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Vol.24 No.4 2010
Studies on Wetland Biodiversity in China
ZHAO Kuiyi 1, HE Shunping 2& LI Wei 3
1
Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural, CAS, Changchun,130012
Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS,Wuhan,430072
3
Hubei Key Laboratory of Wetland Evolution & Ecological Restoration, Wuhan Botanical Garden, CAS, Wuhan, 430074
2
This paper briefly summarizes the history of wetland research, the evolvement of wetland
science, and their impacts on the understanding of wetland biodiversity in China. A marsh is
the key type and basic component of a wetland. Defining the marsh and wetland plants is the
basis for understanding the wetland and its biodiversity. The comprehensive multiple factorial
classification principles and the multiple developmental models of the wetland are two
innovative feats achieved by Chinese scientists, and their application has further promoted
ecological research. The CAS Wetland Research Center has made historic contributions to the
study of the wetland and its biodiversity in China. Also, the paper discusses several important
tasks of wetland and biodiversity research.
Key words: biodiversity; wetland; study; China
Forty years ago, a group of ambitious new graduates stepped onto “the Great Northern Wilderness” of northeast China to conduct research into
wetlands. Although green vegetations extend thousands of miles on this land, very few people had ever lived here. For decades, these young
researchers walked through the marshes and swamps, enduring mosquito bites and facing the danger of various hidden traps, and made very
careful examinations to collect accurate data. Their work paid off, opening the gate to a knowledge kingdom of wetland studies in China.
248 Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Vol.24 No.4 2010
Ecosystem Protection
Wetland plant communities dominated by Phragmites australis in Panjin in northeast China (photo by Zhao Kuiyi)
W
etland biodiversity refers to an ecosphere
comprising wetland organisms, its environmental
factors and associated biological processes. It
involves millions of animals, plants, microbes, their genomes
and the ecosystem formed by the interactions between these
organisms and the wetland environment. As the wetland
ecosphere contains the most abundant biodiversity with the
highest ecological value, it is often called the “cradle of life.”
In the past several decades, the wetland and
biodiversity research in China has gone through several
revolutionary changes. In April 1960, China’s first wetland
research symposium was sponsored by the CAS Changchun
Institute of Geography (which became the Northeast
Institute of Geography and Agroecology, or NEIGAE in
2002) and the Northeast Normal University, with Prof. K.
E. Ivanov, a distinguished wetland scientist from Russia,
giving an invited speech at the meeting (Huang, 2003).
It was followed by several pioneering efforts of Chinese
researchers, including the publication of the first edition of
Mires of China (Zhao, 1999), the first volume of Wetland
Vegetation of China (Editorial Committee, 1999), the
first textbook An Introduction to Mire Science (Liu et al.,
2006), the first Mire Maps of China (Wang, 1999), China’s
first wetland herbarium, and China’s first wetland and
marsh database. These achievements laid a cornerstone for
the formation of the theories and disciplinary system of
wetland science. Since then, wetland science and related
biodiversity research have made progresses through
the persistent exploration and innovation of Chinese
researchers. The importance of these studies is increasingly
recognized by the academia, the public and government
officials at various levels.
T h e y e a r 2 0 1 0 i s t h e “ I n t e r n a t i o n a l Ye a r o f
Biodiversity.” Many countries in the world including China
have set up their own national committees for International
Biodiversity Year. The organization of the Chinese
committee reflects the central government’s concern over
biodiversity protection.
Retrospect and Current Status
1. Establishment of mire science
1.1 Exploration stage of mire research
The mire is the main type and basic component of
wetlands. It was called the “damp and low-lying land” in
ancient China (Ji, 1995). However, the study of wetland did
not become an independent research discipline in China until
the CAS Changchun Institute of Geography was founded in
1958 in northeast China, where wetland resources are most
abundant. One of the Institute’s major tasks was to launch a
nationwide survey of wetlands.
