Where can you find new species? No-man’s land, no vegetable market!

Jin Xiaohua inspects Motuo County in Tibet.

Zhu Binqing conducts a baseline survey in Wuyishan National Park.

Wu Gang is checking the damage and discoloration of the boletus after it was cut open. Photo provided by the interviewee

In the spring of 2021, in Wuyishan National Park, several black insects the size of rice grains caught Zhu Binqing's attention because they flew "stupidly" - "with their chests puffed out and their bodies held high". Zhu Binqing and his colleagues quickly took out their insect nets to collect them.

At that time, Zhu Binqing, an assistant researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and his colleagues were conducting a biodiversity baseline survey. They joked: This little black bug might be a new species!

Unexpectedly, a joke became true. The little black bug is one of the four new species recently announced by Wuyishan National Park - Tripterygium tridentatum.

What is the significance of discovering new species? Is it by "finding" or "encountering"? How to verify whether it is really "new"? What dangers will field investigations face? Recently, China Science News interviewed several discoverers of new species to explore the stories behind the discovery of new species.

Discovery: Accumulation is also an accident

Zhu Binqing spends one-third of every year conducting field surveys, but he does not deliberately look for new species.

"The discovery of new species is somewhat random. Sometimes you run all night and see nothing, and sometimes you get unexpected gains just by stopping to rest." Zhu Binqing told China Science Daily that in addition to luck, the patience and accumulation of investigators are also indispensable, especially the preparation work in advance.

Zhu Binqing himself is very familiar with the order Pteroptera among insects, but for this background survey, he still consulted a lot of information to fully grasp the characteristics of the local "old species" in Wuyi Mountain. This enabled him to have a clear understanding when discovering the two new species, Trichaete Nouqiu and Wuyishan Nouqiu.

"The Phascolarctos is very sensitive to the environment. Together with the Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera, they are a group commonly used for water quality monitoring internationally. Their existence shows that the ecological environment of Wuyishan National Park is very good." Zhu Binqing said that the most important thing in protecting species is to protect the native environment.

Jin Xiaohua, a researcher at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and deputy director of the herbarium, believes that discovering and understanding new species is, on the one hand, about understanding natural evolution itself, and on the other hand, about understanding the "family background" and promoting biodiversity conservation.

Jin Xiaohua has been studying orchids for more than 20 years and has published more than 60 new species. He said that discovering new species requires the discoverer to have a deep accumulation of knowledge, but most new species are hard to come by.

In 2016, Jin Xiaohua was investigating in the grape region of Myanmar. When passing by a tree near the village, he looked up and suddenly found a strange plant that looked like an orchid. After careful identification, he confirmed that it was a Phalaenopsis, and a new species.

Unexpected surprises followed one after another. In 2017, in the same area, Jin Xiaohua saw a few unburned bamboos in a burned bamboo forest. He squatted down and took a closer look. He found that there were plants growing at the bottom of the bamboos. "It's Gastrodia elata!" He immediately realized that it might be a new species. Sure enough, after investigation and verification, this Gastrodia elata was indeed a new species.

Wu Gang, an associate researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, had a 10-year-long "rare" experience.

In 2010, Wu Gang bought a kind of boletus called "Jian Shou Qing" at the market. It looked familiar, but different from other Boletus. "This Boletus is large and easy to pick, but most of the ones sold in the market are immature and do not produce spores, so they lack important morphological data for fungal species identification. In addition, we have not been able to collect specimens in the wild, so the identification work has stagnated."

It was not until 2020 that Wu Gang's junior fellow student finally collected it in the pine forest of Dali, Yunnan, which proved that this species of Jianshouqing represented a new genus and species.

In Yunnan, you can often find new species of wild mushrooms "lying" in the vegetable market. "Take the boletus that I study, for example. There are many common names in the vegetable market, such as yellow bald head, purple saw hand, red onion, white onion, etc. Among them, red onion is the new genus and new species I published, but I have never picked it in the wild. It may be picked by the locals because it sells for a good price." Wu Gang said that in order to do research, they also go to the vegetable market to buy wild mushrooms.

Verification: It depends on the eye but also on evidence

The discovery of a new species often relies on differences in appearance; the verification of a new species requires sufficient and reliable evidence.

Wu Gang told China Science Daily that the current popular method of species classification is to understand species by combining molecular phylogenetic analysis, morphological characteristics and ecological data.

