Without giant pandas and leopards, how could it become China's first nature reserve?

If you drive 100 kilometers west from Guangzhou, leaving the busy world behind, you will see a dense forest in front of you. Maybe it is because of the lake on the top of the mountain that people call it "Dinghu".

The emerald green waters of Dinghushan | ana / Flickr

It is hard to imagine that in the Pearl River Delta, one of the most densely populated regions, there is still a well-preserved primeval forest. All this is thanks to the proposal 66 years ago to establish China's first nature reserve in Dinghushan.

Dinghushan does not have the world-famous giant pandas and Tibetan antelopes; and due to the endless stream of tourists and pilgrims, human interference is relatively serious. Why did this place become China's first nature reserve?

Botanist's Obsession

The story begins with the famous botanist Mr. Chen Huanyong, who is one of the founders of plant taxonomy in my country.

Chen Huanyong when he was studying at Harvard University | References [6]

In 1919, Chen Huanyong obtained a master's degree in forestry from Harvard University with a scholarship of $500. The money was originally intended for traveling in Europe, but he resolutely returned to his motherland to teach while devoting himself to botanical research.

At that time, my country's plant classification was almost blank, which caused many obstacles to Chen Huanyong's research. For example, some specimens needed to be sent to the United States for identification before further in-depth research could be carried out. He realized that establishing a complete specimen collection system was the first step to revitalize botany and protect plant resources.

Specimen cabinets in the South China Botanical Garden Herbarium | herbarium.scbg.cas.cn

From then on, Chen Huanyong embarked on a difficult journey of collecting specimens. He and his team went to Hainan, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijiang, Dinghushan and other places to collect specimens, which were then stored in the Botanical Institute he founded at Sun Yat-sen University. By 1938, the number of specimens had reached 150,000.

But new problems arose. At that time, the people set fire to the mountains to open up wasteland, and countless precious plants were destroyed. Plants can only play a better role in their natural environment, and specimens alone are not enough. Therefore, Chen Huanyong began to build a specimen garden to cultivate and breed endangered or valuable plants.

When Chen Huanyong was in the United States, he spent most of his time at the Arnold Arboretum, where he saw countless precious plants from my country. | John Phelan / Wikimedia Commons

After three years, the specimen garden expanded from the original one acre to more than ten acres, nearly the size of a football field, with more than 15,000 plants planted, and there are shade sheds dedicated to the cultivation of ferns and orchids. Unfortunately, one year after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Guangzhou fell and the specimen garden, which had begun to take shape, was destroyed in the war.

Oasis in the Tropical Desert

After the founding of New China, in order to prevent the extinction of my country's rare plants, in addition to the ex situ protection method of specimen gardens, Chen Huanyong also decided to adopt in situ protection - drawing boundaries for valuable ecosystems or habitats of endangered animals and plants, and implementing strict protection and management within the area.

As for where to draw this circle, Chen Huanyong recalled the hills he had climbed over the years to collect specimens, and gradually came up with the answer in his mind.

Aerial photo of Dinghushan and land type map of the Tropic of Cancer | dhs.scib.cas.cn

Looking at the entire Tropic of Cancer, most of the land is covered by desert, but the southern part of my country is full of vitality, like an oasis, and Dinghushan is located in this oasis.

The subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest here has a history of more than 400 years. The forest is full of precious plant resources, such as the relict plant Alsophila spinulosa and the raw material of precious spices, Agarwood.

The succession stage of the Dinghushan forest community has reached the top level. Whether it is broad-leaved forest, low shrub forest or Masson pine coniferous forest, they can all be seen here.

Monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest in Dinghushan | dhs.scib.cas.cn

The rich vegetation types provide shelter for rare animals such as the South China tiger, pangolin, and serow.

At the same time, it is also the closest primary forest to the city, which is conducive to exploring the impact of human interference.

Dinghushan has both animal and plant resources worth protecting and is an ideal place for scientific research. Chen Huanyong decided to first protect this "gene treasure house" at his doorstep to lay the foundation for the construction of a protected area.

Dinghushan Tianhu Reservoir, like a fish swimming in a green ocean | dhf.cern.ac.cn

In 1956, at the Third Session of the First National People's Congress, Chen Huanyong and several biologists put forward Proposal No. 92: "Request the government to designate natural forest logging ban areas in all provinces and regions across the country to preserve natural vegetation for scientific research needs." After the proposal was reviewed and approved, the State Forestry Department immediately drafted a draft and established my country's first batch of nature reserves starting with Dinghushan.

The many hardships in conservation management

However, as the first case in the country, Dinghushan Nature Reserve can be said to be "crossing the river by feeling the stones" in terms of management methods. Coupled with the lack of funds and staff, daily management depends entirely on the sense of responsibility and mission of the employees.

Protecting forests from destruction is always the core of management. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was no gas or natural gas, and the surrounding residents still needed firewood to make fires. As long as the villagers picked up too much wood or the diameter exceeded 6 cm, they had to stop the people, even their relatives and friends were no exception.

Dinghushan Nature Reserve joined the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) protected area network in 1979 | people.cn

During a special period, hundreds of villagers came in droves to cut down trees for steelmaking. The first person in charge, Huang Jixiang, and his employees immediately went to stop them. Over the past few decades, despite the vicissitudes of the outside world, not a single tree in the reserve has fallen under the axe of illegal logging.

Fire prevention is also a major issue, especially as there is a 400-year-old temple on the mountain. Burning incense and setting off firecrackers may cause forest fires.

