The Ryman-Laikre (R-L) effect is an increase in inbreeding and a reduction in total effective population size (NET) in a combined captive-wild system, which arises when a few captive parents produce large numbers ...The Ryman-Laikre (R-L) effect is an increase in inbreeding and a reduction in total effective population size (NET) in a combined captive-wild system, which arises when a few captive parents produce large numbers of offspring. To facilitate evaluation of the R-L effect for scenarios that are relevant to marine stock enhancement and aquaculture, we extended the original R-L formula to explicitly account for several key factors that determine NeT, including the numbers of captive and wild adults, the ratio of captive to wild Ne/N (β), productivity of captive and wild breeders, and removal of individuals from the wild for captive breeding. We show how to provide quantitative answers to questions such as: What scenarios lead to no loss of effective size? What is the maximum effective size that can be achieved? and What scenarios insure that NeTWill be no smaller than a specified value? Important results include the following: (1) For large marine populations, the value of β becomes increasingly important as the captive contribution increases. Captive propagation will sharply reduce NeT unless the captive contribution is very small or β is very large (~10^3 or higher). (2) Very large values of β are only possible if wild Ne/N is tiny. Therefore, large wild populations undergoing captive enhancement at even modest levels will suffer major reductions in effective size unless wild Ne is a tiny fraction of the census size (about 10 4 or lower).展开更多
Understanding the reproductive strategy of an organism is important in conservation ecology as it directly affects the population performance under changing environmental conditions.Chinese sturgeon(Acipenser sinensis...Understanding the reproductive strategy of an organism is important in conservation ecology as it directly affects the population performance under changing environmental conditions.Chinese sturgeon(Acipenser sinensis)are the largest anadromous fish in the Yangtze River,China.Currently,the species has only one spawning ground and has failed to spawn in recent years,leading it to the brink of extinction.To develop effective conservation measures,a further understanding of its reproductive strategy is needed.In our study,we conducted kinship analyses by using mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA data from 216 wild juveniles collected over nine years(20062013,2015)to understand the mating system,breeding interval,effective number of breeding adults,and reproductive success.The results from these analyses suggested polygynandry,with some parents contributing up to eight half-sibling juvenile genotypes.Although the spawning ground was restricted to a limited area,genetic diversity was maintained at a relatively high level(observed heterozygosity from 0.698 to 0.787 and expected heterozygosity from 0.763 to 0.787)and inbreeding coefficients in each year-class ranged from1% to 9%(low to modest detrimental effects on offspring).A parental inference analysis revealed that Chinese sturgeon have a breeding interval of 2-6 years,indicating that it has the potential to feed,accumulate nutrition in the ocean,and then migrate back to the Yangtze River for iteroparous reproduction.The annual effective number of breeders in the Yangtze River ranged from 14 to 161 during the study period,and it decreased by 62.1%from the 20112014 year-classes.This sharp population decline likely contributes to the reproduction failure.However,the ratios of effective to census population size(Ne/Nc)were all larger than 0.20 after the 2010 year-class,indicating relatively even reproductive success.Based on these results,a suggested approach to protect this species is to restock parent fish to increase the reproductive stock size and optimize the 展开更多
In order to measure the impact of changes in the marsh on breeding Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) and White-naped Cranes (G.vipio) in the Sanjiang Plain,we conducted a complete crane súrvey in each of the s...In order to measure the impact of changes in the marsh on breeding Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) and White-naped Cranes (G.vipio) in the Sanjiang Plain,we conducted a complete crane súrvey in each of the summers of 2007 and 2008,and obtained information on the changes in its marsh through interpretation of satellite images in 1986,1995,2000 and 2005.A comparison between the 1984 and 2008 census shows that:1) the number of Red-crowned Cranes remained stable at about 300 birds,while the number of White-naped Cranes increased markedly; 2) the estimates of nests of Red-crowned cranes are close to the numbers of 1984,while approximately 90% of the nests of these two crane species were distributed over five national nature reserves (NNRs); 3) the two crane species became more concentrated in three regions,i.e.,the Fuyuan Delta,the middle reaches of the Naoli and Qixing rivers,and the Xingkai Lake wetlands,rather as formerly in six regions.The area of the marsh decreased by 45% within the 20-year period from 1986 to 2005.The major loss of the marsh area was in the form of a conversion to paddy fields and dry land,which can be primarily attributed to direct human activity under various economic and policy drivers.The disappearance of cranes in the Dulu and Abuqin rivers was induced by large-scale agricultural development.The fragmentation into and isolation of small areas of the marsh became increasingly more serious,which resulted in unsuitable condtions for crane breeding in small patches of the marsh.The number of cranes declined from 1984-1995 but had recovered remarkably by 2008,which may be due to theestablishment of a system of nature reserves,in place since 2000.The land ownership of the reserve plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the wetland ecosystem,especially in Sanjiang,Honghe,Naolihe and Qixinghe NNRs,which together accommodated approximately 80% of the population of cranes.However,we did not discover any nests at all in the provincial and municipal reserves,which may be attribute展开更多
