◎Reporter Zhao Hanbin

  Why did the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau become an important hub in the evolution of biodiversity?

From the perspective of archaeology and genetics, what is the origin and evolution history of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau population?

What is the relationship between the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the evolution of plant diversity...

  "In the past, we paid attention to the issue of evolutionary history, but the actual impact of climate change and human activities on the environment may be what we need to focus on investigating in the future." On July 21, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences held the second Qinghai-Tibet Science In the third academic exchange activity of the test, the participating experts had a lively discussion on the ecological security barrier and the results of the scientific research on biodiversity.

  The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the roof of the world, the water tower of Asia, and the third pole of the earth. It is an important ecological security barrier, a strategic resource reserve base in my country, and an important protection area for the characteristic culture of the Chinese nation.

  Deng Tao, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in the Cenozoic, the strong uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau profoundly affected the climate, environment and ecosystems of the plateau and its surrounding areas, and had a strong drive for biological evolution.

The paleoecology, paleogeography, and paleo-altitude are constantly changing, and the types of vegetation and animals have also evolved from tropical animals and plants to those in the icy environment, and have spread to the world "out of Tibet", becoming a center of origin.

  Researcher Kong Qingpeng from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences introduced the settlement pattern and adaptation mechanism of the plateau population through the origin and evolution of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau population.

Through research, they revealed that ancient humans were active on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 190,000 to 160,000 years ago; modern Homo sapiens set foot on the plateau at least 40,000 to 30,000 years ago, and developed agricultural technology 3,600 years ago. Driven by innovation, large-scale permanent settlement has been achieved; in the process of human settlement on the plateau, gene mutation, gene expression, structural variation, and physiological inactivation regulation have played an important role in the physiological adaptation to the plateau.

  Professor Yang Yunfeng from Tsinghua University focused on the mechanism of soil microorganisms driving carbon dioxide emissions under the background of climate change, and introduced the variation range and time dynamics of soil respiration in key regions such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A series of studies can help people predict and understand soil carbon dioxide emissions under future climate scenarios. changes.

  Yang Yongping, a researcher at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, focused on the impacts of climate change, ecological environment, ecological security and human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Based on the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition, they found that the continuous "warm humidification" of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has exacerbated the shrinking of permafrost, the reduction of marsh wetlands, and the degradation of some biological habitats.

However, the ecosystem pattern is generally stable, the quality of the ecosystem is generally improved, the function of the ecosystem is improved, and the carbon pool potential is huge. Natural reserves play a crucial role in the protection of biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

  Sun Hang, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the latest results of plant diversity research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in recent years, revealing that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a key area for studying the evolution of global plant diversity and the formation of modern alpine and temperate flora.

At the same time, the scientific expedition analyzed the formation, rapid differentiation and adaptive evolution innovation mechanism of mountain biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from multiple dimensions, as well as the impact of global changes on plant diversity, providing theoretical support for the mining, utilization and protection of plant resources on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. .

  Che Jing, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the overall evolutionary history of the fauna of living amphibians and reptiles in the Himalayas.

The Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition has provided detailed evidence for the exchange, migration and dispersal of biological groups for geology.

Many discoveries have further reconstructed the overall evolutionary history of the living amphibians and reptiles in the Himalayas, providing strong and independent biological evidence for the "gradual uplift" hypothesis.