Effects of climate change and fishing on the Pearl River Estuary ecosystem and fisheries

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries - Climate change poses a challenge to the management of marine ecosystems and fisheries. Estuarine ecosystems in particular are exposed to a broad range of...     

Lizard species richness patterns in China and its environmental associations

Many ecological hypotheses have been widely used to explain species richness variation across the globe. We investigated lizard species richness patterns in China, and identified areas of high species richness. Furthermore, we tested hypotheses concerning the relationships between lizard richness and environmental variables. A large data including 30,902 records of point locality data for 151 lizard species occurring in China were retrieved from Herpetology museums of CIB/CAS and other museums through HerpNET, and published sources, and then predicted distributions maps were generated using ecological niche modeling. We overlaid all species prediction maps into a composite map to describe species richness patterns. A multiple regression analysis using eigenvector-based spatial filtering (SEVM) was performed to examine the best environmental predictors of species richness. Richness peaked mainly in southern China located in the Oriental realm. Our best multiple regression models explained a total of 80.1% variance of lizard richness (r² = 0.801; F = 203.47; P < 0.001). Among related factors in shaping species richness distribution, the best environmental predictors of species richness were: frost-day frequency, elevation, vegetation, and wet-day frequency. Based on models selection, our results revealed that underlying mechanisms related to different ecological hypotheses might work together and best explain lizard richness in China. We are in an initial step to develop a large data set on species richness, and provide the necessary conservation implications from habitat loss. Additional studies that test species richness at different geographical scale are required to better understand the factors that may influence the species richness distribution in East Asia.     

中国两栖动物受威胁现状评估

为了了解我国两栖动物受威胁现状和致危因素, 进而制定相关的保护措施和开展国际合作, 本文依据中国两栖动物野生种群与生境现状, 利用《IUCN物种红色名录濒危等级和标准》(3.1版)和《IUCN物种红色名录标准在国家或地区的应用指南》(4.0版), 对中国已知的408种两栖动物的濒危状况进行了评估, 并编制了《中国两栖动物红色名录》。评估结果表明: 中国两栖动物有1种灭绝, 1种区域灭绝, 受威胁的两栖动物共计176种, 占评估物种总数的43.1%, 明显高于《IUCN濒危物种红色名录》(2015)的物种受威胁率(30.8%)。中国两栖动物特有种272种, 其中48.9%属于受威胁物种。中国两栖动物受威胁比例最高的目是有尾目(63.4%), 明显高于无尾目(39.0%); 受威胁比例最高的科是隐鳃鲵科(Cryptobranchidae) (仅有1种, 100%受威胁), 小鲵科(Hynobiidae) (86.7%)和叉舌蛙科(Dicroglossidae) (78.1%)。有11个省区的受威胁物种数占本省区两栖动物物种总数的30%及以上, 前3位分别是四川(40.8%)、广西(39.2%)和云南(37%)。中国大多数两栖动物物种分布在西南山地和华南地区, 以海拔2,000 m以下区域为主。栖息地退化或丧失、捕捉、环境污染列受威胁两栖动物致危因子的前3位。鉴于中国两栖动物区系的复杂性和独特性, 进一步加强两栖动物资源调查、种群和生境监测及相关科学研究, 仍是今后一段时期开展两栖动物多样性保护和濒危物种拯救行动的关键性基础工作。     

Evolution of Phenotype and Mitochondrial Genome Reveals Limbless and Body-elongated Squamates may Change Their Energy Basis for Locomotion

Limb reduction in Squamata present the dramatic characteristic to focus and usually accompanied with particularly morphological modifications, impacting tremendous locomotion changing and might generate different energy requirement. Herein, we combined both morphological and mitochondrial genomic data to explore the evolution of phenotypic transformation and mitochondrial genome of limbless and body-elongated squamates. We collected phenotypic measurements of 503 individuals, representing limbed or limbless taxa across all major lineages in Squama ta to investiga te the morphological correla tions with limb-reduction. Furthermore, we provided the mitochondrial genome of the representative limbless and elongated species Dibamus bourreti(Angel, 1935) to detect selective constraints on limbless clades with published mitogenomes of other squa ma te reptiles. Our results evidenced tha t body elongation had certain negative relationship with limbreduction in Squamata lineage and Lacertilia lineage(R = –0.495, P 2.2 e-16; R= –0.332, P = 1.1 e-13, respectively), while tail length showed slight correlation in both clades(R = 0.156, P = 4.3 e-04; R= 0.192, P = 2.1 e-05, respectively). Besides, detection demonstrated that ATP6 has experienced accelerated evolution among limbless lineages, suggesting selective pressure on mitogenomes may play an essential role in energy disparity for locomotion of limbed and limbless squamates.     

