The Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently announced to the public a list of the first batch of 55 national ecological quality comprehensive monitoring stations, including Qianjiang Source Station in Zhejiang and Hebi Station in Henan, covering major ecosystem types such as forests, grasslands, and wetlands, marking the integration of sky and earth in my country. An ecological quality monitoring network has been initially constructed.
Ecological quality monitoring is the basis for objectively and accurately understanding regional ecological conditions and scientifically implementing ecological protection and restoration. It is also an important guarantee for building a beautiful China and protecting green waters and green mountains. Data show that in recent years, my country's ecological monitoring has entered the fast lane, with richer monitoring content, more complex indicators, and more diverse methods. In particular, my country is currently using a large number of emerging technologies and facilities in the field of ecological environment monitoring, and its technical level and monitoring capabilities have been significantly improved. This not only strongly supports my country's ecological protection supervision, but also contributes significantly to global ecological governance.
Staff at the Scientific Research and Monitoring Center of the Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration in Zhejiang Province view and extract monitoring data from infrared cameras. Photo courtesy of Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration
"Sky and ground integration" monitoring network protects the source of the beautiful Qianjiang River
Qianjiang Source - Baishanzu National Park Qianjiang Source Park is located in Kaihua County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, at the source of the Qiantang River. Not only does the world's rare low-altitude subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest grow here, it is also home to many rare wild animals. One of the first batch of national ecological quality comprehensive monitoring stations - Qianjiangyuan National Park Ecological Quality Comprehensive Monitoring Station (hereinafter referred to as Qianjiangyuan Comprehensive Monitoring Station) is located here.
The monitoring area of the Qianjiang Source Comprehensive Monitoring Station is part of an important area for water source conservation and biodiversity protection in the Tianmu Mountain-Huaiyu Mountain area. There are more than 2,000 kinds of plants, 500 kinds of fungi, and dozens of species living in this area. beasts, hundreds of species of birds. Water quality, forests and rare wildlife are all "objects of concern" at the monitoring station.
Compared with ordinary monitoring stations in the past, the Qianjiangyuan Comprehensive Monitoring Station has more advanced monitoring technology and equipment, which can cover a wider monitoring range and monitor at a higher frequency.
Lan Wenchao is a senior monitor at the Scientific Research and Monitoring Center of the Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration. Since 2018, he and his colleagues have used infrared cameras to monitor the entire Qianjiangyuan National Park and its inter-regional co-construction areas. Observations and surveys were conducted on large and medium-sized ground animals, mainly mammals and pheasants, and a large amount of data was collected.
Infrared cameras are an important means of monitoring the diversity of large and medium-sized forest mammals and ground-dwelling pheasants. Lan Wenchao said that in the past, infrared camera monitoring was time-consuming, labor-intensive and low-efficiency. The original infrared camera monitoring requires manual installation, card removal, and battery replacement. Infrared data collection requires manual screening of images, species classification, and summary tables, which is very inefficient. Nowadays, scientific researchers have realized the real-time image transmission of some infrared cameras through iterative upgrades of signal coverage engineering and infrared camera technology. At the same time, they have developed an intelligent wildlife identification system and used artificial intelligence learning technology to greatly improve the collection, classification and analysis of infrared data. s efficiency.
"Black muntjac, white-necked long-tailed pheasant, white pheasant...these are species we often detect." Speaking of the animals in this forest, Lan Wenchao has many treasures. "The number and types of wild animals are an important factor in the ecological quality of a region." An important indicator of the quality of the animals. In order to observe these animals, our center has established a total of 267 grids in the area according to a 1km × 1km grid, and selects a monitoring point in each grid to place an infrared camera. These several grids are In 2017, according to our observations, the diversity of large and medium-sized mammals and pheasants was generally stable, indicating that the animal diversity in the area has been effectively protected."
Lan Wenchao's colleague Wang Hao is a drone operator whose equipment can monitor not only animals but also plants. Wang Hao said that through multiple sets of drones, monitoring personnel have achieved full-cycle, full-coverage, multi-element forest appearance monitoring and disaster early warning for 252 square kilometers in the area, greatly improving the efficiency of ecological security patrols. "In the past, forest ecosystem monitoring was mainly done through traditional means such as sample plots and transects. Affected by road conditions, forest ecosystem monitoring had shortcomings such as small scope, close area, and incompleteness. The data obtained was not comprehensive enough, and the basis for scientific research conclusions was not sufficient. . Now we have drones and satellite remote sensing, which are not only highly efficient, but can also obtain high-precision data information."
