Relationships between Plant and Animal Species Richness at a Regional Scale in China

Abstract:  Important questions in conservation biology and ecology include whether species diversities of different groups of organisms are correlated and, in particular, whether plant diversity influences animal diversity. I used correlation and partial regression analyses to examine the relationships between species richness of vascular plants and four major groups of terrestrial vertebrates (mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds) in 28 provinces in China. Species richness data were obtained from the literature. Environmental variables included normalized difference vegetation index, mean January temperature, mean annual temperature, annual precipitation, May through August precipitation, actual evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, and elevation range. Species richness was strongly and positively correlated among the five groups of organisms. Plant richness was correlated with animal richness more strongly than the richness of different animal groups correlated with each other except for reptile richness, which had a slightly higher correlation with amphibian richness than with plant richness. Plant richness uniquely explained 41 times more variance in the species richness of the four vertebrate groups combined than environmental variables uniquely did, suggesting that plant richness influences terrestrial vertebrate richness at the regional scale examined. Because of strong correlations between the diversity of vascular plants and vertebrates, the diversity of vascular plants may be used as a surrogate for the diversity of terrestrial animals in China. My results have implications for selection of areas to be protected at both regional and local scales.     

Colonization of the Southern Patagonia Ocean by Exotic Chinook Salmon

Abstract:  Anadromous salmonids have been particularly successful at establishing wild populations in southern Patagonia, in contrast to their limited success elsewhere outside their native ranges. The most recent such discovery is a spawning population of Chinook salmon in the Santa Cruz River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean from Argentina. We used mitochondrial DNA analysis to discriminate between alternative potential sources of this population and were able to discard in situ introductions of fish imported directly from California in the early twentieth century. Our results showed that the fish most likely came from Puget Sound, Washington, imported into southern Chile for salmon-ranching experiments in the 1980s. This finding provides concrete evidence of colonization of Atlantic rivers from Pacific locations. The southern Pacific and Atlantic oceans provide a favorable marine environment for the success of invading salmon. In particular, the waters associated with fjords, southern channels, and the inshore portion of the Patagonian shelf provide a rather bounded, continuous waterway for exotic anadromous salmonids, rich in diverse forage species.     

Species Imperilment and Spatial Patterns of Development in the United States

Abstract:  Conservation biologists and others hypothesize that humankind's "ecological footprint" is affected not only by the sheer intensity of human activity but also by its spatial arrangement. We used a multivariate statistical model and state-level data to evaluate correlations between species imperilment and the level and spatial distribution of human settlement and infrastructure development in the United States. The level of human activity—measured by the number of people and households, incidence of roads, and intensity of nighttime lights—was significantly correlated with the ecological imperilment of species. Our regression models consistently showed that a 1% increase in the level of human activity across the United States was associated with about a 0.25% increase in the proportion of plant and animal species considered at risk of extinction by The Nature Conservancy. The distribution of human activity did not affect species imperilment. Our results point to rising levels of human activity—and not some particular (e.g., sprawling) distribution of human activity—as the most relevant anthropogenic factor explaining biodiversity loss in the United States.     

Obtaining species: sample size considerations

Suppose fish are to be sampled from a stream. A fisheries biologist might ask one of the following three questions: ‘How many fish do I need to catch in order to see all of the species?’, ‘How many fish do I need to catch in order to see all species whose relative frequency is more than 5%?’, or ‘How many fish do I need to catch in order to see a member from each of the species A, B, and C?’. This paper offers a practical solution to such questions by setting a target sample size designed to achieve desired results with known probability. We present three sample size methods, one we call ‘exact’ and the others approximate. Each method is derived under assumed multinomial sampling, and requires (at least approximate) independence of draws and (usually) a large population. The minimum information needed to compute one of the approximate methods is the estimated relative frequency of the rarest species of interest. Total number of species is not needed. Choice of a sample size method depends largely on available computer resources. One approximation (called the ‘Monte Carlo approximation’) gets within ±6 units of exact sample size, but usually requires 20–30 minutes of computer time to compute. The second approximation (called the ‘ratio approximation’) can be computed manually and has relative error under 5% when all species are desired, but can be as much as 50% or more too high when exact sample size is small. Statistically, this problem is an application of the ‘sequential occupancy problem’. Three examples are given which illustrate the calculations so that a reader not interested in technical details can apply our results.     

城市生态系统中的生物资源保护

本文讨论了城市生态系统中的生物资源保护问题,论述了动物园、植物园及博物馆等在生物多样性保护方面所作的研部.作者并对今后需要进一步研究的课题提出了建议.     

