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New members such as the Red-crowned Crane and the Asian Long winged Bat have been added to the biodiversity catalog of Nanjing, according to a biodiversity research team at Nanjing Agricultural University. The population size of wild animals and plants is a barometer of a region"s ecological environment. With the continuous improvement of ecology, more and more rare and endangered species have been discovered in Jiangsu in recent years.

Recently, the biodiversity research team of Nanjing Agricultural University tracked and observed a family of red-crowned cranes that had wintered in Shijiu Lake for three consecutive years. Investigators found that the parents of the red-crowned crane flew into the Lishui District of Nanjing with a young bird from Shijiu Lake on the side of Ma"anshan.

This discovery means that the red-crowned crane has been added to the national first-class protected animal catalog in Nanjing, making the red-crowned crane a new recorded species in Nanjing.

At present, there are about 1000 wild red crowned cranes in China, and most of them choose to overwinter in Yancheng city in north Jiiangsu. It is very rare for the cranes to fly over the Yangtze River to the south.

"The red-crowned crane is a large wading bird that needs to forage in shallow water areas. Shijiu Lake in Lishui District used to be a deep-water area, but this year, due to the decrease in water level, it formed a moderately shallow habitat, which attracted the red-crowned crane to come here to overwinter," said Bao Haoran, Experimental Engineer, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University.

On February 18th, the terrestrial vertebrate investigation team collected the Asian Long winged Bat of the Long winged Bat family in a cave in Tangshan, a town in the eastern suburb of Nanjing. After reviewing historical literature and relevant records, the researchers confirmed that it is a new recorded family and species of the Nanjing Chiroptera species.

The research team deployed infrared cameras in three different mountainous areas of Gaochun District to capture images of the national second level key protected animal, the silver pheasant in addition to finding at least three stable breeding populations.

Starting from 2021, Nanjing conducted its first three-year citywide biodiversity survey. By the end of 2022, 46 plants, 324 species of terrestrial vertebrates, 636 insects, 579 aquatic organisms, and 145 large fungi were recorded, totaling 2530 species. This year, Nanjing will continue to carry out biodiversity survey by promoting protection and legislation work from genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity.

"We will promote the construction of protected areas for high-quality germplasm resources, such as Nanjing Longsnouted Catfish and Chinese mitten crab, which are national level germplasm resources. In terms of species, it is necessary to protect the unique species such as the Chinese tiger and phoenix butterfly, the Zhendan bruce, and the balance hammer tree in Nanjing. In terms of ecosystems, we need to mark off and strictly adhere to the ecological protection red line, strengthen the protection of ecological space control areas, and strengthen the protection of natural reserves," said Liu Liu, Deputy Director of Soil Ecology Department of Nanjing Ecological Environment Bureau.