Blue-headed diving duck.
The research team photographed a herd of painted ibises in the Dianchi Lake Basin. Courtesy of Yunnan Dianchi Lake Conservation and Governance Foundation
On the 11th, the first phase of the fifteenth meeting (COP15) of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Kunming. One of the important reasons for cop15's landing in Kunming is the recognition of the international community for the conservation of kunming's biodiversity, and the most representative of Kunming's biodiversity is dianchi Lake.
Nowadays, the sea cauliflower, known as the "touchstone of water quality", blooms on the water surface of Dianchi Lake, the endangered Dianchi Lake endemic fish species Dianchi Golden Ray, Yunnan Lightlip Fish, Dianchi Silver White Fish are artificially bred and released in Dianchi Lake, black kites, grass owl, colored ibises and other national key protected birds inhabit and feed on the shores of Dianchi Lake, and national key protected plants such as Dianchi Lake are also reproduced in the Dianchi Lake Basin. The sharp contrast reflects the remarkable results achieved in the ecological restoration and protection and governance of Dianchi Lake.
More than ten years to build "lungs" to create "kidneys"
54,000 mu of wetlands to improve the lakeside ecology of Dianchi Lake
Kunming split-bellied fish nests, Native Sea Cauliflower Communities in Dianchi Lake, Bird Watching Lofts, Mollusk Water Wetlands, Fowl Beach Flats, Organic Biological Trails Made of Broken Wood Slag, Basic Farmland Landscape... On the east bank of Dianchi Lake, the Baofeng Peninsula Wetland, one of the COP15 outdoor exhibition projects, has beautiful scenery and verdant trees, and guests from all over the world gather here to feel the rich biodiversity of Kunming and the beauty of Dianchi Lake.
Baofeng Peninsula wetland covers an area of 1633.8 acres, the construction of mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, grass as an organic unified whole to consider, is committed to creating a harmonious coexistence between man and nature natural wetlands, restore and protect the lakeside biodiversity of Dianchi Lake, reflecting the main purpose of COP15 - "ecological civilization: jointly building a community of life on earth". 12 plant communities and 101 species of plants were planted here; through the restoration of light beaches, grass shrubs and forest belts, attracting bird communities dominated by waders; through artificial breeding and seedling stocking, incubating the endemic fish of Dianchi Lake; using existing ponds and farmland to build farmland and wetland ecological restoration areas, fully demonstrating the original Dianchi Lakeside ecosystem of "Fragrant Rice, Ten Thousand Hectares of Clear Sand, Nine Summer Hibiscus, And Three Spring Willows" in the Daguanlou Changlian.
The Baofeng Peninsula Wetland is a microcosm of Kunming's promotion of the protection and governance of Dianchi Lake, ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation.
Wetlands, forests and oceans are called the world's three major ecosystems. Wetlands are ecosystems with a variety of unique functions, which not only provide a large amount of food, raw materials and water resources for human beings, but also play an important role in maintaining ecological balance, maintaining biodiversity and rare species resources, conserving water sources, flood storage and drought prevention, degrading pollution, regulating the climate, replenishing groundwater, and controlling soil erosion.
In order to restore the ecological environment of Dianchi Lake, in 2003, Kunming began to build a lakeside ecological wetland in the County area along the lake in Dianchi Lake. For more than ten years, Kunming has comprehensively carried out the "four retreats, three rings and one protection" work of "retreating ponds, retiring fields, checking out, retiring people, returning forests, returning wetlands, returning lakes, and protecting water" within 54,000 mu of Dianchi Lakeside, demolishing man-made buildings in the core area of ecological restoration, building and restoring the benign ecosystem of Dianchi Lakeside, and gradually transforming and upgrading the Dianchi Lakeside Wetlands, dismantling the breakwater embankments, withdrawing pollution sources, rationalizing artificial intervention in hydrophilic spaces, maximizing natural restoration, and realizing for the first time in the evolutionary history of Dianchi Lake. 。
The construction of wetlands with "lungs" and "kidneys" for Dianchi Lake allows friendly exchanges of water bodies, soils and plants, continuously digests the nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus in the water, and continues to purify the water quality of Dianchi Lake. Nowadays, Dianchi Lakeside has built a closed ecological belt with an average width of about 200 meters, forming a lakeside ecological green barrier with natural ecology as the mainstay, complete structure and perfect function; after years of unremitting treatment, the water quality of the whole lake has been maintained in Class IV in recent years, the ecological function and biodiversity of the lakeside have been continuously restored, and some plants, birds and fish that have disappeared in Dianchi Lake for many years have reappeared.
