The amount and variety of wildlife in the areas administered by the prefecture-level city of Lishui, in East China's Zhejiang province, has hit a new high according to the results of a survey released on Dec 25, local officials said.

They said that in order to better protect wildlife and the region's biodiversity, the Lishui Natural Resource and Planning Bureau and the Zhejiang Provincial Forest Resources Monitoring Center conducted the first city-wide, continuous survey of plants and animals – which began in 2018 and lasted two years.

Officials said that the two bodies worked together closely in the endeavor, adopting various methods of monitoring to comprehensively gauge the numbers of species and the quantity of wildlife in the Lishui region.

According to the survey, some 724 species of wild vertebrates were identified, a net increase of 219 species over historical records. In addition, 3,623 species of plants were found, 372 species more than previously recorded.

Officials said the species of wild animals and plants in Lishui account for about 75 percent of the total species in the province.

"The aim of this investigation is to strengthen the pertinence of biological protection and improve the effectiveness of relevant management," said a person in charge of the Lishui Natural Resource and Planning Bureau.