Author: Huang Hao
Wetlands are one of the most unique ecosystems in the world, also known as the kidneys of the Earth. As kidneys, it is clear the importance of wetlands for the cleansing capacity. In fact, wetlands are unique ecosystems with multiple functions and one of the most biodiversity ecosystems on earth. They have great economic, social and environmental value. Wetlands play an irreplaceable role in resisting flood, regulating runoff, improving climate, controlling pollution, beautifying the environment and maintaining regional ecological balance.
In China, national parks have different names according to different types. If a national park takes wetland as the main protection object, it will be named as National Wetland Park. The main purpose of wetland parks is to protect the integrity of the wetland ecosystem, maintaining the wetland ecological process, functions and ecological services. In addition, wetland park can also provide public sightseeing, leisure or scientific, cultural and education park is an important part and core area of minjiangkou wetland activities.
A journey to the wetland
On October 24, 2020, I visited the Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park to observe and photograph the beautiful scenery and various species found there. I was impressed by the abundance of plants and animals I observed. After the visit, officials from Fuzhou Wetland Management Department gave me a brief introduction to the development history of Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park and the impact on the wetland park during the pandemic period.
Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park has been selected as one of the ten most beautiful wetlands in China (Figure 1). The park is one of the components and core area of Minjiangkou wetland. (Figure 2). Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park located in the northeast of Changle City, it lies at the mouth of Minjiang River, ranging from 119°36′E—119°41′E,26°01′N—26°03′N, with a total area of 3,129 hectares. There are seven types of wetlands in the reserve, such as mangrove swamp, estuarine waters and intertidal beach, among which there are 6 independent wetlands with an area of more than 3km. At the same time, the wetland park is also a habitat for many rare and endangered bird species, an important wintering place for migratory birds and a concentrated distribution area for waterbirds.
Figure 1. Location of Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park
Figure 2. Location of Minjiang River Wetland
When you first enter the park, you can see a map of the scenic area, showing the different divisions of Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park. During this trip, I choose to go through the ecological plantation area, then enter the beach sightseeing Plank Road, and finally return from the wetland ecological agricultural area.
Figure 3. Map of Scenic Area in the Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park
Rich in plants and animals
In the ecological planting area, the soil here is dry sandy soil, and a lot of Garden Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnata Cav.) can be seen. This is an annual or perennial herb, 1-2 meters high, with purple, pink or white petals. This kind of flower is suitable for growing in warm and sunny environment. It originated in America and Mexico, but now it can be seen in the roadside, ridge and river bank of southern China.
Figure 4. Garden Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnata Cav.)
Another plant abundant in this area is the pink trumpet vine Podranea ricasoliana (Tanfani) Sprague. This is an evergreen shrub, about 1 meter high, a few up to 2 meters. Corolla funnel-shaped, apex 5-lobed, pink to purplish red. This plant is native to southern Africa and is widely distributed in Southeast China due to its preference for warmer and sunny environments.
Figure 5. Pink trumpet vine (Podranea ricasoliana (Tanfani) Sprague)
When I walked into the second area, a tributary of a river flows through the middle of the area and forms a small pond (not sure if it has been artificially transformed). In this area, there are several aquatic plants (and plants that grow on the water’s edge), including a lotus species (Nelumbo sp.). Lotus is a very common and well-known plant in Asia.
Figure 6. Lotus and tree species.
On the island in the middle of the pond, there are also several trees. In addition to the above plants, we can see some plants growing along the river like the Murdannia triquetra.
Figure 7. The herb growing along the waters edge was Murdannia triquetra
At the end of my walk through the wetland park, I entered the real wetland area. I was not able to walk through the wetland, as there was a fence blocking us from entering it due to restoration work that is going on there. Two main plants growing here – Kandelia candel, which is a mangrove tree that belongs to Rhizophoraceae family. The highest individual was only about 2 meters. It seemed very short because I was looking down from Plank Road. The bark is reddish brown with oval leaves.
Figure 8. The first sight of the restored wetland
Kandelia candel generally grows in shallow sea and salt flat in alluvial zone of river outlet. This plant is an important part of wetland ecosystem in southern China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan). Besides promoting the formation of soil sediment, filtering organic matter and pollutants and purifying water quality, it also has the functions of resisting tide and flood, slowing down wind and wave, regulating water flow and protecting embankment.
Figure 9. Kandelia candel
Another widely distributed plant is Phragmites australis. There is no doubt that this is one of the most common wetland marsh plants. The reed in this wetland is 1-3 meters high. Reed plays an important role in wetland ecosystem. Large areas of reed provide birds with habitat, foraging, breeding home. At the same time, the leaves, stems and rhizomes of Phragmites australis have aerenchyma, which can bring air to the roots growing in waterlogged conditions.
Figure 10. Common reed (Phragmites australis)
Besides plants, animals are also an important part of this wetland ecosystem. This wetland is habitat for two species: the bowed fiddler crab (Uca arcuate) and a species of mudskipper fish, which can be seen throughout the wetlands at the park.
The bowed fiddler crab inhabits the intertidal zone of tropical or subtropical coasts of China. I found them mostly at the beach near the mangrove and the mudflats between the mangroves. A few were also distributed on the banks of inland streams near estuaries. Uca arcuata is the most common crab in the mangrove swamp here, and is widely distributed in the eastern part of Chinese mainland. The most distinguishing feature of this crab is that the male has a pair of claws of different sizes. They feed on algae and can swallow sediment to take in organic matter and spit out the inedible parts.