The key theoretical issues in mire research are the
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definition, classification and development study of the
wetland. In the beginning, Chinese researchers followed
the “phylogeny group classification” system established
by Russian scientists. The system argues that all wetlands
should be classified by the various stages of a uniform
development process, i.e., each wetland evolves from a low
order to a high order or from a juvenile to senile stage. The
different stages of maturity were used as the criteria for
wetland classification. According to this theory, the Sanjiang
Plain’s herbaceous wetland was considered in a low order
or juvenile stage, which would gradually develop into a
meso-position and high bog. However, based on the national
survey, Chinese researchers did not find any successive
evolving process from the herbaceous (low-order) wetland
to a bryophyte (high-order) one from Northeast China’s
Sanjiang and Songliao plains to the Yangtze Plain in the east
and the Tibetan Plateau in the southwest.
The Russian theory was questioned in the 1970s (Huang,
1988; Niu & Zhang, 1988). In the 1980s, Zhao Kuiyi went to
the Nordic countries including Finland, Sweden and Norway
where wetlands are abundant, and then to Canada and the
United States for scientific investigations. He found that this
theory is only tenable for frigid-temperate zones, such as the
taiga coniferous forest regions, and it was only valid in the
peat bog regions well-developed in Northern Europe.
1.2 Special projects
CAS attaches special importance to wetland research.
In 1992, the Academy launched a systematic survey and
classification study into China’s lakes and wetlands as a
special project of its basic research program on lakes and
wetlands. The research involved a supplemental survey
of China’s wetlands and the writing of Mires of China,
which were undertaken by the Wetland Laboratory of the
Changchun Institute of Geography. For the survey, CAS
researchers covered a vast area from northeast China’s
Sanjiang Plain to the Tibetan Plateau, and from the southeast
coastal areas to the northwest border regions.
Thanks to the three-year survey, a one-million-character
works Mires of China was published in 1999. It was a
summary of the findings of four-decade field investigations
by researchers from the Northeast Institute of Geography, as
well as an introduction to the basic theories of wetland study
and the evolutionary scenario of wetlands in a systematic
and all-round way, laying a foundation for the booming
development of wetland research in China.
In Mires of China, a wetland is defined as a special
natural complex with three interconnected and interconstrained properties: earth’s surface perennially inundated
by stagnant water or water-soaked soil, the growth of
wetland and mire plants, and peat accumulation or soil with
obvious gley horizon.
The standing water level of a wetland is usually about
2m deep. When water exceeds that depth, the land loses the
three properties and should no longer be considered as a
wetland. Instead, it forms a deep water body such as a lake
or pond.
The researchers also proposed, for the first time in
China, the definition of wetland plants: a plant that grows
and completes its life cycle in stagnant water or extremely
wet soil. Further classification divides wetland plants into
five groups: floating plants, floating-leaf plants, submerged
plants, emerged plants and hygrophytes (Zhao, 2006). The
clear definition of wetland plants is very important for
determining the wetland area. For instance, forest wetlands
are often distinguished by the presence of “indicator plant
species” or “characteristic plant species.”
The above two definitions can be used as the criteria for
Wetland plant communities dominated by Suaeda heteroptera in Panjin in northeast China (photo by Zhao Kuiyi)
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Ecosystem Protection
Wetland plant communities dominated by Nelumbo nucifera in the Sanjiang Plain Poyang Lake in northeast China (photo by Zhao Kuiyi)
differentiating various types of complex wetlands, and are
fundamental for the study into wetland biodiversity.
To depict the characteristics of China’s wetlands,
CAS researchers proposed “the principles and systems for
comprehensive classification of wetlands and the properties
of basic wetland types”, as well as their “distribution and
development patterns”. They stressed that the complexity
of different types of wetlands indicates that its development
in different places should follow different models (Huang,
1988).
Using different grading criteria, the CAS researchers
established a more comprehensive classification system for
wetlands in China. It represented a breakthrough in the field
with significant influences on the nation’s ecological studies.
And the construction of a “wetland reserve network”
was first proposed in essays like the Structure and Function
of Wetland Ecosystem and the Utilization and Protection of
Wetland Resources.
Over the past 40 years, CAS researchers have collected
more than 10,000 plant samples from wetlands all over
the country. Now the specimens are preserved in the
Chinese Wetland Herbarium, which is located at NEIGAE.
