Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin
The resources of endemic fish species on the plateau are of great strategic value to China's ecological research and the future development of freshwater fisheries. How can this resource be protected?
On July 16, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily learned from the Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Plateau Fish Breeding (hereinafter referred to as the Plateau Fish Laboratory) that the laboratory is based on the rich aquatic germplasm resources of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, focusing on green ecological aquaculture, focusing on plateau fish germplasm genetics, resource conservation, variety innovation, healthy breeding, and industrial application, establishing a plateau fish live resource bank and genetic resource bank, and on this basis, it has carried out variety innovation and created new aquatic varieties of soft-finned new light lip fish. The "industry-university-research" platform constructed by the distant hybrid strains of golden herring and carp has also played a role in promoting and demonstrating.
Key Laboratory of Plateau Fish Breeding in Nan Province. Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin photographed
In recent years, due to various factors, the endemic fish germplasm resources of the Yunnan Plateau have been decreasing, taking the golden ray catfish as an example, it was once a famous specialty of Dianchi Lake, and after the 1980s, due to habitat destruction, invasion of exotic species and overfishing, it was almost extinct, and was listed as a national level II protected animal in 1989. From a biogeographic point of view, fish are the "heroes" who maintain the health of the water body of the plateau lake. The reduction of fish germplasm resources will indirectly affect the health of the water bodies of highland lakes.
Since 2000, Yang Junxing, head of the phylogenetics and biogeography research group of the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Kunming Institute of Zoology) and director of the Plateau Fish Laboratory, together with Dr. Pan Xiaofu and others, spent three years walking through the longtan and streams scattered around Dianchi Lake, and finally found a small population of wild golden herring in Songming Black Dragon Pond and Muyang River. Slowly, their wild parent species of native Yunnan indigenous fish increased from single digits to 102.
Researcher Yang Junxing introduced the soft-finned new light lip fish "Molong No. 1" developed by the team. Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin photographed
"102, the numbers may not sound big, but it's a huge task." Yang Junxing said that with the support of research projects such as the Department of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Kunming Institute of Animals has played a key role in protecting these rare and endemic fish species from extinction after several generations of efforts, and has also laid a key core seed source foundation for the future restoration of wild groups of these fish and the industrialization of deep excavation and utilization.
Walking into the Highland Fish Laboratory on the eastern outskirts of Kunming, the natural circulation of water systems, large and small conservation ponds, and advanced operation rooms are well arranged.
"The Plateau Fish Laboratory has the most complete range of indigenous endemic fish in Yunnan, and the researchers have not only effectively conserved the 'four famous fish of Yunnan' – The Dianchi Lake Golden Thread Catfish, Catfish Whitefish, Big Head Carp and Dali Bowfish, but also promoted the sustainable use of these fish." Yang Junxing told reporters that the plateau fish laboratory has linked dozens of conservation bases and enterprises in major water systems such as jinsha river, Lancang river, Nu river, and Yuanjiang river, forming a "1+ n" resource conservation pattern.
Lu Bolin, general manager of Yunnan Wenshan West Domain Longyuan Biotechnology Development Company, told reporters that they and Yang Junxing's team worked together to shoulder the task of conserving 13 species of indigenous fish such as the Western Domain Golden Thread Catfish, the Purebred South China Carp, and the Dark Lip Carp.
Based on the accumulation of long-term research on lake ecology on the Yunnan Plateau, Yang Junxing's team proposed a new ecological restoration model of "flower-fish-snail-bird", which allows a variety of native plants and animals to "interact", restore water quality and biodiversity habitats, and achieve good ecological, economic and social benefits.
The research results have also been specially reported and affirmed by the internationally renowned academic journal "Science", which believes that it not only significantly saves rare species, but also restores the ecological environment that has disappeared. At present, this achievement has been "moved" out of the ecological fish tank of the Plateau Fish Laboratory, turned into a real scene in the restoration of Baofeng Wetland on the east bank of Dianchi Lake, and will soon become an important part of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference held in Kunming, Yunnan.