Yu Shunhai, director of the Scientific Research and Monitoring Center of the Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration, told reporters that currently, the Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration, in conjunction with the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others, have built a comprehensive sky-ground integrated monitoring system for the biodiversity of the entire national park: "Sky" Refers to the use of aircraft to obtain high-precision terrain information, canopy structure information and spectral information of Qianjiangyuan National Park; "air" refers to the use of UAV cruise detection systems to conduct high-frequency, high-resolution cruise monitoring of key and key areas; The "land" includes a global plant diversity monitoring platform composed of 750 sample plots, a global gridded animal diversity monitoring platform composed of 507 infrared cameras, and a forest canopy biodiversity monitoring platform. Integrated sky-ground monitoring methods will play a synergistic role in ecological quality monitoring.
Farmland monitoring protects the land while also improving production efficiency.
Compared with environmental quality monitoring, ecological quality monitoring has richer content, more complex indicators, and more diverse methods. Judging from the 55 sites included in the first batch of national ecological quality comprehensive monitoring stations, the ecosystem types covered include not only forests, wetlands and oceans, but also farmland ecosystems.
The Henan Hebi Station Comprehensive Monitoring Station is located in the Yellow River and Haihe River basins and the alluvial plain of the Taihang Mountains in Henan Province. This area is one of the important main grain-producing areas in my country. Therefore, the farmland ecosystem has also become an important monitoring content here.
Henan Normal University is one of the applicants for the Henan Hebi Station Comprehensive Monitoring Station. As early as 2017, Professor Li Xuejun of Henan Normal University and his colleagues built monitoring platforms such as the Henan Normal University Ecosystem Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, and began to participate in the monitoring of farmland ecosystems in Hebi City.
Li Xuejun told reporters that the soil conservation area in the Taihang Mountains is a key area for national ecological protection supervision. Due to the overall low rate of excellent soil quality in the Taihang Mountains, it has restricted the development of agricultural production in the Taihang Mountains. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of the Taihang Mountain farmland ecosystem and promptly discover the constraints affecting the health of the ecosystem, so that we can effectively control pollution, improve agricultural production methods, improve agricultural production efficiency, reduce production costs, and protect this land.
Compared with ecosystems such as forests and oceans, farmland ecosystems are ecosystems that are controlled artificially to a certain extent, and the role of humans is very critical. Li Xuejun said that there are fewer types of animals and plants in farmland, and the community structure is single. People must continue to engage in sowing, fertilizing, irrigation and other activities to make the farmland ecosystem develop in a direction that is beneficial to people. Therefore, compared with other ecosystems such as forests and oceans, the monitoring methods and monitoring objects of farmland ecosystems are relatively diverse.
"At present, the main monitoring indicators of farmland ecosystems include two major categories, one is agricultural environmental factors, and the other is agricultural meteorological elements." Li Xuejun said, "Agricultural environmental factors generally include light energy, moisture, air, soil, nutrients and biological populations. , as well as people and people's production activities, etc.; agricultural meteorological elements mainly include light, temperature, air humidity, precipitation, evaporation, wind speed and weather phenomena, as well as the temperature of the upper layer of soil, etc. Compared with previous years, our monitoring content and The indicators have become richer, adding content and indicators related to environmental pollution and biological invasion, making the monitoring system more complete and scientific."
At present, Hebi City has initially established a farmland ecosystem monitoring network consisting of agricultural meteorological observation stations, agricultural meteorological experimental stations, and automatic soil moisture observation stations. With the advancement of science and technology, monitoring technologies and methods for farmland ecosystems are also constantly being updated. "The extensive use of photoelectric and information technologies such as the Internet of Things and automation has made the monitoring of farmland ecosystems more intelligent, efficient and accurate." Li Xuejun gave an example. For example, a software platform using emerging technologies can perform crop species identification, root system analysis, etc. Multi-dimensional analysis, the data can be connected to the national digital monitoring and early warning system for major crop diseases and insect pests, the national soil moisture monitoring system, and can also provide reference evapotranspiration, weather forecast, and annual extreme climate analysis for the next five days. "The Hebi Farmland Ecosystem Monitoring Station has just been established. Currently, it only has ground monitoring technologies and methods. In the future, more technologies will be added to realize monitoring, analysis, early warning, pollution source traceability analysis, data utilization, and comprehensive evaluation to establish the Taihang Mountain Farmland Ecosystem. Database and long-term mechanism for ecological environment monitoring and management." Li Xuejun said.
