Kunming, May 31 (Xinhuanet) -- With June approaching, a spectacular and rare ecological landscape is taking shape in Ma'andi Township, Jinping Miao, Miao, Yao and Dai Autonomous County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. In the local Butterfly Valley, hundreds of millions of baby butterflies are expected to be feathered into butterflies, and the annual butterfly outbreak is about to begin.
What is the reason for the formation of the Red River Butterfly Explosion Landscape? How does it differ from the butterfly eruption landscape in other parts of the world? How will local biodiversity conservation be done in the future? Xinhua network interviewed a number of scientists to uncover the reasons for the formation of the rare ecological wonders of China's Red River Butterfly Valley, and jointly provide suggestions for the conservation of local biodiversity.
Human butterflies dancing together (infographic). Xinhua Netfa (Photo by Gao Fei)
"The world's rare ecological landscape is in Yunnan."
——Zhou Chengli, associate researcher of the Institute of Plateau Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Doctor of Ecology, has long been engaged in the research of lepidoptera butterfly biology and breeding and utilization technology, and co-authored "Chinese Ornamental Butterfly" and "Dead Leaf Butterfly" and other books.
"The number of butterflies in the Red River Butterfly Valley is huge, not inferior to the wintering grounds of the spotted butterflies in Mexico and Taiwan, and the number of white-sleeved arrow ring butterflies alone can reach more than 100 million in most years." According to Zhou Chengli, the number of local butterfly species in the Red River Butterfly Valley is very large, and almost all butterfly species are native butterfly species, far exceeding similar landscapes in Mexico and Taiwan. The Red River Butterfly Valley is a summer butterfly valley, the breeding period butterfly activities are frequent, the range of activities is large, the landscape effect is better, while the other two are wintering gathering places, wintering butterflies are only active in a few sunny weather, the rest of the time rest, the landscape effect is poor.
In addition to the large number of feathered white-sleeved arrow-ringed butterflies concentrated in May and June, other butterfly species such as the Butterfly Family, The Pink Butterfly Family, the Spotted Butterfly Family, the Butterfly Family, the Butterfly Family, and the Ring Butterfly Family can be seen in the Red River Butterfly Valley all year round. The butterfly valley in Michoacan, Mexico, is almost exclusively monarch butterfly, and the wintering ground of purple butterfly in Taiwan is dominated by purple butterfly, mixed with a small number of other butterfly such as tabby butterfly and green spotted butterfly.
Zhou Chengli believes that because of its superior natural environmental conditions and native butterfly resources, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the butterfly landscape of the Red River Butterfly Valley, such as tabby butterfly, purple spotted butterfly, white band saw butterfly, red saw butterfly and other nearly 100 local butterfly species with high ornamental value, which can increase the population population by artificial means. Most of these butterfly species have no ecological niche competition, and by replanting host plants and honey source plants, optimizing the configuration of habitat elements, the butterfly cluster landscape in the valley can be extended to the whole year.
At present, the Main Focus of the Red River Butterfly Valley is the White Sleeve Arrow Ring Butterfly, which occurs once a year, and the adult insect concentration period is only 1 month or slightly longer, making the Red River Butterfly Valley still a seasonal butterfly landscape.
Butterfly Valley Water Rock Waterfall (infographic). Xinhua Netfa (Photo by Gao Fei)
"The biodiversity conditions of the Red River Butterfly Valley are extremely rare."
——Zhou Xuesong, an animal and plant protection expert of Southwest Forestry University, one of the first discoverers and researchers of the Butterfly Valley of the Red River in China, has long been engaged in biodiversity conservation and participated in the scientific investigation and planning of dozens of nature reserves and nature reserves.
In Conservation Biology, biodiversity is defined as " the ecological complex formed by organisms and their environments and the synthesis of the various ecological processes associated with them , including animals , plants , microorganisms and the genes they possess and the complex ecosystems in which they live and the environment in which they live." "This is fully reflected in Saddledi Township.
Zhou Xuesong, an animal and plant protection expert at Southwest Forestry University, said that the Butterfly Valley of the Red River meets the four characteristics of biodiversity, preserves a complete monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest and other vegetation types, and has a basic ecological environment suitable for the survival of butterflies, making the species resources of butterflies very rich.
Zhou Xuesong said that the four characteristics of biodiversity are "species diversity", "genetic diversity", "ecological environment diversity" and "landscape diversity", which is also an important reason for the formation of a large variety of butterflies in the region and the clustering outbreak.
