Place the insect under a stereo microscope, draw each key feature of the insect on sulfuric acid paper with a syringe pen, and even each tick on the body needs to be bitten out. In the specimen room of the Plant Inspection Center of the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of Hainan Province, Cai Bo, a doctor of insect taxonomy after the "80s", carefully made specimens while observing insects under the stereo microscope intently. "Some insects have a long shelf life and are stiff and must be used to restore soft tools, while some insects have very fragile wings and should be extra careful when spreading their wings."
The wind was blowing, and the thick tree at the mouth of the bowl was broken at the waist. In fact, this is not the fault of the wind, but the celestial bull hollowing out the body of the tree. The celestial bull hiding in the trunk of a tree is called a "smokeless fire" "The celestial bull is a general term for insects such as the Coleopterae family and the slender celestial cow family, and is a plant borer pest with long tentacles, more than 26,000 species in the world, containing many important pests in agriculture and forestry, which will cause harm to trees, fruit trees, and even buildings." Speaking of insects, Cai Bo is like a number of family treasures, telling the story.
Under the microscope, it is a daily routine for Cai Bo to identify tiny insects that are only the size of a grain of rice, or even invisible to the naked eye, and to intercept quarantine pests such as celestial bulls, small beetles, fruit flies, and mesenchymal insects outside the "national gate". Cai Bo's WeChat name is "Ben Worm Order", and this is precisely the reason for his association with "Worm". "When I was a child, I read that Li Shizhen traveled through thousands of mountains and rivers, and after twenty-seven years, he wrote a huge work called "Compendium of Materia Medica", admired the style of the sages, and was deeply touched, determined to go deep into the world of insects and make achievements." Cai Bo said.
When he was an undergraduate, he went to the Arctic many times to participate in scientific expeditions, and his rich and interesting polar scientific expedition experience led him into the door of scientific research, so he aspired to apply for Nankai University to pursue graduate studies in zoology. During his master's and doctoral degrees, Cai Bo studied under Professor Bu Wenjun, a famous entomologist in China and the School of Life Sciences of Nankai University. "Teacher Bu is rigorous in his studies and has been diligently pursuing it in the insect world for decades. Although insect taxonomy belongs to the 'unpopular' discipline of life sciences, the insects in nature are diverse, and the study of biodiversity and ecological protection is of great significance, so I am determined to sit on the 'cold bench' in this field. ”
After graduating with a doctorate, it coincided with the recruitment of a doctor of entomology by the Hainan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Hainan's rich insect scientific research resources, and the unit's good scientific research platform made Cai Bo finally choose here, and the insect doctor became a "national guard". "Hainan is an ecological treasure trove, extremely rich in animal and plant resources, and its biodiversity is enough to fascinate scientific researchers." Cai Bo said. In the past 10 years, Cai Bo has published several related papers, discovered and reported 5 new species of stilt bugs in China, and 1 new species of Tianniu from Papua New Guinea, contributing his own strength to the study of insect diversity in the world and China.
During the summer vacation, the sun was scorching, and he should have stayed in an air-conditioned room to enjoy the holiday life of ice cream, but Cai Bo carried a heavy collection equipment and walked into the mountains. Against the scorching sun, wielding insect nets in the primeval dense forest, dry all day, nibbling on steamed buns and eating pickles at noon, thirsty for a sip of mountain spring water. At night, a hot high-pressure mercury lamp, lined with a white cloth, attracted countless insects to come to the "party", but Cai Bo ignored the fatigue of the day and was busy carefully screening on the white cloth to capture the precious insect specimens needed for research.
Squatting in the wilderness, observing, and catching insects in the wilderness, such a life has almost become the norm of Cai Bo's life from the time of graduate school. Due to the needs of "background investigation" in their work, Cai Bo and his colleagues often go deep into the tropical rainforests and remote islands of Hainan, wading through rushing rivers, overcoming the troubles caused by mosquitoes, ants, poisonous snakes and unknown creatures, as well as inner retreat and fear, meeting various challenges, and completing the sampling and recording of life again and again.
The weather in Hainan changes like a child's face, the sun was shining brightly a minute ago, and in the blink of an eye, dark clouds were thick and heavy rain pouring down. Collecting insect specimens in the wild, no matter how hot the day, Cai Bo has to wrap himself tightly, dare not wear half sleeves and shorts, but even so, half a month of collection life, the body will be full of mosquito bites, scratches on hands and feet, grinding blood bubbles are commonplace. However, no amount of hardships and obstacles could stop him from being obsessed, but it made him enjoy and enjoy it even more.
For more than a year, when collecting specimens on remote islands, Cai Bo and his colleagues have overcome the disadvantages of high temperature, high humidity, high radiation and high salt, collecting specimens during the day, luring insects at night, and sorting out specimens until late at night after returning. "Sometimes obsessing over the world of worms often ignores the world of people." In the gap between the lights, his wife's phone reminded him that his daughter's birthday was the same day, and with the faint light, he could only send his daughter's birthday wishes by phone on the island.
After more than a year of research, Cai Bo and his friends have basically found out the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of the island, and found a number of new Records in China, New Records in Hainan Province and even new species. Cai Bo said that in the future, he will continue to work hard to publish these achievements in internationally renowned academic journals as soon as possible, and make Chinese his voice on the international stage.
In May, moths that eat moss on trees are still caterpillars. In June, the migrating pink butterflies pupated into butterflies and danced. In July, the more than ten centimeter-long spotted bride spider began to lay various webs. "Every day is new, every day is new, and every day is new." Cai Bo said that the four seasons of insects also change scenery. In the eyes of this insect doctor, the insects of different shapes are very "good-looking" under the microscope: "Under the microscope, they are all colorful, green, yellow, patina, and some are fluorescent..."
Thousands of insects hidden in various plant products such as grain, fruit, wood, seedlings and so on could not escape his fire eyes, showing their original shapes and being classified one by one. "At present, the popularization of insect classification knowledge in China is very poor, and social nature education always simply and rudely divides insects into beneficial insects and pests, but this is very unscientific." In his spare time, Cai Bo spent all his thoughts on establishing the "Hainan Alien Pest Database".
At present, this database includes two sub-libraries of "Quarantine Pest Information Database" and "Hainan Alien Pest Digital Herbarium", the former of which includes the scientific names, classification status, morphological descriptions, hosts, geographical distribution, harmful characteristics, transmission routes and other technical information of more than 500 species of quarantine pests in China, while the latter relies on the collection resources of the Pest Herbarium of Hainan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. It contains digitized information on more than 1,000 specimens of exotic pests intercepted at Hainan Port and monitored and surveyed in the province.
"This database realizes the standardized storage and management of foreign pest information in Hainan, and most importantly, it can become an online education platform that popularizes science to the public and enhances the awareness of national security." Cai Bo's greatest hope at present is to make discoveries in his work and continuously improve the database so that it can play an important role in the early warning and effective prevention of foreign pests in the province.
"In the biological chain of the earth, all kinds of life coexist and are closely related, and there is an inevitable connection between existence. Only by truly understanding them can we achieve harmonious coexistence, and this is the meaning of my work. Cai Bo said. If you have touching, interesting and inspirational stories or clues around you, please pay attention to the WeChat public account "subtraction".