However, he also pointed out that while molecular methods greatly improve the efficiency of discovering new species, they may also lead to other problems, such as "synonyms", that is, different people give different names to the same species, but the first published name that complies with naming regulations is the valid name.

Wu Gang has made such a "mistake". In 2016, he published a new species of Boletus, but in 2019, a colleague questioned whether the new species was a "synonym". The type specimen is the "name carrier" of the species. After re-studying the type specimen of a similar species, the colleague found that the fruiting body of the type specimen was immature and the original data in the paper was not completely correct. Further research confirmed that what Wu Gang published was not a new species.

"In fact, I compared the original data of species published by previous researchers and found obvious differences in spore size between the two species. I determined that it was a new species. The problem was that I did not study the type specimens of the published species. This kind of problem is easy to occur when you don't know enough about the research group you are studying," said Wu Gang.

In Jin Xiaohua's opinion, it is quite common for newly discovered species to "collide" with species discovered by previous researchers. As literature and specimens are posted online, scholars can more easily access them, and this situation and risk are reduced.

For the two new species discovered this time, Zhu Binqing and others collected the specimens and spent nearly half a year sorting, screening, observing and comparing them before finally determining them as new species.

Zhu Binqing believes that modern methods such as DNA sequencing and gene topology analysis have improved the identification of species whose phenotypes are difficult to distinguish, such as cryptic species and similar species, but they cannot replace traditional taxonomy. Ultimately, we must return to the differences in species phenotypes, which is also the interest of many practitioners. "I have been interested in studying insects since I was a child, and my colleagues and peers are basically engaged in this industry because of their love."

Wild: There are both shocks and surprises

Since he started studying orchids, Jin Xiaohua has spent more than 80 months conducting field surveys.

He believes that publishing articles is to solve scientific problems and should not be limited to the field or laboratory. However, field research is very important because it can obtain first-hand information and perceptual knowledge. It is an important process for cultivating students' love of nature, sensitivity to science, and awareness of biological evolution phenomena.

Field surveys are also a process of coexisting and fighting against danger.

In 2004, Jin Xiaohua, who was less than 30 years old, went to Hainan Tropical Rainforest to investigate orchids. Because the guide also liked to observe plants, they got separated without realizing it. To make matters worse, it started to rain heavily. Jin Xiaohua calmed down and judged from experience that the village should be in a low place, so he walked all the way to the low place and fortunately got down the mountain. Then he took a fellow villager's motorcycle and walked, and finally reached the county town 90 kilometers away and got in touch with the main group.

Another time was even more "deadly". In 2007, Jin Xiaohua and a dozen other people walked from Dulongjiang, Gongshan, Yunnan to Chayu, Tibet. After crossing the no-man's land and the pass at an altitude of 4,700 meters, they found that they were running out of food. Fortunately, after several twists and turns, they found the local troops. Due to the heavy snow blocking the mountain, the troops were also in short supply of food, but they still squeezed out rations for them to move forward. In the end, they walked for seven days instead of the originally planned three or four days.

To this end, Jin Xiaohua summarized several experiences of field investigations: safety first, be sure to use local guides and bring enough food.

Wu Gang once had an experience where a "disaster" turned into a "blessing".

In 2011, a group of more than a dozen people went to Nujiang Prefecture, Yunnan Province for an investigation. They originally planned to climb a steep mountain beside the Nujiang River and then cross it through a suspension bridge. However, when they reached the top of the mountain, they found that there was no way forward. By chance, a fellow villager passed by, so they hurriedly asked for directions and followed this road, but they still couldn't get out. In their anxiety, they "touched" a small ditch, so they walked down the ditch and finally reached the bank of the Nujiang River.

To Wu Gang's surprise, he actually picked a new species of Boletus on the day he got lost. "It was worth it to get lost," he said with a smile.

Zhu Binqing also had an experience of trekking in the mountains. It rained heavily that day, causing landslides on the mountain road. They had to abandon the car and walk with their equipment from 9 am to 2 am the next day.

Being in the wild for many years, the scientific expedition team also received a lot of help from local villagers, photography enthusiasts, and forest rangers. Zhu Binqing said that many villagers would take photos of rare species and send them to them, providing a lot of information. "Sometimes we would stay at the homes of villagers, and we could really see the brilliant Milky Way in the mountains at night. It was so shocking!"

China Science Daily (2022-01-24, Page 3, original title: From No Man's Land to the Vegetable Market: The Road to Discovering New Species)

Editor | Zhao Lu Layout | Zhi Hai

Source: China Science Daily