Wen | Li Chenyang, a reporter for China Science Daily
In 2021, Liang Hongbin collected specimens in Dabie Mountain. Courtesy of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The National Herbarium Resource Bank of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (formerly the Herbarium of the National Zoological Museum) has the largest collection of animal specimens in Asia.
Here, nearly 10 million animal specimens are quietly displayed, of which 7.5 million are insect specimens. Among these insect specimens, at least 1 million were collected by Liang Hongbin, an associate researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
When he reported this number himself, the first reaction of his colleagues was "Teacher Liang, you are too conservative!" ”
"Whether it's 1 million or 2 million, that number doesn't mean much to me." Liang Hongbin said, with a trademark Dunhou smile on his face, "I just want to live up to the task entrusted to me by the resource library." ”
In order to collect these specimens, he has made more than 40 field expeditions over the past 20 years, traveling 200,000 kilometers, covering the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet, Xinjiang and Vietnam, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and other countries - "covering almost all the hotspots of insect diversity that are accessible".
"Playing" bug people under the academician's door
Liang Hongbin was born in Dengzhou, Henan Province, grew up in the countryside, and "playing with bugs" is a common thing.
In 1992, he came to the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to study for a master's degree, under the door of a major researcher of insects, that is, Mr. Zhang Guangxue, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a famous entomologist.
In the early summer of 1994, he took a 72-hour green-skinned train to Urumqi, Xinjiang, and then took a long-distance bus to Tacheng Plant Protection Station, 640 kilometers away.
The first time he worked in the field, he was confused. In front of the vast green wheat field, there is no shortage of flying insects, but if you really want to find the wheat double-tailed aphid in the target, it is impossible.
This is not the same as the previous "playing bugs"! Fortunately, Mr. Fu Zhensheng, the old station manager of the plant protection station, was very patient and taught him hand in hand.
At that time, the season was early and the wheat seedlings were shallow, and the station master was old, and his eyes were somewhat flowered, almost lying in the ground looking for aphids. This scene was deeply rooted in Liang Hongbin's mind and became the first portrait of field scientists in his heart.
In the year of his doctorate, Mr. Yu Peiyu, an old scientist in the institute, approached him and asked him if he would like to take over the beetle taxa that he had studied all his life, and Liang Hongbin agreed.
More than 20 years later, Mr. Yu Peiyu passed away, and he did not have time to complete the Chinese Zoological Negative Mud Worm Roll. Driven by a sense of mission, Liang Hongbin took over the work again, devoting his main energy to the search and research of negative mud worms.
Liang Hongbin has gone deep into Tibet and Dulongjiang in Yunnan at least 7 times in the long period of 10 years, looking for a kind of negative mud worm that the dragon has seen the beginning and the end.
He finally collected a fresh specimen of this new species in 2021 and has a preliminary grasp of its host plant and living environment. This new species was named Yu's long-necked mud worm. In memory of Teacher Yu Peiyu.
"The genus Long-necked mudworm was first discovered in India, and for more than 100 years, there has been no new species record, and human understanding of them is almost blank." "Therefore, I not only want to find them, but also understand how they live," Liang said. ”
Some people will ask, is it really "worth" to put in the time and effort just to find a humble little worm and publish a paper with an impact factor that may not be very high? But in Liang Hongbin's twinkling eyes, the answer was already self-evident.
The "Gold Captain" who carries the weight forward
In 2000, Liang Hongbin participated in the "Sino-US Joint Expedition to biodiversity of Gaoligong Mountain" and was entrusted with the important task of leading the insect expedition team for the first time.
This team gathered researchers from many scientific research units at home and abroad, plus drivers, guides and local leaders, and the team was huge. The terrain of Gaoligong Mountain is complex, the weather is changeable, and the challenge is extremely arduous.
The continuous heavy rain in the Danju River Valley and the endless flow of mosquitoes and ants on the post road make the already busy collection work even more difficult.
Everyone worked hard during the day, returned to the tent camp at night, had no place to take a bath, just took a shower by the cold and bone-chilling waterfall, washed it, and then quickly ran back to the camp to roast the fire.
"For half a month, there are almost no sunny days, everyone washes clothes, shoes and socks are baked dry, almost every night someone bakes the socks or even burns." Liang Hongbin smiled and recalled.