入侵物种三裂叶蟛蜞菊挥发物的化感作用研究

对华南地区重要外来入侵物种三裂叶蟛蜞菊挥发物的化感作用进行了研究,以揭示该物种的入侵机制。采用水蒸气蒸馏法提取三裂叶蟛蜞菊地上部分的挥发油,提取率为2.58‰(质量比)。以稗草、三叶鬼针草和青葙3种杂草种子为供试对象,用种子萌发法测定了三裂叶蟛蜞菊挥发物的化感作用活性。结果表明:三裂叶蟛蜞菊的茎叶在密闭系统中产生的挥发性物质对稗草、三叶鬼针草和青葙的幼苗生长有显著抑制作用。稗草的根长、苗高和鲜质量分别比对照减少49.1%、35.0%和27.3%,三叶鬼针草的分别比对照减少18.8%、20.9%和28.6%,青葙的分别比对照减少62.9%、21.2%和50.0%。水蒸气蒸馏法所得的挥发油对稗草、三叶鬼针草和青葙的幼苗生长也有显著抑制作用,且抑制作用随着浓度的增大而增强。稗草的根长、苗高和鲜质量分别比对照减少88.2%、58.3%和45.5%,三叶鬼针草的根长、苗高和鲜质量分别比对照减少38.6%、34.5%和71.4%,青葙的根长、苗高和鲜质量分别比对照减少83.7%、51.5%和75.0%。结论:三裂叶蟛蜞挥发物具有化感作用,其作用机理值得深入研究。     

农村经济活动对云南野生稻居群的影响

云南野生稻包括普通野生稻(O.rufipogon Griff)、疣粒野生稻(O.meyeriana Baill)和药用野生稻(O.officinalis Wall),是属于全国仅存的几处宝贵基因资源库之一。野生稻具有许多优良特性及其相应的基因,在栽培稻育种和生物技术利用等方面具有巨大的潜力。文章在对云南野生稻居群长期调查或考察的基础上,分析了云南野生稻居群濒危的现状,认为热区经济开发、游牧、木材消耗、采集草药、外来种入侵和环境污染等农村经济活动是致濒的主要因素。阐明了选择合理的保护方法、加大普法和执法力度、完善保护体制与运行机制、调整种植结构是当前云南野生稻居群保护管理与经济协调发展的四项重点措施。     

京杭运河徐州段底栖动物与水质的关系

本研究利用生物监测方法，探明了京杭运河徐州段大型底栖无脊椎动物的生物种群及其分布。运用污染生物指数（Ｇｏｏｄｎｉｇｈｔ）和生物多样性指数（Ｓｈａｎｎｏｎ）统计表达，对京杭运河徐州段进行生物综合评价，同时，指出了该水体污染，将给徐州的两个地面饮用水厂及国家南水北调工程带来威胁和危险。通过生物指标与理化指标对比，综合分析研究，冲破了理化指标的限制，说明生物指标对水体污染的评价更全面、可靠而直观。     

Utility of Mitochondrial DNA Barcodes in Species Conservation

Abstract:  Molecular tools are a standard part of many conservation studies and can be informative at many different levels of analysis, although there are inherent limitations and strengths of different genes or parts of genes to inform specific questions. Animal DNA barcodes, 600- to 800-base-pair segments of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I, have been proposed as a means to quantify global biodiversity. Although mitochondrial (mt) DNA has a long history of use at the species level, recent analyses suggest that the use of a single gene, particularly mitochondrial, is unlikely to yield data that are balanced, universally acceptable, or sufficient in taxonomic scope to recognize many species lineages. Mitochondrial and nuclear genomes have different patterns of evolution and modes of inheritance, which can result in very different assessments of biodiversity. The ramifications of choosing a particular definition of species (species concept) need to be carefully considered because current efforts have designated DNA barcodes as the universal species concept without demonstrating its superiority over preexisting concepts. The results of such a barcoding paradigm may include a failure to recognize significant portions of biodiversity or nuclear/mitochondrial mixed lineages and could spuriously focus conservation resources on populations with relatively minor mtDNA divergence. DNA barcodes are most likely to provide potentially useful information for groups that are already well studied, and such taxa do not constitute the majority of biodiversity or those in most need of research attention. DNA barcode-length sequences are an important source of data but, when used alone or out of context, may offer only a fraction of the information needed to characterize species while taking resources from broader studies that could produce information essential to robust and informed conservation decisions.     

Conservation Value of Non-Native Banteng in Northern Australia

Abstract:  The global species extinction crisis has provided the impetus for elaborate translocation, captive breeding, and cloning programs, but more extreme actions may be necessary. We used mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome, and nuclear lactoferrin-encoding gene sequencing to identify a wild population of a pure-strain endangered bovid ( Bos javanicus ) introduced into northern Australia over 150 years ago. This places the Australian population in a different conservation category relative to its domesticated conspecific in Indonesia (i.e., Bali cattle) that has varying degrees of introgression from other domesticated Bos spp. The success of this endangered non-native species demonstrates that although risky, the deliberate introduction of threatened exotic species into non-native habitat may provide, under some circumstances, a biologically feasible option for conserving large herbivores otherwise imperiled in their native range.