The Xinjiang Ground Jay (Podoces biddulphi) is a bird species endemic to China. It has a restricted range, living only in the Taklimakan Desert, southern part of Xinjiang. So far, little information has been known of ...The Xinjiang Ground Jay (Podoces biddulphi) is a bird species endemic to China. It has a restricted range, living only in the Taklimakan Desert, southern part of Xinjiang. So far, little information has been known of the status and ecology of the bird in the world. Since 1988, I have been taking field investigations on the distribution, population size and breeding ecology of the Xinjiang Ground Jay in the desert.In this thesis, the desertification in relation to the eastward expansion of the ground jays was discussed.展开更多
The Trans-Baikal geographical region is located in southeastern Siberia, Russia, east towards Lake Baikal and include the Daurian steppes. The steppes provide important habitats for several species of cranes, includin...The Trans-Baikal geographical region is located in southeastern Siberia, Russia, east towards Lake Baikal and include the Daurian steppes. The steppes provide important habitats for several species of cranes, including the Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis). I have studied the cranes in the area since 1988. The Red-crowned Crane mainly occurs in the Torey Depression (Torey Lake) and the Argun River, which represent the far western edge of the breeding area for the continental population of the Red-crowned Crane. There are some scattering records of the cranes in the Torey Depression from before 1990. The birds appeared regularly and bred from 2002–2007 at Torey Lake. There have been no records since 2008 due to the fact that the wetlands have dried out during the regional climate cycle in the Torey Depression. Three or four individual Red-crowned Cranes have been sighted in Argun in the early 2000’s and then the numbers increased steadily until 2004. At the highest peak in 2004, there were at least 30 pairs of the cranes breeding in the wetlands of the river floodplain. Since then, with the reduced water flow in the Argun River and more and more wetlands drying out, the Red-crowned Crane population decreased dramatically to four or seven territories. The cranes are facing serious threats in the Argun River, such as frequent spring fires, poaching and water pollution. We need to unify efforts from both the Russian and Chinese sides to protect the cranes and their wetland habitat in the area.展开更多
In the face of worldwide amphibian declines,integrative studies combining individual-based information and genetic data represent a powerful approach to produce robust,reliable,and comparable assessments of demographi...In the face of worldwide amphibian declines,integrative studies combining individual-based information and genetic data represent a powerful approach to produce robust,reliable,and comparable assessments of demographic dynamics.The Iberian painted frog(Discoglossus galganoi)is endemic to Spain and Portugal and shows decreasing population trends across its range,but few studies have attempted to estimate census sizes or assess genetic diversity in wild populations,and little is known about their reproductive biology.We applied an integrative approach based on the combination of capture-mark-recapture data and multilocus genotypes to monitor a breeding population of D.galganoi in central Spain during two consecutive breeding seasons,focusing on the estimation of demographic parameters and their temporal variation.Specifically,we estimated the number of adults(Na),the effective population size(Ne),and the effective number of breeders(Nb),as well as survival and migration rates.We documented a>50%decrease in the estimated number of adults of both sexes between the breeding seasons of 2018 and 2019,probably associated with reduced rainfall in the latter.Estimates of Nb and the Nb/Na ratio were low in both seasons,with a 20–30%decrease in Nb and a 47%increase in the Nb/Na ratio in 2019.Based on the reconstruction of pedigrees from larval and adult genotypes,we provide the first genetic evidence of polygamy in males and females of D.galganoi and the first estimates of breeding success in the species.展开更多
南极企鹅广泛分布于南极大陆沿岸和南极半岛沿岸,特别是亚南极数目众多的岛屿上其群体数量之大,分布之广,使其在南极海洋生态系中占有极其重要的地位。过去不少生物学家对其形态特征和生态分布进行过观测,但对南设得兰群岛的乔治岛(King...南极企鹅广泛分布于南极大陆沿岸和南极半岛沿岸,特别是亚南极数目众多的岛屿上其群体数量之大,分布之广,使其在南极海洋生态系中占有极其重要的地位。过去不少生物学家对其形态特征和生态分布进行过观测,但对南设得兰群岛的乔治岛(King George Island),西南部费尔德斯湾(Fildes Bay)展开更多
文摘The Ryman-Laikre (R-L) effect is an increase in inbreeding and a reduction in total effective population size (NET) in a combined captive-wild system, which arises when a few captive parents produce large numbers of offspring. To facilitate evaluation of the R-L effect for scenarios that are relevant to marine stock enhancement and aquaculture, we extended the original R-L formula to explicitly account for several key factors that determine NeT, including the numbers of captive and wild adults, the ratio of captive to wild Ne/N (β), productivity of captive and wild breeders, and removal of individuals from the wild for captive breeding. We show how to provide quantitative answers to questions such as: What scenarios lead to no loss of effective size? What is the maximum effective size that can be achieved? and What scenarios insure that NeTWill be no smaller than a specified value? Important results include the following: (1) For large marine populations, the value of β becomes increasingly important as the captive contribution increases. Captive propagation will sharply reduce NeT unless the captive contribution is very small or β is very large (~10^3 or higher). (2) Very large values of β are only possible if wild Ne/N is tiny. Therefore, large wild populations undergoing captive enhancement at even modest levels will suffer major reductions in effective size unless wild Ne is a tiny fraction of the census size (about 10 4 or lower).
