犀牛在中国灭绝与人口压力关系的初步分析

三千多年以前,犀牛沿黄河两岸自西向东约有１８００多公里的广阔的分布北界。近三千年来,犀牛在中国的分布北界不断南移,它是我国犀牛地减性灭绝的重要特征。北界南移速度相当惊人,平均每年以０．５ｋｍ的速度禹南消退。犀牛在中国灭绝的根本原因是人口压力、中国古代人口对犀牛的压力包括直接与间接两个方面,通过简单计算可知,犀牛种群承受人口压力阈值小于４人／ｋｍ＾２。     

当研究大象吃什么时,我们究竟在研究什么?

正作为地球陆地生态系统中体型最庞大的食草动物,成年的大象平均每天要摄入将近200公斤的植物。足见食物对大象的重要意义。象属于哺乳动物纲长鼻目,曾经在漫长的地质时代主导着地球的陆地生态系统,但是和其他哺乳动物一样,长鼻目中的大部分种属都灭绝了,现在仅仅只有亚洲象和非洲象两个属残存于世。作为地球上最濒危的野生动物,人象冲突、象牙贸易和栖息地丧失等等都使得现代大象的生存处境岌岌可危。大象也因此得到了广泛的关注;研究大象的食物,是大象生态保护的重要方面。过去是     

北极的“象牙”

象牙，自古以来就被人们视为上佳的制作工艺品的原料，随着人们大肆捕杀，生活在非洲和亚洲的大象数量日益减少，大象也成了稀有的受保护动物。在地球生命发展的历史上，曾经存在过一些长着“大象牙”的哺乳动物，比如很可能与人类捕杀有关而灭绝了的长毛象猛犸就是一例。其实，在现今的地球北极海疆，也生活着一类大象的“亲戚”——独角鲸。     

李福来先生事业上的里程碑——朱鹮繁育的成功范例

<正>朱鹮是鸟类中的"大熊猫",从繁盛走到了灭亡绝种的边缘。在世人见证这一物种灭绝的时刻,在中国却传来喜讯,人们奇迹般地发现了5个活体。不过这个数字对于物种的灭绝好像没有决定性的翻盘价值,因为一个物种可否由灭绝的定义中解脱出来,要看如何保护,是否能够突破繁育大关!李福来先生是担当保育朱鹮的科学家之一,是向物种灭绝挑战的勇士,他对朱鹮的繁育工作也被IUCN鹳、鹮和琵鹭专家组称为世界濒危物种保护的成功范例。     

走进非洲（上）

神秘而野性的非洲大陆，是野生动物的天堂，这里有驰名的五种大型动物：大象、豹子、狮子、犀牛和非洲水牛。透过摄影师的镜头，让我们共同欣赏来自肯尼亚的精彩画面!     

黑龙江省的犀牛化石

大家对犀牛是比较熟悉和感兴趣的,因为它外貌奇特、形体巨大,在现代陆生动物中仅次于大象。身上不长毛或只有很稀的一点毛,皮厚而多皱襞。在它鼻子的上方,额部的中线上,长着一只或一前一后的两只角,和别的带角动物长角的部位都不一样。犀牛角向来被中医作为珍贵的药材,有清热解毒作用。犀牛是一类为数不多的野生动物,现今只分布在亚洲南部和非洲的热带地方,而在世界其他地方,除动物园饲养的外,犀牛早已绝迹了。     

犀牛知多少

正犀牛曾经是一个庞大的支系,在其进化的历史道路上出现的种类不胜枚举,虽然有的只是昙花一现,但是,既然曾经存在,人类探究它们就是值得的。犀牛的祖先貘犀属(Hyrachyus),最早出现于早始新世晚期,繁盛于中始新世早期,在中始新世晚期衰退、灭绝。虽然貘犀类存在的时间不长,可分布范围很广,在中始新世它们生活在北美、欧洲和亚洲。在晚始新世时,欧洲和亚洲被Turgai海峡分隔,亚洲和北美洲的犀牛为了更     

