Chapter 11 Chapter 4 Ecological Achievements

The geographical distribution of animals and plants not only explains the influence of geographical environment on animals and plants, but also reflects the adaptation of animals and plants to their living environment.This was noticed early on. "Shangshu Yugong" describes the distribution of different plants in a large geographical range (Kyushu); "Zhou Li Diguan Situ" also discusses different terrains such as mountains, forests, rivers, hills, tombs, and original scorpions. , distributed with different animals and humans with different physical characteristics.In the oldest surviving geography works in our country, it also records the results of large-scale investigations by ancient people on the existence of different organisms in different environments in different places.Among them, the organisms recorded in "Dongshan Jing", "Nanshan Jing" and "Zhongshan Jing" show the characteristics of the tropics and subtropics: there are many plants, many oranges, many peaches, many bamboos, many mulberry trees; many animals are many rhinoceros, many Big snake, many pitworms. The organisms recorded in the "Xishan Jing" show the characteristics of temperate and arid regions: there are many pines and cypresses, many thorns, and many grains; many animals (牜显)〔zuoyesterday〕cattle, many 羬〔qianqian〕sheep, and many bears Huo, Duo Hao. The organisms recorded in "Bei Shan Jing" have the characteristics of grasslands and arid areas: there are many trees, peppers, and vegetables in plants; horses, camels, and cattle in animals.These analyzes are basically consistent with the current zonal distribution and geographical division of organisms in my country.

In addition, "Xunzi" in the Warring States Period, "Huainanzi" in the Western Han Dynasty, "Historical Records·Huozhi Biography" by Sima Qian, and "Salt and Iron Theory" by Huan Kuan also have many records about the distribution of biogeography. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the study of the geographical distribution of animals and plants further developed into the exploration of the boundaries of biological distribution.Ji Han's "Southern Plants and Trees" in the Western Jin Dynasty recorded the distribution and living habits of 80 species of plants in South China, and took Nanling as the dividing line between the north and south of my country's plant distribution.It took the turnip [wujing Wujing] as an example, saying that there is no turnip in the south of Nanling, but it will mutate if it is planted in the south of Nanling.Dai Kaizhi's "Bamboo Book" lists 61 kinds of bamboo in my country, and points out that there are few bamboos in the north of the Yellow River, but the bamboos in the south are very luxuriant.He also described the geographical distribution of various bamboos, and roughly found another biological boundary line with the Huaihe River and Qinling Mountains.In the Northern Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo recorded the jumping rabbits in desert and semi-desert areas in "Mengxi Bi Tan". .

Su Song in the Song Dynasty described the origin and distribution of various medicinal animals and plants in "Tu Jing Materia Medica".Among them, the description of the origin and distribution of mammals is quite detailed, describing 26 species of wild mammals and their geographical distribution.According to the current classification system, these animals belong to 10 orders and 16 families respectively.Su Song put the distribution of various animal origins at the beginning of the description of each animal.The geographical distribution of dace carp is described in this way, "Dace carp, which used to go out of the prefectures and counties, is now found in lakes, ridges, Jin, Shang, Jun, and rooms, all in deep mountains and valleys."Dace carp, commonly known as pangolin, was first listed as medicinal in "Famous Doctors".In the past, only Tao Hongjing mentioned its shape and living habits, but did not mention its place of origin. "Tujing Materia Medica" recorded its geographical distribution from the whole country for the first time.The distribution areas of dace carp mentioned include Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Shaanxi provinces.Jinzhou and Shangzhou mentioned in the article are all in present-day Shaanxi Province. It can be seen that pangolins were also produced in Shaanxi Province in Song Dynasty, but pangolins are rare in Shaanxi now.Another example is about the leopard, its origin is rarely mentioned in the previous herbal literature. "Pictures and Materia Medica" contains: "Leopard... "The Classic" does not record the states and counties where it came out, but there are some in Jinhe, Luo, Tang, and Ying."It is pointed out that leopards are rare, and may be found in Gansu, Henan, Hubei and other places.Tigers were widely distributed in the Song Dynasty, so the "Tujing Materia Medica" only used the phrase "everywhere there are mountains and forests today" to indicate that tigers were widely distributed at that time.The musk deer is a deer family animal, the musk deer meat is edible, and the musk deer is used as medicine, which has long been included in the list. "Picture Book of Materia Medica" said: musk deer is "like a deer but small. Its fragrance is in the skin of the yin, and it is not wrapped in a film."Both male and female musk deer have horns, but the male musk deer has musk glands in the groin, which shows that he has some understanding of the shape of musk deer. "Bielu of Famous Doctors" once pointed out that musk deer "was born in Taichuan Valley and in the mountains of Yizhou and Yongzhou". "Tujing Materia Medica" further pointed out that "now there are roads and mountains in Shaanxi, Yi, Li, and Hedong, but there are especially many in Qinzhou and Wenzhou."This shows that in the Song Dynasty, musk deer was widely distributed, and Gansu produced the most. "Zheng Lei Materia Medica" still retains a picture of musk deer in Wenzhou (now Wenxian County, Gansu Province).The painted musk deer has no horns, and highlights the sparse bare skin with short hairs outside the sac of the groin. The pictures in "Zheng Lei Materia Medica" are generally believed to have been handed down from Su Song's "Picture Classics of Materia Medica". In "Zheng Lei Materia Medica", there is a picture of a muntjac (jiji), with two horns on its head, and the horns are short.It was obviously a small muntjac. "Tu Jing Materia Medica" said: "The deer comes out of the southeast valley. Today there are mountains and forests everywhere, and there are many in Jun, Fang, Hunan, and Han." Here it is pointed out that the deer is mainly distributed in the eastern and southern regions of China, while Hubei, Hunan, and Sichuan produce the most.This is also roughly consistent with the view that deer is mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin and the Pearl River Basin in my country in modern literature.