基金funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB31000000)the National Key R&D Program of China(2018YFD0900806)+1 种基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(31872234)the research program of China Three Gorges Corporation(201903144).
文摘Understanding the reproductive strategy of an organism is important in conservation ecology as it directly affects the population performance under changing environmental conditions.Chinese sturgeon(Acipenser sinensis)are the largest anadromous fish in the Yangtze River,China.Currently,the species has only one spawning ground and has failed to spawn in recent years,leading it to the brink of extinction.To develop effective conservation measures,a further understanding of its reproductive strategy is needed.In our study,we conducted kinship analyses by using mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA data from 216 wild juveniles collected over nine years(20062013,2015)to understand the mating system,breeding interval,effective number of breeding adults,and reproductive success.The results from these analyses suggested polygynandry,with some parents contributing up to eight half-sibling juvenile genotypes.Although the spawning ground was restricted to a limited area,genetic diversity was maintained at a relatively high level(observed heterozygosity from 0.698 to 0.787 and expected heterozygosity from 0.763 to 0.787)and inbreeding coefficients in each year-class ranged from1% to 9%(low to modest detrimental effects on offspring).A parental inference analysis revealed that Chinese sturgeon have a breeding interval of 2-6 years,indicating that it has the potential to feed,accumulate nutrition in the ocean,and then migrate back to the Yangtze River for iteroparous reproduction.The annual effective number of breeders in the Yangtze River ranged from 14 to 161 during the study period,and it decreased by 62.1%from the 20112014 year-classes.This sharp population decline likely contributes to the reproduction failure.However,the ratios of effective to census population size(Ne/Nc)were all larger than 0.20 after the 2010 year-class,indicating relatively even reproductive success.Based on these results,a suggested approach to protect this species is to restock parent fish to increase the reproductive stock size and optimize the
基金supported by the Conservation Fund of the State Forestry Administration of China and the Siberian Crane Wetland GEF/UNEP Project(GF/2712-03-4627)
文摘In order to measure the impact of changes in the marsh on breeding Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) and White-naped Cranes (G.vipio) in the Sanjiang Plain,we conducted a complete crane súrvey in each of the summers of 2007 and 2008,and obtained information on the changes in its marsh through interpretation of satellite images in 1986,1995,2000 and 2005.A comparison between the 1984 and 2008 census shows that:1) the number of Red-crowned Cranes remained stable at about 300 birds,while the number of White-naped Cranes increased markedly; 2) the estimates of nests of Red-crowned cranes are close to the numbers of 1984,while approximately 90% of the nests of these two crane species were distributed over five national nature reserves (NNRs); 3) the two crane species became more concentrated in three regions,i.e.,the Fuyuan Delta,the middle reaches of the Naoli and Qixing rivers,and the Xingkai Lake wetlands,rather as formerly in six regions.The area of the marsh decreased by 45% within the 20-year period from 1986 to 2005.The major loss of the marsh area was in the form of a conversion to paddy fields and dry land,which can be primarily attributed to direct human activity under various economic and policy drivers.The disappearance of cranes in the Dulu and Abuqin rivers was induced by large-scale agricultural development.The fragmentation into and isolation of small areas of the marsh became increasingly more serious,which resulted in unsuitable condtions for crane breeding in small patches of the marsh.The number of cranes declined from 1984-1995 but had recovered remarkably by 2008,which may be due to theestablishment of a system of nature reserves,in place since 2000.The land ownership of the reserve plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the wetland ecosystem,especially in Sanjiang,Honghe,Naolihe and Qixinghe NNRs,which together accommodated approximately 80% of the population of cranes.However,we did not discover any nests at all in the provincial and municipal reserves,which may be attribute
基金supported by the Science Supporting Project of National Ministry of Science and Technology(2008BAC39B04)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(30270211,30470262,30970340)
文摘The Xinjiang Ground Jay (Podoces biddulphi) is a bird species endemic to China. It has a restricted range, living only in the Taklimakan Desert, southern part of Xinjiang. So far, little information has been known of the status and ecology of the bird in the world. Since 1988, I have been taking field investigations on the distribution, population size and breeding ecology of the Xinjiang Ground Jay in the desert.In this thesis, the desertification in relation to the eastward expansion of the ground jays was discussed.
