Other Aquatic Studies in Mongolia
Fish Expedition | Rotifer Survey
The Academy is currently involved with two studies outside the scope of those conducted by the Institute of Mongolian Biodiversity and Ecological Studies and the Mongolian Aquatic Insect Survey. One is an ichthyology expedition conducted in 2006 in northeastern Mongolia. The other is a nationwide survey of a group of minute aquatic animals called rotifers.
Ichthyology Expedition
In August 2006, the Academy's Dr. Mark Sabaj Pérez and Bud Mendsaikhan of the Geo-Ecology Institute in Ulaanbaatar (the capitol of Mongolia) led a 10-person team to collect fish and aquatic invertebrates in mostly unexplored parts of eastern and northeastern Mongolia. A total of 16 sites were sampled. The majority of these were streams from the Onon River Basin, a major tributary of the Amur River of eastern Siberia. Two sites in the eastern edge of Mongolia and one site in the capitol were also sampled. (See a web account of this expedition at silurus.acnatsci.org/ACSI/field/ Mongolia2006
The main targets were either new or rarely collected species of catfishes and cypriniforms (minnows). The catfish would be used for the All Catfish Species Inventory (silurus.acnatsci.org) while the minnows would contributed to the Cypriniformes Tree of Life (bio.slu.edu/mayden/cypriniformes/home.html). In addition to the fish, water-quality data and aquatic macroinvertebrates collections were made for the Mongolian Aquatic Insect Survey and the Lake Hövsgöl Project. Tissue samples from freshwater mussel were collected for The Mussel Project.
Rotifer Survey
Dr. Christian D. Jersabek, who recently spent three years at the Academy as a Gallagher Fellow and currently serves as an adjunct curator, is conducting a multi-year survey of rotifers and other minute invertebrates from freshwater and saline aquatic habitats in Mongolia. These collections will contribute to a comprehensive species-level database that will include distribution records, locality and habitat classifications, and specimen images. In addition, Dr. Jersabek is helping to develop a research infrastructure in Mongolia by setting up a local reference collection and training Mongolian students.