• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.30-42
• /
• 2018

Background: The southern and eastern parts of the Gobi Desert area are a unique dry ecosystem with a diverse regional desert, semi-desert, and mountain dry steppe flora. This area habitat is located at the overlap of different floristic regions; on its northeast side, Central Asian desert flora is dominating, and on the eastern side, East Asian flora is observed. The comprehensive survey was carried out to find the floral diversity of the medicinal plants on the region. Methods: All recorded species in this study were based on the collected voucher specimens between June and August in the year 2017. Results: We recorded 23 families, 57 genera, and 78 species of vascular plants. The families Asteraceae (15 species), Fabaceae (10 species), and Amaranthaceae (10 species) were represented most in the study area, while Caragana (5 species), Salsola (4 species), and Arnebia (3 species) were the most common genera found. Conclusion: Conservation status for remarkable species was also reviewed based on the literature. Around the study area, 24 species as "sub-endemic," 10 species as "very rare," 4 species as "rare," 1 species as "alien," 13 species as "relict," 10 species as "Red Book," 2 species as "endangered (EN)," 3 species as "vulnerable (VU)," 3 species as "near threatened (NT)," and 2 species as "least concern (LC)" plants are growing.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.135-140
• /
• 2000

The Government of Mongolia approved establishment of the Mongolian LTER network in December 1997. In June 1998, a seminar was organized by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences to initiate the program. Dr. James Gosz of the US LTER program keynoted the seminar. A Mongolian LTER Steering Committee was established to organize the network and to develop guidelines for its management. This Committee designated Hovsgol National Park in northern Mongolia as the first Mongolian LTER network site. Other potential sites are presently being considered. including study sites in steppe grassland and desert locations. The primary goals of the Mongolian LTER Network are to study human impacts on Mongolia's environment; with a focus on short-term impacts of nomadic grazing on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and long-term climate change impacts on more pristine environments in the protected areas. There are at least two additional goals: to provide information and advice on how best to protect Mongolia's pristine environments, and to train Mongolian students to work on environmental problems to encourage the growth of expertise for making sound environmental decisions.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.89-95
• /
• 1991

Yellow sands often occur in Korea during April and May each year, and they are believed to come from the Mongolian Gobi desert as the snow starts to melt in Spring time. Since the analysis of aerosol particulates can hardly distinguish the origin of particulates, the isentropic analysis of meteorological data is often used for the trajectories of the long range transport of yellows sand or air pollutants. The yellow sand case of April 9 $\sim$ 15, 1988, in Korea is analyzed for the identification of long range transport of yellow sands and their trajectories in East Asia, using isentropic analyses. We have tranformed the ECMWF grid data, analyzed in pressure coordinates, into the isentropic coordinates and then have traced the 286 K and 290 K air mass which started Gobi desert. The result shows the transport of yellow sands from the Gobi desert to the Korean peninsula.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.103-110
• /
• 2018

Backgrounds: In arid grasslands, wells are subject to heavy trampling and grazing pressure, which can increase vulnerability to local land degradation. To investigate trampling and grazing, we surveyed plant communities at three well sites in the desert steppe of Mongolia, using 1600-m line transects from the wells. The sites (Bshrub, Sshrub, and shrubL) differed by concomitant shrub type (big shrub, small shrub, and shrub-limited) and livestock pressure (light, medium, and heavy). A plant classification scheme based on edibility and morphology (rosette or creeping type) was used to separate grazing and trampling effects on plant communities. Results: Edible plants were dominant at all sites but a fraction of grazing- and trampling-tolerant plants increased in the order Bshrub, Sshrub, and shrubL, following livestock pressure. Clear transition zones from inedible to edible plant groups were recognized but at different locations and ranges among the sites. Trampling-tolerant plants explained 90% of inedible plants at Sshrub with camels and horses, but grazing-tolerant plants prevailed (60%) at shrubL with the largest livestock number. Plant coverage increased significantly along the transects at Bshrub and Sshrub but showed no meaningful change at shrubL. Herbaceous plant biomass showed significant positive and negative trends at Bshrub and shrubL, respectively. Conclusions: Both grazing and trampling can produce larger fractions of inedible plants; in this, camel and horses can have considerable effects on desert-steppe plant communities through trampling.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.105-114
• /
• 2013

Desertification of the East Asia area induced by human's indiscriminate activities and natural causes has gradually expanded and demanded scientific research for monitoring and predicting land cover condition. Therefore, this research classified land types which were compared to MODIS land cover and analyzed the extent of barren zone effecting Korea through yellow dust using S10-DAY MVC NDVI from SPOT between 1999 and 2011. This study used unsupervised classification after processing NDVI Correction and Water Mask for eliminating noise values included in the data for enhancement of classification accuracy. The results of analysis are that there are active variations near the borders of desert, especially the Mongolian steppe and the Gobi Desert in central Asia. In addition, the extent of entire desert has been decreased in the middle of the last decade, although desertification is in going on in East Asia.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.471-476
• /
• 2010

This study aimed at monitoring, mapping, and assessing the land degradation in the desert area. In this research, the Landsat TM and ETM+ imageries to assess the extent of land degradation for study area during the period from 1991 to 2007. Were used to study supervized, unsupervized classfication and NDVI land cover changes in the desert area in Mongolia. The classified map consists of five classes of water, vegetation, slight desertification, middle desertification and sever desertification. It shows that for determination classfication methods and NDVI, desertification map of the study area are prepared. The result showed accounting for a clear deterioration in vegetative cover, an increase of sever desertification and a decrease in middle desertification and slight desertification respectively of the total study area.

