Editor's note: The main purpose of this field scientific expedition by researchers from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was to investigate the insect resources in the agricultural and pastoral areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, covering a distance of more than 15,600 kilometers and lasting 75 days. Here, we invite the members of the expedition team to divide their personal experience into four phases and tell you about the content of the expedition and what they have seen and heard.
The Nyingchi region is located in the southeast of Tibet, in the middle and lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River, with beautiful scenery, and many areas are known as the "South of Tibet". The climate of this region is humid, which is a climate zone with tropical, subtropical and cold climates, which is a typical tropical humid and semi-humid climate, with an average altitude of about 3000m, which is the largest vertical drop on land in the world.
The sites of our scientific expedition in the Nyingchi area mainly include: Yigong Township, Bagai Township, and Metuo County in Bomi County.
Nyingchi Region, Tibet - Baiyugou, Yigong Township, Bomi County
Panorama of Bagai Township, Nyingchi Region, Tibet - Bomi County
Nyingchi region of Tibet - Ink in the rain
Bomi County - Yigong Township
On the morning of May 26, 2020, we departed from Lhasa and arrived in Tongmai in the afternoon to officially start the field collection of this scientific expedition in Yigong.
Collect a group photo of the team YiGong
With the help of Mr. Dawa and Ziba's classmates, the on-site training helped us collect the nets of the uncle.
Working environment in Yigong Township - place Malay nets and yellow plates
Our work in the Nyingchi area is mainly to work with the team of teachers dawa of the Tibetan Plateau Biological Research Institute to complete the inspection work of Yigong-Bagai-Metuo. This has made our work much smoother and eliminated the obstacles of communication with the local population. More than 40 kilometers of winding mountain road from Tongmai to Yigong, since we did not find a place to live in Yigong, we stayed in Tongmai at night and then went to Yigong to collect during the day.
Teacher Li and Little Angkor who placed yellow plates in the early morning
Zhang Dan, a classmate sweeping the net in the cattle herd. In the Yigong cattle everywhere, the placed Malay's net may soon be destroyed by the cattle, and the yellow plate may have been drunk by the cattle by the time it is collected.
Collected specimens are processed in a timely manner using existing conditions in the wild (due to the high temperature, specimens quickly dry out if not treated in time).
A simple lunch to replenish the body's energy
Zhang Dan, a student who studied Tibetan wildflowers on the spot
Little Angkor against the big sun to photograph bees returning to their nests
Speaking of Yi Gong, we have to mention Mr. Huang Fusheng. In the early scientific investigation of Tibet, Mr. Huang Fusheng (the character introduction can be seen at the end of the text) went to this area many times, and according to his understanding of this area, Mr. Huang later suggested many times that Yigong be listed as a protected area to enhance people's awareness of the protection of this pure land. Mr. Huang has made important contributions to the tibetan insect expedition and laid a solid foundation for our current research and investigation.
Mr. Huang Fusheng gave a lecture on the Tibetan scientific expedition
When I went to Mr. Wu Yanru's house before, I often met Mr. Huang, and because I had been in Tibet many times, there was also an additional topic between Mr. Huang and me. Mr. Huang said that before going to Motuo to investigate, they all started to hike into Motuo from the beginning of the queue, and the inspection time ranged from 2 months to 3 months, or even longer, and there may be many unexpected things in the middle. When the old man talked about Tibet, when he talked about his experience in Tibet, his eyes shone brightly, and this feeling may be something that I will never be able to surpass in my lifetime. Time is fleeting, the times are changing rapidly, I am glad that I am in a good era, compared to the efforts and efforts of the older generation of scientists, my generation still needs to continue to struggle, stand on the shoulders of giants, see wider, go further.
Mr. Huang and my mentor, Researcher Zhu Chaodong, took a group photo
Top: In 1973, the Azagundra Glacier in southeastern Tibet was investigated and glacier jumpers were collected. Ni Zhicheng (fourth from left), Feng Zuojian (2nd from right), Jiang Zhihua (5th from left), Mr. Huang (3rd from right)
Bottom: In 1974, Tibet searched for wingless insects
Bomi County - Bagai Township
On May 30, yigong's work was basically completed, and the location was transferred to Bagai Township. From Tongmai to Bagai Township, drive 3 1/2 hours. The road is not very good, along the road carved out of the mountain, it is all dirt roads, and on the other side of the mountain is a rushing river.
