2010年4月30日,，SCIENCE在Random Samples欄目發(fā)表了“野生熊貓的希望”（Hope for wild pandas）文章,，報道了動物所魏輔文研究員領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的研究組發(fā)表在保護生物學(xué)主流期刊Conservation Biology上的有關(guān)小相嶺山系大熊貓棲息地喪失與破碎化對該地區(qū)大熊貓種群生存威脅的研究工作，該項工作將推動國家林業(yè)局在該區(qū)域逐步實施大熊貓放歸工程，為該野生大熊貓種群的長期生存帶來希望。
中科院動物所科研人員采用非損傷性遺傳取樣法，深入小相嶺山系收集大熊貓新鮮糞便樣品,，通過微衛(wèi)星標記進行遺傳分析發(fā)現(xiàn)大渡河的隔離作用使得小相嶺種群缺乏足夠的外源基因流；他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)小相嶺大熊貓孤立種群曾發(fā)生過嚴重的崩潰,，種群數(shù)量從清康乾盛世開始劇烈下降,，至今其種群縮小了近60倍。他們針對性的提出適當(dāng)重引入新的大熊貓個體,，實施大熊貓放歸工程是挽救該種群的重要措施,，該建議得到國家林業(yè)局的采納。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Conservation Biology DOI:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01499.x
Conservation Implications of Drastic Reductions in the Smallest and Most Isolated Populations of Giant Pandas
LIFENG ZHU* , XIANGJIANG ZHAN*, HUA WU*, SHANNING ZHANG , TAO MENG* , MICHAEL W. BRUFORD§, AND FUWEN WEI*
*Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1-5 Beichenxilu, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, Beijing 100039, People's Republic of China ?China Wildlife Conservation Association, No 18, Hepingli East Street, Beijing, 100714, People's Republic of China §Biodiversity and Ecological Processes Group, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, United Kingdom
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.
