Team:SZU-China/Human Practices/2
How to contribute to society has always been our considerations. We are also very curious about the public’s opinion on us. So we have engaged diverse communities to gather public opinions.
The development of biological herbicides is a complex process. In order for Micrancide to better serve the community, we decided to contact with government research institutes with sufficient resources and experience in invasive spices research.
The Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (AGIS-CAAS) is a large government research institution. They have preserved the genome of Mikania micrantha and conducted many genomics researches on it. We visited them and introduced our project. Dr. Wei Fan of the Institute was very interested in our project. He introduced us genomics and how to screen target genes of genome.On behalf of the scientific research institutions in Shenzhen, he provided us with the current confidential Mikania micrantha genome for our further experiment.
To acquire public opinion on Mikania micrantha and our project, we have contacted a relative community, the volunteers. We found that Shenzhen has organized environmental protection volunteers to remove Mikania micrantha for many times. Those volunteers should already have some knowledge about Mikania micrantha. So we contacted the Volunteer ssociation of Shenzhen University and interviewed their volunteers. We found that among the volunteers at Shenzhen University, there are very few people who know more about Mikania micrantha. Most volunteers have only heard of this plant, knowing it is a dangerous invasive species. But nobody remembers its appearance and nobody can identify it by their own eyes. We introduced them with our applet, which can recognize Mikania micrantha by taking a photo. They were surprised by our work and have installed our applet immediately.
Fig 1. Interviewing the environment volunteers
Video 1. Volunteer Interview
The lychee orchard in Shenzhen was seriously affected by Mikania micrantha. So we went to the orchard and interviewed the fruit farmers. The farmers said their income is indeed affected by Mikania micrantha. Because lychee is a low-lying arbor, most of the lychee trees in orchards are difficult to reach 7 meters high. This makes Mikania micrantha easy to climb on it and cover its canopy, strongly disturbing the fruiting and breed of the lychee tree. When asked about the method of cleaning Mikania micrantha, a fruit grower told us it is no use to spray chemical herbicides on the lychee forest. Because the lychee tree is quite vulnerable, chemical herbicide brings much damage to the lychee tree than Mikania micrantha. After the introduction of our product, they were quite excited that we can eliminate Mikania micrantha without harming the lychee tree and even started asking us about the price of Micrancide. We have noticed that the farmers were particularly concerned about the price of our product, after all, this is closely related to their income. We, therefore, decided to improve our production methods to reduce product prices.
Fig 2. Fruit farmer of lychee orchard
Fairylake Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Science is the only professional institute in Shenzhen that conducts basic research in botany, it is also one of the most famous sightseeing spots in the town. A large number of rare plants and crops are preserved in the botanical garden. After the invasion, Mikania micrantha caused great damage to the species preservation work of the botanical garden, their peach forests have been reduced due to this reason. At the same time, they are the earliest organizations in Shenzhen to study Mikania micrantha, and have detailed information on the physiological characteristics of it. Dr. Shouzhou Zhang of the Botanical Garden learned about our project and accepted our interview. He told us that the most special thing about Mikania micrantha compared to other plants is its metabolism, so he suggested that we perish it by inhibiting its metabolism. At the meanwhile, he promised us a piece of experimental field, which had been used for herbicide test of Mikania micrantha, for our future experiment.
Fig 3. Preparing for interview in Fairylake Botanical Garden
Fig 4. Interviewing Shouzhou Zhang
After learning about the widespread of Mikania micrantha in Shenzhen, we realized that we should cooperate with government departments to create a larger impact. The large-scale cleaning of this invasive spice should be carried out by the government department, rather than being handed over to the citizens for blind removal. Hence, we attempt to contacts relevant government departments to promote our Micrancide.
We visited the Shenzhen Wildlife Protection and Management Office , which is responsible for the removal of harmful species in Shenzhen. They conduct the elimination of Mikania micrantha every year. Lu Jiang from the office introduced us to their treatment methods and its efficiency by now. He also showed us the distribution map of Mikania micrantha photographed by remote sensing satellites and the infested area in Shenzhen. We recommended Micrancide to him. He appreciates the low residue, low pollution and environmental friendliness of our product. In order to help us improve our product, he introduced us to the relevant laws and regulations on pesticide development, and we also promised that we will carry out the development of Micrancide in accordance with relevant regulations.
Fig 5. Interviewing Lu Jiang
Fig 6. Distribution map of M. micrantha from remote sensing satellites (Image processed due to confidentiality)
According to the information they provided, over 3% of Shenzhen city was covered by Mikania micrantha, which means 33 square kilometers of land in Shenzhen was ruined by it. The infested area is larger than 75 Vatican. The Shenzhen Government spends 10 million yuan each year on Mikania micrantha, equivalent to 5% of Shenzhen's agricultural income.
