■ Hainan Daily reporter Li Mengyao
"The living being can tell us the most beautiful and true story without the help of magic. The true face of nature is a thousand times more beautiful than the realm that the poet can describe. As Jimmy Harry, author of Animism and Beauty, says, the beauty of life comes from nature, and the beauty of nature lies in the infinite vitality.
From eagles hitting the sky and fish jumping to the bottom of the water, to the germination of grass and trees, the competition of flowers, and then to the ubiquitous microorganisms, all living individuals have their own places, but also rely on each other, which together constitute the endless biodiversity of the earth, and also cast the foundation on which human society depends for its survival and development.
From 11 to 15 October, the first phase of the 15th meeting (COP15) of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Kunming, Yunnan. When we shift our gaze from the south of the clouds to the south of the sea, in the pilot area of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park System, we will see that the park has a variety of different species and ecosystems, and it is also bursting with the splendor of life.
Vines of Overlord Ridge.
Biologically diverse
Achieve ecological beauty
In the hinterland of Qiongdao Island, the forest sea is reckless, and in the pilot area of the 4269 square kilometers of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park system, round after round of life rhythm is endless.
listen! Birds chirping in the canopy of the forest, giant squirrels, tree shrews, and coconut cats climbing the treetops "click" and eat with tree fruits, and several Hainan gibbons make a "whine" sound with a long tail, mixed with bush insect groans and hundreds of beasts to start a vibrant day.
see! Trees such as green plums, Hainan rough trees, and slope barriers are raced higher than each other, and the clusters of epiphytic clusters between the branches resemble bird's nests, together with vines that are often up to 100 meters long and are like a net of heaven and earth, forming a spectacle of plant strangulation, old stems and flowers, and single trees, weaving a psychedelic rainforest secret.
3653 species of wild vascular plants, 540 species of terrestrial vertebrates, their populations are diverse, born different, in this is not only the most typical on the same latitude of the earth, but also China's most concentrated distribution, the best preservation, the largest contiguous area of the tropical rainforest, intertwined with a surprising ecological music.
Red-headed bites.
"Rainforests are one of the most diverse regions, and you can find more than half of the species of flora and fauna on the planet." Xing Fuwu, chief researcher of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that just like "one side of the water and soil to raise the other side of the people", the conditions required for the survival and reproduction of various species are also different, which means that only with a sufficiently rich ecosystem can organisms find their own ecological niche.
The Luoshan area is equipped with infrared cameras for monitoring and protection.
Broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, shrublands, grasses, tropical lowland rainforests, tropical montane rainforests, tropical cloud forests... After systematic scientific research, the natural vegetation in the pilot area of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park system is divided into 9 vegetation types, 15 vegetation subtypes, 17 biomes (taxa) groups and 82 biomes (taxa). When different vegetation types are combined with different hydrothermal conditions, topography and landforms, and altitude, a complex "sub-ecosystem" is also bred in the tropical rainforest of Hainan.
Jakartason of Bawang Ridge.
The Oxian Ridge area, located in the pilot area of the park system, is dotted with large limestone monsoon rainforests. Such a "sub-ecosystem" itself has the role of "bioseed", which promotes the differentiation and formation of many endemic and endangered species such as Yunnan-Guizhou triphasic fern, narrow-leaved anchovy fern and Xianxia clematis fern.
When we stretch the timeline, we will find that since the day Hainan was separated from the mainland and became an independent island, the organisms here have embarked on a long road of independent evolution, and have been able to thrive in a natural ecosystem with authenticity and integrity - only in the pilot area of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park system, 419 species of Hainan-specific, 6 species of national Level I key protected wild vascular plants and 23 species of Hainan-endemic and 14 species of national Class I key protected terrestrial vertebrates can be found.
Lin Qing, a member of the Hainan Gibbon Monitoring Team, recorded gibbon activities at Axe Ridge.
"A species must have undergone millions of years of evolution to form, and they have been reborn, multiplied, and mutated from desperate circumstances, which has made today's biodiversity." According to Hong Xiaojiang, head of the park department of the Hainan Provincial Forestry Bureau (Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration), whether measured in terms of richness, rarity or uniqueness, the Hainan tropical rainforest is a unique and valuable wealth given to mankind by nature.
