Research on the Taklamakan Desert, located in the northwest of China and the largest desert in the country, has revealed an interesting fact. Research has revealed that the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region may have formed 300 years ago.
Zhang Yuanming, head of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at a press conference that the discoveries were made during the third ongoing scientific research, which has achieved great success.
Based on the discovery of a new species of gammaridea native to a river basin in the region, the team of scientists identified the Tianshan Mountains and its surroundings as the world's first source of cold-water living organisms.
The scientific research also witnessed the discovery of 39 parasitic natural enemy insects and two new species of algae, first recorded in China, Zhang said. Noting that new technologies such as drones, satellites and the internet of things were used during the research, Zhang said that they built a total of 26 new automated monitoring sites for ecosystems in Xinjiang. Phase three research in the region was launched in December 2021.