Yunnan has increased the protection of extremely small populations and actively rescued genetic resources
Diverse organisms, multiple conservation (building a community of life on earth)
Reporters Zhang Fan, Yang Wenming, and Ye Chuanzeng
Core reading
Established the germplasm resource bank of wild organisms in southwest China, took the lead in carrying out research on the protection system of wild plants with very small populations, and guarded the gene bank of species - In recent years, Yunnan has actively carried out biodiversity conservation work and achieved remarkable results.
The artificial population of purebred green peacocks successfully bred hatchers for one generation, and the artificial population of Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkeys successfully bred three generations... In recent years, Yunnan's biodiversity conservation work has achieved remarkable results.
Behind the achievements are the continuous efforts made by Yunnan researchers to protect biodiversity: to build the world's second largest and Asia's largest wild germplasm resource bank - Southwest China Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank; to take the lead in the country to carry out research on the protection system of wild plants with extremely small populations; to organize and promote the "Native Plants Full Coverage Conservation Plan" to complete the assessment and field investigation of nearly 2/3 of China's native plants.
Find out the family background and provide a scientific basis for protection
Yunnan is rich in biodiversity resources. Finding out the bottom line is the first step in protecting biodiversity.
Climbing mountains, wind and sun, and mosquito bites are the norms of Wang Lisong, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the past 40 years, he has traveled almost all over the Hengduan Mountains in the southwest, collecting nearly 60,000 specimens and taking more than 30,000 pictures in search of a lesser-known species, the lichen. Spending more than half a year to collect specimens in the field, and following continuously for many years, Wang Lisong discovered a total of 36 new lichen species, completed more than 8,200 DNA molecular materials, and found out the ins and outs of nearly 2,000 kinds of lichens, laying the foundation for the construction of China's largest lichen biological resource database.
Sun Hang, director of the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that as early as the 1930s, scientists began to investigate and study the plant diversity of Yunnan, and generations of taxonociators like Wang Lisong have traveled through the mountains and rivers to find out the family foundation of Yunnan biodiversity step by step, providing an important scientific basis for Yunnan and the country to carry out biodiversity conservation, utilization, research and management.
In 2017, the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in conjunction with a team of researchers at home and abroad, discovered and named a new species of gibbon, the Gaoligong white-browed gibbon. According to the "List of New Recorded Species of New Species in Yunnan (1992-2020)", from 1992 to 2020, a total of 3718 new species were discovered in Yunnan Province, of which 2519 were new species and 1199 were newly recorded. In recent years, the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Department of Ecology and Environment of Yunnan Province, together with scientific research institutions within the United Nations, have released the catalogue of local biodiversity, such as the Catalogue of Biological Species of Yunnan Province (2016 Edition) and the Directory of Ecosystems of Yunnan Province (2018 Edition), which provide scientific data support for the introduction of local regulations on biodiversity conservation in Yunnan Province.
Guard the gene pool of species and rescue the protection of endangered species
Finding out the bottom of the family is to better protect it.
On August 28 this year, a baby elephant born only 6 days old was injured in the umbilical cord and abandoned by the mother elephant, and then brought back to the Xishuangbanna Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center. The Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center, established in 2008, has successfully rescued 24 wild Asian elephants and successfully assisted elephants in breeding 9 baby elephants, with a survival rate of 100%.
After years of exploration and practice, the populations of rare and endangered wild animals such as Asian elephants, Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkeys, and western black-crowned gibbons have shown a steady growth trend. The artificial population of pure-bred green peacocks identified by the genome was initially formed and successfully bred to hatch a generation; the artificial population of Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkeys successfully bred three generations.
In 2007, China's first wildlife germplasm resource bank was established at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After more than 10 years of construction, the Southwest China Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank has become the second largest in the world and the largest in Asia. As of December 2020, the Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank of Southwest China has preserved 85,046 plant seeds of 10,601 species, accounting for 36% of the number of seed plant species in China.
Yunnan took the lead in carrying out research on the protection system of wild plants with very small populations in the country, and the survey obtained basic data on the population status of 80 plant species. In 2015, the "Special Garden of Wild Plants with Extremely Small Populations" began to be built in Kunming Botanical Garden, and at present, 44 ex situ conservation populations of wild plants with extremely small populations have been constructed, and species such as canopy wood, Xianmai Magnolia and Diantong that were protected in the early ex situ protection of Kunming Botanical Garden have flowered and matured, marking the initial success of ex situ conservation.
As the lead unit of the China Botanical Garden Alliance, the "Full Coverage Protection Plan for Native Plants" promoted by the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been implemented nationwide, and nearly 2/3 of China's indigenous plants have been evaluated and fielded, and 2620 threatened plants have been protected.
Scientific development to promote the sustainable use of biological resources
The State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Resources in Western China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted systematic chemical composition studies on 1271 plants in 589 genera of 201 families, and published more than 10,000 new natural products. A large number of drugs extracted from plants, such as gastrodin, uterine, and umuroxine, have been successfully listed, and the laboratory has gradually been built into one of the research centers leading the international field of phytochemistry.
There are many endemic fish in Yunnan, and the team of Yang Junxing of the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences relocated to preserve 102 species of indigenous fish in Yunnan, breaking through 48 species of artificial breeding technology, and initially realizing industrialization of 3 species. The new aquatic variety of Dianchi Lake golden thread catfish "Catfish You No. 1" cultivated has become the first new species created in China based on national protected fish.
Not only species, from genes to ecosystems, Yunnan researchers have poured a lot of effort.
The Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed multi-tax group DNA barcode technology, led the organization of China's life barcode plan, and made China one of the four central nodes of the international life barcode program. The 101-degree forest sample belt of the Southwest China-Indochina Peninsula east longitude led by the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has begun to take shape. This is a continuous and complete forest-like belt distributed along the gradient of hydrothermal environment, and observation can understand what impact climate change has on biodiversity.
Researchers said: "Studying biodiversity is not only related to the present, but also to understand the future. To protect biodiversity is to protect human beings themselves. ”
Source: People's Daily