Hou Zhong'e: Why is it said that the Tianshan Mountains are the origin of cold-water creatures in the world?

Urumqi, 4 April (ZXS) -- Why is it said that the Tianshan Mountains are the origin of the world's cold-water organisms?

——Interview with Hou Zhong'e, researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Written by Gou Jipeng

The results of the third comprehensive scientific expedition to Xinjiang were previously announced, and one of the important results was the discovery of a new species of hooked shrimp in the basin of the Irtysh River (hereinafter referred to as "Erhe River"). Studies have proved that hook shrimp originated in the Tianshan Mountains, and also proved that the Tianshan Mountains and its surrounding areas are the origin of cold-water organisms in the world.

How did the team discover the new species of hooked shrimp? How did hooked shrimp get out of the origin of the Tianshan Mountains? How to prove that the Tian Shan is the origin of the world's cold-water organisms? Hou Zhong'e, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently accepted an exclusive interview with the "East-West Question" of China News Agency to answer this.

The Irtysh River in spring is picturesque. Photo courtesy of Altay Regional Media Center

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: What is unique about hooked shrimp? How did you and your team discover a new species of hooked shrimp in the Ehe River Basin?

Hou Zhong'e: Hooked shrimp are widely distributed in streams and lakes, camp benthic life, and are important environmental indicator organisms. Hook shrimp breathes by gill flap, which has high requirements for oxygen content and chemical composition in the water body, and is very sensitive to environmental changes.

In 2022, the third Xinjiang comprehensive scientific investigation project on the ecosystem and biodiversity of the Ehe River Basin carried out systematic investigation and sampling in the Ehe River Basin, measured the basic hydrological indicators of each sampling point and aquatic biodiversity data such as hook shrimp in detail, and collected more than 2000,<> specimens such as hook shrimp.

Through scientific investigation and historical data analysis, we discovered a new species of hook shrimp unique to the Ehe River Basin, and named it "Hebuxai hook shrimp". The species composition and distribution characteristics of hooked shrimp in various river basins in Xinjiang were also clarified, and the hook shrimp resource bank and molecular information database were constructed, and it was found that the Ehe River Basin contained rich cold-water biodiversity, and new species needed to be further explored.

Distribution map of hooked shrimp in the Irtysh River and new species of hooked shrimp. Photo courtesy of interviewee

China News Agency: How to prove that the Tianshan Mountains are the origin of the world's cold-water creatures? What is the value of this for global biodiversity research?

Hou Zhong'e: Hook shrimp is the dominant group in alpine lakes, widely distributed in alpine lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Tianshan Mountains. Based on the molecular data and 567 distribution data of 3180 hooked shrimp worldwide, we integrated the application of biogeography and niche simulation, and found that after the origin of the lake hook shrimp from the Tianshan Mountains, it evolved and expanded along three routes: west to the Alps, south to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, east to northern East Asia and along the Bering Land Bridge to the alpine lakes of the Rocky Mountains, and colonized into glacial lakes in the northern boreal zone. After the hooked shrimp walked out of the Tianshan Mountain of origin, the differentiation rate accelerated.

The Third Xinjiang Comprehensive Scientific Investigation Project carried out systematic investigation and sampling of the Ecosystem and Biodiversity Survey Project in the Erhe River Basin. Photo courtesy of interviewee

Hook shrimp is an important aquatic organism for sensing climate change, and studying the distribution pattern of its species diversity is of great significance for in-depth understanding of climate evolution and animal response mechanism to climate change, which provides a theoretical basis for biodiversity investigation and prediction of the response mechanism of cold-loving organisms under the background of climate change, and also provides a scientific basis for the protection of cold water resources.

The scientific community believes that global warming will drive species distribution to the poles and migrate to higher altitudes; A cooler climate will drive species to move towards the equator and at lower altitudes. As a typical representative of cold-loving organisms, hook shrimp spread along the boreal zone in the process of climate cooling, and its adaptation mode to global temperature changes is different from the above view. This new diffusion model to address climate change reflects that there are still many unanswered mysteries in the relationship between climate change and biodiversity.

Global evolution pattern and future change trend of lake hook shrimp. Photo courtesy of interviewee

China News Agency: How did hooked shrimp get out of the origin of the Tianshan Mountains? What kind of distribution law is presented?

Hou Zhong'e: The average annual temperature is the key factor determining the distribution of hooked shrimp, and the suitable distribution area is larger in the colder period (last glacial maximum, LGM) than in the warm climate period (Mid-Holocene). Future warming (2070) may lead to a shrinking distribution in Europe, East Asia and the Tian Shan, while expanding its distribution to high altitudes and latitudes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The field investigation found that alpine lakes are the channel of global migration and expansion of cold-water hooked shrimp, and the cooling of the Pleistocene climate has formed a large number of alpine lakes or glacial lakes, driving hook shrimp to colonize from the Tianshan Mountains to global alpine lakes and northern boreal glacial lakes, and the study defines this new differentiation method as "budding differentiation". The study also found that future warming will lead to the limitation of hooked shrimp to higher altitudes and higher latitudes, resulting in reduced genetic diversity.

Located in the scenic area of Xinjiang Serimu Lake in the Tianshan Mountain Range, the blue water and the sky are the same color, reflecting the distant peaks. Photo by Zhang Xinglong

China News Agency: What is the important position of the Tianshan Mountains, which straddles four countries from east to west, in global biodiversity conservation? What other important achievements have been made in biodiversity conservation of the Third Xinjiang Comprehensive Scientific Expedition?

Hou Zhong'e: The Tianshan Mountains are huge water towers in arid areas, the birthplace of many rivers and lakes, and rich aquatic biodiversity. Tianshan is the origin of many cold-loving animals, because the migration of aquatic animals is limited by the connectivity of water systems, the distribution area is narrow, and it is easy to affect climate and environmental changes, and it is necessary to increase the protection of streams, lakes and other ecological environments.

View the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang from above. Photo by Hu Ge

"Xinjiang Tianshan" has significant biodiversity and is an important habitat for remnant species in the mountains of Central Asia, many rare and endangered species and endemic species, highlighting the biological evolution process of this area, which was gradually replaced by the modern dry Mediterranean flora from warm and wet flora. The phased results of the third Xinjiang scientific expedition supported the construction of ecological barriers and biodiversity conservation in Xinjiang, and 2 new species of bryophytes and 39 new Chinese records of parasitic natural enemies insects were also found in the wild fruit forest area of the Tianshan Mountains. (End)

Respondent Profile:

Hou Zhong'e, researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Hou Zhong'e is a researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the leader of the crustacean biogeography research group. He is engaged in the research of hook shrimp taxonomy and systematics, biogeography and systematic genomics, and found 4 new species in 102 new genera of hook shrimp. He has published more than 80 papers in Global Change Biology, PNAS, Biological Reviews, Molecular Ecology, Journal of Biogeography, Cladistics, etc., and his research results have been cited 1100 times.