9722103 Goulden This is a 12-month award proposed by Dr. Clyde Goulden, Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia. This proposal requests funds for purchasing a wireless communication (telephone) system for NSF supported biodiversity field studies in Mongolia. Each summer a group of twenty research scientists and students from the United States, Mongolia, Russia and Japan converge on Lake Hovsgol in northern Mongolia to study the biology and ecology of the lake and to develop this area for use as an international long-term ecological research site. This is an outgrowth of NSF supported project to study the systematic and ecology of Lake Hovsgol. Mongolia is a vast country without telephone and communication infrastructure. There is an urgent need for a wireless communication system for the research group at Hovsgol Lake. This project is also an important trial for examining the suitability of wireless communication for use in remote field studies in regions with little or no communication infrastructure. The results can be useful for improving communication in many similar field projects operating in remote regions of the world.
