Snake Island, where the mysteries of life are hidden

"As we queried the records and found that this snake island bushmaster was already six or seven years old when it was marked that year, and it has been at least 32 years old so far. Through continuous follow-up research, the life cycle, growth and development, reproduction, wintering, etc. of snake island bushmaster can be determined. According to previous statistics, the average life expectancy of snake island bushmaster is about 20 years old. The discovery of the snake island vichworm over 30 years old broke the record of the highest age of the snake island vichworm and refreshed our cognition. " On the west side of Liaodong Peninsula, Snake Island, with an area of only 0.73 square kilometers, hangs alone in the Bohai Sea. In May of this year, researchers made a new discovery here-a snake island vichworm marked in 2000 met a researcher who was studying the life table of snake island vichworm unexpectedly, which made Wang Xiaoping, deputy director of Laotieshan National Nature Reserve Administration (hereinafter referred to as the Nature Reserve Administration) in Snake Island, Liaoning Province, very excited. This new discovery is surprising, and it also makes the beautiful ecological landscape along the Bohai Bay between mountains and seas more vital.

Thousands of monsters gathered and refreshed new highs in data, and thousands of snakes are entrenched in hidden life mysteries. July 26 this year is the first anniversary of the successful inclusion of Dalian Snake Island-Laotieshan migratory bird habitat in the World Heritage List. As the second nomination site of migratory bird habitat in the Huanghai (Bohai) Sea of China, this world natural heritage has not only become the first world-class "ecological business card" of Dalian, but also continues to attract global attention with its unique biodiversity and ecological value.

Over the past year, Dalian has thoroughly implemented the spirit of Xi Jinping's important instructions on strengthening the protection, inheritance and utilization of cultural and natural heritage, and paid close attention to the protection and development of heritage sites. The migratory bird habitat of Snake Island-Laotieshan has continuously strengthened the overall and systematic protection of natural heritage, promoted the protection and utilization of natural heritage with high quality and high efficiency, achieved new results, and continuously amplified the successful effect of applying for heritage.

Deepen scientific research cooperation and protect the beauty of biodiversity

Dalian Snake Island-Laotieshan migratory bird habitat is located at the southernmost tip of Liaodong Peninsula. It is the nearest passage for migratory birds to fly over the Bohai Strait and an important node on the migratory route of East Asia-Australia. It is reported that as early as 2013, Laotieshan National Nature Reserve in Snake Island, Liaoning Province was successfully selected as the World Biosphere Reserve designated by UNESCO, and it also became the first reserve in Northeast China to win two top UNESCO ecological business cards, namely, World Man and Biosphere and World Heritage.

The special geographical location and mountain and sea endowment have created the rich biodiversity of migratory bird habitat in Snake Island-Laotieshan, Dalian.

Snake Island hangs alone in the Bohai Sea. It is the only habitat of 20,000 Chinese endemic snake island viper, and it is also the only place for migratory birds along the mainland of Northeast Asia. It is an indispensable transit station for birds of prey during their migration. Snake island vichesis feeds on small migratory birds that migrate from north to south in spring and autumn, and has multiplied so far. During the breeding season of seabirds in spring, snake island vipers live next to yellow-billed egrets and black-tailed gulls. During the migration season of raptors in autumn, some large raptors will prey on snake island vipers. This is the unique and mysterious ecological chain of "snakes eat birds and birds eat snakes" in Snake Island.

According to reports, Laotieshan National Nature Reserve in Snake Island, Liaoning Province implements closed protection and management of Snake Island and its adjacent waters, and the staff take turns living on the island to carry out snake protection and scientific research. At present, the population of snake island has increased from more than 9,000 at the beginning of the establishment of the nature reserve to nearly 20,000, and the ecological environment of snake island continues to improve year by year.

The reserve continues to deepen scientific research cooperation, cooperates with scientific research institutes to carry out more than ten scientific research tasks such as Snake Island transect monitoring, enhances the depth of work, strives to cultivate a group of professional scientific research talents, and continuously improves the level of biodiversity protection. Develop an intelligent management platform, rely on remote sensing technology, use drones and other sensing equipment to strengthen patrol supervision and habitat monitoring, and provide a supervision and monitoring demonstration model.