中国两栖、爬行动物更新名录

本文在2015年发表的爬行动物名录及同年《中国两栖类信息系统》发布的两栖动物名录的基础上, 通过整理新发表的分类学研究及先前名录遗漏的部分早期文献, 更新了截至2019年底中国现生本土两栖、爬行动物物种名录。2015-2019年间, 中国两栖动物新记录1科, 新描述2属, 恢复1属有效性, 新记录1属, 新描述或恢复有效种74种, 新增国家纪录18种; 另6属、8种的有效性未得到近年研究证据支持(在此视为次定同物异名而未做收录, 后同)。同期, 中国爬行动物新恢复5科, 新描述1亚科, 新描述1属, 恢复3属有效性, 新记录3属, 新描述、恢复或提升有效种43个, 新增国家纪录10种; 另有5属、4种的有效性未得到近年研究证据支持, 并移除1属、4种在我国的分布纪录。此外, 通过整理2015年前文献, 爬行动物增补3属, 提升3亚种至种级地位, 增补国家新纪录3种, 另有3属、2种的有效性未得到近年研究证据支持, 同时移除1种在我国的分布纪录。综上, 截至2019年底, 我国共记录现生本土两栖动物3目13科62属515种(蚓螈目1科1属1种, 有尾目3科14属82种, 无尾目9科47属431种), 爬行动物3目35科135属511种(鳄形目1科1属1种, 龟鳖目6科18属34种, 有鳞目蛇亚目18科73属265种、蜥蜴亚目10科43属211种)。此外, 本文还对先前名录中部分爬行动物的中文名提出了修改建议, 建议恢复部分物种的惯用中文名。2015-2019年, 新物种及新纪录已知物种数量占现两栖、爬行动物物种总数的17.1%和10.2%。近年来, 我国发表的两栖、爬行动物新物种和已知物种的新纪录数量持续增加, 分类体系也在研究中不断完善, 建议今后及时地进行阶段性总结, 同时对存在的问题提出讨论, 以推动中国两栖、爬行动物分类学研究工作的进一步开展。     

Author's letter

正I am writing to apologize for our negligence in our paper[Shulin PAN,Ningxin DANG,Jishan WANG,Yitao ZHENG,Dingqi RAO and Jiatang LI.2013.Molecular Phylogeny Supports the Validity of Polypedates impresus Yang 2008.Asian Herpetol Res 4(2):124-133].There were some mistakes in the Table 1 and the related Figure 2.In Table 1,the localities of the samples with the Genbank numbers AF026350 and AF458141 were not from Hong Kong,China and AY880521 was not from Myanmar,which should be described as unknown data.The localities of the     

中国爬行纲动物分类厘定

本文对中国爬行纲动物的分类体系和物种进行了系统的评估, 规范了中文学名, 给出了《中国爬行纲校正名录》, 结果表明: 中国现存爬行纲动物3目30科132属462种, 其中鳄形目(Crocodylia)1科1属1种, 龟鳖目(Testudines)6科18属33种, 有鳞目(Squamata)蜥蜴亚目(Lacertilia)10科41属189种, 有鳞目蛇亚目(Serpentes)13科72属239种。与《中国动物志 爬行纲 第一卷(总论、龟鳖目、鳄形目)》、《中国动物志 爬行纲 第二卷(有鳞目: 蜥蜴亚目)》和《中国蛇类》相比, 目和亚目无变化; 科级水平新增5科, 变更2科; 属级水平新增23属, 合并15属, 变更6属; 种级水平新增81种, 变动2种; 未收录同物异名12种、杂交6种、中国无分布7种。形态和分子系统发育研究结果在爬行动物不同分类阶元均有一定差异, 文章对这些争议进行了讨论, 并对名录的选择做了说明。     

西南喀斯特地貌区两栖动物丰富度分布格局与环境因子的关系

物种丰富度分布格局的成因机制一直是宏观生态学研究的热点问题之一。中国西南地区喀斯特地貌区(以广西、云南和贵州为主)是世界上面积最大的喀斯特地貌区, 也是全球范围内34个生物多样性热点地区之一。为了解该区域两栖动物物种丰富度分布格局及其与环境因子之间的关系, 本研究根据中国科学院成都生物研究所标本馆、中国科学院昆明动物研究所标本馆、广西壮族自治区自然博物馆和中南林业科技大学动物标本室收藏的标本数据, 以及公开发表的文献数据, 共获得18,246条两栖动物记录(219个物种), 然后运用生态位模型估测每个物种的潜在分布区, 并把每个物种的潜在分布区叠加起来, 最终得到该区域在10 km ´10 km生态位模型空间尺度上的两栖物种丰富度地理分布格局图, 最后进行多元回归和模型选择分析。结果表明: 有12种两栖动物仅在喀斯特地貌区分布, 占物种总数的5.48%; 有104种两栖动物仅在非喀斯特地貌区分布, 占物种总数的47.49%; 有103种两栖动物在喀斯特地貌区和非喀斯特地貌区均有分布, 占物种总数的47.03%; 两栖动物物种丰富度随纬度的增高而降低; 地貌类型(喀斯特地貌和非喀斯特地貌)对两栖动物物种丰富度的分布格局有显著影响(χ² = 36.47, P < 0.0001), 但模型拟合效果差(McFadden’s Rho square = 0.0037)。影响该区域两栖动物物种丰富度分布格局最大的环境因子是年均降雨量(R² = 0.232, P < 0.001), 其次是最干月平均降雨量(R² = 0.221, P < 0.001)。该区域两栖动物物种丰富度的格局主要是由地貌和不同的环境因子共同相互作用的结果, 不过仍有相当一部分物种丰富度的分布格局未被解释。因此, 要更全面地认识该区域两栖动物物种丰富度格局的形成机制, 有必要加强干扰、捕食、竞争等其他生物因子的影响研究。