濒危植物保护和我们的未来

<正>随着人口的增长、技术的进步和资源的索取,地球生态环境持续恶化,许多植物的生存正遭受前所未有的挑战,成为濒危物种甚至灭绝。有人甚至认为,目前平均每一分钟地球上就有一种植物灭绝。保育濒危植物已经刻不容缓!植物的保育分为就地保育和迁地保育两种方式。植物园在迁地保育中起到了极其重要的作用。据相关资料,当前全球有2 300多个植物园,共保育8万余种植物。中国科学院植物研究所北京植物园自建园以来,就将珍稀濒危植物保育作为基本任务之一。     

对植物入药造成物种濒危的解读

地球上造成植物濒危灭绝原因很多,笔者经过研究和分析认为:植物入药是造成物种濒危的决定性因素之一。     

到肯尼亚去……

<正>我相信,绝大多数人都去过动物园,观赏过狮子、花豹、大象、长颈鹿、犀牛、河马……或者,曾观看过关于非洲野生动物的纪录片,被非洲丰富多彩的野生动物所吸引!在动物园里,它们总是慵慵懒懒,或者状态不佳;而在纪录片中,它们永远藏匿于屏幕之后,狮子的威猛、大象的庞然、河马的雄壮,又怎是一个屏幕所能装下的呢?就     

黄斑巨鳖分布的历史变迁

通过考古、文史和动物学文献的考证,对黄斑巨鳖Rafetus swinhoei分布的历史变迁进行了研究,该种历史上曾广泛分布于黄河、长江、太湖、钱塘江、红河、马江流域和台湾澎湖水道,这些区域历史上记录的"鼋"都应为黄斑巨鳖而非亚洲圆鳖Pelochelys cantorii。黄斑巨鳖在台湾澎湖水道仅记录于1万年前,主要是由于人为影响,黄河种群自11世纪后未再有记载,近代其分布区更是急剧缩小,长江中游种群于19世纪末即已绝灭,长江下游和钱塘江种群在20世纪中叶绝灭,太湖流域目前已野生绝灭,红河和马江流域分布区虽未有明显变化,但在最近30年中密度急剧下降,野生种群濒临灭绝。建议重点在红河流域开展研究和保护工作。红河与钱塘江之间是否有分布仍存疑问,需要进一步研究。     

Pleistocene and Holocene rhinocerotids (Mammalia,Perissodactyla) from the Indochinese Peninsula

Rhinocerotids were abundant and diverse in southern Asia during the Pleistocene and the Holocene epochs, as shown by palaeontological and archaeological discoveries published throughout the last century, whereas the only living rhinoceros in the Indochinese Peninsula is Rhinoceros sondaicus (Cat Loc Reserve, Vietnam). The Pleistocene-Holocene Indochinese rhinocerotid record consists of the extinct species Dicerorhinus gwebinensis (Early Pleistocene, Myanmar) and representatives of the Recent Asian Species Rhinoceros unicornis (Middle-Late Pleistocene), R. sondaicus (Middle Pleistocene-Recent), and Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Middle Pleistocene-Holocene). This fossil record is synthesized, mapped for Early/Middle/Late Pleistocene and Holocene/Recent times, and then compared with coeval rhinocerotid assemblages from the adjacent areas (South China), subregions (Indian, Sundaic, Philippine, and Wallacean), and region (Palearctic), from a biochronological and biogeographical perspective.     

The Use and Economic Value of Manna grass (Glyceria) in Poland from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century

Manna grass (mainly but not exclusively G. fluitans) used to be widely gathered in most lowland areas of the present territory of Poland and western and southern Belarus. It had an important function as a component of tribute paid to local landowners by villagers, which led to the persistence of manna gathering even when this was not sustainable for peasants themselves. Manna grass was always an expensive food due to its time consuming gathering, but appreciated for its sweet taste and often served as dessert. In the nineteenth century marshes shrank significantly and the payment of tribute disappeared from the local economy, which gradually led to the total abandonment of Glyceria use around 1914. This article provides a detailed overview of Glyceria use as food within the borders of the former Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom (now Poland, Lithuania, western Belarus and western Ukraine) based on archaeobotanical, historical and ethnographic sources. The evidence for the continued use of manna since at least medieval times is abundant in historical accounts and ethnographic studies, but little has been reported in archaeobotanical findings due to the relatively small amounts of Glyceria consumed.     

