Pieris canidia, one of the most common butterflies in the Pearl River Delta megacity. Photo taken at Lianhuashan Park in Shenzhen.
In Disney’s latest blockbuster Judy Hopps, a countryside rabbit, struggles to adapt to life in Zootopia, a fantastical megacity populated by all kinds of anthropomorphized wildlife. In reality wildlife is scarce in megacities, giving rise to what has been termed “Nature Deficit Disorder” among urban residents. Equally worrying is that conversion of wild land into cities is one of the greatest drivers of global biodiversity loss. China is one of the world’s fastest urbanizing countries.
Fortunately, green spaces such as public parks are often incorporated into cities during urban planning. These green lungs, providing fresh air for urban residents, are public areas used by joggers, picnicking families, couples taking wedding photos, and China’s infamous dancing grannies. City parks could also provide refuge for local wildlife which need green spaces to survive.
The potential for city parks to address both Nature Deficit Disorder and local biodiversity loss resulting from urbanization is of growing interest to urban ecologists and city authorities, including in China. Butterflies are especially useful “biodiversity indicators” being almost universally cherished, non-biting nor involved in the spread of disease. 40% of the butterfly species in Southeast Asia are threatened with extinction due to urbanization and deforestation across the region.
The Pearl River Delta megacity in Southern China is the largest urban area in the world and a prime example of China’s rapid urbanization. The megacity has recently become a focus for urban ecology studies and several researchers from local universities and research institutions have been recording the presence of butterflies in city parks.
Guangdong Entomological Institute researchers recorded 43 butterfly species in urban green spaces across Guangzhou. In Hong Kong, 58 butterfly species have recently been recorded in city parks by researchers from The University of Hong Kong. In Shenzhen, University of Malaya researchers in collaboration with Fairy Lake Botanical Garden recorded 74 butterfly species across 10 urban parks. The study was recently published in the journal Genome. In comparison to neighbouring cities, Shenzhen parks have high butterfly diversity. Shenzhen is an “ecological garden city” with 218 parks in contrast to other Chinese cities, notorious for their air pollution.
Tanglanshan Country Park had the highest butterfly diversity with 41 species recorded, a substantial increase from previous surveys which had recorded 31 species of butterflies.
The results revealed that more butterflies species are found in larger parks and in older parks in Shenzhen city. Within the parks, the highest number of butterfly species was found at wild sites, those sites with less intensive management. “In order to promote butterfly diversity in city parks, park managers should set aside areas of the parks as unmanaged, semi-natural areas” according to the lead author of the study in Shenzhen.
A notable finding from the Pearl River Delta is that almost a quarter of the butterfly species recorded were considered rare or uncommon species. This is different from studies in tropical megacities, such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, where almost all of the urban butterflies recorded were very common or invasive species. This finding suggests that urban parks in the Pearl River Delta, at least at present, have considerable conservation value as refuges for rare butterfly species.
Contact information:
Dr. John-James Wilson
Institute of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science
University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA
[email protected]
Catopsilia pomona, one of the most common butterflies in the Pearl River Delta megacity. Photo taken at Shenzhen Bay Park.
Sampling butterflies in a wild area of Huanggang Shuangyong Park in Shenzhen.