At present, the pilot area of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park System has been identified by the International Environmental Protection Organization as one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world, with a biodiversity index of 6.28, which is comparable to the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. The tropical rainforest is undoubtedly the most eye-catching greenery in the hinterland of Qiongdao Island.
Cohesion
Engage all parties in protection
In order to reproduce the offspring, trees give birth to seeds with "wings", flowers with a grinning "black face", "branches" can not only walk around but also adjust the body color according to the differences in light, humidity and temperature... This is not a fairy tale scene, but a unique survival wisdom evolved by the animals and plants living in the tropical rainforest of Hainan to cope with the crisis in their own corner.
Hainan horned mantis.
They compete with each other and are also interdependent. No, a giant squirrel excretes feces wrapped around the core after eating wild fruits, and even indirectly assumes the role of a forest plant seed propagator.
"Too many species, in too many ways we don't yet know, are interconnected in ways that contribute to the stability and function of the entire biosphere." As the internationally renowned zoologist Ules Callus said, everything in nature is interlinked and interconnected, whether it is predators and predators, producers and consumers, or decomposers, they are in a dynamic and balanced web.
stick insect.
"Since the 1960s, Hainan has successively established various types of nature reserves to protect and restore the tropical rainforest ecosystem to a certain extent, but due to the fragmentation and islanding caused by historical reasons, its integrity has weakened, and the characteristics of tropical rainforest species and communities have been threatened." Hong Xiaojiang believes that the launch of the pilot project of the tropical rainforest national park system will undoubtedly provide an effective way to solve this problem.
Based on the concentrated distribution area of natural forests and the skeleton of the main mountains in the mountainous areas of central and southern Hainan, Hainan has optimized and integrated the original 19 natural protected areas and surrounding natural forests and public welfare forests, and scientifically delineated the pilot scope of the tropical rainforest national park system with a total area of 4269 square kilometers.
Rationalize the management system, innovate the operation mechanism, improve the rule of law guarantees, strengthen supervision and management... In the past three years, the pilot work of the national park system has been steadily promoted, not only changing the shortcomings of the original multi-departmental cross-management and fragmentation of law enforcement supervision, but also building an operating mechanism with clear sovereignty, clear responsibilities and mutual cooperation, but also exploring appropriate countermeasures for different endangered species.
For example, for rare, endangered, protected, endemic species and very small communities with very few wild populations or distribution points such as Polai and Qingmei, measures such as cataloguing and documentation, setting up in situ conservation sites, establishing plant nurseries and germplasm resources conservation banks are adopted;
In addition to forestry workers at all levels in our province, more and more institutions and groups have begun to join this "species protection battle".
The Hainan National Park Research Institute absorbs first-class scholars at home and abroad to carry out research and protection of rare species through mutual cooperation and joint research; edits and publishes popular science books such as "Orchid Plant Atlas", "Bird Atlas", "Amphibian and Reptile Atlas" and other popular science books in forest areas such as Parrot Ridge to guide the public to improve the sense of responsibility for protecting wild animals and plants; various scientific research institutions and volunteer groups have entered the campus to carry out science popularization education activities, teaching children to distinguish insects and rainforest plants by hand...
With the gradual completion of ecological relocation by 470 households and 1885 people living in the ecological core protection area, more living space is "freed" for wild animals and plants, and it also gives a beneficial enlightenment for a person to coexist in harmony with nature: to protect biodiversity, everyone can make their own efforts.
The results are remarkable
Contributing "Hainan Wisdom" to the World
The pilot area of The Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park System implements overall protection, systematic restoration and comprehensive management, and contributes the "Hainan Wisdom" to biodiversity conservation.
In the global collection of "100+ Global Typical Cases of Biodiversity" sponsored by the China Environmental Protection Foundation and the Taohuayuan Ecological Conservation Foundation, the Hainan Gibbon All-round Conservation Project stood out from 258 declared cases in 26 countries around the world and was successfully selected into the list of "100+ Global Typical Cases of Biodiversity".
