Characteristics that make trophy hunting of giant pandas inconceivable

In November 1928, Theodore Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt led an expedition to China with the expressed purpose of being the first Westerners to kill the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). The expedition lasted 8 months and resulted in the brothers shooting a giant panda in the mountains of Sichuan Province. Given the concurrent attention in the popular press describing this celebrated expedition, the giant panda was poised to be trophy hunted much like other large mammals around the world. Today, however, the killing of giant pandas, even for the generation of conservation revenue, is unthinkable for reasons related to the species itself and the context, in time and space, in which the species was popularized in the West. We found that the giant panda's status as a conservation symbol, exceptional charisma and gentle disposition, rarity, value as a nonconsumptive ecotourism attraction, and endemism are integral to the explanation of why the species is not trophy hunted. We compared these intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics with 20 of the most common trophy-hunted mammals to determine whether the principles applying to giant pandas are generalizable to other species. Although certain characteristics of the 20 trophy-hunted mammals aligned with the giant panda, many did not. Charisma, economic value, and endemism, in particular, were comparatively unique to the giant panda. Our analysis suggests that, at present, exceptional characteristics may be necessary for certain mammals to be excepted from trophy hunting. However, because discourse relating to the role of trophy hunting in supporting conservation outcomes is dynamic in both science and society, we suspect these valuations will also change in future.     

大熊猫,黑熊和小熊猫毛发无机元素的比较

利用ＩＣＰ－ＡＥＳ和ＡＡＳ测得大熊猫、黑熊和小熊猫毛发中Ｍｇ、Ａｌ、Ｐ、Ｋ、Ｃａ、Ｔｉ、Ｖ、Ｃｒ、Ｍｎ、Ｆｅ、Ｃｏ、Ｎｉ、Ｃｕ、Ｚｎ、Ａｓ、Ｓｅ、Ｓｒ、Ｃｄ、Ｂａ、Ｈｇ和Ｐｂ等２１种无机元素。对几种与生理机能密切相关的元素的组分含量进行对比分析结果表明：大熊猫毛发中元素Ｖ、ｃｕ以及Ｃｄ的含量高于黑熊和小熊猫，而Ｚｎ和Ｓｅ的含量低于黑熊和小熊猫；与黑熊和小熊猫相反，大熊猫雄兽毛发中元素Ｋ和Ｍｎ的含量高于雌兽含量。     

四川白河自然保护区大熊猫对生境的利用

利用路线法在野外调查了四川九寨沟县白河自然保护区：109个样点的大熊猫粪便等痕迹及其所处生境的特征，共发现有29个大熊猫活动样点，其中，大熊猫粪便样点27个、食迹样点2个．把各样点的各种生境特征作为因素，把每一因素的不同情况设置为水平，进行独立性检验．检验的结果表明白河的大熊猫：1)主要在halt2600～3120m取食；2)偏好在有水源的生境活动；3)对坡向有明显的选择性；4)对华西箭竹有明显的偏好，且在生长良好、盖度较高的生境活动频繁；5)明显回避有挖药活动的生境，偏好在没有人类干扰的生境活动。     

大熊猫与熊类动物性别的分子鉴定

根据已知动物的性别决定因子基因序列设计引物,以非性别特异性的脑源性神经营养因子基因片段（ＢＤＮＦ）作为正对照,用于扩增大熊猫、浣熊、天山棕熊和马来熊个体的ＳＲＹ（ｓｅｘｄｅｔｅｒｍｉｎｉｎｇｒｅｇｉｏｎｏｎＹｃｈｒｏｍｏｓｏｍｅ）基因片段并对其进行凝胶电泳分析,由此建立了一套简单、快速、可靠的动物性别分子鉴定方法．该方法不仅有利于尽快确定大熊猫等珍稀濒危动物的性别,而且也可以用于野外种群的性别比例调查．     

