Every year in mid-September, on the ridges above 1,300 meters above sea level in the Jinfoshan National Nature Reserve in Nanchuan District, Chongqing, there is such a group of people in action, their purpose is to find the seeds of the root fir tree of the "giant panda of the plant kingdom", a small particle about one-third the size of a pea.
In 2020, not a single seed has been found, and the rarity of the silver fir tree can be seen.
Silver fir trees are unique to China, and there are only more than 10,000 wild silver fir trees, plus artificial breeding, the number is not large, so it is regarded as a "national treasure" in the plant world. The picture shows the King of Silver Fir in Golden Buddha Mountain.
At noon on May 14, the weather was cloudy, and the sun occasionally filtered through the clouds and sprinkled in a greenhouse on the western slope of Jinfoshan Mountain. This is the scientific research base for the breeding of rare plants in Jinfoshan, and the greenhouses are equipped with precious silver fir seedlings and a small number of cliff cypress seedlings.
The altitude here is about 1350 meters, and Zhou Hongyan has been working here for more than 20 years.
Creating a "smart protected area" through intelligence and network technology is a common method for real-time monitoring of wild animals. At present, the Chongqing Jinfoshan National Nature Reserve Administration is equipped with 20 infrared cameras and 5 sets of field video surveillance in the black langur activity area, achieving 24-hour real-time monitoring.
In 2015, the bureau, together with Yangtze River Normal University and Southwest University, jointly carried out the population survey of the black langur monkey in Jinfoshan to understand and study the feeding habits, habitat selection, night and lodging selection and utilization, daily activity rhythm, living habits, etc. Through long-term observation records, 151 black langur monkeys were found in Jinfoshan, of which 21 groups totaled 147, and 2 lone monkeys, as well as a group composed of 2 male monkeys.
Some universities and competent departments in Chongqing jointly conducted scientific research on the habitat survey of musk forest musk forest, a national first-level protected animal, and carried out field surveys on the eastern, western, southern and northern slopes of Jinfo in spring, summer, autumn and winter from January 2017 to March 2018. The first survey and estimation of the population of wild forest musk in Jinfoshan Nature Reserve was carried out by using fecal trace counting and sample line method, and about 95 of them were mainly distributed in the northern slope area of Jinfoshan within a radius of 284.16 km.
According to the staff of the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, since the establishment of Jinyun Mountain Nature Reserve and Jinfoshan Nature Reserve in 1979, a total of 217 nature reserves of various types have been established in Chongqing. Among them, there are 58 nature reserves, 36 scenic spots, 83 forest parks, 26 wetland parks, 10 geological parks, and 2 ecological parks, and Jinfoshan is one of the two World Natural Heritage Sites in our city. The picture shows a colorful surface karst landscape with moss and trees. Photo by Chen Rongsen
It is understood that there are more than 6,000 kinds of vascular plants distributed in our city, among which the national first-level key protected wild plants are tung, silver fir, yew, southern yew, Bole tree, Metasequoia, etc.; the national second-level key protected wild plants are nanmu, camphor tree, goosefoot catalpa, lianxiang tree, golden retriever and so on. Wild plants with very small populations include cliff cypress, lotus leaf clematis fern, golden Buddha mountain orchid, Jinyun skullcap and so on. The picture shows the silver fir seeds.
There are more than 800 species of terrestrial wild vertebrates distributed in the city, among which the terrestrial wild animals under national key protection include black langurs, forest muskets, big spirit cats, small civet cats, Chinese autumn sand ducks, golden eagles, etc.; the national second-level key protected terrestrial wild animals include macaques, black bears, leopard cats, red-bellied golden pheasants, crested hummingbirds, etc.
At present, Chongqing has taken biodiversity conservation as a key task into the "14th Five-Year Plan" and related special plans, completed a series of basic work on biodiversity conservation, and implemented biodiversity conservation demonstration projects in national nature reserves such as Jinfoshan and Dabashan.
Upstream journalists Li Bin, Chen Juan, Chen Jun, photo reports