"In the future, this model is expected to be applied to the water ecological restoration of plateau lakes such as Dianchi Lake, Erhai, Chenghai and Qilu Lake." Yang Junxing said.
"Compared to the 629 freshwater species recorded in Yunnan, we have only studied a small fraction of them." Yang Junxing said that in order not to let these water elves become extinct on this planet, in order to let the plateau lakes have a healthy ecological environment, the research team began to build a plateau fish germplasm genetic resource bank, and "raced" against time.
In 2007, Yang Junxing's team broke through the artificial breeding technology of Dianchi lake golden thread catfish for the first time, which is the third national protected fish that has been successfully artificially bred after Chinese sturgeon and rouge fish.
In order to further protect and preserve this rare species, Dr. Wang Xiaoai of Yang Junxing's team and others began to explore the application of ultra-low temperature freezing technology in the conservation of germplasm resources of Dianchi Golden Ray catfish, in order to preserve its germplasm resources at the cellular level, provide reference for production practices and large-scale fishery production, and further beneficial exploration for the protection of the ecological environment.
"At present, the most we use is the ultra-low temperature freezing technology of sperm." Wang Xiaoai said that they also learned from the cell culture methods of mammals and other fish to establish the Dianchi Golden Ray ray cell culture technology.
"In order to protect the germplasm resources of rare fish in Yunnan, we have also further improved and applied the cell culture and sperm freezing technology of Dianchi golden ray to the conservation of other rare fish germplasm resources in Yunnan." Wang Xiaoai said that at present, they have built a plateau fish germplasm genetic resource bank, of which 300 species of plateau fish germplasm resources have been collected and preserved, accounting for 50.5% of the number of indigenous fish species in Yunnan and 22% of the number of freshwater fish species in the country.
Golden-threaded catfish fry conserved by the Key Laboratory of Plateau Fish Breeding in Yunnan Province. Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin photographed
The inclusion of a variety of endangered highland endemic fish is only the first step in the transformation of ecological research and scientific research results.
Among the many ecological fish tanks, the soft-finned new light lip fish "Molong No. 1" is particularly eye-catching.
"This fish is not only luxurious and bright throughout, but also has a black belt with the meaning of traditional Chinese ink painting. We took it to South China for display, and the market gave a high price of thousands of yuan, whether it is for food or ornamentation, it has a high development potential. Dr. Zhang Yuanwei, a member of the team of Yang Junxing of the Kunming Institute of Zoology and the Plateau Fish Laboratory, said that the team has completed the research and development of the new variety of "Molong No. 1".
Variety innovation contributes to the in-depth study of ecological restoration of plateau lakes, and is also a direct embodiment of the transformation of ecological benefits into economic benefits. In recent years, in terms of variety innovation, Yang Junxing's team has won 1 new species of Dianchi Golden Thread Mackerel "No. 1" national examination, and successfully bred and industrialized the promotion of 1 species of valuable and endemic fish - Trout White Fish. Among them, the creation of "Yuyou No. 1" is the 100th new species of fish farming approved by China since the founding of New China, and it is also the first new species of state-approved in Yunnan Province.
For decades, Yang Junxing's team has been committed to improving the ecological environment of plateau lakes, constantly exploring new paths from highland endemic fish conservation to sustainable use - 23 invention patents for artificial breeding, bait and breeding of related fish have been authorized; the research and development of the whole process of artificial breeding technology system of 48 indigenous fish has been completed, and more than 3 million indigenous fish species have been restocked and released to restore the wild population of rare and endemic fish; and the production capacity of indigenous fish fry in plateau lakes has reached an annual output of more than 5 million fish. It can directly drive the annual output value of characteristic fish to more than 100 million yuan.
"These ecological research results have played an important driving role in leading the aquaculture industry in Yunnan Province from the cultivation of exotic fish to the cultivation of indigenous fish, and the transformation of the advantages of wild indigenous fish resources in Yunnan into the advantages of fisheries with plateau characteristics." Wang Xueqin, secretary of the party group and director of the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department, told reporters.
Source: Science and Technology Daily