腽肭〔wana〔〕士〕 beast, that is, fur seal, was included in Kaibao Materia Medica as a medicinal animal in the 10th century and 70s.In the past, it was believed that it was produced in the Western Regions, but Su Song correctly concluded that "it is also found by the East China Sea today". Foxes are not only used for medicine by humans, but also provide humans with a large amount of high-quality fur.Regarding the distribution of foxes, Tao Hongjing once believed that "there are no foxes in the east of the Yangtze River, and all of them come from the north and Yizhou".Su Song put forward a different view from Tao Hongjing based on his own research.He said: "Nowadays there are also some in the south of the Yangtze River. There are many in Beijing and Luoyu. It looks like a yellow dog with a pointed nose and a big tail. It is made from northern soil and eaten raw." The grass fox here should be referred to.Su Song believes that foxes are not only produced in the north, but also in the south, but more are produced in the north (such as Kaifeng, Luoyang and other places in Henan).He corrected Tao Hongjing's one-sided view. The records in "Tu Jing Materia Medica" also let us know that the northern part of the Song Dynasty still retained the habit of eating fox meat raw.

The above facts show that the description of the geographical distribution of mammals in "Tu Jing Materia Medica" has a macroscopic nature.Su Song summarized the distribution of a certain animal in various parts of the country from a macro perspective through a comprehensive summary.This description method is quite similar to the description method of the geographical distribution of animals in modern zoology.This is rare in the herbal works before "Tu Jing Materia Medica" and other ancient documents. Su Song not only described the distribution of various beasts macroscopically, but also recorded the historical changes of the distribution of some animals.

The "wild camel" recorded in "Tu Jing Materia Medica" should be a Bactrian wild camel.Wild Bactrian camels are the ancestors of domestic Bactrian camels and have important economic value.Wild camels are now very rare and almost extinct.Regarding the distribution of wild camels in the Song Dynasty, Su Song wrote in "Pictures and Materia Medica": "Wild camels came out of Saibei and Hexi, but today they only exist in Fanjie in the northwest." Wild camels were recorded as medicinal animals, and they were first seen in AD 10. The book "Kaibao Materia Medica" compiled by Ma Zhi and others in the 1970s.It is also this work that reflects the distribution of wild camels in the northern part of my country and Shaanxi at that time.But just 80 years later, when Su Song compiled "Tu Jing Materia Medica", he found that the distribution of wild camels was limited to remote areas such as Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in the northwest.It can be seen that the sharp decline in the number of wild camels did not only occur in modern times, it had already appeared as early as the Song Dynasty.Su Song was the first to discover and record changes in the distribution of wild camels.

Su Song also noticed changes in the distribution of wild elephants. "Tujing Materia Medica" records: ""Er Ya" says: 'The beauty of the south is the rhinoceros of Liangshan.' Today, there are more Jiaozhi, and there are also Chaozhou and Xunzhou. Those people catch and compete for their meat. "In the Qin and Han Dynasties, the activity area of ​​wild elephants had obviously moved southward to the Yangtze River Basin.In the Song Dynasty, the distribution of wild elephants moved south again.Su Song has clearly told people that wild elephants are mainly produced in Vietnam, and although there are still wild elephants in Guangdong, they are no longer the main production area.The local people's hunting and "competition for their meat" may be an important reason for the continuous decline of the elephant herd.

The descriptions of the geographical distribution of animals in "Tujing Materia Medica" were basically transcribed and absorbed by the later compiled and published "Zheng Lei Materia Medica" and other important herbal works.It can be seen that it has an impact on the later generations to study the geographical distribution of animals.Not only that, but the records about the geographical distribution of mammals in "Tujing Materia Medica" also provide valuable reference materials for us to study the historical changes of the geographical distribution of some wild mammals today.