What is particularly remarkable is that the relevant experience of Hainan gibbon conservation has been collected into the "Hainan Gibbon Conservation Case", which was released to the world at the 7th World Conservation Congress held in Marseille, France in September this year.
"It's a success story." Dr Susan Chehn, Deputy Head of the Little Apes Group of the Primate Group of the IUCN Commission on the Survival of Species, believes that the effective conservation of gibbons in Hainan is based on five key points, namely: full mobilization of public sector resources; in-depth and extensive international cooperation; embracing nature and science-based solutions to protect pristine habitats and restore the remaining habitats; strengthening conservation awareness and field involvement of local communities; and integrated habitat restoration management.
This "Chinese wisdom" and "Hainan model" on ecological protection have been considered by many international experts, including Rodriguez, chairman of the Species Survival Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to have reference significance for the protection of 20 species of gibbons and even primates around the world, for the protection and management of tropical rainforests in gibbon habitats, and for promoting global biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, climate change, low-carbon economy and other requirements of ecosystem and land reconstruction.
Today, with the general improvement of people's awareness of ecological protection, Hainan is also gathering a stronger synergy of biodiversity conservation and continuing to accumulate more "Hainan experience" from new concepts and new methods.
"In the absence of major emergencies and the same protection, the number of individual gibbons in Hainan will reach 60 to 70 by 2035, doubling the population." Not long ago, this "small goal" set by Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park meant that the horn of biodiversity protection was once again sounded in the ecological Qiongdao.
Population recovery
"New friends and old friends" are happy to meet
Large round and convex eyes, short and flexible claws, and 4 golden stripes regularly distributed on the brown skin, which look quite "good value". One day in April 2019, the Chinese eyelid tiger, hidden in a crack in the rock, dragging its long tail, was preparing to go out foraging for food, but unexpectedly crashed into the field of vision of Zhou Runbang, a forester in Hainan.
"At that time, the difference between the eyelid tiger was immediately recognized, and after morphological and molecular analysis, it was determined that this was a new species of the blepharin tiger genus." Zhou Runbang remembers that it was a tropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in the central and western part of Hainan Island, surrounded by granite rock piles or large stone piles connected to the karst slopes, which was an excellent area for the eyelid tiger to survive.
The Chinese eyelid tiger only appears in a natural environment without pollution, and like it, it "nitpicks" on the habitat, as well as the spike water jade cup that "collides with the face" with the red lantern.
"It needs to grow in very native rainforest habitats and is currently only found in Pinnacle Ridge in very small numbers." At the beginning of this year, Xu Han, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and his team published an article in the internationally renowned plant taxonomic journal "Plant", announcing the discovery of a new saprophytic herb species in Jianfengling, Hainan, the Jianfeng Water Jade Cup.
In the past three years, with the implementation of overall protection, systematic restoration and comprehensive management in the pilot area of the tropical rainforest national park system in Hainan, at least 23 new members have been welcomed in the "species household register" of this ecological secret land, including 12 new plant species, 6 new animal species, and 5 new large fungal species.
"A species is a gene pool." Xing Fuwu believes that the frequent appearance of new species is a vivid response to the continuous improvement of Hainan's ecological environment.
The encounter with a new species is a surprise from the unknown. Guarding the reproduction and growth of "old friends" is the happiness accumulated from daily life.
Bawangling Rainforest, scientific researchers and monitors through vegetation restoration, road closure, construction of air corridors and other initiatives, to help Hainan gibbon migrate to a wider rainforest, and in the 40 years of tracking and protection, witnessed its population from 7-9 in the 1970s to 5 groups of 35 today;
At the edge of the ditch of Diaoluo Mountain, China's first otter monitoring team deployed infrared cameras in the wild to monitor day and night, and successfully captured the scene of 5 small clawed otters, a national second-level protected animal, returning to their hometowns;
Baisha Bangxi, Dongfang Datian, the "deer keepers" through the planting of pasture, the construction of canals to divert water, the expansion of fences and other measures to improve the deer habitat on the slope of Hainan, while carrying out research on the health status of the slope deer population, habitat selection and other research, so that the harmonious scene of "yo yo deer singing, eating the apple of the wild" reappeared on Qiongdao.