On the evening of the Double Ninth Festival in 1987, a wisp of smoke rose from the highest peak of Jilong Mountain. Director Huang Zhongliang, who was just about to have dinner, immediately rushed to the top of the mountain after receiving a report from the observation tower.

Panoramic view of Jilong Mountain | dhf.cern.ac.cn

Under the conditions at the time, the only way to reach the top of the mountain at an altitude of 1,000 meters was to walk. Huang Zhongliang and his team, carrying heavy firefighting tools, completed the three-hour journey in less than two hours. At 9 p.m., the fire was finally put out, and the team was already hungry and exhausted.

Achievements are coming one after another

When Dinghushan was first established, there was a part of pure Masson pine forest. This kind of forest with single ecological diversity has no resistance to pests and diseases such as pine caterpillars and pine scale, and the thick dead branches and leaves under the forest are easy to cause fire.

Conifers infected and dead by pine wood nematodes. The invasive pine wood nematodes have caused the destruction of large areas of pine forests in my country, causing serious economic and ecological losses | Jianer

Therefore, the reserve began to transform the forest stands. They first selected pioneer tree species suitable for the region from the rich plant resources of Dinghushan, such as Schima superba and Chenopodium album. These tree species are drought-resistant and barren-resistant, and they appeared first in the process of ecological community succession.

Next, the researchers used them to create firebreaks in Masson pine forests and replace poorly growing pine trees. After the Masson pine forests were mixed with native broad-leaved trees, not only did they reduce the threat of fire, but they also ultimately expanded the area of ​​the protected monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest by 50%.

Mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest on the lake | dhf.cern.ac.cn

Many endangered plants have also changed their fate here. Erythrophleum fordii is a native hardwood species in my country. Its heartwood has an elegant texture and is resistant to water and decay. It was once endangered due to overexploitation. After artificial breeding of Erythrophleum fordii in the reserve, the seedlings were reintroduced into the wild. Today, this precious building material has become the dominant species in Dinghushan.

Alsophila spinulosa, known as the "giant panda of the plant world", had only a few trees left on the entire mountain. Huang Zhongliang and others conducted repeated experiments and artificially bred nearly 100 plants, temporarily alleviating the endangered status of Alsophila spinulosa.

The tallest living fern species | luoycy / inaturalist

The intact forest ecosystem is an ideal research base. One day in 2002, Wang Yingqiang, a doctoral student at the South China Institute of Botany, was observing Caulokaempferia coenobialis in Dinghushan when he suddenly discovered that pollen grains were sliding toward the stigma. He had never seen pollen grains move in this way before.

Ultimately, this was confirmed to be a completely new mechanism of self-pollination, and the research results were eventually published in the famous scientific journal Nature.

A: Flower of Ginger; B: Two pollen sacs of the anther (a) and the stigma of the pistil. C: During pollination, the two pollen sacs open at the same time, and the oil film containing pollen overflows from the pollen sacs and slowly flows toward the stigma (s) in the direction of the arrow; D: Dyed pollen membrane | Reference [7]

This is just the tip of the iceberg of Dinghushan’s scientific research achievements.

Dinghushan Nature Reserve has set up a field studio and a 20-hectare forest monitoring plot, attracting scientific research institutes from all over the world to conduct research here. At present, there are more than 2,200 academic papers published on Dinghushan as the research object, and more than 20 monographs have been published.

The experimental area of ​​Dinghushan was developed into a scenic spot very early. If you are lucky enough to come here and be intoxicated by the beautiful mountains and rivers of our motherland, don't forget the hard work and sweat of our predecessors who worked here to protect precious animal and plant resources and provide samples for my country's nature conservation cause.

Dinghushan Longtan Waterfall, where Sun Yat-sen once swam | Weibo @原始森林丁湖山

Looking back at the country’s first nature reserve, we can get a glimpse of the difficulties faced by all nature reserves on the road to development, and we can also clearly realize that protecting natural resources is not something that can be ignored.

These mountains and their protectors deserve our gratitude and respect.

References

[1] Huang Zhongliang, Ouyang Xuejun, Song Zhuqiu, Zhang Qianmei, Chen Xiuzhi, Lu Xiankai, Cai Shi. China's first nature reserve was established in Dinghushan[J]. Man and the Biosphere, 2016(06):10-17.

[2] Wang Chenfei, Zheng Qianli. Practicing both internal and external skills to master the “ecological boxing”: Visiting the Dinghushan National Nature Reserve of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [J]. Science News, 2012(05):80-83.

[3] Wei Ping, Huang Zhongliang. Forty Years of Dinghushan Arboretum[J]. Botanical Journal, 1997(01):5-7.

[4] He Yizan. Professor Chen Huanyong, the founder of plant taxonomy in my country - In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Professor Chen Huanyong [J]. Chinese Science and Technology Historical Materials, 1990(03):58-65.

[5] Wu Huanzhong, Guo Meixiu, Chen Chuanguo, Wang Yan. Discussion on ecological transformation of pure Masson pine forest around Dinghushan, Zhaoqing City[J]. Central South Forestry Survey and Planning, 2011, 30(03): 25-28. DOI: 10.16166/j.cnki.cn43-1095.2011.03.013.

[6]Del Tredici, Peter. (2007). The Arnold Arboretum: A Botanical Bridge between the United States and China from 1915 through 1948. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 48. 261-268. 10.3374/0079-032X(2007)48[261:TAAABB]2.0.CO;2.

[7]Wang, Y., Zhang, D., Renner, S. et al. A new self-pollination mechanism. Nature 431, 39–40 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/431039b

Author: Jian Er

Editor: Mai Mai

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