California Academy Of Sciences
Receives National Geographic Grant
To Continue Study In China

SAN FRANCISCO (January 20, 1999) – The California Academy of Sciences has been awarded fifteen thousand dollars from the National Geographic Society to begin the second phase of a three year research project to explore the biodiversity of one of China’s most diverse and least studied regions, the Dulongjiang Region of Northwestern Yunnan Province. The collaborative project includes scientists and researchers from San Francisco State University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Yunnan Provincial Sciences and Technology Commission, and the California Academy of Sciences.

The Dulongiang region of northwestern Yunnan, only recently opened to outside research and investigations, is of particular interest to researchers studying biodiversity because of its concentrations of ancient and recent native species that could be representative of relatively ancient biological orders. The first phase of the field research was located in Gaoligong Shan, a narrow mountain range that has been identified as one of the centers of high biodiversity in China.

The research will establish an inventory of biological resources that will provide the basis to pursue complex questions about biodiverstiy, human and biogeography, and environmental conservation.