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<br />by James Almendinger, St. Croix Watershed Research Station, Science Museum of Minnesota
<br />In the 1200s, at the time of Genghis
<br />Khan, western Mongolia was a cold, stony
<br />land sparsely populated with nomadic
<br />herders. Water resources were so scarce
<br />gists collected three groups of aquatic taxa
<br />during the 2004-05 field trips. Diatoms, a
<br />type of algae; are being surveyed by Ed-
<br />lund, aided by Geology graduate student
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<br />Charles Umbanhowar (I) and Avery Shinneman (r), part of the %ake crew," collect water and
<br />invertebrate samples from one of the expedition's inflatable canoes.
<br />and revered by these ancient Mongo-
<br />lians that the term "water" was used as a
<br />metaphor for loyalty and power. Fouling
<br />the water in any way was forbidden, and
<br />all travel hinged upon finding fresh water
<br />for the herds.
<br />800 years later, in the summers of
<br />2004 and 2005, an international research
<br />team traveled over 2000 miles by jeep
<br />through western Mongolia- which
<br />remains a land of nomadic herders with
<br />scarce water resources. Our National Sci-
<br />ence Foundation-funded team is assessing
<br />the region's aquatic biodiversity and water
<br />quality and is headed up by Mark Edlund
<br />(St. Croix Watershed Research Station,
<br />Science Museum of Minnesota) and me,
<br />James Almendinger. Major participants
<br />include Len Femngton, Jr. (Entomol-
<br />ogy), Emi Ito (Geology and Geophysics),
<br />Charles Umbanhowar (St. Olaf College);
<br />and collaborators from the Royal Belgian
<br />Institute of Natural Sciences, the National
<br />University of Mongolia, and the Mongo-
<br />lianAcademy of Science.
<br />The thrill of discovery--being the first
<br />to see and describe a new species-is one
<br />of the most exciting things that a biologist
<br />can experience. Our thrill-seeking biolo-
<br />Avery Shinneman. Chironomids, the non-
<br />biting midge insects, are being assessed by
<br />Ferrington, with the help of WRS gradu-
<br />ate student Giana Gelsey. Ostracodes,
<br />millimeter-sized crustaceans,
<br />are being studied by Ito and ~
<br />the Belgian crew. Ito and I are
<br />measuring the water chemistry
<br />to characterize the habitats of - p
<br />these organisms. Given that the i , ~
<br />water chemistries of sampled ~ ~~''
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<br />sites range from rain-water ~ s~'~
<br />fresh to several times saltier i , ~~
<br />than the ocean, and that these ~ =' ~
<br />taxa have never been systemati- ~ ~ °~"
<br />cally collected from the region, ~
<br />the team expects to find a high
<br />biodiversity and a significant ~ ~_~
<br />number of new species. Due to
<br />the tiny size of these taxa, they ~ '`
<br />are generally unknown even to Emi Ito (I
<br />the local natives, so we really of Natura
<br />can be the first humans to lay shore en
<br />eyes on the new organisms.
<br />The core of the study area is the Val-
<br />ley of the Great Lakes, a large basin of
<br />internal drainage bounded on the west by
<br />the Altai Mountains and on the east by the
<br />Khangai Mountains. The team sampled
<br />more than 60 lakes, in addition to nearly
<br />as many spring and river sites.
<br />A typical day entailed cramming our
<br />crew of 18, all packed with their camping
<br />and research gear, into four Russian jeeps
<br />and driving an hour or so to a new lake.
<br />Even though a map may show many roads
<br />crisscrossing the study area, each "road"
<br />was simply a track across the steppe where
<br />someone else had driven before. When a
<br />track becomes too rutted to safely pass,
<br />the drivers just move over a few feet and
<br />start a new one.
<br />Upon arrival, the "lake crew" would
<br />pump up rivo inflatable canoes and paddle
<br />out onto the lake to collect water, sedi-
<br />ment, and plankton samples. Meanwhile,
<br />the "shore crew" waded the lake margin to
<br />collect their target organisms. If all went
<br />well, the team could be back on the road
<br />in about two hours and heading far a sec-
<br />ond site for that day. Spare moments and
<br />evenings were spent sorting, organizing,
<br />labeling, filtering, preserving, and packag-
<br />ing samples.
<br />Examination of the collected speci-
<br />mens has only just begun but has already
<br />yielded a few "thrills" (likely new spe-
<br />cies) for the biologists. Water chemistry
<br />analyses have confirmed the wide range
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<br />)and researchers from the Royal Belgian Institute
<br />/ Sciences (r) gather Ostracades from the near-
<br />vironment. -
<br />of habitats. And, we hope that the statisti-
<br />cal relations between these organisms and
<br />their habitats will form the basis of practi-
<br />cal tools to assess the health both of pres-
<br />ent ecosystems and of past environments
<br />in this far-away corner of the world.
<br />3 December 2005
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