The little secret of the park: making the city "alive"

Biodiversity Conservation

From the Wild to the City

The protection of native species diversity is an important task to protect native species. Shanshui Nature Conservation Center is such an NGO dedicated to the protection of native biodiversity. It was established in 2007. Since its establishment, Shanshui has focused on solving the problem of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and paid attention to the community development and governance around the reserve.

Since 2016, Shanshui has gradually been collecting biodiversity data across the country to obtain conservation advice. This project is called the Nature Watch Project.

This picture shows the scope of our work in mountains and rivers. We have done a lot of work in the southwestern mountains and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There are giant panda protection projects in the southwestern mountains, and ecosystem protection projects represented by snow leopards on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In this issue, we will not talk about giant pandas or snow leopards on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Today, we will talk about the protection of biodiversity around us. My team mainly focuses on urban biodiversity restoration and citizen science, and this project is located in Beijing. In fact, Shanshui also has some protection projects in the Yangtze River Delta where Shanghai and Nanjing are located, and in the Pearl River Delta. Friends who have been to Beijing know that Beijing is a big city with a lot of people. It is different from the place you think of for biodiversity protection. So why did Shanshui choose to carry out biodiversity protection in the city?

Because we are now living in an era where the Earth is greatly influenced by humans. If we don’t count the ice sheets, 75% of the Earth’s land area is now managed by humans. In other words, most areas on Earth are managed and influenced by humans to some extent, and such areas are getting larger and larger. Therefore, it is even more important to do protection work in these areas.

If we look at the distribution of nature reserves in our country, we will find that they are all distributed in areas with relatively small populations, mainly concentrated in the northwest. The green area in the picture refers to the forest area. We can see that the forest coverage of nature reserves in our country is not enough. Looking at the pictures on the right, they are the distribution hotspots of different animal groups such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds. These pictures show where endangered species in these groups are more often distributed, or where there are more species. We can find that some densely populated areas are also hotspots for the protection of these organisms. This is also very easy to understand, because these organisms, like us humans, prefer warm and humid areas with good water and heat conditions, similar to some urban areas where we are now, so it is more important to carry out biodiversity protection work in these areas.

From the above picture, we can see that before 2016, the urbanization rate of our country had reached more than 60%, so now more than 60% of the people must live in cities. If residents living in cities and towns also want to live with a variety of animals and plants and experience biodiversity, how can they achieve this?

So in order to see a variety of animals and plants around us, we need to carry out urban biodiversity conservation work.

What I will talk about next is some exploratory work done by Beijing Olympic Forest Park, exploring how to allow organisms and humans to coexist harmoniously in the city.

Explore the little secrets of Osonli

As mentioned earlier, everyone has a similar impression of Beijing, thinking that Beijing is a place with a lot of people. The daily flow of people in Beijing Olympic Forest Park is 80,000, and during holidays, there may be more than 100,000 people. The basis of the biodiversity of this area is wetlands, woodlands, and grasslands. It is a relatively central urban area in Beijing, and it is also relatively large in area, with a relatively diverse distribution of habitats. However, the flow of people is also particularly large, so it is necessary to meet the requirements of all aspects at the same time. In addition, there are staff to carry out intensive management and maintenance of this area.

We conducted a small observation activity a few years ago because we wanted to know what kind of creatures could be found in a place like Beijing Olympic Forest Park with such a large flow of people.

This observation activity is actually very simple, just let everyone go to the garden to "pick up feces". Everyone picked up a lot of feces, and also picked up traces of various animals. Through the traces, we can determine which animal left it.

This picture actually shows a pine cone, but what ate it? After being held and chewed by a squirrel, the pine cone will be left with a structure in the middle similar to a gnawed corn cob. This shows that there are squirrels in this place. In Beijing Olympic Forest Park, people have picked up a lot of pine cones of this type, which shows that squirrels are quite abundant here.

This one is a little different because birds eat pine cones differently from squirrels. Birds put their mouths into the pine cones, so they tear the skin of the pine cones into pieces. We picked up a lot of pine cones like this, which shows that the pine trees in the park also provide food for birds.

Tourists were looking for signs of animal activities in Beijing Olympic Forest Park. Every time they found one, they put a sticker on the map. In the end, they found that the stickers were very dense, indicating that there was actually a very diverse distribution of organisms here.