A Primary Catalog of Wetland Plants in China was also
published in 1995 (Zhao, Zheng, & Yi, 1995; Wang, Sun,
& Yi, 1995). All these work epitomizes the biodiversity
fecundity and biomass productivity of China’s wetland
resources.
The publication of Mires of China was highly
appraised by wetland researchers and administrators
across the country, saying the book has filled a gap for
China’s wetlands research and laid a solid foundation for
biodiversity studies. They believed that it had enriched
China’s ecological knowledge base and would play a
significant role in promoting the scientific development and
utilization of wetland resources.
2. Booming wetland research in China
2.1 Wetland research centers under CAS
The Chinese government has attached great importance
to the study and protection of wetlands. To deal with the
challenges of global resources, population and environment,
China joined the Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat in 1992. In
China’s Agenda 21, the preservation and proper utilization
of wetland resources are among the top priorities.
On June 27, 2004, the General Office of the State
Council issued the Circular on Further Strengthening
the Management of Wetland Protection, the first official
document for the protection and management of domestic
wetlands in China since 1949. The government’s move
has spearheaded wetland protection across the nation, and
corresponding research activities in this field have sprouted
out rapidly.
The CAS Wetland Research Center was inaugurated
in Changchun in northeast China’s Jilin Province on
August 7, 1995. Its opening ceremony was attended
by Prof. CHEN Yiyu, then CAS vice president and the
director of the Center, Deputy Governor of Jilin Province
LIU Shuying, and other government officials and leading
scientists from 13 CAS institutes, including the Changchun
Institute of Geography, Nanjing Institute of Geography and
Limnology, Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology and Wuhan
Institute of Botany.
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A Nymphoides peltata community in the Heilongjiang Reaches, northeast China (photo by Zhao Kuiyi)
While conducting large-scale surveys and research
projects on China’s wetlands, and hosting seminars and
workshops, the Center has trained many leading researchers
in the field. It also assisted the State Forestry Administration
to work out China Action Plan for Wetland Protection. In
addition, the Center has made recommendations to decisionmakers on ways of properly protecting and utilizing wetland
resources based on the real situation in China. An enormous
amount of consultative work has been accomplished with
significant outcomes.
The Center’s work has impressed the wetland research
community in China. Soon, “the Center for Wetland
Resources and Environmental Studies for Universities” was
sponsored by the Ministry of Education and jointly set up
by the Northeast Normal University and East China Normal
University. Later, several other centers for wetland research
were built up, and the CAS Wetland Research Center played
a leading role in the booming wetland research in China.
2.2 National surveys of wetland resources
The government decided in the early 1990s to survey
the wetlands across the country. In June 1995, the State
Forestry Administration organized China’s first workshop
on wetland survey technology in Yantai, east China’s
Shandong Province. The CAS Changchun Institute of
Geography was chosen by the Administration and CAS to
give lectures at the workshop. In order to prepare teaching
materials, the Institute set up a special panel of experts
from various CAS institutes, including LIU Xingtu, ZHAO
Kuiyi, LU Xianguo, JI Zhongchun, WANG Huaqun, LI
Wencheng, FAN Chengxin, CHANG Jianbo and WANG
Ziqing. After the edit of Zhao Kuiyi, the Instructions for
252 Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wetland Survey in China was finalized and taught by the
experts to trainees, who were officials and scholars from
all over the country.
Following the workshop, the State Forestry
Administration initiated a seven-year-long nationwide
survey. The survey involved tens of thousands of
professionals and was fruitful in three major aspects. First
of all, the workers thoroughly investigated all wetlands
that are larger than 100 ha in China, identifying their types,
areas and distributions, up to an entire area of 38 million
ha of wetlands. Second, they identified the composition of
wetland higher plants and the species and distribution of
the rare ones. According to the survey, there was a total of
2,276 species of higher plants in China’s wetlands. They fall
into 815 genera of 225 families, including bryophytes of 64
families, 139 genera and 267 species; ferns of 27 families,
42 genera and 70 species; gymnosperm of four families,
nine genera and 20 species; and angiosperm of 130 families,
625 genera and 1919 species.
