Kick-off workshop of the Japan (JSPS) - Russia (RFBR) Bilateral Joint Research Project was held.



The Japan (JSPS) - Russia (RFBR) Bilateral Joint Research Project "Climate resilience and productivity of halophytes in Turanian-Eurasian Ecosystems" has been adopted and the joint research has started. The Japanese PI is Prof. Yamanaka of the Arid Land Research Center and the Russian PI is Prof. Rakhmankulova of the Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Science.
To start the joint research project, a kick-off workshop was held online on June 2nd with 10 research members participating. Moderated by Prof. Toderich of the International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Tottori University, the members introduced their research expertise and role during the project implementation. The main hypothesis of the Joint project is that halophytes with different photosynthetic metabolism, like C3, C4 and intermediate C3-C4 will serve as climate- resilient model as a response function to drought, salinity and heat stresses. The participants agreed to focus their research on the region considered to be the coldest desert corridor (CDC) in the world's agro-ecosystems, from the area near the Elson Salt Lake (southern part of the Pre-Caspian Sea) to the Bashkortostan (Ural Mountains) region. Discussions were also held on how to coordinate field expedition missions and laboratory research activities among the partiers. In particular, constructive opinions were exchanged on how to proceed with the research under the Covid 19 restriction period.