现代社会中的重大环境热点问题研究推动了保护生物学的发展。学科融合使得保护生物学正在发展成为保护科学(Conservation Science)。保护生物学需要广泛参与,然而,根据Google Search Volume,中国互联网用户对保护生物学与生物多样性概念的兴趣不高。全球生物多样性的主要部分在发展中国家,研究发现主要保护生物学项目或最活跃的研究工作在发展中国家进行。然而科技投入不足限制了发展中国家保护生物学论文的产出。到目前为止,中国作者(含在华工作的外国作者)在ISI Web of Knowledge数据库中保护生物学主流刊物上发表的论文数量少,与中国的生物多样性占全球的比例不相称。保护生物学研究面临一系列的挑战:(1)保护生物学研究因过分强调价值与实用而受到了批评;(2)保护生物学缺少机理探讨、缺少实验、缺少对比研究,还没有形成完整的理论体系;(3)保护生物学是一门涉及空间尺度的学科,不同局部、不同空间尺度的保护生物学问题往往缺乏可比性;(4)许多保护生物学数据没有正式发表,这些"灰色文献"限制了保护生物学的发展;(5)与生物多样性有关的国际法和国内法的制定和实施为保护生物学带来了新的发展机遇。我们提出如下对策:(1)明确保护生物学的价值取向;(2)建立保护生物学研究方法和理论体系;(3)重视和探讨保护生物学的空间尺度问题;(4)充分收集利用"灰色"数据和文献,建立与发表在同行评议科学刊物上的文献库相对应的初级生物多样性网络数据库,促进保护生物学的荟萃分析和大研究;(5)积极围绕生物多样性有关的国际法开展相关研究。保护生物学这一门大科学的完善离不开各国保护生物学的深入研究,部分中国学术期刊用英文发稿,是中国保护生物学工作者研究汇入世界主流的途径之一。
Chemical communication plays an important role in kin selection and mate choice in mammals. The covariance of odor-genes of rodents has been documented and kinship odor has been proposed and termed, yet little is known of the relationship between genetic relatedness and chemical composition of kinship odors. Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) rely substantially on chemical communication to mediate their social interactions. To examine the relationship between genetic relatedness and compounds in the urine/anogenital gland secretions, we compared the similarities between genetic relatedness and the chemical profiles of anogenital gland secretions and urine via lineage construction and GC-MS (gas chromatography and mass spectrometry). We found that information about kinship odors was present only in the urine of male adults in the mating season but absent in the non-mating season. Adult females and all sub-adults did not have such kinship odors in either mating or non-mating season. Therefore, kinship odor in the panda was contingent on age, sex, and season. This is the first report about the condition-dependent expression of kinship odor, which may have a sig- nificant implication in the practice of panda conservation in relation to chemical communication and sexual selection.
LIU DingZhenWEI RongPingZHANG GuiQuanYUAN HongWANG ZhiPengSUN LixingZHANG JianxuZHANG HeMin
