Construct a "national" botanical garden on the desert

In the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden, a plant named camel thorns surprised more than 10 domestic botanical gardens.

"You see, the above part of the ground is only twenty or 30 centimeters tall, but the underground root system is 2030 meters long. It is tied into the sand to find water to play a role in windproof and sand." Zhang Yuanming, director of the "Xinjiang Shengjiang Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences"), said that a generation of scientists, like camel thorns, deeply rooted in the arid areas of Xinjiang and continued to build two major botanical gardens to contribute to protecting the ecological environment and biodiversity.

Recently, a number of academicians, botanists and botanical gardens gathered in Xinjiang to launch a "joint scientific examination" to the two major botanical gardens -the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden and Yili Botanical Garden, and posted suggestions for the joint construction of the national botanical garden.

From wind and sand to people to retreat, the botanical garden has become a "sand control soldiers"

In the midsummer Turpan, the sun is burning. The thermometer shows that the temperature of the sand is close to 70 ° C. Walking in the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden, which is more than 2,200 acres, did not see hundreds of flowers blooming and lush wood. It was a desert plant that was stubborn on the deserted sandy land.

"When I first came, the wind and sand were raging, and the grass was not born. The 90,000 acres of wind eroded the flowing sand was forced to retreat." Pan Birong, honorary director of the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden, recalled that in 1972, the local government should be invited to the Xinjiang Institute of Biological Soil (now the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences The Xinjiang Shengcheng Institute) established the Turpan Red Flag Sand Treatment Station, which opened the prelude to the construction of the first botanical garden in Xinjiang.

The botanical garden in the desert is difficult to imagine. Turpan, known as "Huozhou", is seriously short of water, with an average annual precipitation of 16.4 mm and evaporation of 3000 mm. The winter is severe in winter, the summer is hot, the temperature difference is extremely large, and there are very few plants that can survive. Coupled with the main wind line, the wind speed is as high as 40 meters per second. After a strong wind, the roof of the botanical garden was opened, 11 cement electric poles were blown off, and the seedlings planted by the power of the two cows and two tigers. It was also blown without a trace.

But scientists persist. They rushed to the dry sandy areas in China and Central Asia, introduced wind -proof sand and drought -resistant plants, and repeatedly conducted seedlings and planting tests. The breakthrough progress was found to find a family -called "Sand Tujube". It took the initiative to take off the leaves into the "fake death" state when it was short of water. "Star Plants" for sand control. Later, they successively discovered and cultivated plants such as Liu Liu and shuttle, and built more than 2,000 acres of protective forest belts, making "people enter the sand and retreat" into reality.

In the past 50 years, the four generations of Turpan Desert Botanical Gardens have continued to struggle. There are more than 800 species of planting plants, and more than 700 desert plants have successfully domesticated, accounting for about 60%of my country's desert seeds. Right now, there are more than 500 desert plants in the botanical garden, of which nearly 150 kinds of desert rare and endangered plant.

"Along the world's longest desert highway -the Taklama Ganan Desert Highway, all of them are the anti -inverse 'star plants' selected by the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden, covering 436 kilometers." Zhang Daoyuan's tone was proud.

Since its establishment, the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden has accumulated a total of millions of desert plant seedlings for the Xinjiang Sanbei Forestry Project, Sandang and Forest Returning Forests, Desert Highway Protective Forestry Projects, and more than 50 tons of seeds. More than 8,000 acres have made outstanding contributions to the prevention and control of desertification and the development of the sand industry. In recent years, the plants and scientific research results cultivated by the garden have gone abroad and provided Chinese experience for desertification governance in Central Asia and Africa.

Two botanical gardens, one east, one west, jointly fight for "national"

On June 23, in Alma Town, Xinyuan County, Yili Prefecture, the Botanical Garden, which is located at the western end of the motherland, was officially opened to the public.

The Yili Botanical Garden was launched in 2012. It is currently open to the core area of ​​3,000 acres, including wild fruit trees in the local conservation area, wild fruit tree relocation conservation area, ornamental flower garden, pharmaceutical botanical garden, fruit tree seed quality resource garden, etc. Five specialized parks have been introduced and cultivated thousands of wild species resources. The completion of the botanical garden allowed the wild apple, wild apricot, and wild walnuts of the Yili River Valley to be protected by rescue.

Guan Kaiyun, director of Yili Botanical Garden, introduced the construction idea of ​​"Yili-Turpan National Botanical Garden".

Guan Kaiyun said that Xinjiang has my country's largest desert areas and unique biological species and resources, which have been listed as a key area for biological diversity conservation by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Establishing a national botanical garden based on Xinjiang, facing Central Asia, and radiating global arid areas is of great significance to ensure the safety and green development of biological resources in the arid areas.

According to the concept, this national botanical garden will rely on the construction of the two botanical gardens of the Xinjiang Institute of Xinjiang Shengcheng, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "One West" refers to the Yili Botanical Garden. The Yili River Valley where the park is located has a unique Tianshan wild fruit forest. It is rich in species and genetic resources, including a large number of unique species, precious cubes and relics. "One East refers to the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden. The special extreme environment of the garden provides good conditions for the collection and conservation and scientific research and utilization of special anti -inverse plant resources to strive to build a" desert plant and biological sand fixing base ".

Experts make suggestions and make suggestions to "diagnose the pulse" for Xinjiang Botanical Garden

At the recent "Yili-Turpan National Botanical Garden" construction ideological expert consultation meeting, 7 academicians posted advice and suggestions through online and offline. "Xinjiang should have a national botanical garden." Academician Hong Deyuan said that Xinjiang's special geographical location and fragile ecological environment determine the particularity and preciousness of its plant resources. Conservation, scientific research, development and utilization.

Academician Xu Zhihong, who has visited the Turpan Desert Botanical Garden and Yili Botanical Garden, said that these two botanical gardens are very prominent, and they have played a positive role in protecting the ecological environment and maintenance of biological diversity in Xinjiang. A window to show the biological diversity of the arid areas to Central Asia.

Ren Hai, director of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, combined with work practice suggestions that in accordance with the goals of "government satisfaction, scientists satisfaction, and people's satisfaction", to strive for local party committees and government support, improve the level in terms of forming talent teams, promoting infrastructure construction, and scientific research on scientific research. , Promote the construction of the national botanical garden.

(Reporter Shang Jie Li Hui)

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