Hong Kong could be home to ‘thousands of species’ unrecorded in city, says biodiversity expert
Academics tout Hong Kong’s dense biodiversity but say a lack of manpower and a natural history museum is hurting research efforts
The recent discovery of a new ant species in Hong Kong has renewed interest in the city’s biodiversity and ecology.
For a city sitting on only 1,104 sq km of land, Hong Kong is rich with different species of plants, insects, reptiles, marine life and other animals. This comes as a surprise to many first-time visitors to Hong Kong, who think it is mostly a concrete jungle, only to later discover the city’s country parks and green belts. About 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s land area is designated as “country park”, which protects the land from commercial or residential development.
“This is definitely exceptional. Not many countries in the world have that level of protection,” Dr Benoit Guenard, assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, said. His discovery of Hong Kong’s 22nd ant species – the “golden tree ant” – has him excited that there is a lot more untapped potential in the city.
“One of the most impressive aspects [of Hong Kong’s biodiversity] is how much has [yet] to be discovered,” he said. “There are probably hundreds or thousands of species that are unrecorded in Hong Kong.”
City University marine ecologist Dr Paul Shin Kam-shing said Hong Kong was blessed with a rich collection of species because of its climate and geography.
“[In terms of] the ocean ... the climate, temperature and different water currents passing through Hong Kong create a very unique environment,” he said.
The city also has species that are exclusive to the territory, such as the Romer’s treefrog, the Hong Kong paradise fish, Lazell’s blind snake and two species of horseshoe crabs.
Shin said the city had a rich and unique biodiversity.
There are probably hundreds or thousands of species that are unrecorded in Hong Kong
“When I talk to people and tell them: ‘Do you know there are four species [of horseshoe crabs] in the world? [And] in Hong Kong we have two of those species?’ [They are surprised],” Shin said.
To better conserve and catalogue Hong Kong’s rich array of plant and animal life, the Environment Bureau and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department have announced plans for the city’s first Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
However, members of a steering committee preparing the plan ended three years of work without receiving a draft report from the government in May.
Researchers and academics agree that a common problem facing biodiversity and ecology research is a lack of manpower.
According to Shin, cataloguing and taxonomy may be considered “boring” by students, who instead often opt to do research on more popular topics such as climate change, pollution, and plastic waste in the oceans.
Shin said the city was in need of experts in very specific and narrow fields of ecological study, and he thinks this is why it took 16 years to make the latest ant species discovery.
“I believe, in Hong Kong, we don’t have enough experts in different fields, in different groups of organisms and life forms,” he said.
Guenard said he was surprised that a city the size of Hong Kong lacked a natural history museum. A museum can be a single point for people to learn about the city’s biodiversity and ecology, and also allow researchers and scientists to collect, store and study their findings.
With Hong Kong’s near-constant development and land reclamation, disruption of the ecosystem at the construction site and surrounding areas is inevitable, he said.
But Shin lauded the resilience of Hong Kong’s ecosystems in adapting.
Moving forward, both researchers hope for a more comprehensive environmental database to catalogue Hong Kong’s rich and extensive biodiversity, allowing scientists and researchers to help fill in the gaps in existing research.
