SHANGHAI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Amid the skyscrapers of Shanghai, residents armed with acoustic sensors are teaming up with researchers to track the city's hidden bat population.
Zhou Xinran and her 8-year-old daughter are among them. Using a matchbox-sized ultrasound detector linked to Zhou's smartphone, they search for bats in their neighborhood, recording their calls, locations and video footage of sightings.
"At first we thought bats were mysterious," Zhou told Xinhua. "But after joining the program, we learned they are an important part of the ecosystem. Their presence shows the city's environment is improving."
Zhou and her daughter are among more than 300 volunteers taking part in the "City Bat Hunt," a citizen-science program led by the Shanghai Natural History Museum and several research institutions across the Yangtze River Delta. Volunteers submit their observations through a program on the social media platform WeChat, contributing to a growing biodiversity database that researchers at Shanghai's Fudan University can use for further analysis.
Wang Fang, a professor at Fudan's School of Life Sciences who leads the program, said he hopes it will fill a gap in Shanghai's ecological data and produce the city's first bat distribution map based on reliable scientific findings.
Bats eat large numbers of mosquitoes and play an important role in supporting human health, but concerns over infectious diseases have also made them a source of fear for many.
Wang explained that the device picks up the ultrasonic "ticking" sounds of bats at night, and AI can quickly identify the species and even interpret their behavior. Participants like Zhou can survey locations without coming into close contact with bats, maintaining a safe distance.
Such citizen-science programs offer a glimpse of a side of Shanghai that extends far beyond its image as a dazzling international metropolis.
The city now hosts 534 bird species, along with 44 wild mammal species, 83 bottom-dwelling animals, 330 fish species and nearly 3,800 insect species. Pudong, known as the city's financial heart, has also recorded 2,422 species, 25 of which are under national key protection. The Yangtze finless porpoise and the reed parrotbill have become the city's wildlife stars, while raccoon dogs, like foxes in London, are now a common sight roaming streets and residential complexes.
Many Chinese cities like Shanghai have placed great emphasis on biodiversity conservation in recent years. They have used remote sensors and AI algorithms to conduct real-time tracking and analysis of biological communities, built urban biodiversity big-data platforms, studied rare and endangered species through genetic technologies, and developed artificial breeding techniques to boost populations.
Public participation is a key component alongside advanced technologies. Citizen-science programs are thriving in major cities, where residents are turning their attention to the wildlife hidden among concrete and steel forests. Typical examples include Beijing's annual survey on swifts and Shenzhen's project mapping the distribution of nectar plants and pollinating insects across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Besides bat tracking, other similar programs in Shanghai involve surveying and monitoring the city's fish, insects, butterflies, roadkill animals and birds.
"Professional researchers tend to focus on a few key areas over a limited period," said Li Fan, associate researcher at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, who led a fish survey this summer.
"Public participation expands the scope and depth of research, making biodiversity monitoring more scientific and complete," Li added, noting that the survey, which focused on freshwater species and those in the Yangtze estuary, had attracted many local fishing amateurs.
Last year, with help from local fishing enthusiasts, a species called Aphyocypris chinensis was discovered in a farmland wetland. It had not been documented in Shanghai since the start of this century. Once common across the region, the fish has become endangered in the Yangtze River Delta due to urban development.
"The finding revealed weak spots in our past monitoring efforts," Li said. "Public involvement is exactly what we need to fill those gaps."
For citizens, taking part in scientific programs has been an inspiring journey.
"Everyone exchanges findings every day," Zhou said. "This summer, my child and I have learned so much from the program." ■