In 2024, the raptor monitoring work in the reserve will enter its seventh year, and the number of raptor records in a single day continues to set a new record for raptor monitoring in mainland China: on September 7, the breakthrough of "Thousand Raptor Days" was completed; On September 23rd, the first "Ten Thousands of Raptor Day" was set in Chinese mainland, and several "Ten Thousands of Raptor Days" appeared in succession. The final statistics show that the cumulative number of raptors monitored in that year reached 30 species with over 110,000, and the highest number of raptors recorded in a single day was 17,576. It is reported that raptors are the top predators among birds and are highly sensitive to environmental changes. A large number of raptors choose Laotieshan area to migrate, which has become a true portrayal of Dalian's good ecological environment and harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

Multi-faceted linkage to create a world-class "ecological business card"

In recent years, the nature reserve has maintained a high-pressure situation of cracking down on illegal hunting through joint law enforcement, increased the frequency of drone use, and guided social volunteer teams to effectively carry out field patrols for bird protection, setting up closed isolation facilities at key intersections entering the mountains, continuously consolidating the results of bird net clearing, and jointly building a safe passage for the smooth migration of migratory birds. At present, no illegal bird catching nets have been found in Laotieshan for three consecutive years.

Not give up the subtleties, and work for a long time.

There are no bird catchers, but there are more bird protectors. The successful application has greatly improved the popularity of the nature reserve. Nowadays, when the surrounding people find injured birds, they will take the initiative to contact relevant departments and transfer the injured birds to Laotieshan Raptor Rescue Center. Since its establishment in 2016, the rescue center has received more than 420 birds of 42 species, and successfully released more than 220 birds after rescue.

Turn on the satellite positioning and tracking system on the computer, and the migration routes of two yellow-billed egrets numbered No.3 and No.4 are clearly displayed on the map. Last autumn, the two yellow-billed egrets set off from Snake Island and flew over the Bohai Strait, and then flew to the wintering ground thousands of kilometers away.

And this is just a glimpse of the continuous promotion of intelligent construction in the nature reserve.

Build a smart management platform to realize "sky-ground integration" smart management; A total of more than 150 monitoring devices have been deployed to achieve full coverage of the protected area, and the key locations are clear at a glance; Voiceprint monitoring is coupled with AI analysis to realize the ability to "distinguish birds by hearing sounds"; Infrared thermal imaging technology allows the "secrets" under the night of the protected area to be displayed on the screen; Migratory bird satellite positioning and tracking technology provides technical support for mastering the patterns of bird activities and continuously protecting birds... The level of digital construction of protected areas has been continuously improved, and ecological protection networks have been continuously woven.

Actively implement the development of "ecology + cultural tourism". On the eve of the first anniversary of the successful application for World Heritage, in order to let more citizens know about the world natural heritage, the Nature Reserve Administration and Lushun Museum cooperated to hold the "Special Exhibition of Spirit Snake Flying Feathers-Dalian Snake Island-Laotieshan Migratory Bird Habitat", which exhibited a large number of precious animal and plant specimens accumulated over the past 40 years since the establishment of the Nature Reserve. In the meantime, two activities of "Curator Show You to the Exhibition" were planned, and the staff of the nature reserve led the audience to visit the exhibition in depth, which aroused the resonance of the exhibition visitors, attracted more than 50,000 visitors during the one-month exhibition period, and opened up an important window for citizens to get to know Dalian's rich animal and plant resources and the world natural heritage at close range.

According to the Municipal Natural Resources Bureau that Dalian takes the construction of world natural heritage reserves as a benchmark and comprehensively strengthens the scientific management of nature reserves. In the integration and optimization of nature reserves, the authenticity and integrity protection of ecosystems are highlighted. With the number of nature reserves reduced from 36 to 23, the area of national nature reserves has expanded by 4,900 hectares, accounting for 81% of the total area of nature reserves in the city, which not only strengthens protection, but also realizes scientific layout to release development space. In addition, four national nature reserves, such as Laotieshan in Snake Island, were organized to prepare master plans in advance, which laid the foundation for scientific protection and rational utilization after integration and optimization.

Chinese-style modernization is a modernization in which man and nature coexist harmoniously. On the occasion of this first anniversary, Dalian will take the successful application for World Heritage as an important starting point for accelerating the construction of ecological civilization and the high-quality development of Dalian's "two pioneers", comprehensively strengthen ecological protection, innovate and promote the integration of culture and tourism, and strive to turn the migratory bird habitat of Dalian Snake Island-Laotieshan into a demonstration of "culture and tourism + ecology" integration and innovation in Dalian, making new and greater contributions to building a beautiful Liaoning and beautiful China where man and nature coexist harmoniously.