This picture shows rabbit feces, indicating that there are Mongolian rabbits here. After the rabbits eat grass, there are traces of grass in the feces. The feces are very round and easy to distinguish.

In Beijing Ao Sen, we found traces of many different kinds of creatures by searching for traces. Another monitoring method is to use infrared cameras to take pictures.

This is a photo of a Ring-necked Pheasant taken by an infrared camera. The Ring-necked Pheasant lives in the central area of ​​Beijing Olympic Forest Park.

Building a bridge for animals in the city

I just mentioned that Beijing Olympic Forest Park is located in the very center of Beijing. There is a very wide road running through the middle of the park, which is Beijing's North Fifth Ring Road. Beijing Olympic Forest Park is right on both sides of the North Fifth Ring Road, where traffic is very heavy. Can the creatures in the South Park and the North Park interact with each other? In view of this, Beijing Olympic Forest Park considered a lot when it was built, and also took some relatively advanced measures.

One of the measures is to build a corridor bridge across the North Fifth Ring Road in the park. This corridor bridge can be used by people, gardening vehicles, and wild animals. In fact, it was originally designed for wild animals. The bridge is planted with very dense shrubs and is integrated with other areas in the park. So when you walk on the bridge, you don't feel like you are walking on a bridge.

From this picture, you can see that a hedgehog has crawled through. In order to find out if any animals use the corridor bridge, we placed an infrared camera on the corridor bridge, and the camera captured photos of animals using the corridor bridge.

The picture shows a weasel captured by an infrared camera, which is also using this corridor bridge. It moves very quickly, leaving only a blurry figure.

This picture shows a magpie. In fact, the magpie does not need this corridor bridge at all, it can fly over it, but it may think that this corridor bridge is convenient to walk on, so it still chooses to walk on it.

Vehicles can drive normally under the ecological corridor bridge, and animals can also use this bridge to cross the park. This is Beijing Olympic Forest Park's design for animals.

In the actual work of Beijing Olympic Forest Park, in addition to considering wild animals, we also consider how to manage the park, what plants to plant in the park, and how to manage the plants in the park in a way that is friendly to animals and plants, so let's take a look at the following case.

The bush - an animal paradise

These are two photos of typical city parks in Beijing. They are typically tall trees with large lawns and basically no shrubs in the middle. Why is this so? It may be because people want the place to look clean and open, and feel safer. So people don't want too dense shrubs.

But for many animals, they need some shelter to feel safer. The flowers and fruits of shrubs can also be food for animals. So what we need to do is to find a balance between the two. That is to say, in a relatively clean and tidy large grassland with trees on it, add some shrubs in the middle to make up for the missing parts.

So we found a piece of land in Beijing Aosen and discussed with the gardening department of Beijing Aosen to plant some new shrubs. The shrubs we chose to plant are all common in the mountains of Beijing.

For example, the one in the picture is Vitex, which is a particularly common plant in the mountainous areas of Beijing. In summer, Vitex is also a nectar plant, providing food for insects such as bees and butterflies. In addition to Vitex, many other species are planted.

The picture above shows a Benjes pile. Benjes are common facilities in zoos and can be seen in many venues in Hongshan Zoo. We tried to imitate the zoo's practice in Beijing Aoshan, using some dead branches and leaves to imitate bushes. In addition to providing a habitat for animals, what other benefits does a Benjes pile have? Benjes attract visitors to come closer and observe. The accompanying sign explains that animals need such a hiding place, so that everyone can better understand that these seemingly messy bushes are actually animal habitats.

Through the investigation, we can see that the number of butterfly species and individuals increased before and after the shrubs were planted. Compared with before the shrubs were planted, it may not be that there are more butterflies themselves, but that butterflies prefer to come to this area because there is food here.

We saw two rabbits fighting near the Benjes pile, they really enjoyed taking advantage of the mess.

This picture shows a weasel, which often comes to this Benjesus pile because it may also feel that this place is safer for it.

Volunteers also took photos of the little hedgehog sleeping in the pile.

The great use of reeds

The second case is about reeds. There are a lot of reeds around the waters of Beijing Ao Sen, and this case discusses when to cut these reeds.

