Field studies on wild bee fauna and pollination biology for combating Desertification and planting campaigns in Asian arid areas

沙漠化在亚洲干旱地区迅速蔓延。这是干旱地区一个重要的土地退化问题。由于人类对耕地和牧场管理不善，土壤和植物覆盖的恶化对近50%的土地面积产生了不利影响。过度放牧和伐木是牧场沙漠化的主要原因，导致水蚀和风蚀加速的耕作方式是雨养农田的主要原因，导致盐碱化的不当水管理是灌溉土地恶化的原因。亚洲许多国家采用了各种旨在制止沙漠化的做法，例如在中国的光秃秃的山上植树。虽然已经尝试并继续使用种植运动，但关于在沙漠和半沙漠地区为植物授粉的野生蜜蜂的基本资料不足。野生蜜蜂是干旱地区植物传粉的重要昆虫。为此，我们于2000年至2004年在中国的哈萨克斯坦、吉尔吉斯斯坦和新疆进行了5次调查，以积累野生蜜蜂的基本信息，以辅助种植活动。结果表明：1)在半荒漠地区发现了12种有用的传粉蜜蜂；2)在半荒漠地区收集了约3万只蜜蜂标本并进行了分类和生物地理研究；3)对上述12种有用蜜蜂的传粉和筑巢行为进行了野外研究。我们已经发表了13篇关于这个项目的论文。

Desertification has rapidly progressed in arid areas of Asia. It is a land degradation problem of major importance in arid regions. Deterioration in soil and plant cover has adversely affected nearly 50 percent of the land areas as a result of the human mismanagement of cultivated and range lands. Overgrazing and woodcutting are responsible for most of the desertification of rangelands, cultivation practices inducing accelerated water and wind erosion are mostly responsible in the rain-fed croplands, and improper water management leading to salinization is the cause of the deterioration of irrigated lands. Various practices aimed at halting desertification have been employed in many countries of Asia, such as the planting of trees on bare mountains in China. Although planting campaigns have been tried and continue to be used, basic information on wild bees which pollinate plants in desert and semi-desert areas is insufficient. Wild bees are very important insects for the pollination of plants in arid areas. We therefore conducted five surveys in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang Urgur, China from 2000 to 2004 to accumulate basic information on wild bees to assist planting campaigns. The results are as follows : 1) To discover 12 useful pollinating bees in semi-desert areas, 2) To collect about 30,000 bee specimens in semi-desert areas and to conduct taxonomic and biogeographical studies, and 3) To study pollinating and nesting behaviors of the above 12 useful bees in the field. We already published 13 papers relating this project.