"'Species diversity' is actually well explained in Saddle Bottom Township, where there are hundreds of species of butterflies, which is a typical example of 'species diversity'. Secondly, in the process of natural differentiation and species evolution, butterflies have formed many varieties, which reflects 'genetic diversity'. According to Zhou Cedar, in addition to the evolution of the organism itself, the topographic conditions in the saddle bottom area cannot be ignored.
"The sweltering climate in the valley area, coupled with the warm and humid air flow encountering the high mountains to form a lot of rainfall, the hot and humid climate of the saddle bottom is the most suitable for butterflies to breed and hatch. We generally call it 'hydrothermal conditions' better, which is the advantage of the Red River Butterfly Valley. "From the river valley to the main peak of the local Wutai Mountain, the altitude difference is nearly 3,000 meters, which forms a rich vegetation type covering the tropical, temperate and even cold zones, and also creates ecological environment diversity and landscape diversity, which provides a good living environment for butterfly species with a single diet."
"Ma'andi Township is famous all over the world for the existence of the Butterfly Valley, which is a mutually reinforcing development relationship, so the local government has more need to protect the Butterfly Valley." At the same time, the protection of butterflies should pay more attention to the ecological protection of butterfly habitats, and at the moment of emphasizing quality education, the unique and rare biodiversity environment of Ma'andi Township is a good condition for opening up a national study tour base.
Butterfly Dancing (infographic). Xinhua Netfa (Photo by Gao Fei)
"Let the butterfly landscape become the embodiment of local ecological values."
——Hu Shaoji, Ph.D., associate researcher of Yunnan University, mainly engaged in biodiversity conservation and ecological security research, and the relevant scientific research results provide a decision-making basis for the conservation and management of butterfly diversity.
In Hu Shaoji's view, there are many reasons for the formation of the biological wonders of the Red River Butterfly Valley, which are the result of the joint action of "the time, place, and people".
Can plants and animals grow better without human interference? This question is actually worth investigating. "The environment suitable for butterflies does not mean that there are no human interference factors at all, in fact, some butterflies also like places with some human interference, and there is no element of human activity at all, and it may not be able to survive." Hu Shaoji believes that the survival of a butterfly is closely related to its host plant, as long as the food is abundant and resources are abundant, then the butterfly can reproduce. Many of the butterfly host plants are less competitive in an uninsured environment and cannot survive for a long time, which also causes the size of the butterfly population to be greatly limited. In The case of Ma'andi Township, moderate human activity has promoted the maintenance of a certain scale of bamboo forests in the local area, which provides sufficient feeding conditions for the bamboo-fed arrow ring butterflies, and the reproduction of this species of butterflies has been maintained at a high level.
It is precisely because of the characteristics of olivora that butterflies are extremely sensitive to changes in the natural environment, which is an important link in the biological chain of nature, and butterflies are also publicized as a typical case in many nature educations of the public.
In addition to good breeding conditions, the reason why the Red River Butterfly Valley can concentrate on large-scale feathering is inseparable from the terrain.
"There is a river in the middle of the valley's terrain, and the bamboo forests are concentrated at the bottom of the valley, so the terrain is easy for butterflies to gather." Hu Shaoji made an analogy, if 150 million arrow ring butterflies are widely distributed in a wide area, then it will not often be observed by humans, and now hundreds of millions of butterflies are concentrated in a narrow area of the valley to hatch and feather, bringing people a visual effect will be extremely shocking.
Hu Shaoji suggested that in the future, we should continue to increase the scientific research efforts of the Red River Butterfly Valley, use basic scientific research work to reveal the deeper local species needs, and only by figuring out what butterflies really need can we effectively do a good job in butterfly-related protection.
"The concept of butterfly conservation needs to be formed slowly, and the ecological value is transformed into a part of the local people's life and production in order to achieve sustainable protection of the ecological environment." Hu Shaoji believes that Ma'andi Township is a representative of the butterfly habitat in Yunnan Province and even China, and the other butterfly breeding points reflected behind it are also worthy of everyone's attention. "Let the butterfly landscape become the embodiment of local ecological values, in order to truly turn the green water and green mountains into 'golden mountains and silver mountains'." (End)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Zhang Wu Text Editor: Li Linwei
Source: Author: Xinhua News Agency