Junggar Basin semi-desert
The Junggar Basin semi-desert, located in northwestern China and extending into parts of Mongolia and Kazakhstan, is a distinct ecosystem that serves as a transition zone between steppe and desert environments. This area is characterized by unique flora and fauna, including species well-adapted to arid conditions, such as the Bactrian camel, Asian wild ass, and saiga antelope. The basin is bordered by the Tian Shan, Altai, and Tarbagatai mountains, allowing moisture-laden air to enter, which sustains its semi-desert status rather than turning it into a true desert.
Despite its ecological significance, the Junggar Basin faces significant threats from agricultural expansion, intensive grazing, and oil extraction, which have already led to the destruction of much of its original ecosystem. Critical habitats such as meadows and wetlands have largely been converted for agricultural use, impacting biodiversity. Protected areas, like the Great Gobi National Park and several reserves, exist to safeguard some of the region's remaining natural environments. The ongoing challenges of climate change and human activity continue to pose risks to the delicate balance of this unique semi-desert habitat.
Subject Terms
Junggar Basin semi-desert
Category: Desert Biomes.
Geographic Location: Asia.
Summary: This unique ecosystem on the southern edge of the Eurasian steppe belt represents a transition from the steppe to the deserts of central Asia.
A unique ecosystem that represents a special transition between steppe and desert can be found in the Junggar Basin of northwestern China. This area provides home for some well-adapted animals of central and inner Asia, such as the Bactrian camel, Asian wild ass (kulan), goitered gazelle, saiga antelope, and specialized jerboas.
The Junggar Basin was one of the last habitats of Przewalski’s horse, which is now extinct in the wild. Most of the original ecosystem here was destroyed and turned into agricultural fields; intensive grazing and irrigated agriculture still threaten the remaining fragments. Wheat, barley, oat, and sugar beet are grown in the fields, irrigated largely by runoff from melted snow from the permanently white-capped Altai and Tian Shan mountains. Cattle, sheep, and horses are raised in the natural and seminatural grazing territories here. The Junggar Basin is also marked by large oil fields, the extraction of which is one of the biggest threats to the remaining ecosystem.
Geography and Climate
The Junggar Basin is bounded by the Tian Shan Mountains to the south, the Altai Mountains to the northeast, and the Tarbagatai Mountains to the northwest. Its territory also extends into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan. In China, it corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang province. The whole basin is easily accessible through the valley of the upper Irtysh River from the north, the Junggarian Gate from the west, or from the direction of Gansu and the rest of China from the east.
As the Junggar Basin is open to the northwest through a series of large gaps in the bordering mountainous ranges, moist air masses that originate in Siberia flow in, providing these lands enough water to remain a semidesert rather than becoming a true desert. Thus, the Junggar Basin has colder temperatures, more precipitation, and a more extensive flora than the enclosed basins to the south, such as the Tian Shan Desert in the Tarim Basin.
In the center of the Junggar lies the Gurbantunggut Desert, representing the most arid part of the territory, with 3 to 4 inches (80 to 100 millimeters) of mean annual precipitation. On the fringes, precipitation is in the range of 4 to 10 inches (100 to 250 millimeters), supporting dry-steppe habitats. Around several runoff-supplied lakes, there is also more pronounced variety and vitality in the biome. Meadows, riparian environments, and wetlands long ago were particularly rich in species diversity—but most of these habitats have by now been heavily altered for agricultural use.
Flora
The flora of the Junggar Basin consists mostly of low scrub types. Taller shrublands of saxaul bush and the gymnosperm Ephedra przewalskii can be found near the margins of the basin. Streams descending from the Tian Shan and Altai ranges do support stands of poplar trees, together with Nitraria bushes, tamarisk, and willow trees.
These same, moisture-craving vegetation communities can be found on the shorelines of the lakes and in the occasional oasis. Even the most arid parts of the basin are moist enough to support some vegetation, except for approximately 5 percent of the biome that is covered by shifting sand dunes: the Gurbantunggut Desert.
Fauna
The fauna of this ecosystem are a unique mixture of species from the Eurasian steppe and from the deserts of Central Asia. In addition to the great number of jerboa and gerbil (jird) species—typical desert inhabitants—species of ground squirrels, hamsters, voles, and field mice are also present here. Further steppe species are the steppe and marbled polecat, marmot, several species of pica, and the Tian Shan birch mouse. Subterranean rodents such as the zokor and mole vole are also characteristic members of steppe ecosystems.
In the Junggar Basin, Bactrian camels, Asian wild asses (kulans), goitered gazelles, and saiga antelopes live together. The typical carnivores are the wildcat and the Pallas’s cat, the Eurasian lynx, the red and the corsac fox, the dhole (Asian wild dog), the wolf, and the brown bear.
The greatest zoological values of the Junggar Basin are the world’s largest remaining herds of Asian wild ass, as well as herds of goitered gazelle, and some of the last remaining wild Bactrian camels. The Junggar Basin is a logical place where Przewalski’s horse could be reintroduced in the future, as it was one of the last biomes where this horse was known to survive in the wild. Today, several international efforts are under way to reintroduce this species to its historic homeland in central Asia.
The critically endangered Cheng’s jird is the only endemic mammal of the Junggar Basin today. The several species of jerboas and jirds that inhabit the Junggar also make outstanding value for nature conservation. Other species of special significance are the critically endangered sunwatcher toadhead agama; the plate-tailed gecko, a lizard endemic to central Asia; and the Tartar sand boa.
Protected Areas
The northeastern part of the Junggar Basin lies in Mongolia; it includes the Junggarian section of Great Gobi National Park, an International Biosphere Reserve. Other important protected areas are the Bogdhad Mountain Biosphere Reserve (China), the Arjin Mountain Nature Reserve (China), and the Markakol’dkiy State Nature Reserve (Kazakhstan).
Although the Junggar Basin has its natural values, it is a very sad fact that nearly all of the original meadow, marsh, and riparian habitats in the basin have been converted to irrigated agricultural fields. A further threat is human immigration and translocation to this region from eastern China. The looming impacts of climate change are also being studied. Any changes to the Siberian region to the north are liable to have profound impacts here, as so much of the Junggar Basin moisture flows in from that source.
Bibliography
Fei, Cheng, et.al. "Factors Driving the Biomass and Species Richness of Desert Plants in Northern Xinjiang China." Plos One, 22 July 2022, doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271575. Accessed 22 Aug. 2022.
Laidler, L. and K. Laidler. China’s Threatened Wildlife. London: Blandford, 1996.
MacKinnon, J., Meng Sha, C. Cheung, G. Carey, Zhu Xiang, and D. Melville. A Biodiversity Review of China. Hong Kong: World Wide Fund for Nature International, 1996.
Mongolia Ministry for Nature and Environment. Mongolia’s Wild Heritage. Boulder, CO: Avery Press, 1996.
Murzayev, E. M. “The Deserts of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin.” In World Vegetation Types, S. R. Eyre, ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971.