The mudskipper (Periophthalmus cantonensis) is a small fish, whose body length is less than 10 cm. Mudskippers live in mudflats with mud and sand substrates, and also enter freshwater. They mainly feed on zooplankton, insects and other invertebrates. Most fish die of hypoxia and suffocation if they leave the water. However, in addition to gill respiration, mudskippers can also absorb oxygen from the air by the respiration of skin and oral mucosa.
Figure 11. Bowed fiddler crab (Uca arcuate) and Mudskipper
Interestingly enough, both the fiddler crab and mudskipper are burrowing animals. They dig holes in the beach and mudflats that have two main functions. The burrows are used to deal with the changing tides. They hide in their holes at high tide and come out for food at low tide. Also, the burrow helps them tolerate seasonal temperature changes. In winter, the hole is used as shelter from the cold weather.
Figure 12. Fiddler crab and mudskipper borrows
Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park is also the habitat of many birds, especially many migratory birds. On the display board of the park, there are pictures of dozens of migratory bird species. But it’s a pity that when I went there, it was not the migratory season, and so I did not see many birds.
Figure 13. Many migratory birds use this wetland.
Still, I saw one beautiful bird – a small egret.. They are all white except for the yellow beak. Because of the distance, it is impossible to see its exact size. They hunt in the shoals along the river, especially at low tide.
Figure 14. Small egret
Figure 15. A large flock of Small egret were foraging
Background and objective of restoration
After I visited the Wetland Park, I had a brief exchange with the staff of Fuzhou Wetland Management Department. He gave me a brief introduction to Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park. The wetland was just a common river mouth and beach in the late 1990s. At that time, the surrounding area was mainly agricultural land, and some dredgers would dig sand upstream within the river. With the population expansion and the acceleration of urbanization, land resources became scarce, so people began to reclaim wetlands in large areas. This led to a significant decline in wetland area. In addition, industrial and agricultural wastewater is directly discharged into the river without treatment. Livestock and poultry breeding pollution and domestic pollution are becoming increasingly prominent, coupled with the leakage of oil pollution in the port, which makes the water quality continue to deteriorate. Over exploitation of wetland resources and deterioration of water quality have led to the degradation of wetland ecosystem function and the reduction of biological resources. It also poses a threat to the natural habitats of many migratory birds in the region. Under these circumstances, the government decided to build a wetland park here. Its purpose is to protect the existing wetland resources, and to further restore the damaged wetland.
In 2007, the wetland area was targeted as the main area for protection on the Chinese mainland, as a typical coastal wetland ecosystem, rare and endangered species of wild animal and the abundant waterfowl resources. Then, in 2008, the wetland area was officially identified as a national wetland park.
In the protection plan of Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park, protection and restoration are two themes throughout. The area is divided into five levels of protection, namely strict protection area, restoration protection area, monitoring area, transition area and activity area. Different levels of protection measures are designated for different areas. The most strictly protected central area is prohibited from any human intervention, including scientific investigation. However, many problems faced by Minjiang Estuary Wetland need human intervention, such as the rapid expansion of alien species in this area. If human intervention in the core area is prohibited, biodiversity will be seriously damaged, which is against the original intention of conservation. Therefore, in the central region, the government still carries out some human intervention measures to protect the wetland from degredation.
Figure 16. Tributaries of Minjiang River
Tourism and epidemic situation
In addition to protection, tourism is also an important consideration in the design of the Minjiang River Estate National Wetland Park. There are three reasons why tourism is included in the overall planning of wetland ecosystem protection: first, ecotourism can play a good role in environmental education for citizens. The wetland park not only serves as a leisure area for citizens, but can communicate to visitors (including local residents and tourists from all over China) the importance beauty of wetlands. In the Wetland Park, you can see many display boards and educational signs introducing all kinds of creatures. Such tourist facilities attract many tourists, especially children. In the design of tourism facilities, the concept of Greenway is referred to in the overall planning. Planners have designed different corridors for visitors to get close to nature.
Second, tourism can bring additional economic income to local residents. As mentioned above, this area was originally used as agricultural land by local residents. Now that it’s a National Wetland Park, local residents can’t grow in this area. In order to enable these residents to have enough income to support their families, the wetland park officials will employ local people to maintain the park and conduct demonstration planting in the ecological agriculture planting area. In addition, there are also some tourism service facilities around the Wetland Park, such as restaurants and souvenir shops. These commercial facilities also provide jobs for local residents.
When discussing the impact of the pandemic on the Wetland Park protection plan and the tourism situation with the wetland managers, I learned that during the worst period of the pandemic, the tourism services of the park were suspended. Unlike other countries, people in mainland China stayed at home during the lock down. As control of the coronavirus improved, the wetland park was reopened to tourists. The park is not-for-profit and is funded entirely by the government. Therefore, conservation planning and tourism services are two separate plans. The suspension of tourism services did not affect the continuation of the protection plan. When I went to the park, the epidemic in Chinese mainland was not so serious. Therefore, there are already quite a number of tourists in the park. Among these tourists, the largest number is the tourists who come by family. Many children ran on the plank road, pointing to the creatures in the wetland and cheering happily. This is perhaps the simplest joy that wetlands can bring to people.
Leave a Reply