A sweeping view from the air of Mazhou Island. [Photo/xuexi.cn]
Mazhou Island, located in the county level city of Jingjiang – administered by Taizhou city in East China's Jiangsu province – welcomed four experts recently from the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, or NIES.
Experts from NIES observe birds on Mazhou Island on Jan 9-11. [Photo/xuexi.cn]
They were there to conduct the first audit of the year on biodiversity, including the rich population of birds.
"Winter triggers the collective migration of bird populations and as an important station along the East Asia-Australia migratory bird route, observing them on Mazhou Island in winter may lead to the discovery of new bird species," said Cao Mingchang, head of the Yangtze River Biodiversity Conservation Scientific Observation and Research Station, who is also a NIES researcher.
Cao said the biodiversity observation or audit on Jan 9-11 for Mazhou Island was the first of its kind there this year.
Mazhou Island is home to 243 species of higher terrestrial plants and 224 species of terrestrial vertebrates, data from the new research shows. [Photo/zhjjwx.jsjjw.cn]
NIES has completed the construction of three, 1-hectare fixed observation sites, eight fixed observation sample lines and 13 sets of high-definition video monitoring systems on Mazhou Island.
A total of 243 species of higher terrestrial plants and 224 species of terrestrial vertebrates were found there. They included six species of national key protected plants and four species of wild animals under first-class national protection.