake measured in 1928, but has dried up due to construction of dams which blocked the flow of water feeding into the lake system, and only small seasonal lakes and marshes may form. The dried-up Lop Nur Basin is covered with a salt cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the Eastern world, East and Western world, West. The name "Silk Road", first coined in the late 19th century, has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East Asia, East and Southeast Asia, the South Asia, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Southern Europe, Europe. The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk, silk textiles that were Silk industry in China, produced almost exclusively in China. The network began with the Han dynasty, Han dynasty's expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE, Protectorate of the Western Regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yarkand Deer
The Yarkand deer (''Cervus hanglu yarkandensis''), also known as the Theenivs deer, Tarim deer, or Lop Nor stag, is a subspecies of the Central Asian red deer that is native to the province of Xinjiang, China. It is similar in ecology to the related Bactrian deer (''C. h. bactrianus'') in occupying lowland riparian corridors surrounded by deserts. Both populations are isolated from one another by the Tian Shan Mountains and probably form a primordial subgroup of the Central Asian red deer. Description This deer is light rufous in color with a large light-colored patch, including the tail. Its antlers usually have five tines with a terminal fork pointing forward. The fifth tine is usually larger than the fourth and is inclined inward. Range and habitat The Yarkand deer lives in the Tarim Basin deciduous forests and steppe ecoregion of the Tarim, Kaidu, and Qiemo river basins in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region (East Turkestan). They are dependent on the lowland riparian cor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Populus Pruinosa
''Populus pruinosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Salicaceae, native to Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Xinjiang in China. A halophytic tree usually tall, but occasionally reaching , it is often found growing in basins Basin may refer to: Geography and geology * Depression (geology) ** Back-arc basin, a submarine feature associated with island arcs and subduction zones ** Debris basin, designed to prevent damage from debris flow ** Drainage basin (hydrology), a .... Its bark is grayish-yellow, its branchlets and young sprouts are densely tomentulose and gray in color, and its leaves are tomentulose and grayish-blue. References pruinosa Halophytes Flora of Central Asia Flora of Afghanistan Flora of Xinjiang Plants described in 1845 {{Salicaceae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halophyte
A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. The word derives from Ancient Greek ἅλας (halas) 'salt' and φυτόν (phyton) 'plant'. Halophytes have different anatomy, physiology and biochemistry than glycophytes.Physiology of halophytes, T. J. FLOWERS, Plant and Soil 89, 41-56 (1985) An example of a halophyte is the salt marsh grass ''Spartina alterniflora'' (smooth cordgrass). Relatively few plant species are halophytes—perhaps only 2% of all plant species. Information about many of the earth's halophytes can be found in thehalophdatabase. The large majority of plant species are glycophytes, which are not salt-tolerant and are damaged fairly easily by high salinity. Classification Halophytes can be classified in many ways. According to Stocker (1933), it is mainly of 3 kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halostachys Caspica
''Halostachys'' is a genus of flowering plants in the plant family Amaranthaceae, containing a single species, ''Halostachys caspica''. The plants are small to medium halophytic shrubs with apparently jointed fleshy stems and scale-like leaves. They are native to Asia and southeastern Europe. Description ''Halostachys caspica'' grows as a shrub to 1–3 m height and width. The erect stems are much branched, older twigs are mostly leafless. The young twigs are blue-green, fleshy, apparently jointed (articulated), with glabrous fine papillose surface. The opposite leaves are fleshy, glabrous, connate basally and surrounding the stem (thus forming the joints), with very short scale-like triangular blades. The inflorescences consist of numerous opposite lateral cylindrical spikes, 15-30 × 2–5 mm, on jointed peduncles. Groups of three bisexual flowers are sitting in the axils of rhombic-quadrate bracts. The opposite bracts are not connate to each other. The obovoid to obpyrami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamarix Ramosissima
''Tamarix ramosissima'', commonly known as saltcedar salt cedar, or tamarisk, is a deciduous arching shrub with reddish stems, feathery, pale green foliage, and characteristic small pink flowers. The cultivar 'Pink Cascade' (dark pink flowered) has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Description ''Tamarix ramosissima'' is a hardy shrub or small tree native to Europe and Asia. It is a vigorous, deciduous shrub grown for its ornamental reddish stems, its showy plumes of flowers, and its unusual feathery leaves. Its hardiness and tolerance for poor soil make it a popular, easy to grow shrub. It can grow up to 8 m in height and up to 5 m in width. It can be used as a screen, windbreak, informal hedge or specimen shrub.Zouhar, Kris. 2003''Tamarix'' spp.In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. It produces upright racemes of small, pink, five-petale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elaeagnus Angustifolia
''Elaeagnus angustifolia'', commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster, or wild olive, is a species of ''Elaeagnus'', native to western and central Asia, Iran, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey, parts of Pakistan and parts of India. , it is widely established in North America as an introduced species. Description ''Elaeagnus angustifolia'' is a usually thorny shrub or small tree growing to in height. Its stems, buds, and leaves have a dense covering of silvery to rusty scales. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, long and broad, with a smooth margin. The plants begin to flower and fruit from 3 years old. The highly aromatic flowers, produced in clusters of one to three, are 1 cm long with a four-lobed creamy yellow calyx; they appear in early summer and are followed by clusters of fruit, a small cherry-like drupe long, orange-red covered in silvery scales. The fruits are about 1 cm wide and sweet, though with a dryish, mealy texture. The spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Populus Euphratica
''Populus euphratica'', commonly known as the Euphrates poplar, desert poplar, diversiform-leaved poplar, or poplar diversifolia, is a species of poplar tree in the willow family. Description The Euphrates poplar is a medium-sized deciduous tree that may grow to a height of about and a girth of where conditions are favorable. The stem is typically bent and forked; old stems have thick, rough, olive-green bark. While the sapwood is white, the heartwood is red, darkening to almost black at the center. The roots spread widely but not deeply. The leaves are highly variable in shape. The flowers are borne as catkins; those of the male are long, and those of the female . The fruits are ovoid-lanceolate capsules, long, containing tiny seeds enveloped in silky hairs. Distribution and habitat The species has a very wide range, occurring naturally from North Africa, across the Middle East and Central Asia to western China. It may be found in dry temperate broadleaf and mixed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tugay
Tugay is a form of riparian forest or woodland associated with fluvial and floodplain areas in arid climates. These wetlands are subject to periodic inundation, and largely dependent on floods and groundwater rather than directly from rainfall. Tugay habitats occur in semi-arid and desert climates in central Asia. Because Tugay habitat is usually linear, following the courses of rivers in arid landscapes, Tugay communities often function as wildlife corridors. They have disappeared or become fragmented over much of their former range. Distribution The centre of the range of Tugay vegetation is the Tarim Basin in north-western China, where the Tarim Huyanglin nature reserve in the middle reaches of the Tarim River holds the largest areas of intact Tugay forests, with a 1993 estimate of about 61% of the total. The Central Asian countries hold another 31%, with smaller areas remaining in the Middle East and Pakistan. Tugais also occur in the Caucasus. Vegetation Close to ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calamagrostis Pseudophragmites
''Calamagrostis pseudophragmites'' is a species of grass in the genus '' Calamagrostis'' and the family Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an .... It occurs along water, canals and rivers in Europe. It is a perennial species, blooming in June and July. The stem is smooth and less hairy than the other species in the genus. This grass species grows up to 1.2 meters high, the leaves are approximately 6 mm wide/broad, and roll in their edges/margin. The spikelets in the over-hanging panicle are coloured violet, and the lower bract has a needle on it. The sepals/bracts are longer than those of the spikelets. References pseudophragmites {{Pooideae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
