The State Forestry and Grassland Administration completed a comprehensive survey of 283 species of wild plants of most concern

Source: China News Network

According to the WeChat public account of the "State Forestry and Grassland Administration", the second national survey of wild plant resources under key protection organized by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration has been fully completed. This time, a comprehensive survey was conducted on the population number, distribution, habitat characteristics, degree of threat and in situ conservation status of 283 species of wild plants that attracted the most attention in mainland China (including 56 species of wild plants protected at the national level and 191 species under national second-level protection).

It is reported that the forestry and grassland authorities at all levels in various provinces organized tens of thousands of people to participate in the survey work, invested a total of more than 250,000 labor days, completed more than 6,500 survey lines of more than 38,000 kilometers, and investigated more than 100,000 main samples and measured samples, with December 31, 2018 as the cut-off point to summarize the data.

The main findings are as follows:

1. Population number

Based on the number of plants in the wild, the 283 survey species can be divided into 3 grades. First, there are 3 species that have not been found in the wild, including Pingbian Panax notoginseng, small-flowered golden flower tea and cardamom. Second, there are only 1-5,000 species left in the wild, a total of 98 species, such as 1 Putuo goose-eared fir, 11 yunnan blue fruit trees, and 103 light leaf ferns. In terms of population size, it is generally believed that in natural conditions, populations of more than 5,000 mature individuals are stable survivors, and the above 98 species have fallen below this limit, accounting for 34.6% of the surveyed species, and these species are scattered or extremely narrow, and are seriously endangered. The third is more than 5,000 species, a total of 182 species, which can basically survive stably compared with the only species below 5,000 plants, but still need to strengthen protection.

2. Community area

The community areas of the surveyed species varied widely. There were 115 species with an area of less than 100 hectares, accounting for 40.6% of the surveyed species, of which 25 species such as Gongshan Trisic Fir and Baishan Zu Fir were less than 1 hectare, and 25 species such as Southern Yunnan Black Alder were less than 10 hectares. There are 54 species with an area of 101 ha to 1000 ha, mainly including scattered and rarely fragmented species such as long-order elms and stalk-winged fruits. There are 48 species with a community area of 1001 ha to 10 000 ha, and a total of 63 species with a community area of more than 10 001 ha.

3. In situ conservation status

Taking national and provincial nature reserves as independent investigation units, the survey of the in situ conservation status of wild plants showed that 30 wild populations were fully included in in situ conservation, more than 80% of 61 wild populations were included in in situ conservation, and a total of 91 species with good in situ conservation status were investigated, accounting for 32.5% of the species surveyed in the wild. There are 140 species with in situ conservation rates below 50 per cent, accounting for 50 per cent of the total number of survey species distributed in the wild, of which 27 species in the wild are not covered by in situ conservation at all, and 42 species are less than 10 per cent of the wild populations under in situ conservation.

Fourth, the natural renewal status

The survey showed that 116 survey species had no seedlings in the wild and 136 survey species had no seedlings in the wild. There were no young trees and seedlings in the 104 survey species, accounting for 37% of the 283 survey species.

Fifth, habitat human interference

The survey of anthropogenic disturbance of the surveyed species and their habitats shows that 78.96% of the wild plant populations and their habitats face different degrees of anthropogenic interference, and the interference methods mainly include collection, grazing, reclamation, industrial and mining development, engineering construction, etc., of which 17.28% of the wild plant populations and habitats are strongly disturbed, 28.84% are moderately disturbed, and 53.88% are less disturbed.

Comprehensive analysis of the results of the survey shows that the situation of wild plant resources on the mainland is mixed. Happily, of the 54 species of wild plants with very small populations comparable to the first survey, 36 species of wild populations have increased steadily, accounting for 67%. This is mainly due to the long-term implementation of wildlife protection and nature reserve construction projects and the rescue and protection of wild plants with very small populations on the mainland, and the continuous improvement of the in situ and ex situ conservation network. At the same time, it should also be noted that the wild plant resources of the mainland are still facing greater threats, 98 survey species have a wild number below the stable survival limit, 115 survey species have a community area of less than 100 hectares, some species are naturally slow to regenerate, the degree of endangerment is high, and it is extremely fragile; 108 survey species are facing habitat degradation and fragmentation caused by human interference, and 42 survey species are overused due to excessive market demand There are 69 survey species in the wild population that are not included in in situ conservation at all or less than 10%, and there is a conservation gap.

This survey obtained a large number of important data, and its results comprehensively and objectively reflected the basic situation of some national key protection or key focus on wild plant resources in the mainland, which not only reflected the important achievements made in the in situ and ex situ conservation of wild plants on the mainland over the years, but also clarified the threats faced by some species and the problems in the protection and management, which provided an important scientific basis for revising the "List of Wild Plants under National Key Protection" and carrying out the protection of wild plants in the future.

In the next step, forestry and grassland authorities at all levels will make full use of the results of this survey to clarify the key objectives and tasks of wild plant protection in the new era, combined with the implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan" Forestry and Grassland Protection and Development Plan Outline and the "National Important Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Major Project Master Plan (2021-2035)", through the construction of the natural protected area system with national parks as the main body and the construction of the national botanical garden system, coordinate the in situ protection and ex situ protection of wild plants, and encourage artificial cultivation. Strengthen monitoring and supervision, increase the research and development of rescue and protection science and technology, and comprehensively improve the level of protection of wild plants on the mainland.