In Hainan, where biodiversity conservation efforts are unprecedented, every rare wild species is exercising its right to "vote with its feet". (Haikou, October 11, this newspaper)
▶ Hainan gibbon
Concentrated in the core area of Bawangling National Nature Reserve on Hainan Island, it is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as "the world's most endangered primate" and is a national first-class protected animal. At present, the population of gibbons in Hainan has reached 5 groups of 35, showing a good momentum of continuous expansion.
▶ Hainan eyelid tiger
Hainan eyelid tiger is also called Hainan Shougong, eyelid Shougong, head and back tan, trunk and tail back dark purple brown, are dyed with a small number of larger black brown spots, is a unique species in China, distributed in China's Hainan Province karst landform, tropical rain forest or monsoon rain forest wet ground, like cold and humid environment, nocturnal, insect feeding.
▶ Hainan po deer
Hainan Po deer is one of the four subspecies of Ze deer, which was widely distributed in the hills and terraces of Qiongdao Island, and is a national first-class protected animal. From the endangerment of the 20th century to the gradual increase in numbers and the gradual stabilization of the population, po deer have become a business card of Hainan's green ecology.
▶ Small clawed otter
The small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species in the world, living in sparse numbers in areas such as forests and rice paddies with freshwater and muddy swamps, and has become an indicator of water quality in the water.
▶ Five-lipped orchid
The orchid of the genus Pentagram has 5 cleft lip flaps, from which the genus name is derived; There are 2 species produced in the world and 1 species in China, which are only distributed in Hainan.
▶ Slope barriers
Po Lei is a plant of the genus Diplodocephalus, trees, tree height of about 20 meters, growing in dense forests at an altitude of about 700 meters, is a national first-class protected tree species.
▶ Bole tree
Bole tree is a deciduous tree, poppy order, also known as bell calyx or mountain peach blossom, born in low-altitude to medium-altitude mountain forests, is a unique tree species in China, a national first-class protected tree species, known as "the dragon and phoenix in the plant".
▶ Cycads
Cycads originated in the Late Carboniferous Period more than 300 million years ago, and there are four kinds of cycad first-class protected plants such as Hainan cycad, gourd cycad, dragon tail cycad, taiwan cycad and other four kinds of cycads in the hainan tropical rainforest, of which hainan cycad is endemic.
▶ Hainan rough
Hainan rough oak is a tree of the family Trichocephalus, trichocephalus, up to 20 meters high, the bark is cracked into flakes and shedding, is a typical shade-tolerant, moisture-tolerant, soil-fertility-like tree species, usually scattered at an altitude of 700-1200 meters in mountain rain forests or monsoon rainforest areas.
▶ Eucalyptus
Also known as Snake Wood, it is a fern of the family Quercus and the genus Quercus, and is praised as the "King of Ferns". It is the only woody fern that has been found, extremely precious, called a national treasure, and is listed as a first-class protected endangered plant by many countries, known as a "living fossil".
Number says Hainan tropical rainforest
presently
Pilot area of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park System
It has been identified by international environmental organizations as one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world
The Biodiversity Index reached a maximum of 6.28
Comparable to the Brazilian Amazon rainforest
3653 species of wild vascular plants were recorded
(6 species under national level I key protection, 419 species endemic to Hainan)
540 species of terrestrial vertebrates were recorded
(14 species under national level I key protection, 23 species endemic to Hainan)
At the beginning of this year
The new version of the "List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection" was released
There are 161 terrestrial wildlife species in Hainan that are included in the scope of protection, accounting for 23.5% of the country's total.
These include 29 species of terrestrial wild animals under national key protection at the first level
132 species of terrestrial wild animals under secondary national key protection
There are 15 species of mammals
There are 121 species of birds
There are 13 species of reptiles
There are 2 species of amphibians
Insects 9 species
1 species of arachnids
include
12 hainan endemic species 23 hainan endemic subspecies
Photo courtesy of Li Tianping, Jiang Enyu, Su Xiaojie, Lu Gang, Li Rongtao, Chen Yuancai, Hainan Provincial Forestry Bureau (Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration)
Source: Hainan Daily