Remains of Holocene giant pandas from Jiangdong Mountain (Yunnan,China) and their relevance to the evolution of quaternary environments in south-western China

Two subfossil partial skeletons of male giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) were recovered, along with remains of 16 other mammalian species, from a natural sinkhole on Jiangdong Mountain (south-western Yunnan, China). The panda and other mammalian bones from the sinkhole's upper chamber yielded tightly clustered accelerator mass spectrometry corrected radiocarbon ages of 8470–8250 yr BP, and the panda remains from the lower chamber were found to be 5025 ± 35 yr BP. The bones represent a natural accumulation of mostly large mammals (>30 kg), which had fallen accidentally into the sinkhole. The Jiangdong Mountain mammal assemblage comprises mostly obligate forest-dwellers such as the giant panda, Asian elephant and Sumatran rhinoceros, but the presence of the horse and gaur suggests a more open woodland habitat. Giant pandas were distributed widely in southern China during the Pleistocene, but are now restricted to dense stands of bamboo within temperate forests surrounding the Sichuan Basin. The evidence from Jiangdong Mountain indicates that suitable habitat for pandas extended west of the Salween River through the mid-Holocene. Rapid deforestation of the area in historical times is suggested by an accumulation of cave fill below the opening of the sinkhole containing pieces of an early to middle Ming Dynasty bowl.     

斑头大翠鸟在我国的分布

斑头大翠鸟(Alcedo hercules)在我国的分布以往仅知见于西藏东南部、云南南部和海南岛的局部地区,自20世纪80年代后期以来,于广东北部(车八岭)和江西西南部(九连山)相继出现采集记录和连续的目击记录,本世纪初又有报道该种见于广西东北部(花坪)、中南部(十万大山)和西南部的中越边境地带,并于近期发现其分布远及福建西北部的邵武。据此,可以认为斑头大翠鸟在我国南方相当一些地区也应有分布。     

Tourists' Effects on Drivers of Working Asian Elephants

ABSTRACT

A growing wildlife tourist industry in Asia sometimes includes the use of elephants to transport tourists. Elephant drivers are responsible for the safe management of their elephants while loading, transporting, and unloading tourists for rides to view wildlife. This study sought to investigate the preferences and perceptions of elephant drivers regarding tourists when viewing rhinoceroses in the field. Drivers were interviewed with standardized questions with translator assistance and asked to show the distances from the rhinoceros at which both they and tourists preferred to view a rhinoceros. According to drivers, they preferred to be a longer distance from a rhinoceros than did tourists. Drivers described that some tourists wanted to get closer than was safe to rhinoceroses and other wildlife so as to take good photographs; some even wanted to be within touching distance. Drivers noted that tourists with long camera lenses did not seek or request to be as close to the rhinoceros as tourists with cameras with short lenses.     

广西扶绥岩亮洞与巨猿伴生的鼠亚科及其动物群的层序对比

本文系统研究了产自广西扶绥岩亮洞与步氏巨猿下颌骨伴生的鼠亚科化石,包括：锡金小鼠（相似种）（Mus cf. M. pahari）、小巢鼠（Micromys minutus）、亚洲姬鼠（Apodemus asianicus）、细狨鼠（Hapalomys gracilis）、原始笔尾树鼠（Chiropodomys primitivus）、先社鼠（Niviventer preconfucianus）、安氏白腹鼠（Niviventer andersoni）、拟爱氏巨鼠（Leopoldamys edwardsioides）和始家鼠（相似种）（Rattus cf. R. pristinus）,共计8属9种,其中包括了6个绝灭种,鼠亚科绝灭种的比例高达67%。研究表明,岩亮洞鼠亚科动物群的性质比重庆巫山龙骨坡的相关鼠类显得稍进步,但比湖北建始龙骨洞以及广西崇左泊岳山巨猿洞和三合大洞的鼠亚科组合都要原始,因此推测其时代为早更新世早期（可能距今约200万年）。此外,依据主要属种的形态差异和演化水平,本文还初步建立了广西左江流域更新世鼠亚科动物群的层序,从早到晚依次为：扶绥岩亮洞（距今约200万年）—崇左泊岳山巨猿洞（距今约180万年）—崇左三合大洞（距今约160-120万年）—木榄山智人洞（距今约11万年）,这对于深入研究我国南方早更新世巨猿—中华乳齿象动物群的系统演化,以及探讨我国南方第四纪生物地层的划分具有积极的意义。     

