Yang Xingyu is having a popular science course for the kids at the Luoyan Scenic Area, East Lake. (Photo provided by Yang Xingyu)

Wuhan wetlands provide habitat to various rare wild birds, and also are home to 408 species of vascular plants. Among them, the wild lotuses, wild water chestnuts, wild soybeans and water ferns are on the list of national second-class key protected wild plants. They are wild plants under highest protection found in Wuhan wetlands at present, and so called “four treasures of wetlands" in the city.

In recent years, Wuhan has been attaching great importance to basic research investment, in a bid to strengthen the protection of wetland plants. In 2018, Yang Xingyu, PhD of Wuhan Institute of Landscape Architecture set up a studio to research the inheritance and evolution of aquatic plants and the protection of endangered aquatic plants, becoming an important scientific force for the protection of wetland resources and related species in Wuhan.

Two of its main tasks are to protect the endangered species of Ceratopteris pteridoides, and to study the genome of Nelumbo nucifera.

As a city with the largest number of national wetland parks in China, Wuhan has a long history of research on Nelumbo nucifera. The Wuhan Institute of Landscape Architecture has collected and cultivated more than 300 lotus varieties in China. Since 2018, lotus varieties from Russia, America, Australia, India, Thailand and other countries have been introduced and cultivated.

In 2013, Wuhan Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, took the lead in sequencing and analyzing the genome of ancient lotus in China, and drew a genome framework map.

"In our research, we found that there is no database about genetic variation and expression of lotus genome in the world." Yang Xingyu said, "Setting up a database can help scholars from all over the world to share lotus research achievements."

Based on existing resources, Yang Xingyu's studio teamed up with Wuhan Botanical Garden to establish the world's first lotus genome databasein December 2019. In January 2021, the database was published online in the Scientific Data journal. Genome-related data of the research samples are uploaded to NCBI data platform and made public for global academic use.

“Global users can perform sequence analyses and gene searches via the database. It has been accessible to the public and free of any access charges since it was published”, Yang Xingyu introduced.

Ceratopteris pteridoides

After some achievements have been made in lotus genome research, Yang Xingyu's team began to expand their eyes to the protection of Ceratopteris pteridoides, a plant grows in freshwater wetlands such as lakes, rivers, reservoirs and ponds.

Due to the influence of human activities on aquatic habitats, the distribution range and population number of Ceratopteris pteridoides in China have been greatly reduced. It has been listed as a national second-class key protected wild plant and a critically endangered aquatic plant in the world.

After the flood peak in Wuhan in August 2020, many wetland plants were affected by flooding. During the investigation of the Wuhan Institute of Landscape Architecture, a patch of Ceratopteris pteridoides was found in a wetland in Huangpi District of Wuhan.

Surprisedly, Yang Xingyu and his colleagues collected samples back to the laboratory, and tried to carry out artificial breeding and ex-situ conservation of the plants.

In 2021, an experimental area for artificial ex-situ conservation of Ceratopteris pteridoides was established in the Luoyan Scenic Area of East Lake in Wuhan. Mature spores produced by artificial seedlings put in 2021 have successfully germinated in the pond this spring.

Why is artificial ex-situ protection, not in-situ protection? Yang Xingyu explained: "Whereabouts of Ceratopteris pteridoides are uncertain. Adopting enclosure protection is more conducive to long-term protection and scientific research. "

Also in the experimental area, Yang Xingyu started related science courses to the public, which were very popular. "Compared with wild endangered animals, public awareness of endangered plants is lower." Yang Xingyu said, adding that more efforts are required to bring these endangered plants back into public’s sight.

"The whole ecological chain is linked. Extinction of any one species may affect the living environment of more than 30 species in the upstream and downstream. Protecting endangered plant species is the mission of each researcher. " he noted. (en.hubei.gov.cn by Ruan Xinqi)