Since 2021, the China Zhi Gong Party has been carrying out a Yangtze River eco-environmental protection project in partnership with east China's Anhui Province. Faced with the complex challenge of river basin management, the party's central committee has leveraged its intellectual resources, bringing together a think tank of leading experts to launch a five-year "science and technology empowerment" initiative across the Jianghuai region, the area around the lower reaches of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River.
Among them is Zhang Wei, a member of the China Zhi Gong Party and a professor at Peking University. She has led her team in monitoring biodiversity in Chaohu Lake and the main and branch tributaries of the Wanjiang River in Anhui Province through eDNA technology, which can precisely identify minute traces of life in water and even detect invasive species that are difficult to spot with bare eyes.
"We capture or collect these minute traces of environmental information and then amplify them," said Zhang. Without the need to fish or disturb aquatic life, this technology allows scientists to assess the biodiversity of a water body simply by analyzing genetic information from water samples. This approach has opened up new pathways for evaluating the effectiveness of the fishing ban on the Yangtze River and conducting biodiversity monitoring.
Over the past five years, Zhang's team has worked closely with Anhui University and local environmental protection authorities to establish multiple sampling sites in Chaohu Lake and the Wanjiang River. She hopes that through targeted oversight, eDNA monitoring technology will be promoted and applied on a more comprehensive scale. "We hope to set an example so that everyone can do their part to support environmental protection and monitoring in this way," Zhang said.
The application of eDNA technology in China represents a significant advancement in environmental protection. By detecting genetic material shed by organisms, researchers can identify species presence without direct observation. This method is particularly useful for monitoring rare or elusive species and for early detection of invasive species that threaten native ecosystems. The success of this project could lead to broader adoption of eDNA monitoring across China, providing a cost-effective and efficient tool for policymakers to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems.
The implications of this announcement are far-reaching. As China continues to enforce fishing bans and implement conservation measures, eDNA technology offers a scientific basis to evaluate their impact. It also aligns with global efforts to use non-invasive techniques for biodiversity assessment, contributing to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The collaboration between academic institutions and government agencies demonstrates a model for integrating scientific innovation into policy implementation.
