Professor Shi Haitao of Hainan Normal University published a paper in the top international journal Science calling for greater protection of wildlife populations

New Hainan Client, Nanhai Net, Nanguo Metropolis Daily January 31 news (reporter Huang Ting correspondent Zeng Liqin) On January 29, Professor Shi Haitao, key laboratory of tropical island ecology of the Ministry of Education of Hainan Normal University, published the article "China's turtles need protection in wild" in the form of a letter in the form of a letter. This is the first time the university has published a paper in the journal Science. Hainan Normal University is the corresponding author of the article, Shi Haitao is the corresponding author, its doctoral graduate, Associate Professor Wang Jian of Honghe University is the first author, Shi Haitao's research group and co-author Associate Professor Parham of California State University have 22 years of cooperation experience, the team has long been researching and paying attention to ecological protection.

Professor Shi Haitao

Biodiversity is the foundation on which human beings depend for their survival and development. At present, global biodiversity is facing an unprecedented crisis, which has endangered the sustainable development and survival of human beings, and it is urgent to strengthen biodiversity conservation. Effective, genuine conservation is the protection of the natural population of species and their habitat, not the transformation of them into captive individuals. Professor Shi Haitao has been committed to wildlife ecology and conservation research for more than 30 years, and on the basis of a large number of studies, he has found that there are many problems in the method of protecting endangered species through artificial breeding, and there have been many examples to prove the harm of aquaculture to protection. Therefore, Shi Haitao's team has been insisting on calling for the protection of wild populations.

There are two kinds of giant turtles in China, which are the largest turtles in the world, weighing up to 200 kilograms and the dorsal carapace up to 1.8 meters long. In "Journey to the West", the old shrews who crossed the Tongtian River by Tang Monks and apprentices refer to them, and the lepers mentioned by Jia Baoyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber" refer to them. These two species are the flagship species of turtles and turtles, with important historical, cultural, scientific and ecological conservation values. The Bamboo Book Chronicle records that King Mu of Zhou crossed the Jiujiang River, with the shrew as a beam, describing the number of shrews and Yangzi crocodiles as being able to build bridges. However, only one of the two species is known to be the Macula tortoise, which is currently kept in the Suzhou Zoo. Another species of Asian round turtle has also been rarely seen in the wild for many years, and the rescue of this species is highly concerned by academics and the public.

My Government attaches great importance to the protection of this species and has taken active measures to rescue it. But there are different views on how to rescue. The paper emphasizes the need to learn the bitter lessons of the macular giant turtle and focus human, material and financial resources on the protection of wild populations and their habitats. After the loss of many large freshwater species, such as the baiji dolphin and the white sturgeon, the Chinese government resolutely implemented the spirit of the relevant documents and resolved to implement a ten-year fishing ban policy in the Yangtze River Basin, but the rare creatures of other rivers also face serious threats. Therefore, the article proposes to extend the fishing ban to more other river basins in China, strengthen the management of aquatic biological reserves, prohibit the construction of new engineering facilities in the protected areas, and allow other animals in China's wild rivers to survive freely, while not putting more efforts on artificial breeding, so as to improve the ecological environment governance system, improve governance capabilities, and build an ecological civilization.