大熊猫基因组微卫生DNA的分离与序列分析

以pBS^ 为克隆载体,构建圈养大熊猫基因组DNA的小插入文库,分别用生物素标记的（CAC）5和γ-^32P-dATP标记的（CA）15寡核苷酸为探针,对重组质粒进行斑点杂交,获得15个阳性克隆,并测定了插入片段的DNA序列,其中有一部分序列已被分析,本文对剩余的8个DNA序列进行分析,发现它们大小不一,从259bp-881bp,有6个序列含有不同重复单位的一、二、四核苷酸的完整串联重复,斑点杂交和Southern杂交证明,这些序列均来自大熊猫基因组,上述结果为利用PCR技术研究大熊猫遗传多样性和了解大熊猫基因组结构积累资料。     

Conservation Implications of Drastic Reductions in the Smallest and Most Isolated Populations of Giant Pandas

Abstract: In conservation biology, understanding the causes of endangerment is a key step to devising effective conservation strategies. We used molecular evidence (coalescent simulations of population changes from microsatellite data) and historical information (habitat and human population changes) to investigate how the most‐isolated populations of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains became highly endangered. These populations experienced a strong, recent demographic reduction (60‐fold), starting approximately 250 years BP. Explosion of the human population and use of non‐native crop species at the peak of the Qing Empire resulted in land‐use changes, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation, which are likely to have led to the drastic reduction of the most‐isolated populations of giant pandas. We predict that demographic, genetic, and environmental factors will lead to extinction of giant pandas in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains in the future if the population remains isolated. Therefore, a targeted conservation action—translocation—has been proposed and is being implemented by the Chinese goverment.     

野化培训大熊猫采食和人为砍伐对拐棍竹无性系种群生物量的影响

采用固定样方法和定位观察法连续测定了2003～2007年间卧龙自然保护区大熊猫野化培训圈内及其附近区域的拐棍竹无性系种群数量和生长发育特性等参数,运用收获法与非破坏性重量估测法建立了不同龄级和残桩的竹子种群和分株生物量估测模型,进而利用最佳模型计算并评估了野化培训大熊猫采食和人为砍伐对拐棍竹无性系种群生物量和植株个体生物量的影响.结果表明:在环境条件、种群密度、生长发育特征和种群生物量等基本相似的基础上,大熊猫采食和人为砍伐不仅降低实验期间的竹子生物生产力,而且影响到后期阶段实验种群的恢复与发展.大熊猫采食样方中的竹子种群生物量虽然较对照样方低,就竹笋生物量而言,约为对照的57.79%,这与野化培训圈的面积较小、竹种单一而使采食比重(67.07%)较大有关,但其各龄级植株个体生物量均能达到大熊猫的取食利用标准(仅2004年生竹除外),具有持续供给大熊猫食物资源的潜力;而人为砍伐措施与大熊猫采食相比,影响效果极为强烈,它严重降低了拐棍竹无性系的种群生物量,尤其是竹笋重量更是如此,仅为对照样方的14.69%,且植株个体鲜重远低于大熊猫的觅食条件.因此,竹笋和无性系植株的生物量是大熊猫采食标准的主要因素.     

What determines selection and abandonment of a foraging patch by wild giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in winter?