1999—2003年陕西省森林生态系统固碳释氧服务功能价值评估

基于陕西省森林生态系统的长期、连续定位观测,采用陕西省第6次森林资源清查数据,根据陕西省南北部气候差异显著的情况,采用森林在陕西南、北不同气候带下的实际生产力计算了森林生态系统固碳释氧的实物量。并采用市场价值法、费用代替法、替代工程法、Volume-derived biomass等方法估算森林生态系统固碳释氧服务功能的经济价值。结果表明:19992003年间,(1)陕西省北部森林生态系统年固碳量524.6×104t,年释氧量1404.6×104t,单位面积年固碳量1.364t/(hm.2a),单位面积年释氧量3.652t/(hm.2a)。(2)南部森林生态系统年固碳量1797×104t,年释氧量5918.9×104t,单位面积年固碳量3.459t/(hm.2a);南部单位面积年释氧量9.260t/(hm.2a)。陕西省南部森林生态功能明显优于北部森林。(3)从森林类型来看,林分单位面积生态功能最强,经济价值最大,疏林地的功能和价值则最小。(4)陕西省森林生态系统年固碳经济价值是328.27×108元,年释氧经济价值为732.35×108元,总价值1060.62×108元。(5)文中对陕西省优势树种固碳释氧功能的计算由于未能按照不同林龄分别计算,存在一定误差,需要进行更为深入、细致的研究。     

Comparison of whole mitochondrial genome sequences of northern and southern white rhinoceroses (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ceratotherium simum</Emphasis>): the conservation consequences of species definitions

The probable extinction of the last confirmed population of northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) in the world has ignited debate regarding its species status compared to the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum). Previous studies, based on partial mitochondrial sequences, have reported conflicting results regarding the species status of the northern white rhinoceros. We use whole mitochondrial genomes obtained using Next Generation Sequencing of four northern white rhinoceros and three southern white rhinoceros using novel primers in three overlapping fragments. Phylogenetic relationships were constructed, using Maximum Likelihood, and recovered monophyletic clades for northern white rhinoceros and southern white rhinoceros. The divergence time between the two mitochondrial DNA lineages was estimated to be between 0.46 and 0.97 million years ago using Bayesian inferences. Since there are currently only three surviving northern white rhinoceros individuals these results put into sharp focus the ongoing debate regarding the methods of species definition, and in particular the consequences of such definitions in conservation management of endangered species and subspecies. We conclude that the designation of sub-species status is more applicable to northern and southern white rhinoceros.     

皇家爱丁堡植物园引种中国植物资源多样性及动态

本文通过对皇家爱丁堡植物园保存活植物名录数据库的查询,详细整理了近100年来该园从中国引种植物的数据,在此基础上详细分析了爱丁堡植物园引种中国植物的多样性、来源省份及不同阶段引种人（队）、引种主要类群、种类数量等。分析结果表明,从20世纪初到现阶段,爱丁堡植物园在持续不断地引种中国植物,上世纪80年代前主要以个人收集为主,每年收集成活几种到几十种,到90年代开始有专业考察队参与收集,每年收集成活种类数量有所增加,在90年初收集成活数量最多的一年达500多种,引种地区涉及我国的20余个省（市、地区）,其引种较多的地区为云南、四川、西藏和台湾。本文还探讨了在与生物资源相关知识产权保护日益关注的背景下,中国作为生物多样性大国在生物资源保护方面面临问题、挑战与对策。