Compared with the hardship of natural conditions, the various personnel disturbances in the team made Liang Hongbin feel "under pressure". Different cultures, different languages, different identities, all kinds of demands and voices... In the process of handling mediation again and again, Liang Hongbin showed his qualities as a reliable "captain".
Since then, he has gradually become a "golden signboard" for the field research of the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and most of the important expeditions have been led by him.
The "protector" of the expedition team members
"When I received the task of investigation, the other teachers of the Key Laboratory of Animal Evolution and Systematics entrusted their students to me, and every time I arrived, I felt that the pressure and responsibility were not ordinary." He said.
At night, the lights tempt insects, and the wasps attracted are a big threat. Once when the lamp tempted the insect, a girl was stung by a wasp, and her palm was in severe pain, and after a while it swollen into a "bun". The first time she was stung by the so-called "killer bee", the girl panicked for a moment. Liang Hongbin immediately took out anti-allergic drugs for her to take, and told everyone about her tragic experience of being bitten by wasps and unable to get out of bed. Between his funny and serious conversations, the team members calmed down and faced the next task with a state of vigilance and not excessive nervousness.
"In the days that followed, whenever a wasp was found, he would let us back off, and then he would take out a 30-centimeter-long tweezer and quickly clip the wasp into an alcohol bottle to eliminate safety hazards for the team members." Team member Yin Haodong said.
Fieldwork is very hard, students often do not finish the specimen until late at night, and they don't even have the heart to wash, they just want to go to bed early. At this time, Liang Hongbin found the driver and local friends, sat down to talk, and learned about the local geographical environment, road information, and even customs and culture. "These seemingly inconspicuous things can determine the success or failure of the next collection, and it is also related to the safety of the team." Liang Hongbin said.
Liang Hongbin's old scientist spirit deeply affected every team member who followed him. "Pioneer", "Special care for young people", "With Teacher Liang leading the team, always especially at ease", "Where there are some years of quiet, it is Teacher Liang who is carrying the weight for us"... The students who followed Liang Hongbin to the north and south were full of feelings for him.
Liang Hongbin takes good care of the students, but he is a little uninteresting to himself. Once, during a lamp lure, a moth burrowed into his ear. There was no medical condition in the wild, and after returning from a business trip, he was busy with business, and when he went to the hospital nearly a month later to remove the moth, his eardrum was sunken.
Party flag flying in the "Belt and Road"
In April 2009, Liang Hongbin and others set foot on the land of Mongolia, which was their first overseas expedition. This journey was uneventful and the conditions were harsh. "The team members suffered a lot of sins and sweated a lot, but everyone's morale was not reduced, and they fought tenaciously, leaving a good impression on their scientific research counterparts in Mongolia." Liang Hongbin said.
The experience also boosted the confidence of the National Zoological Museum expedition team and laid a good foundation for subsequent visits to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Today, this scientific expedition team has traveled to Central Asian countries, made outstanding contributions to further expanding the construction of national animal specimen resource banks, and also sowed the spirit and ideas of Chinese scientists to a wider range of land.
"One of our great initiatives is the establishment of temporary party branches in the field." Liang Hongbin said proudly. According to incomplete statistics, from 2001 to 2021, the Key Laboratory of Animal Evolution and Systematics has established more than 20 temporary party organizations for field expeditions. From the north and south of the great river to the "Belt and Road", no matter where you are, the party flag is flying high.
"During a scientific expedition, Teacher Liang had a cordial conversation with me, and when he learned that I was not yet a party member, he smiled and said to me: 'As an intellectual, you must actively move closer to the party organization.'" Huang Zhengzhong, a member of the team, recalled, "I realized that what Teacher Liang did along the way was exactly what he was demanding of himself by the standards of a party member all the time!" ”
"Especially under the extremely harsh environmental conditions of the Central Asian countries, the party branch is the banner and the trumpet, and the most arduous work must be led by party members, and the most dangerous work must be undertaken by party members." Party members and comrades must always set a good example for the masses, always display the fine work style of party members, and always pay attention to the good image of Chinese team members in international inspections. Liang Hongbin said, this 20-year-old party member, his eyes once again flashed bright light.