Background, aim, and scope  Foraging patches can be described as a nested hierarchy of aggregated resources, implying that study of foraging by wild animals should be directed across different spatial scales. However, almost all previous research on habitat selection by the giant panda has concentrated upon one scale. In this research, we carried out a field study to understand foraging patch selection by giant pandas in winter at both microhabitat and feeding site scales and, for the first time, attempted to understand how long it would stay at the feeding sites before moving on. Materials and methods  The field survey was conducted from November 2002 to March 2003 at Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve (102°48′–103°00′ E, 30°19′–30°47′ N), Baoxing County of Sichuan Province, China, to collect data in both microhabitat and control plots. The microhabitat plots were located by fresh feces or foraging traces left by giant pandas, and the control plots were established to reflect the environment. Within each microhabitat plot, one 1 × 1 m² plot was centralized at the center of each feeding site, in which numbers of old bamboos and old shoots, including eaten and uneaten, were counted, respectively. Results  The results showed that winter microhabitats selected by this species were characteristic of gentle slopes and high old-shoot proportions and that the latter was even higher at feeding sites. Two selection processes, namely, from the environment to microhabitats and from the latter to feeding sites, were found during this species’ foraging patch utilization. Giant pandas preferred to eat old shoots to old bamboo at feeding sites in winter and did not leave unless old-shoot density fell to lower than the average in the environment. Discussion  Both microhabitats and feeding sites selected by giant pandas were characteristic of high old-shoot density, indicating that the preferred food item had a significant influence upon its foraging patch selection. The preference for gentle slopes by giant pandas was presumed to save energy in movement or reflect the need to sit and free its fore-limbs to grasp bamboo culms when feeding but also seemed to be correlated with an easier access to old shoots. The utilization of old shoots at feeding sites was assumed to help maximize energy or nutrient intake during their foraging. Conclusions  The difference between microhabitat plots and control plots and between microhabitats and feeding sites uncovered a continuous selection process from the environment via microhabitats to feeding sites. The utilization of old shoots at feeding sites was parallel to the marginal value theorem. The selection and abandonment of foraging patches by giant pandas was an optimal behavioral strategy adapted to their peculiar food with high cellulose and low protein. Recommendations and perspectives  Our results uncovered the importance of multiple scales in habitat selection research. To further understand the process of habitat selection, future research should pay more attention to resolve the question of how to locate foraging patches under dense bamboo forests by the giant panda, which was traditionally considered to have poor eyesight, although our research has answered what type of habitats the giant panda prefers and when to leave.     

大熊猫乳汁水解氨基酸含量的测定分析

收集了一只16岁圈养大熊猫产后d 2,d 3,d 5~9,d 11,d 12和d 17的乳汁样品各1个共计10个,并测定了其17种水解氨基酸(AA)的含量.结果表明,所有样品中G lu的含量最高,其次是Leu、Pro、Asp、Ser等,G ly含量最低.产后d 2~d 6的乳汁样品中AA含量稍有波动,除G ly和Cys外,其余含量从d 7~d 17呈逐渐升高的趋势;除Thr和G ly外,d 12或d 17乳汁样品中其余AA(d 12乳样中Asp除外)的含量都高于d 2的含量.d 2~d 6乳汁中Thr、G ly、Phe和Asp与总AA的比值极显著和显著高于d 7~d 17的(P<0.01和P<0.05),而G lu、Pro和A la(都为非必需氨基酸)比值极显著和显著低于d 7~d 17的(P<0.01和P<0.05).乳汁中非必需氨基酸与必需氨基酸比值(NEAA/EAA)平均值为1.55±0.05.NEAA和EAA都有随泌乳天数延长而逐步升高的趋势.图1表4参11     

Nest-Site Selection by Black Sparrowhawks Accipiter melanoleucus: Implications for Managing Exotic Pulpwood and Sawlog Forests in South Africa

This study provides timber growers with silvicultural guidelines for establishing and maintaining nest-tree habitat for native black sparrowhawks (Accipiter melanoleucus) in commercial planted forests in South Africa. In this country, exotic eucalypts and pines are planted principally for pulpwood and sawlog production. Nineteen nests were sampled in indigenous forests and 58 nests in exotic forests. Although mean nest heights differed between indigenous and exotic trees, in all trees, nests were positioned, on average, at 64% of tree height. Black sparrowhawks nested near stand edges, probably seeking a compromise between nesting adjacent to open hunting habitat and selecting an insulated tree from within the forest. Black sparrowhawks nested in tall trees ( X- = 18-33 m for different tree species classes) with a large diameter (>60 cm). Unfortunately, the South African pulpwood and sawlog industry employ short rotations (<16 years) and high tree densities (>700 trees/ha) that do not allow the trees to attain the characteristics suitable for black sparrowhawk nesting sites. Eucalypt and pine nest stands must be of 25 x 25 m minimum size and incorporate 10 trees at minimum heights of 21 and 18 m and diameters of 37 and 35 cm, respectively. If such nest-tree stands are set aside as islands in a sea of commercial forests, and black sparrowhawks and other forest raptors nest in them, timber growers will improve the tree-nesting raptor diversity of planted forests. If, however, these raptors prey upon species of conservation importance, the management recommendations could be reversed to limit the potential for predation.