JOINT RUSSIAN-MONGOLIAN COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL EXPEDITION

The Russia-Mongolia Comprehensive Biological Expedition under the Russian and Mongolian Academies of Sciences was founded in 1970 by a decision of the Presidiums of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the MPR under intergovernmental agreement as a department of the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1975, the Expedition was transferred to the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Animal Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The Expedition provides scientific researches on the territory of Mongolia. Scientific and organizational functions, material and technical support field, and laboratory studies assigned to the Laboratory for Ecology of Arid Territories. Every five years, its activity is extended based on an agreement on scientific cooperation between the two Academies.

Studies are conducted in 5 basic directions: biological and ecological monitoring in the main types of Selenga River ecosystems as a key watershed of Baikal Lake; flora and fauna diversity of Mongolia and adjoining territories; dynamics of natural and anthropogenic processes in the lacustrine and river ecosystems of Mongolia to maintain their environmental stability; development measures to reduce the impact of desertification for arid and semiarid ecosystems; optimization of traditional nature management under modern conditions. In recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of new methodological approaches to assessing the production potential of plant-soil complexes. For the first time in history President of the Russian Academy of Sciences visited Mongolia. Academician A.M. Sergeev got acquainted with infrastructure of the Expedition in Ulan-Bator in course of celebration 50-th anniversary of Expedition.