Qinling

Coordinates: 33°57′48″N 107°37′05″E / 33.96333°N 107.61806°E / 33.96333; 107.61806
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Qinling
Hanyu Pinyin
Qínlǐng
Wade–GilesChʻin2 Ling3
Former name is Southern Mountains
Hanyu PinyinNánshānWade–Giles
Nan-shan Geography
Qinling is located in Northern China
Qinling
Qinling
Qinling is located in China
Qinling
Qinling
Country ChinaRegionSouthern Shaanxi Province
For the Chinese research station in Antarctica, see
Qinling Station (Antarctica)
.

The Qinling (

North and South China
and support a huge variety of plant and wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else on earth.

To the north is the densely populated

Han River valley. To the west is the line of mountains along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. To the east are the lower Funiu and Dabie
Mountains, which rise out of the coastal plain.

The northern side of the range is prone to hot weather, however the physical barrier of the mountains mean that the land to the north has a

semi-arid climate, with the lack of rich, fertile landscape that can not support a wealth of wildlife.[1] The mountains also acted as a natural defense against nomadic invasions from the north, as only four passes cross the mountains. In the late 1990s a railway tunnel and a spiral were completed, thereby easing travel across the range.[2]

The highest mountain in the range is

Mount Maiji
(1,742 meters or 5,715 feet).

Detailed view of various mountain ranges and passes between Shaanxi and Sichuan

Environment, flora and fauna

Mount Shaohua

The environment of the Qin Mountains is a deciduous forest ecoregion.[4]

The Qin Mountains form the

broadleaf forests, while the latter has milder winters with more rainfall, and was generally covered in warmer, temperate, evergreen broadleaf forests. Thus, the Qin Mountains are commonly used as the demarcation line between northern and southern China
.

The low-elevation forests of the Qin foothills are dominated by temperate deciduous trees, like oaks (Quercus acutissima, Q. variabilis), elm (Ulmus spp.), common walnut (Juglans regia), maple (Acer spp.), ash (Fraxinus spp.) and Celtis spp. Evergreen species of these low-elevation forests include broadleaf chinquapins (Castanopsis sclerophylla), ring-cupped oaks (Quercus glauca), and conifers, like Pinus massoniana.[5]

At the middle elevations, conifers, like

Carpinus spp.); from about 2,600 to 3,000 meters (8,500 to 9,800 ft), these mid-elevation forests give way to a subalpine forest of firs (Abies fargesii, A. chensiensis), Cunninghamia, and birch (Betula spp.), with rhododendrons (Rhododendron fastigiatum) abundant in the understory.[5]

The region is home to a large number of rare plants, of which around 3,000 have been documented.[3] Plant and tree species native to the region include ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba—thought to be one of the oldest species of tree in the world), as well as Huashan or Armand pine (Pinus armandii), Huashan shen (Physochlaina infundibularis), Acer miaotaiense and Chinese fir.[6] Timber harvesting reached a peak in the 18th century in the Qinling Mountains.[7]

The region is home to the endemic Qinling panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis), a brown-and-white subspecies of the giant panda (A. melanoleuca), which is protected with the help of the Changqing and Foping nature reserves.[1] An estimated 250 to 280 pandas live in the region, which is thought to represent around one-fifth of the entire wild giant panda population.[3] The Qinling Mountains are also home to many other species of wildlife, including numerous birds, like the crested ibis, Temminck's tragopan, golden eagle, black throat and golden pheasants, as well as mammals like the Asiatic golden cat, Asiatic black bear, clouded leopard, golden takin, golden snub-nosed monkey, yellow-throated marten, and leopard.[8][9]

The

critically endangered; it is locally pursued for food, and for use of its body parts in traditional Chinese medicine. An environmental education program is being undertaken to encourage sustainable management of wild populations in the Qin Mountains, and captive-breeding programs have also been set up.[10]

Weapons of mass destruction

According to the Nuclear Information Project, China "keeps most of its nuclear warheads at a central storage facility in the Qinling mountain range, though some are kept at smaller regional storage facilities."[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b World Wildlife Fund, ed. (2001). "Qinling Mountains deciduous forests". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08. Retrieved 17 December 2007.
  2. ^ Wallis, Shani (October 1, 1999). "Qinling Breakthroughs". World Tunnelling. Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2007-12-17 – via Highbeam Research.
  3. ^ a b c "Qinling Mountains". Bookrags.com. Retrieved 17 December 2007.
  4. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2
    .
  5. ^ a b "Qin Ling Mountains deciduous forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  6. ^ "Qinling Mountains". Wild Giant Panda. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  7. ^ Forest and Land Management in Imperial China By Nicholas K. Menzies
  8. ^ "Qinling giant panda focal project". WWF China. Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  9. ISSN 2351-9894
    .
  10. ^ "Chinese Giant Salamander". ZSL Conservation. Zoological Society of London. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
  11. S2CID 228097051
    .

External links

  • Media related to Qin Ling at Wikimedia Commons
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qinling&oldid=1215556952"