Third, the researchers examined the wetland animals in
China, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, beasts, fishes,
and defined their species, geographical distributions and
natural habitats (especially the rare species). The survey
showed that the nation’s wetland trove was home to wild
animals of 25 orders, 68 families and 724 species, including
birds of 12 orders, 32 families and 271 species; amphibians
of three orders, 11 families and 300 species; reptiles of three
orders, 13 families and 122 species; and beasts of seven
orders, 12 families and 31 species.
The CAS Wetland Research Center has been actively
involved in the ongoing second national wetland survey,
which was initiated in 2009.
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Ecosystem Protection
Wetland plant communities dominated by Typha latifolia in the Longfeng Wetland in northeast China (photo by Zhao Kuiyi)
2.3 Wetland research stations
In 1986, NEIGAE established an experimental station
for wetland observation in northeast China’s Tongjiang City,
the hinterland of the Sanjiang Plain. The Sanjiang Station
became a base station of the Chinese Ecosystem Research
Network (CERN) in 1992 and a state-level field station
in 2005. Focusing on marsh and wetland studies on the
Sanjiang Plain, the station carries out long-term monitoring
of major ecological components and processes of the
local wetlands. It is now a center for the comprehensive
study of various ecological processes, resource protection,
and ecological and environmental safety management of
wetlands, and is the first key station in China for research
into wetland and marsh ecology.
In 2009, NEIGAE set up another three wetland
observation stations in northeast China: the Xingkai
Lake Station in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, the
Daxing’anling Station in the Greater Khingan Range, and
the Panjin Station in Panjin City, Liaoning Province.
A wetland work station for CAS academicians at
Minjiang River estuary was officially set up on June 21,
2010. Prof. LIU Xintu, a senior researcher with NEIGAE
and Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering cut the
ribbon for its inauguration. As the first of its kind in China,
the work station will conduct the monitoring of wetland
ecology, implement wetland protection and rehabilitation,
and build up a wetland database as well as a base station for
PhD internship (Media: Wetland China, by Fujian Minjiang
Hekou wetland 2010.6.23).
The CAS Nanjing Institute of Geography and
Limnology has made significant contributions to the study
of river and pond wetlands. As early as in 1988, it founded
a work station by the Taihu Lake for ecological observation
and research, which now as a field station of CERN
shoulders major fieldwork of scientific monitoring in south
China. In 2008, another comprehensive research station was
set up by the CAS Nanjing Institute by the bank of Poyang
Lake in Xingzi County, Jiangxi Province. The Poyang
Lake Station now comprises of a standard weather station,
several laboratories for biological, ecological, chemical
and hydrological studies and a number of core facilities.
It is going to build more experimental sites for materials
transportation modeling, lake wetland ecology restoration
and wetland plant ecology, as well as a lake-based automated
hydrologic monitoring station. By far, several monitoring
sites for the study of hydrology, weather, water resources
and biology are operational on the periphery of Poyang Lake
to regularly monitor the wetland resources in the area.
3 Conservation of wetland resources
3.1 Ex situ conservation of aquatic plants
As a complex ecological group, freshwater angiosperms
are secondarily aquatic. Based on traditional and modern
molecular phylogenies, the return of different angiosperm
families to the aquatic environment appears to have occurred
often, maybe around 100 times (Cook, 1996). Many unusual
evolutionary patterns of aquatic plants have received close
attention (Barrett, Eckert, & Husband, 1993). With high
economic, ecological and scientific values as well as unique
biological and ecological characteristics, aquatic plants are an
ideal group for biodiversity study both in theory and practice.
The wetland is one of the habitats most seriously
threatened in China. Habitat loss and fragmentation, water
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pollution and eutrophication and other factors greatly
endanger the survival and growth of many aquatic plants,
leading to the rapid decline or even extinction of many
populations (Yu et al., 1998). Ex situ conservation is a main
way to maintain the sustained survival of aquatic plants.
The Wuhan Botanical Garden (WBG, formerly the
Wuhan Institute of Botany) of CAS is one of the first
national research institutes that carried out a comprehensive
study into aquatic plants, which has been one of the garden’s
main research domains since its foundation in the 1950s.
