Why AltSU biologists went on an expedition to the Pamirs at a height of 5,000 meters above sea level
Entomologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Altai State University Roman Yakovlev spoke about the goals of the expedition to Tajikistan, which took place recently.
— Throughout July, we had an expedition to the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. It is in this highland region that the Pamir Mountains are located. Along with the Himalayas, Tibet and the Hindu Kush, Pamir is one of the largest mountain systems on our planet, which is called the "roof of the world".
Three scientists from Altai State University took part in the trip: Professor of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Altai State University Roman Yakovlev, a junior researcher of the Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Zoology Yuri Dyachkov and a senior lecturer of the Department of Zoology and Physiology of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology Alexander Fomichev. Roman Yakovlev noted:
— We conducted an expedition to the most interesting mountainous areas of Tajikistan, the main task of the expedition was to study the fauna of poorly studied groups of insects, spiders and centipedes in the Pamirs. During the trip, we interacted with colleagues from E.N. Pavlovsky Institute of Zoology and Parasitology of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. Partners provided us with all the necessary assistance. The conditions of the expedition were atypical – we had to work in the highlands. For a long time we were at altitudes of more than 3.5 thousand meters, and sometimes higher: four and even five thousand meters. As a result, materials interesting for science were collected from different parts of the Pamirs, including from regions directly bordering Afghanistan. It is too early to talk about the results, since they require careful processing and study in the laboratory. But the first impressions of the data obtained are very positive – I think that a large array of new scientific data will be revealed!
Now AltSU scientists have to process the results and do an analysis, which in the future will become a serious foundation for a large number of publications, scientific papers and discoveries in the field of taxonomy, faunistics and zoogeography of insects, spiders and centipedes.