First of all, we need to know that reeds are very important habitats. For example, the Chinese hwamei often uses the reeds in Beijing Aoshan in winter. The Chinese hwamei has a characteristic that its beak is particularly thick and powerful. The Chinese hwamei needs to break the reeds in winter and eat the insects in the reed stalks, so this bird is highly dependent on reeds.

Another species that is more dependent on reeds is the dragonfly shown in the picture - the low-spotted dragonfly.

You may not pay much attention to the types of dragonflies, but there are actually some endangered species among dragonflies. For example, the lower spotted dragonfly is a critically endangered species. The reason why the lower spotted dragonfly is critically endangered is that it likes to use wetlands with reeds, and wetlands are particularly easy to be invaded. In the North China Plain, such wetlands are becoming less and less. Beijing Aoshan happened to rebuild such a wetland, so we can see the existence of the lower spotted dragonfly in this place again.

Dragonflies are special creatures. Their larvae live underwater, and when they grow up, they have to crawl out of the water to emerge as dragonflies. The special thing about the dragonfly is that it emerges in April every year, making it the first dragonfly to emerge in Beijing. At this time, new reeds have not yet grown, so the dragonfly needs to emerge on last year's old reeds.

The reeds in Beijing Olympic Forest Park have so many important functions, and so many small animals rely on them for survival, so is it okay to keep these reeds all year round and never cut them?

This is not possible. Because Beijing Aosen is an artificial wetland, the water used here is artificially treated. Domestic sewage is treated and discharged here as urban wetland water. Such water contains a lot of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. If the water body is not purified, it may become very smelly due to eutrophication.

Therefore, the reeds in Beijing Olympic Forest Park also play a role in purifying water by absorbing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. After that, the staff will remove the reeds, which is equivalent to purifying the nutrients from the water. However, if the reeds are not cut, they will rot in the water over time, and the nutrients will return to the water, which will not play the role of purifying the water.

There is also a need for fire prevention in autumn. Reeds that are not cut in autumn and winter may be ignited by a cigarette butt.

So for these reasons, workers must cut the reeds every year. When is the best time to cut the reeds?

We have arranged a timetable for the organisms that use reeds in Beijing Aoshan. By analyzing the time periods when the organisms use reeds, we can find the time window for cutting reeds.

Through this schedule, we found that the time window for cutting reeds was very limited, and we had to make plans at certain times. Shanshui and Friends of Nature, as well as some bird watching enthusiasts and volunteers in the city discussed the plan for cutting reeds with Beijing Aosen.

From this picture, we can see that in autumn every year, for fire safety reasons, the reeds within 5 meters of the road are cut to prevent fires caused by cigarette butts. In spring, the reeds in the water that are prone to rot in the water are cut, so that the reeds in the water can be used by wintering birds from autumn to spring.

There are two red areas in the picture that are reserved all year round. Why is that? Because the low-spotted dragonfly comes out very early, so in the spring, when there is a shortage of food, it can use the dead reeds left over from last year.

Beijing Aosen has been managing reeds according to this plan for three or four years, and the plan is still adjusted every year. The staff is evaluating whether this measure is understood by everyone and how effective it is. We will also communicate with the workers who cut the reeds and tell them why they should keep these reeds.

The workers know that birds build nests on the reeds and ducks build nests below. When cutting the reeds, if they see birds building nests on them, they will keep the reeds.

These two stories are over here. You will find that the work of Beijing Aosen is not to do one big thing, but to do ten thousand small things, using many small things to make up the protection work. We hope to give you some suggestions, such as hoping that everyone understands that similar infrared cameras, Benjesus piles, and insect hotels are biodiversity protection facilities. We can get close to observe, but do not touch or move these facilities. For example, I hope everyone will not feed wild animals , whether in zoos or parks where wild animals appear. Don't feed them. The food fed by humans may not meet their needs. People getting too close to these wild animals may cause the spread of diseases and may also cause changes in the natural behavior of animals. Finally, I hope everyone can "mind their own business" and make more feasible suggestions for the protection of biodiversity in parks and green spaces. I also hope that everyone can "be a good teacher" and publicize the efforts made by parks and green spaces to protect biodiversity to the people around them.