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Looking west from the new species discovery Haizhu National Wetland Park (hereinafter referred to as "Haizhu Wetland"), the modern Guangzhou landmark "slim waist" is towering, and facilities such as Sun Yat-sen University are busy... Haizhu is an important central urban area in Guangzhou and a river center.
The industry generally believes that the green spaces and parks built in large cities have a generally single environment and cannot provide an ideal living environment for diverse organisms. But Yang Xingke, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Guangdong Academy of Sciences, told reporters: "The richness and diversity of insect species in Haizhu Wetland have subverted our imagination."
"There can't be only people in big cities" is the consensus of Haizhu National Wetland Park plan and builders. Professor Yang Yuming, former president of the Yunnan Academy of Forestry and Grassland Sciences, member of the National Endangered Species Science Committee, and chief scientist of the National Plateau Wetland Research Center, said that in the construction of Haizhu National Wetland Park, the game with "urbanization" has become an important task.
Usually, new species are mostly found in the wilderness where people are rarely visited. The discovery of Haizhusi Firefly Leaf Ar has attracted many attention because it "settled up" in Chengyang Wetland, located in the center of China's megacity. Southern Daily reporter Fu Chaojun Correspondent Xie Huiqiang Photo
There may be new species. There are no new species.
Insects are the largest group in the animal world and an important indicator organism that can judge the effectiveness and health of ecological environment recovery in a short period of time.
In July 2020, Haizhu Wetland cooperated with the Institute of Zoology of Guangdong Academy of Sciences to launch an insect diversity survey, hoping to use this to evaluate the ecological environment status of Haizhu Wetland.
Haizhu Wetland was formerly the "10,000 acres of fruit forest". Although the tree species are rich, the ecosystem is single. In 2012, the State Council approved the adoption of the "only expropriation but not transfer" policy to thoroughly protect Haizhu Wetlands. "After artificial intervention, Haizhu Wetland has become a composite artificial wetland ecosystem where the urban Neihu Wetland and fruit forest inlay converge." Fan Cunxiang, senior engineer of Guangzhou Haizhu Wetland Scientific Research and Publicity Education Center, introduced that they are also very curious about the "health status" of such a relatively "young" and artificial intervention.
investigation team installed a total of 28 sampling points in Haizhu Wetland. The investigation mainly focuses on the Malay network method, trap method, and fly-drag method. The sweep method, yellow disk method and lamp lure method are used as auxiliary investigation methods, striving to comprehensively, systematically and accurately evaluate the current status of insect diversity in the region.
Insect house made of discarded wood in the core conservation area of Haizhu Wetland. Southern Daily reporter Fu Chaojun, correspondent Xie Huiqiang, photographed
As of July 2021, more than 150,000 specimens were obtained in the Haizhu Wetland insect survey, with 192 new species of 26 families, and the insect species increased from the original 346 species to 535 species. The current number of insect specimens in Guangdong is no more than 2 million.
This is how Haizhu Si Firefly Leaf Ar was discovered. The collected results of Haizhu Siwei Leaf Arbor from Malay net and buried can in the core conservation area of Haizhu Wetland. After the investigation team reviewed relevant literature, inspected a large number of domestic and foreign model specimens and dissected and identified the specimens, it was determined that this Siwei Leaf Arbor from any of the Siwei Leaf Arbor found in the past. It belongs to the Coleoptera family of the Insecta family, and is a new species unique to Guangdong Province.
Haizhusi Fluorescent Leaf Arse specimen (laboratory microscope). Southern Daily reporter Fu Chaojun, correspondent Xie Huiqiang, photographed
Moreover, "the insect monitoring range this time covers about one-tenth of the Haizhu Wetland." Fan Cunxiang speculated that Haizhu Siyingye Jia has always lived on this land. It is precisely because of ecological restoration that the population has reached a certain level that it has been monitored, proving the effectiveness of Haizhu Wetland ecological restoration in recent years.
"From the results, from the start of Haizhu Wetland construction in 2012 to the project acceptance in 2014, the species in the wetlands increased by at least 30%."Yang Yuming believes that as long as the living environment is maintained for the appropriate living environment of the organism, more animals and plants will definitely be discovered in the future.
Yang Xingke also believes that there may be new species not yet discovered in Haizhu Wetland.
Scientific researchers used the Malay Network to collect insect specimens. Southern Daily reporter Fu Chaojun Correspondent Xie Huiqiang Photo
"There can't be only people in big cities"
Guangdong has discovered many new species such as Qingyun Mountain Gastrodia elata and Chaozhou trench; this year, species such as cone pseudo-sandra and Lu's little tree frog have also been found in Shaoguan, Zhuhai and other places, breaking the species distribution record. However, in big cities, it is not easy to leave a "private land" for an unknown wild insect.
The industry generally believes that the urban environment is not a fertile ground for cultivating and protecting biodiversity.
Take Singapore, known as the "park city", as an example. Although more than 100 new species have been discovered in the region in the past 15 years, most of them are not in urban areas. In March this year, a new species, Singapore fireflies, was discovered locally, 112 years ago, the last time the fireflies insects were discovered. Singapore is located in the tropical rainforest area with the richest biodiversity. The discovery of new species still requires such a twist, which shows the difficulty of discovering new species in giant cities.
"This time, it is rare to discover new species in urban wetland environments. "In Yang Xingke's view, this also shows that my country's urban ecological environment is improving.
Haizhu District has frequent human activities. In order to ensure that the natural ecology of the wetlands is not disturbed by humans, Haizhu District has successively closed and moved away from workshops and factories around the wetlands to control sewage discharge.