• Korean Journal of Ornithology
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.94-100
• /
• 2018

Bird electrocution on contact with electricity lines is well reported and is quite common in Mongolian open areas. We visited 15-kV electricity distribution pole lines in a Southern Mongolian semi-desert region three times in 2017, in April, July, and September, to assess their risks to birds. The carcasses of 45 electrocuted birds representing 12 species were identified from 250 poles (overall mortality rate of 1.12% every 10 km). The majority of these electrocuted birds were endangered Saker Falcon (n=11) and common Black Kite (n=11). The lacks of roosting or perching sites in our study sites (indeed other open areas in Mongolia) may resulted for such high rate bird electrocution. A 751-base pair (bp) cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene was amplified for DNA sequence-based identification of carcasses that were difficult to identify directly. Our findings revealed the high electrocution risk for birds in Mongolian open areas, especially for the birds of prey, with relatively low-efficiency electrocution mitigation approaches. The findings also indicate that there is a need for better understanding of the risk of bird electrocution, particularly in the open areas. This will contribute to the conservation of endangered species.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.94-100
• /
• 2008

Recently, global warming for climate system is a crucial issue over the world and it brings about severe climate change, abnormal temperature, a downpour, a drought, and so on. Especially, a drought over the earth surface accelerates desertification which has been advanced over the several years mainly originated from a climatic change. The objective of this study is to detect variation of vegetation water condition around China and Mongolia desert by using satellite data having advantage in observing surface biological system. In this study, we use SPOT/VEGETATION satellite image to calculate NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index) around study area desert for monitoring of status of vegetation characteristics. The vegetation water status index from remotely sensing data is related to desertification since dry vegetation is apt to desertify. We can infer vegetation water status using NDWI acquired by NIR (Near infrared) and SWIR (Short wave infrared) bands from SPOT/VGT. The consequence is that NDWI decreased around desert from 1999 to 2006. The areas that NDWI was decreased are located in the northeast of Mongolian Gobi desert and the southeast of China Taklamakan desert.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.207-212
• /
• 2012

The effects of sheep urine and dung patches on methane ($CH_4$) and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) fluxes were investigated during the summer-autumn in 2010, to evaluate their contribution to climate change in a desert grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. Results indicate that the cumulative $CH_4$ emissions for dung patches, urine patches and control plots were -0.076, -0.084, and -0.114 g/$m^2$ and these were net $CH_4$ sinks during the measured period. The level of $CH_4$ intake from urine and dung plots decreased 25.7%, and 33.3%, respectively, compared with a control plot. $CO_2$ fluxes differed (p<0.01) in urine plots, with an average of 569.20 mg/$m^2$/h compared with control plots (357.62 mg/$m^2$/h) across all sampling days. Dung patches have cumulative $CO_2$ emissions that were 15.9% higher compared with the control during the 55-d period. Overall, sheep excrement weakened $CH_4$ intake and increased $CO_2$ emissions.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.363-370
• /
• 2007

Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) has been as an model animal for studing the neurological disease such as stroke and epilepsy because of the congenital incompleteries in Willis circle, as well as the investigation of water metabolism because of the long time-survival in the condition of water-deprived desert condition, compared with other species animal. Aquaporin 2 (AQP2) expressed at the surface of principal cells in collecting duct results from an equilibrium between the AQP2 in intracellular vesicles and the AQP2 on the plasma membrane. Aquaporin 4 (AQP4), which is expressed in cell in a wide range of organ, is also present in the collecting duct principal cells where this is abundant in the basolateral plasma membranes and represent potential exit pathways from the cell for water entering via AQP2. In this research, we divide 3 groups of which each group include the 5 animals. In the study of 7 or 14 days water restricted condition, we investigated the AQP2 and AQP4 by using a quantitative immunohistochemistry in the kidney. The results obtained in this study were summarized as followings. AQP2 is abundant in the apical plasma membrane and apical vesicles in the collecting duct principal cell and at rare abundance in connecting tubules. In the water-deprived Mongolian gerbil kidney, expression of AQP2 was continuosly increased in the cortical collecting duct and inner medullary collecting duct. This increase was both the apical region and cytoplasm. AQP4 is mainly expressed in the inner medulla, although some expression is also noted in the more proximal segment. In the water-deprived Mongolian gerbil kidney, AQP4 was also increased in the inner medullary collecting duct. Immunoactivity was increased in entire inner medullary collecting duct and newly detected in cytoplasm of principal cell. These findings suggest that increased levels of AQP2 and AQP4 in the cortical and inner medulalry collecting duct may play a important role for maintain fluid balance in the water-deprived kidney.