China News Service, Xining, June 20th, title: "Yellow to green" and "less to more" China's largest inland saltwater lake completes ecological transformation
Author Li Jiangning Yin Ning
The Qaidam Basin and the Hehuang Valley are connected from east to west, and the source of the Three Rivers and Qilian Mountains from north to south. Qinghai Lake, China's largest inland saltwater lake, is like a warm sapphire inlaid on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Data map: The blue waves of Qinghai Lake are picturesque in summer.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jiangning
In recent years, the grassland around Qinghai Lake has deteriorated from severe degradation to "greening of the sand"; the lake area has been continuously reduced to "expanded" for 15 consecutive years, returning to the level of the 1960s, and the bird island has become an "isolated island." ; Qinghai Lake naked carp (commonly known as Huangyu) has gone from being on the brink of exhaustion to "Yuxiang shallow bottom"; the flagship species of Przewalski's gazelle has gone from almost extinction to the increasing population; the wetland indicator species (water bird) diversity has increased... Qinghai Lake is undergoing a transformation from ecological degradation to "great beauty and cleanness".
In June, it was the migration season of Huangyu again. In Quanji Township, Gangcha County, Qinghai Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, located on the north shore of Qinghai Lake, Quanji River began to stage the annual "half river and half river fish" wonder.
Naked carp lives in Qinghai Lake, the largest saltwater lake in inland China. As the only large-scale wild commercial fish in Qinghai Lake, naked carp occupies the core position of the "water-fish-bird-grass" ecosystem.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the number of naked carps in Qinghai Lake was drastically reduced due to a large number of man-made killings, shrinking rivers, and the increasing degradation of the breeding waters of naked carps. In 2002, the reserve of naked carps in Qinghai Lake was only 2592 tons.
In 2004, it was listed as an endangered species in the "Red List of Chinese Species" by the China Commission for International Cooperation in Environment and Development.
"Since 2003, Qinghai has fully implemented the closure of the lake for fish breeding and zero fishing. All localities and departments have also cleaned up the main rivers and channels of Qinghai Lake, and designed scientific and reasonable'fish passages' to ensure that the'life passages' of naked carp are unblocked. After the establishment of the Naked Carp Rescue Center, we began to study the artificial reproduction of naked carp, so that the naked carp can be effectively protected." said Shi Jianquan, director of the Qinghai Lake Naked Carp Rescue Center.
According to the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, since 2002, Qinghai Province has released a total of 158 million Qinghai Lake naked carps into the Qinghai Lake Basin and 16.9 million piebald naked carps in the Yellow River Basin.
So far, the Qinghai Lake naked carp reserves have reached 100.4 thousand tons, an increase of nearly 40 times compared with the initial period of protection.
Qinghai Lake has initially formed a life community of "purifying water with fish, raising water with fish, inhibiting algae with fish, and controlling grass with fish".
In addition, the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve Management Bureau monitored 24 major bird habitats, including Bird Island and Haixin Mountain, and detected 47 species of waterbirds, with a number of more than 35,900. Among them, China’s national first-level protected animal black There were 48 necked cranes, and the number was basically the same year-on-year.
"Qinghai Lake has become the habitat and breeding place with the most concentrated populations of migratory birds in China. At the same time, it serves as the intersection of the two migratory bird migration routes of Central Asia and East Asia. Qinghai Lake is an important stop and transfer station during the migration of migratory birds." Qinghai Lake is a national-level nature. Said He Yubang, director of the Reserve Management Bureau.
In June, Qinghai Lake also ushered in the breeding season of Przewalski's gazelle. The Przewalski's gazelle is the smallest species of mammals endemic to China. Qinghai Lake is the only remaining habitat of the Przewalski's gazelle in the world.
In mid-June, Wu Yonglin, a manager and protector of the South Bank Conservation Station of Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve, was busy walking through the 400 acres of Przewalski's gazelle activity area in the reserve.
In order to ensure the life safety of individual Przewalski’s gazelle females and young antelopes, and prevent foxes, wolves, Tibetan dogs and other carnivores from predation, Wu Yonglin and the staff of the protection station need to do a lot of work in tracking and monitoring, including fence inspections, population numbers, Monitoring statistics of population structure and gender, etc.
The South Bank Conservation Station of Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve was established in 2004. It is the only protection station in China that rescues and artificially breeds Przewalski's gazelle.
Since its establishment, the number of artificially domesticated and reproduced populations has increased year by year from scratch, from small to large, and has accumulated first-hand information and valuable work experience for the protection and research of this critically endangered species, which has been well preserved and established. Gene bank.
The census showed that in 2007, the population of Przewalski's gazelle was about 300. In recent years, with the joint assistance of private volunteers and official rescue centers, the population of Przewalski's gazelle has increased by about 9 times in 14 years, and the average annual population is stable. In more than 2700.
"After years of construction and management, the overall ecological environment of the reserve is currently improving, which is manifested as'three increases, three decreases, and one unchanged.' The area of wetland continues to increase, the coverage of high-density vegetation continues to expand, and the overall ecological function of Qinghai Lake Continued enhancement. The area of sandy land, bare land, and salt-salinized land in the reserve continues to decrease." He Yubang, director of the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, told reporters.
During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday that just ended, there were a lot of tourists in the Erlangjian Scenic Area of Qinghai Lake.
Huang Lu, a tourist from Hebei, held up her mobile phone to take pictures of the brown-headed gulls flying by the lake to "please feed".
"China's most beautiful lake lives up to its reputation, water birds fly freely, and the lake water is azure and translucent. A quick shot is the mobile phone desktop." Huang Lu said.
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