"There can't be only people in big cities" is the consensus of Haizhu National Wetland Park planning and builders. At the beginning of the construction of Haizhu Wetland, the game with "urbanization" became an important task.
For example, during the construction of wetland parks, the water affairs department proposed to harden the rivers in the wetlands; but Yang Yuming and other experts believe that the waters in the wetlands should try to ensure the original habitat. "While cement-hardened rivers and roads are more beautiful and convenient to walk and manage, fish and benthic animals cannot lay eggs in the cement riverbed, and amphibians cannot go ashore through the cement river channel. If the number of such organisms decreases, migratory birds will fly temporarily, which will reduce the residence time due to the lack of animal food sources, and the number and species will decrease. "Yang Yuming said.
In the end, Guangzhou City decided not to harden the river channel and restore the natural embankment of the river channel and the near-natural lakeside belt. This move ensures the ecological service function of the Haizhu Wetland ecosystem and the landscape effect of the natural wetlands, as well as provide a habitat and food for amphibious reptiles and birds. In the eyes of citizens, most of the hardened roads in Haizhu Wetland are changed to wooden plank roads, and there is no inconvenience in walking tours. "Now every weekend, my friends and I come to Haizhu Wetland to sketch and hike. The "wildness" in the wetlands is an important "selling point" here. "Ms. Tang, a citizen of Guangzhou, told reporters.
. The livelihood of farmers no longer depends on the fruit trees in the wetlands. Guangzhou will reduce the operating intensity of orchards by issuing subsidies. In Haizhu Wetland, urbanization and ecological environment are no longer a competitive relationship, and humans and nature live in harmony between the north and south branches of the Pearl River are vividly interpreted.
The ecological function of wetlands is placed first
In Yang Yuming's view, the discovery of Haizhusi firefly leaf arbor is accidental and inevitable.
" Various terrestrial insects, including Haizhusi firefly leaf arbor, are greatly affected by vegetation and water environment, and the increase in insect species shows that the above conditions have been significantly improved. "Yang Yuming introduced that the discovery of Haizhu Si Firefly Leaf Arc also means that the bottom layer of the food chain is richer, which also provides space for the further development of animals in the high-rise food chain such as migratory birds.
is similar to Haizhu Wetland. There are 359 nature reserves on the banks of the Pearl River, 1,480 kilometers of coastline, 12,000 hectares of mangrove forests, etc., together constitute Guangdong's nature reserve system. Yang Yuming told reporters that urban wetlands have nine major functions, and looking back at the construction process of Haizhu Wetland, ecological functions have always been placed first in various functions by Guangzhou.
"For example, around Haizhu Wetland, Guangzhou has adopted suggestions such as restricting the use of glass curtain walls and timely turning off lights to prevent birds from trekking. After having the corresponding concepts and goals, the construction model of Haizhu Wetland has been promoted nationwide and the world as a successful example of the construction of wetland parks in big cities." Yang Yuming said.
If wetlands are the "kidney of the earth", forests are the "lungs of the earth". As a megacity city, it cannot be without "kidneys" or "lungs". At present, forest city construction has covered the entire province of Guangdong, and 11 cities have won the title of "National Forest City". The "Report on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Ecological Environment Protection and Ecosystem Governance Think Tank" jointly released by the Chinese Forestry Society and other units on November 7 pointed out that the first national forest urban agglomeration formed by the nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area has reached 51.84%, close to the level of Brazil in the tropical rainforest country. Guangdong's urban wetland parks have also developed rapidly. In addition to Haizhu Wetland, Guangzhou City is also nearby Nansha Wetland and Zhengguo Wetland, which have played an irreplaceable and important role in urban water environment governance and improving the urban ecological environment, providing services and ecological security guarantees for the green development of super-large cities such as balancing hydrology, purifying water quality, regulating climate, conserving biodiversity, and beautifying urban landscapes.
"In the past few decades of practice, everyone has realized that the cost of developing the economy at the cost of the ecological environment is too high." Chen Xingliang, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Chinese Forestry Society, said that in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where the per capita GDP reaches the standard of US$20,000, we must better meet the people's needs for a better life, and the local protection and development of the ecology may have better results.
Today, the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong and Macao, not only form the strongest engine of China's economic development, but also provides a place for a large number of animals and plants. It is the turn of autumn and winter, and a large number of migratory birds will fly to the Greater Bay Area, where they will perform their last "supply" and then fly away from the Eurasian continent and rush to the distant equator and the South Pacific region to spend the warm winter.
Relevant person in charge of the Provincial Forestry Bureau said that the next step will be to solidly promote the construction of high-quality forest urban agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta, deepen cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao in ecological construction, and build a world-class forest urban agglomeration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Improve the urban ecological environment with a high starting point, high level and high standards, increase the urban forest area, comprehensively improve the ecological landscape benefits of forests, wetlands and green spaces, increase the recreation space of urban residents, and promote the construction of a national forest city in the entire region.
reporter learned that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guangdong will also launch preliminary demonstration and research on the Pearl River Estuary National Park, and invite relevant scientific research institutions to conduct the evaluation of the status quo of nature reserves in the Pearl River Estuary and analysis of protection vacancy, as well as assessment of human activities and social and economic impacts. Forest city construction will further extend to towns and villages, make up for the shortcomings in the forest city construction system, and steadily promote the construction of forest towns and forest villages.
[Reporter] Shao Yihong Fu Peng
[Photography] Fu Chaojun
[Author] Shao Yihong; Fu Chaojun; Fu Peng
[Source] Southern Media Group Nanfang+ Client
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