On the way to Bagai Township
Bagai Township installed Malay nets
Bagai Township - The expedition team took a group photo with local villagers
At the edge of the farmland in Bagai Township, people who install malay nets.
When we arrived in Bagai Township, with the help of the township chief, we found two locals to help us install the Malay net and regularly collect specimens of the Malay net.
With the help of two villagers, the installation of the Malay net in Bagai Township was successfully completed.
Originally planned to investigate in Bagai Township for 3 days, but when we came in, the weather has not been very good, plus it is the rainy season, worried about landslides and trapped in the township, we changed the plan, installed the Malay net and returned to Tongmai.
Summary of the Bomi Expedition:
In Bomi County, we mainly collect in Yigong Township and Bagai Township. At the end of May to this side, the temperature is slightly lower, it feels like spring has just arrived, the temperature difference between morning and evening is relatively large, and there are not many flowering plants.
Main harvest: Samples of about 6900 were collected, mainly pollinators of the order Hymenoptera.
Yellow disc collects insects
Interfluilles - Bees (Apiaceae, Genus Apiaceae)
Work environment assessment: ★★ ☆☆☆☆
"Enthusiastic" Metuo County
Since the ink removal was single in and double out when we went, according to the most effective time, we decided to enter the ink removal on June 1. Along the way, except for the road conditions when crossing the Galonga Mountain, the weather is not very good, and the others are smooth, departing from Tongmai at 8 o'clock in the morning and arriving at Metuo County at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
It's a day of four seasons (when it starts to snow at the Galonra Pass, the line of sight is not very clear, the road is all "elbow" road, the road is muddy, and the driver's skills and experience are tested).
Group photo of the expedition team at the Galongla Pass (first from the left: Tsering Samdrup. Second from left: Li Hongliang, third from left: Tsering Bazhu, fourth from left: Zhang Dan, fifth from left: Wu Qingtao, sixth from left: Dawa, seventh from left: Dan Zhicuo)
In the half month of the inspection of Motuo, I personally felt the "enthusiasm" of Motuo. In the days of Metuo, there is no most difficult, only more difficult, basically every day it will rain, every day between 11 o'clock and 15 o'clock, the rain will selectively stop for two hours, this is the time we work.
Pavement with water after heavy rain
It rains every day, and there is not a day without traffic jams.
When the sun came out, it was sweltering and humid, making it difficult to breathe; there were also inky mosquitoes and "a little red" (gnats), and we set out every day fully armed, with only two eyes exposed, but also unable to resist the pervasiveness of blood-sucking bugs.
Go out fully armed
Only a pool of blood on the leg was seen, and there was no trace of the ant.
There are surprises every day in The Ink, it may be a quagmire that suddenly falls into, but it can also be a snake next to you that you don't know, or it may be a car that suddenly bursts a tire, in short, there are "surprises" everywhere.
"Surprises" everywhere (this is the second snake seen today, and three are not on camera)
Suddenly burst tires (the most terrible thing is not a sudden burst, the most annoying thing is that the tires are punctured in a place where there is no signal, and then the jack does not work, so that every day should not be called the ground is not smart)
The hotel handles specimens
People who move hives in heavy rain (wood bees nest in dead wood)
Popular science lectures on the plateau
In addition to specimen collection, there is also a great harvest, that is, we jointly carried out a popular science lecture in Metuo with the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University.
Popular science report (Figure 2: Hua Fangyuan, Peking University, Figure 3: Dr. Yang Chunyan, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Figure 4: Ren Xiaotong, doctoral candidate of Peking University, Figure 5: Zhang Dan, doctoral candidate of institute of zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Figure 6: Students listening to the report)
The more we go to Tibet, the more we feel like we're not just going to investigate, to get the data, and then go back to the lab to process the data for analysis, and we should also let more people, especially the children, understand what we're doing and why we're doing it. Every year, so many scientific expedition teams enter Tibet, involving all aspects, and the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau involves a wide range, if each team can take half a day to talk to the children, then this group of grown up children will be different.
