Central Asia Itinerary

I am going to Central Asia for our NIH-funded International Cooperative Biodiversity Group project (see http://icbg.rutgers.edu/). I go there every year to collect soil samples, give seminars, participate in meetings, train people, experience the culture, explore the countries, and generally have a good time socializing with my colleagues in the 'stan countries. Central Asia is in a unique position of the world, south of Russia, west of China, north of Afghanistan, and east of Iran and the Caspian Sea. This is a strategically important part of the world right now due to its geopolitical location and oil and gas reserves. Our project is to explore the plant, fungal, and bacterial biodiversity of the Central Asian countries, something that is aided by the wide range of ecosystems in these countries, ranging from deserts to lush vegetation to high mountains. [Click on the map to see a larger image, courtesy of http://www.maps.com/]