"Growing up so big, this is the first time I've seen a real mussel shell!" On January 24, the "Wetland Small Expedition Team", composed of some primary and secondary school students and "small wetland chiefs", came to the Wuhu Wetland Nature Reserve (referred to as Wuhu Wetland) in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone (Hannan District) to explore the secrets of benthic organisms.
Located in the southwest of Wuhan, Wuhu Wetland is a municipal nature reserve with great seasonal water level variations. It is now the middle of winter, the water level is low, and the bare mudflats are densely covered with large shells of mussels and snails. At 9 a.m., the "Wetland Small Expedition Team" arrived here. As the leading teacher, the nature instructor "Snail" of Hubei Bode Ecological Center first explained the basic types of benthic organisms, and distributed a map of common benthic organisms in wetlands to each small scientific examiner.
12-year-old Chen Xingyu found the spear mussel and the round-headed mussel, and she was very excited: "This is the first time I have seen a real mussel shell!" Living in the city, although you can often see rivers and lakes, you have never found that there are so many creatures at the bottom of the lake. The teacher just explained that there are only 6% of the earth's wetlands, but 20% of the species are bred, and the wetlands are too precious! "Teacher! I found the shell of the nail snail and the Fushou snail! Lai Yankun, an 11-year-old science enthusiast, had previously seen ecological news on the Internet that snails spread schistosomiasis and that the Fushou snail was an invasive species, and this was the first time he had seen and found the shells of these two snails.
"Snails are an intermediate host for schistosomiasis and mammals, and of course there are no schistosomiasis in the wetlands around Wuhan now." We can understand that benthic organisms, although relatively inferior organisms, are very closely related to humans. Snail teacher introduced, "There are nail snails, Fushou snails such as negative effects, there are also many positive effects, such as some mussel shells and snails can be used as human food, animal feed, pearl production, or the food of many water birds, they are an indispensable part of the biological chain." ”
After an hour of investigation, the "Wetland Small Expedition Team" found the empty shells of 20 species of mussels and snails on the river beach. The "snail" teacher said that in the protected areas such as Wuhan and Wuhu Wetland, there are about 30 kinds of shelled mollusks such as mussels and snails, which surprises the children: there are so many species! "Many benthic organisms only survive in areas with good water quality, they reflect the health of wetland ecosystems, and the lack of mussel shells indicates that pollution and destruction are very serious." There are so many kinds of shelled molluscs in the lake wetland, indicating that biodiversity is very high and the overall ecological environment is good. The Yangtze River and the Han River pass through the city, and Wuhan has 165 rivers and 166 lakes, which is a well-deserved 'wetland city', but we know that wetlands can not only know water, but also need to know the creatures in the wetland ecosystem, including human beings themselves. ”
According to reports, this is one of the "travel with the wetland" of wetland research and education activities for primary and secondary school students in Wuhan, which is jointly planned and carried out by the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Landscape architecture and forestry, the Wuhan Municipal Education Bureau, and the Alibaba Public Welfare Foundation.
Editor: Ying Zhang