The number has grown dramatically over the past decade
The biodiversity of the Dianchi Lake Basin showed a welcome trend
In order to find out the biodiversity of the Dianchi Lake Basin, from March 2020 to August this year, led by the Yunnan Dianchi Lake Conservation and Governance Foundation, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming Dianchi Plateau Lake Research Institute and Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly carried out the Dianchi Lake Basin Biodiversity Survey, covering the four levels of biodiversity species, landscape, ecosystem and gene, and becoming the first all-round and multidisciplinary scientific investigation and investigation in the Dianchi Lake Basin.
"Judging from the survey results, the Dianchi Lake Basin is rich in species diversity, ecosystem types are diverse, the landscape pattern changes greatly, and the mountain vegetation around the urban area is restored quickly and well." Yang Yuming, leader of the research project team, professor of the Yunnan Academy of Forestry and Grassland Sciences, and member of the National Science Committee on Endangered Species, said.
In terms of plants, in accordance with the classification principle and system of "Yunnan Vegetation", the research team investigated 7 vegetation types, 8 vegetation subtypes and 35 biomes, and compared with the survey results of the 2010 Dianchi Wetland Reserve, there were 2 vegetation types, 3 vegetation subtypes and 21 biomes added to the natural vegetation. At the same time, the vegetation species composition is more abundant, with a total of 1682 species of vascular plants in 674 genera and 165 families, an increase of 979 species in 18 families, 272 genera and 979 species compared with 2010. "In the survey, we also found that the endemic species of plants in the Dianchi Lake Basin were abundant, and a total of 10 genera of endemic plants were investigated, and compared with 2010, there were 7 genera of goldenrod, chrysanthemum, purple chrysanthemum, Yunnan comfrey, long-crowned moss, short-eaves moss, and Arrow bamboo; 645 species of endemic plants, including 9 species endemic to narrow areas, 139 species endemic to Yunnan, and 497 species endemic to China. The number of endemic plants surveyed is 2.6 times that of 2010, and the number of endemic plants has increased by 403 species. Yang Yuming said. What is even more gratifying is that the research team also found 9 kinds of national key protected plants of golden iron lock, golden buckwheat, large-leaf beech tree, large-flower perfume moon season, Dianzhonglou, Chunlan, line leaf spring orchid, Dian peony, and yellow peony, as well as 5 kinds of key wild protected plants of Yunnan Province, namely Yunnan Province, namely long-stemmed Runnan, split fruit lacquer, Dian Ruixiang, Meihua rice tree, and Purple Golden Dragon, which were not investigated in 2010.
In terms of terrestrial vertebrates, the research team recorded 64 species of mammals in 8 orders, 26 families, 311 species in 17 orders and 60 families, 33 species of reptiles, and 19 species of amphibians. "The number of bird species, especially waterfowl, has increased significantly, and 11 species of birds in the new record of bird distribution, including indian pond heron, colored sandpiper, spot-breasted sandpiper, three-toed sandpiper, great sandpiper, small sandpiper, black-bellied sandpiper, middle-aged sandpiper, tumbler sandpiper, blue-headed diving duck and purple waterfowl, have all appeared in the Shore Zone of Dianchi Lake." Yang Yuming said that in recent years, Kunming has done a lot of work in protecting forests and wild animals, and small mammals such as tree shrews, ocelots, several squirrels, and Yunnan rabbits are more common, and large and medium-sized mammals such as wild boars and red chamois are also slowly recovering.
Dianchi Lake has long been one of the hotspots for freshwater biodiversity. In recent years, Dianchi Lake has carried out a series of artificial breeding, breeding and stocking of indigenous fish species, and the endangered status of Dianchi lake endemic species - Dianchi golden ray catfish has been improved, and wild stable populations have been formed in the upper tributaries of the Panlong River; in 2017, the indigenous fish of Dianchi Lake - Yunnan light-lip fish was increased and stocked for the first time; in 2019, the Dianchi lake endemic species listed as endangered by the IUCN - Dianchi silver and white fish achieved artificial breeding, and breeding and stocking will also help the expansion of wild populations.
"It can be seen that the biodiversity of the Dianchi Lake Basin has shown a gratifying trend." Yang Yuming said that the diversity of phytoplankton in the Dianchi Lake Basin has improved, and clean water-loving species have appeared in local waters; although the number and diversity of benthic animals in the whole lake are still insufficient, the number of pollution-tolerant species has decreased significantly in recent years, and molluscs have begun to appear in the lakeside area; large aquatic plant species and distribution are relatively stable, and the clearwater-loving species have increased, and the national level II key protected wild plants - wild ling also have a large area distribution in the water body of Dianchi Lake, and the dominant species of rotifers, sea cauliflower, and sea cauliflower in the 1950s and 1960s. Bitter grass also has a natural distribution in the local waters of Dianchi Lake. (Kunming Daily reporter Sun Xiao)