[Effect of translating water on vegetation at the lower reaches of Tarim river].
Due to human irrational resource exploit in recent 50 years, many environment problems have appeared at the lower reaches of Tarim River, the environment degradation of this region became seriously. In order to restore green corridor and improve the environment at the lower reaches of Tarim River, the project of transporting water to the lower reaches of Tarim River was carried out from June 14, 2000 and the water reached Taitema lake finally. After two years' monitoring and analyzing in this region, it was found that the ground-water level went up and much extremely degraded vegetation was restored. Some xerophytic arbor and bush restored obviously with the change of habitat. Correspondingly, the groundwater level, vegetation coverage, diversity of biology, the species richness and crown of Populus euphratica all changed. By the end of September 2002, the result showed that the respond range of the ground-water level was 800 m from the river, and the respond range of vegetation was not beyond 700 m at the middle part of lower reaches of Tarim River. Due to the different environmental factors in different parts at the lower reaches of Tarim River, the response range changed accordingly. In general, the respond range became smaller and smaller from the upriver part to downstream part.
Xu
Hailiang
H
Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China. xuhail1001@sohu.com
Chen
Yaning
Y
Yang
Ge
G
D000383:Agriculture; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004463:Ecology; D005618:Fresh Water; D014872:Water Movements; D014881:Water Supply