200 Years. 200 Stories. Story
32: “Capacity Building at Hovsgol
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Mongolian researchers and students discuss steppe ecology at the Hovsgol Long-Term Ecological Reseach Site in Mongolia.
Capacity Building at Hovsgol
In 1997 Mongolia’s government established a network of Long-Term Ecological Research Sites (LTERS) to address its concerns about environmental protection, sustainable economic development, and climate change. Already the subject of considerable study by the Academy’s Dr. Clyde Goulden and colleagues, Hovsgol National Park became the first site in this network and one of the first Asian LTERS in an international network of similar research sites. Research at Hovsgol includes surveying insects, monitoring forest regeneration, and assessing climate change impacts including the dynamics of thaw of permafrost.
Programs at Hovsgol also are geared toward the training and professional development of Mongolian scientists. Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva is a striking example of a Mongolian scientist who prospered after she began work at Hovsgol in 2002. She has received an International Fulbright Science and Technology Award and is pursuing a doctorate in botany at the University of Wyoming. Her research in rangeland ecology may help us understand how pastures respond to overgrazing and the alteration of rainfall patterns associated with climate change.
Learn more about research at Hovsgol at ansp.org!