Summary of the Metoko Expedition:
Main harvest: Sample no. 6880 was collected, mainly membranoptera pollinators.
"Attract bees and attract butterflies" people
Metobees (Top: Tunnel Bee of the Family Apiaceae; Part II: Genus Wood Bee of the Apiaceae family)
About Mr. Huang Fusheng:
Huang Fusheng, born in May 1932 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, is of Han ethnicity. He graduated from Peking University biology in 1956, and was a graduate student at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1957 to 1962; an assistant researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1962 to 1979; an associate researcher of animal research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1979 to 1986; and a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1986. He has been engaged in the study of insect taxonomic fauna, and in biogeography research, he has proposed that the degree of divergence of modern biological orders indicates a new perspective on the historical origins of different continents. He has repeatedly investigated the Tibetan insect fauna, explored its origin and succession, and first proposed the independent significance of the insect fauna of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with more than 200 academic papers, published books and edited 8 entomological monographs and 16 volumes. 4 new genera, 3 new subgenera and more than 50 new species have been discovered. The first discovery of the wingless insect in Tibet filled the gap for China, and the new species of glacial jumping insect (bullettail) was discovered in the Azagundra Glacier in Tibet, and then two of the world's largest and most special bi-tailed rare insects were published. He has won the National Science Conference Award, Zhu Kezhen Field Science Research Award, the First Prize of the National Natural Science Award, the Special Prize of Science and Technology Progress of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the First Prize of the Chinese Science and Natural Science Award, the Second Prize and the Third Prize of the Chinese Science and Natural Sciences.
Main characters in this issue:
Zhang Dan: Doctoral candidate at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, narrator of the story of this scientific expedition
Wu Qingtao (Little Angkor): Research Assistant, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Li Hongliang (Teacher Li): Research Assistant, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dawa: Associate researcher at the Tibetan Institute of Plateau Biology, fluent in the local language
Dan Zhicuo: Doctoral candidate at Shaanxi Normal University
Tsering Bazhu: Research Assistant, Institute of Biology on the Tibetan Plateau
Tsering Samdrup: Driver
Yigong Introduction:
Yigong and Tongmai have a unique geographical location, where the warm and humid air currents in the southern foothills pass through the Brahmaputra River and make great turns and penetrate deep into the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Yigong is located in the eastern part of Tibet, located in a small ravine north of the northern slope of the Himalayas, the northern part of Yigong is the Nianqing Tanggula Mountains, the southern part has a huge Himalayan system, and there is a tall mountain peak directly south - Nanga Bawa Peak, which is more than 7780m above sea level, blocked by Sedyra in the west, and cut by cascading transverse mountains in the east. Therefore, Yigong is a very narrow and relatively closed Yumaru Valley located at a high latitude, and it is really difficult to mark on the map. The biomass that should be contained in such a geographical location is very limited, and biodiversity will be limited to some extent. But this is not the case, and the signs show the opposite result. Yigong's biological reserves are very rich, the biodiversity is extremely complex, and it contains many ancient and rare species (quoted from Zhu Chaodong's blog - Mr. Huang Fusheng's suggestions on the conservation of Yigong biological resources).
Introduction to Ink Removal:
Located in southeastern Tibet, on the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River, the eastern section of the Himalayas and the southern slopes of the Gangrigab Mountains, Metuo County is the last county in China where the Brahmaputra River flows through China before entering the Assam Plain of India. The main section of the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon is in the territory of the county, which belongs to the subtropical humid climate zone on the east side of the Himalayas, which is the lowest altitude, the mildest, the most abundant rainfall and the best ecological preservation on the Tibetan Plateau. Metuo is also the last county in China to have access to the highway, known as the "gathering paradise", and even many people in the industry say that not having come to Metuo is equivalent to not having been to Tibet.
Next issue is coming soon
Himmananlu-Shigatse Survey
Source: Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences