Life thrives outside the concrete jungle

Clouds of mosquitoes, an endless diet of instant noodles and sleepless nights under canvas failed to deter a team of researchers who spent months laying animal traps, catching insects and collecting plants from remote corners of Hong Kong.

After two years of field work, the first Hong Kong-wide biodiversity survey, which began in 1996, is bearing fruit and should challenge the prevailing view that polluted Hong Kong is a trash heap with little worth preserving.

Scientists hope it will highlight Hong Kong's ecology - the relationship between living organisms and their habitat - and our ultimate dependence on our environment, from which high-density urban living has divorced us.

The study's botanist, Professor William Xing Fuwu of the South China Institute of Botany, has unearthed 100 plant species new to Hong Kong, two new to China, and one being studied that may be new to science.

Most of the insects found represent new SAR records and 'dozens at least' are new to science, according to Dr Richard Corlett, senior lecturer at the University of Hong Kong's Department of Ecology and Biodiversity.

While there are no new mammal discoveries - the animal group best studied worldwide - the survey has revealed a surprising range of wild boar, barking deer, civets and a host of rodents.

Now the scientists at the University of Hong Kong heading the $3.8 million study plan to expand its focus to include 'little critters' such as moss and fungi.