RUI: An Ecological Guild-Based Biodiversity Inventory and Survey of the Aquatic Non-biting Midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) of the Altai and Hangai Mountain Drainages, Mongolia

密集放牧和黄金开采威胁着阿拉泰和汉盖山水生大型无脊椎动物的生物多样性，以及蒙古国西部的乌夫斯努尔盆地联合国教科文组织世界遗产，这是一个独特的地区，具有原始和受影响的水生栖息地的特点。该项目将记录这种生物多样性，并将多样性数据与生态数据结合起来，以确定需要保护或监测的水生生境。这项研究将由以本科为主的研究所(PUI)的研究人员和蒙古水生昆虫调查(MAIS)合作进行，前者将专注于非叮咬类的生物多样性和生态学，后者将涵盖大多数其他主要的水生大型无脊椎动物群体。PUI的研究将重点放在不咬人的蚊子上，因为它们通常占淡水栖息地水生昆虫多样性的50%以上，而且现有的采样方法允许研究人员将调查与生态研究结合起来。该项目的成果将提交给蒙古政府和MAIS，用于保护和生物监测规划。该项目将为该研究所的参与者提供广泛的研究机会，并将用于增加该研究所的生物多样性和生态研究活动。实地经验将促进美国本科生和蒙古本科生之间的合作。

Intensive grazing and gold mining threaten biological diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the Altai and Hangai mountains, and the Uvs Nuur Basin UNESCO World Heritage Site of western Mongolia, a unique region characterized by both pristine and impacted aquatic habitat. This project will document that biodiversity and combine diversity data with ecological data to identify aquatic habitat in need of conservation or monitoring. Research will be conducted as a collaborative effort between researchers at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) who will focus on biodiversity and ecology of non-biting midges and the Mongolian Aquatic Insect Survey (MAIS) which will cover most other major groups of aquatic macroinvertebrates. The PUI research will focus on non-biting midges because they often account for over 50% of aquatic insect diversity in freshwater habitats and established methods exist for sampling which allow researchers to combine surveys with ecological research. The results of this project will be submitted to the Mongolian government and MAIS for use in conservation and biological monitoring planning. The project will provide extensive research opportunities for the participants from the PUI and will be used to increase biodiversity and ecological research activities at the PUI. Field experiences will foster collaborations between U.S. undergraduate students and their Mongolian counterparts.