Four German doctoral students conducted a three-week scientific investigation in Xiangxi River. (From left: WU Naicheng, Birger Moebus, Katrin Bieger, Jens Kiesel)

Four doctoral students from Christian-Albrechts-Universit？t zu Kiel in Germany paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) in January, 2010. During their stay in the institute, they had conducted a three-week scientific investigation along Xiangxi River, one of the main tributaries into the Yangtze River.

The investigation team divided the 60-kilometer river channel, which stretches from the source of Xiangxi River to the reservoir bay located in the lower reaches of Xiangxi River, into 600 river cross sections.  

The four German students, together with other researchers working at the ecological station, had an all-round and thorough survey of the river sediments resided in each cross section, the characteristics of river flow and river vegetation, land utilization and human-induced disturbances in the peripheral areas of Xiangxi River.  

Besides, the investigation team drew up the morphological features of each river cross section, thus providing latest data for future collaborative research.  

These four doctoral students were invited by IHB Prof. CAI Qinghua, who’s also the station supervisor of Xiangxi River Ecological Station which was jointly built up by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC).