Chinese and Russian scientists will make their first joint investigation on fungus resources along the Wusuli River, the boundary between the two countries, from August this year.

The cooperative project will fill a gap in both countries in studies of fungal resources in the region, according to one of the initiators, Tuerguli, from north China's Jilin University.

As the high-latitude Wusuli River valley is extremely cold most of the year, scientists can do the research in a very limited period of time every year and information on fungi in the area is quite scant.

According to Tuerguli, the 10-person investigation team, half from China and half from Russia, will conduct field surveys in Russian territory during the period from October 2 to 12. In September 2004, the team will move into Chinese territory to make similar surveys.

Zinaida Azbukina, expert on rust fungi from the Far-East Institute of Biology and Pedology affiliated to the Russian Academy of Science, said a catalogue will be compiled from fungi samples and first-hand data of newly found species.

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2003)