Staff of the Atmospheric Environment Monitoring Research Office of Tianjin Ecological Environment Monitoring Center are debugging microwave radiometers. Photo courtesy of Tianjin Ecological Environment Monitoring Center
Intelligent technology protects oyster reefs
In the sea area of Hangu Dashentang, Binhai New District, Tianjin, under the deep blue water, there are not only fish, shrimp, crabs and other aquatic creatures, but also the unique landscape of this sea area - oyster reefs.
Oyster reefs are an aggregation of live oysters, shells of dead oysters, and accumulations of other reef organisms. Like coral reefs, oyster reefs provide a place for many marine species to live and reproduce, and also play a role in purifying seawater. They are called "ecosystem engineers." For a time, overfishing caused a sharp decline in the number of oysters and reef area in the Dashentang waters. In order to protect the ecology of this sea area, my country has established the Tianjin Dashentang Oyster Reef National Marine Special Reserve since 2000, and the oyster reef has become a key protection object of the reserve.
Monitoring the ecological quality of oyster reefs is an important part of protecting oyster reefs. Every year, Xu Yushan, director of the Marine Ecology Office of the Tianjin Marine Environment Monitoring and Forecasting Center, and his colleagues bring sampling equipment and tools with them when the weather is fine, and take a monitoring ship to the Tianjin Dashentang Oyster Reef area to analyze the water quality and sediments here. and monitor the growth status of oyster reefs.
“Each of our monitors has a different division of labor and a lot of work content, such as lowering the water collector to 0.5 meters below the water surface to collect surface water quality samples, and using a plankton net to drag it vertically from the seabed to the surface to collect plankton. For samples, use a mud collector to collect sediment and benthic samples... Of course, the most important thing is to operate an underwater robot to take pictures of the growth conditions of the oyster reefs. Our professional divers will also dive to the oyster reefs to collect oyster samples. Finally, these data and samples will be sent back to the laboratory for testing and analysis," Xu Yushan said.
Compared with the monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems such as forests and farmland, the monitoring of marine ecosystems uses many unique technical equipment, such as the underwater robots often used by Xu Yushan and his colleagues. This kind of robot is dexterous and can move freely underwater. It also has a high-definition camera that can clearly capture underwater scenes. In recent years, many domestic underwater robots have been used in ocean exploration and monitoring work, and their level of intelligence has become higher and higher. These robots can carry various sensors, lighting equipment and detection equipment, take photos, take videos, collect samples, survey terrain... none of this is difficult for them.
Not only Tianjin, in recent years, in order to protect precious oyster reefs in the ocean, coastal cities in my country have comprehensively used various intelligent and digital technical means for monitoring. In April last year, the “Oyster Reef Online Monitoring Platform” in Weifang City, Shandong Province was officially launched. Researchers have built a complete set of smart ecological monitoring systems for oyster reef monitoring. They have set up six monitoring points in the oyster reef restoration area and equipped them with a variety of sensors, which can continuously monitor the growth status of oysters in real time and collect real-time data on oyster reef areas. water temperature, salinity, flow rate and other data.
On the homepage of the monitoring platform, environmental data, monitoring history, equipment status and other data are clearly listed. Through the video window on the left, you can also clearly see underwater scenes of small fish swimming back and forth between oyster reefs. These images benefit from high-definition underwater cameras that work tirelessly every day to collect and summarize the effects of oyster reef restoration at close range, from multiple angles, and in all directions. In particular, the three-in-one pan-tilt digital underwater camera can shoot and transmit high-definition video images in real time, allowing monitoring personnel to understand the underwater situation immersively without going into the water.
Monitoring data shows that in recent years, under my country's relevant protection measures, oyster reefs that were once destroyed are gradually recovering. Xu Yushan said that the oyster density we have monitored recently is significantly higher than the survey results in previous years, and the number of newborn oyster larvae has increased significantly, which shows that the implementation of ecological restoration projects has played a positive role in the protection and restoration of oyster reefs.
(China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News reporter Wang Yajing)