Earlier research was focused on the taxonomy of aquatic
plants and the collection, development and utilization of
those with commercial or ornamental values (lotus and water
lily for example), and was summarized in two monographs:
Atlas of Aquatic Vascular Plants and Lotus of China (Wang,
Zhang, & Huang, 1983; Ni and Zhao, 1987).
Since the commencement of the Knowledge Innovation
Program, WBG has become a key institute on aquatic plant
study and a main base for ex situ conservation of aquatic
macrophytes (following the definition of Cook, 1996). Now
WBG has built the world’s largest collection of aquatic plant
germplasm, preserving 421 species of aquatic higher plants
(including all the rare and endangered species), and ca. 580,
150 and 30 varieties of lotuses, water lilies and fleur-de-lis
respectively. All the collections provide abundant resources
We t l a n d p l a n t c o m m u n i t i e s d o m i n a t e d b y M i s c a n t h u s
sacchariflorus in the Poyang Lake in east Jiangxi Province (photo by
Zhao Kuiyi)
for the biological study of aquatic plants and the filtration
and improvement of relevant germplasms.
3.2 Seedbanks and the conservation of aquatic plant
diversity
Seedbank is a common name for all the potential plant
populations composed by organs capable of reproduction
in soil, including vegetative propogules (rhizome etc.),
seeds, moss fragments and spores (Li et al., 2002). The
middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is now a
main area in China for research into wetland seedbanks
(Liu et al., 2007). Significant differences appear between
hydrologically connected permanent marshes (fed by local
runoff) and lakeshore marshes (more closely connected to a
regulated river) in their species composition and distribution
of seedbanks in this area. And different spatial scales played
important roles in controlling their species diversities.
Despite the potential for dispersal of propagules via the
annually pulsing river system (hydrochory), at a regional
and landscape scale, biodiversity is maintained mainly by
large-scale temporal hydrological heterogeneity and smaller
scale spatial and topographic heterogeneity (Liu et al.,
2006a). Seedbanks usually show higher species diversities
than the corresponding standing vegetation, and lower
frequency genes of the endangered wetland plants, such as
Oryza rufipogon Griff., were detected in its seedbank, which
suggested the potential roles of seedbanks in conserving
endangered plants and serving as the germplasm resources
for wetland vegetation restoration (Liu et al., 2006b).
Seedbank manipulation is considered a valuable way to
restore the damaged aquatic ecosystems (Li, 2008).
3.3 The fishing ban and ecological restoration of
rivers, lakes and wetlands in China
The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is
a suitable habitat for fishes to dwell, as there are plenty of
streams and lakes in the river. However, human activities
are seriously undermining the restoration of fish population.
Each year, a brief fishing ban period is followed by a more
destructive practice of fishing. In order to restore fish
population in the wetlands of middle and lower reaches of
the Yangtze River, the introduction of a year-long fishing
ban is needed. The possibility of fish population restoration
would be slim unless effective measures are taken.
A Future Perspective
Wetland biodiversity
Study on the relationship between fish phylogenetics,
molecular clock resetting and paleoclimate can be used to
254 Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
evaluate the historical formation of wetland biodiversity.
Fish makes up an important part of wetland biodiversity.
Fish fauna results from the interaction between organisms and
the wetland environment. Its formation is closely related with
Vol.24 No.4 2010
the changes of the wetland environment and paleoclimate.
To protect fishes, we must learn more about the evolutionary
process of their biodiversity so as to come up with specific
protection strategies and methods. By reconstructing
molecular phylogeny, resetting molecular clock and applying
biogeography, we can obtain data on the formation process
and formation time of fish biodiversity in a designated
region. With data of paleogeography and paleoclimate, we
can deduce the spatial and studies can provide theoretical
and technological guidance for us to formulate protective
measures. For instance, the molecular phylogenetic analysis
of Cyprinidae reveals the independent origin of Eastern Asian
Cyprinidae which originated from within the time range of
10 millions years ago and was greatly influenced by East
Asian Monsoon (Liu & Chen, 1998). Research also finds that
the fish fauna in the wetlands of middle and lower reaches
of Yangtze River is vulnerable. If we do not set up more
conservation regions and still neglect the long-term fishing
moratorium practice, the restoration of fish population in these
regions is likely to fail.