基金prepared with assistance form the Russian Fund for Basic Research,project10-06-00060athe World Wide Fund for Nature
文摘The Trans-Baikal geographical region is located in southeastern Siberia, Russia, east towards Lake Baikal and include the Daurian steppes. The steppes provide important habitats for several species of cranes, including the Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis). I have studied the cranes in the area since 1988. The Red-crowned Crane mainly occurs in the Torey Depression (Torey Lake) and the Argun River, which represent the far western edge of the breeding area for the continental population of the Red-crowned Crane. There are some scattering records of the cranes in the Torey Depression from before 1990. The birds appeared regularly and bred from 2002–2007 at Torey Lake. There have been no records since 2008 due to the fact that the wetlands have dried out during the regional climate cycle in the Torey Depression. Three or four individual Red-crowned Cranes have been sighted in Argun in the early 2000’s and then the numbers increased steadily until 2004. At the highest peak in 2004, there were at least 30 pairs of the cranes breeding in the wetlands of the river floodplain. Since then, with the reduced water flow in the Argun River and more and more wetlands drying out, the Red-crowned Crane population decreased dramatically to four or seven territories. The cranes are facing serious threats in the Argun River, such as frequent spring fires, poaching and water pollution. We need to unify efforts from both the Russian and Chinese sides to protect the cranes and their wetland habitat in the area.
基金the Ethics Committee of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas,Spain(ref.:710/2018)and Comunidad de Madrid(ref.:PROEX 040/19)which also extended legal permits for tissue collection for scientific purposes(ref.:10/069513.9/18).
文摘In the face of worldwide amphibian declines,integrative studies combining individual-based information and genetic data represent a powerful approach to produce robust,reliable,and comparable assessments of demographic dynamics.The Iberian painted frog(Discoglossus galganoi)is endemic to Spain and Portugal and shows decreasing population trends across its range,but few studies have attempted to estimate census sizes or assess genetic diversity in wild populations,and little is known about their reproductive biology.We applied an integrative approach based on the combination of capture-mark-recapture data and multilocus genotypes to monitor a breeding population of D.galganoi in central Spain during two consecutive breeding seasons,focusing on the estimation of demographic parameters and their temporal variation.Specifically,we estimated the number of adults(Na),the effective population size(Ne),and the effective number of breeders(Nb),as well as survival and migration rates.We documented a>50%decrease in the estimated number of adults of both sexes between the breeding seasons of 2018 and 2019,probably associated with reduced rainfall in the latter.Estimates of Nb and the Nb/Na ratio were low in both seasons,with a 20–30%decrease in Nb and a 47%increase in the Nb/Na ratio in 2019.Based on the reconstruction of pedigrees from larval and adult genotypes,we provide the first genetic evidence of polygamy in males and females of D.galganoi and the first estimates of breeding success in the species.
文摘南极企鹅广泛分布于南极大陆沿岸和南极半岛沿岸,特别是亚南极数目众多的岛屿上其群体数量之大,分布之广,使其在南极海洋生态系中占有极其重要的地位。过去不少生物学家对其形态特征和生态分布进行过观测,但对南设得兰群岛的乔治岛(King George Island),西南部费尔德斯湾(Fildes Bay)