Qinghai
The area lies in hinterland of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with average altitude above 4,600 meters. Its basic relief mainly is hills, mesas and plains in large area; Mountainous region is meek, river reach and basin is capacious; there are many high mountains and extremely high mountains in the edge of northern and southern mountain regions, which is the most completely protected basic relief in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In the zone, water systems from Yangtze River converge with water system in the lake; There are inner water systems which is around lakes in west and north
Located in
Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve with an area of 495,200 hectares is located in the boundaries of Gangcha, Haiyan and Gonghe counties of Qinghai Province. Established in 1975 with the approval of the Qinghai Provincial Government, the Reserve was listed as a Wetland of International Importance in 1992. The main protection targets are rare birds and plateau wetland ecosystem.
The Reserve is located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Qinghai Lake as a main body is surrounded by lakeside plain, grassy swamp, alpine grassy marshland, semi-desert and dry grassy beach. It is dry and cold in the Reserve. The winter lasts longer and the summer shorter with big disparity of temperature. Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve has abundant wetland ecosystem and bio-resources. There are altogether 200 species of birds and beasts in Qinghai Lake and lakeside area. As a plateau lake, it is the kingdom of birds. In spring and summer, some 100,000 birds mainly including gulls, cormorants, swans and blank-necked cranes fly to the Reserve to go through the summer. Qinghai Lake also boasts abundant fish resources, some of which serve as good food for birds there.
n which there are many lakes. The main vegetation type are highlands plain and highlands meadow. Original biogeocenose is complete. There are 202 kinds of first class plants, including 84 kinds of own types in Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The zone is the place for rare animals’ inhabiting and multiplying in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There are 16 kinds of mammals，30 kinds of birds, including 18 kinds of own animals in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There are 5 kinds of national first protected animals and they are snow leopards, Tibetan wild asses, wild yaks, Tibetan antelope, golden eagles; there are 7 kinds of second protected animals in national class and they are brown bears, lynxes, Tibetan gazelle, Argali sheep, Tibetan snow chicken and so on. The number of Tibetan wild asses, wild yaks, Tibetan antelope, Tibetan gazelle is large，totally 30,000-40,000. The establishment of Kekexili Reserve has very important influence on the protection and research of both rare wild animals and plants in