To study seedbanks for recovering and reconstruction of
wetlands
A close relationship has been demonstrated between the
wetland vegetation dynamics and its seedbank composition
both quantitatively and qualitatively. The biological rhythm and
seasonal variation of the above-ground vegetation can affect the
seedbanks, and propogules in the seedbanks can participate in
the turnover and succession of above-ground vegetation.
More reserves and reserve networks are needed for
the restoration and reconstruction of wetlands. A thorough
fishing ban and development moratorium is required for
restoring a healthy wetland environment for the recuperation
of its organisms. In general, wetlands support higher
biodiversity than land habitats do, and the wetland itself is
an important germplasm pool, which means that conserving
wetlands equals to building a germplasm bank.
Germplasms of wetland species
To launch special investigations on germplasms of
wetland species
The plant germplasms of a marsh is the foundation
of the sustainable development of our society, economy
and people’s well-being. It is also one of the important
fundamental resources for global strategic competition and
national ecological security. The germplasm resources of
wetland species, and those of wetland plants in particular,
haven’t been systematically investigated, and little data is
available so far. Hence, more investigation is needed.
To establish a platform for sharing germplasm
information on wetland species and organisms
Ecosystem Protection
A platform for sharing germplasm resources is crucial
for researchers to work out strategies on the protection of
wetland biodiversity across the country. Via a distributed
database system we can integrate information about species
biodiversity in wetlands in an all round way. The use of
supercomputer and the establishment of the biodiversity
database will effectively strengthen our monitoring over
wetland biodiversity.
Monitoring of wetland biodiversity
To establish a DNA-based identification system, a
biodiversity information inquiring system and a real-time
monitoring network
Wetlands boast abundant varieties of species. The survey
of such a complex system requires species identification
conducted by multidisciplinary experts. However, the
number of such experts available is too small for a largescale survey. What we need is an information inquiring
system on biodiversity and a DNA-based identification
system to meet the demand of wetland biodiversity
conservation. Both systems can identify the taxonomic
characteristics of samples rapidly through DNA sequencing
and access to the internet (Hebert et al., 2003; Peng, Wang,
& He, 2008). In fact, the DNA-based identification system is
an extension of expert identification, and DNA sequencing is
a media that connects the samples with the already identified
specimens.
A real-time monitoring system of the wetland
can send data about wetland biodiversity and animal
behaviors back to a computer platform for analysis
with the help of LAN, Internet and different probes
(above-water, underwater, hydrological, atmospheric or
meteorological probes). It can help us accurately assess
the biodiversity status of a designated area. For instance,
the real-time monitoring system of the birds in the Bird
Island, Qingdao Lake can accurately report the local
ecology and the behavior of birds.
To use e-Science, phylogenetic analysis and population
genetic diversity for the evaluation of the historical
formation of wetland biodiversity.
The use of a supercomputer and the establishment of
a massive database can greatly improve our monitoring
ability on wetland biodiversity. For instance, we can use the
method of e-Science to observe the behavior and population
of birds and fishes. By placing infrared or visible-light
probes underwater or on the land and connecting them to the
monitoring network, scientists can carry out remote analysis
with the image and data sent back by the probes via LAN and
the Internet. Also, DNA barcode can be applied to identifying
and managing the diversified wetland species, which is
conducive for the sustainable utilization of species resources.
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Networking for conservation of wetland plant diversity
(1) To enhance the construction of field stations
Biodiversity conservation needs lasting efforts. By far,
several different conservation systems have been built for
wetland ecosystems, and many independent information
systems for aquatic plants are also completed based on
systematic classification. But there is still a long way to
go for us to build a conservation network for wetland
biodiversity preservation.
(2) To set up an integrated conservation system
Although ex situ conservation of aquatic plants has
achieved great progress, it is based on the collection
of limited organism individuals which might lead to
the gradual degradation of conserved species and the
instability of aquatic vegetation in the long run. Therefore,
an integrated conservation system should be built based on
the traditional ex situ conservation. Some suggestions are
as follows.
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