稀有植物太行花的保护生物学研究

悬崖代表着一个残遗的、较少受到干扰的古生境，悬崖也是生物多样性的避难所。这个特殊生境中分布种类丰富的稀有植物和特有植物，而这些稀有和特有植物又往往以悬崖为唯一的生境，在长期的演化历史进程中形成彼此相互适应的关系。这种分布在特殊生境中的稀有植物为保护研究提出了新的研究方向和问题。本文以蔷薇科的中国特有植物太行花（Taihangia rupestris Yü et Li）为对象，对这个仅分布在有限的地理范围内悬崖上的稀有物种进行了保护生物学的研究。 利用RAPD分子标记技术对太行花8个居群的遗传多样性和遗传结构进行了检测分析。结果表明太行花居群内维持着较高的遗传多样性水平，未显示遭受过严重遗传瓶颈的迹象。同时，居群间遗传分化显著，与居群间的地理距离相关，聚类分析得到的树系图与太行花种下两个变种（太行花原变种Taihangia rupestris var. rupestris和缘毛太行花Taihangia rupestris var. ciliate Yü et Li）的划分相符。 通过栽培实验，研究了太行花对光照和养分的反应，从生态学角度检测植物对环境因子变化的适应能力。结果表明光照处理显著影响太行花的气体交换参数，且显示出随季节不同而变化的趋势。在8月第一次测量时，光合速率随着光照水平的增加而增加;而在9月底第二次测量时，高光下植株的光合速率反低于中光条件下的植株。光合光反应曲线表明太行花对不同光照水平（高光、中光和低光）均显示出一定的光合适应性。 光照对太行花的生长反应、形态、解剖等指标均具有显著的作用。在收获时，高光下植物形成小而厚的叶片，更快的叶片形成速率足以弥补单叶面积上光合速率的下降，使植株维持最大的总生物量。中光条件下的植株具有更长的叶柄，更大的叶面积，大而薄的叶片，和更大的叶面积比，被认为是对较弱光照环境适应的表现。而光照对叶片的气孔指标（气孔密度、气孔指数和大小）没有作用，养分施加对太行花的影响也甚微。总体来说，太行花显示出对光照变化的生理适应性和形态可塑性，光照和养分这两个环境条件均非影响太行花局限分布的关键因素。 同时，我们采用扫描电镜手段跟踪观察了太行花的花的早期发育过程。太行花早期发育过程中苞片内残留的退化花痕迹表明，太行花的顶生单花其实是有限聚伞花序中其它花芽败育的结果，显示出从花序向单花演化的趋势。同时，雌蕊的发育在早期是正常的，未显示出退化痕迹。 根据以上结果表明，局限分布在特殊生境上的太行花并未显示出生理适应幅度的狭窄性和遗传多样性水平的降低，因此，太行花在长期的进化过程中形成了对特殊生境——悬崖的适应性，遗传衰退和缺乏适应性不是稀有植物太行花局限分布的原因。在对太行花的保护中应进一步加强对其生境的保护，并在进行迁地保护和回归引种时应兼顾不同变种和地理分布的居群，以实现对其遗传完整性的有效保护。

Strandings as indicators of marine mammal biodiversity and human interactions off the coast of North Carolina

The adjacency of 2 marine biogeographic regions off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (NC), and the proximity of the Gulf Stream result in a high biodiversity of species from northern and southern provinces and from coastal and pelagic habitats. We examined spatiotemporal patterns of marine mammal strandings and evidence of human interaction for these strandings along NC shorelines and evaluated whether the spatiotemporal patterns and species diversity of the stranded animals reflected published records of populations in NC waters. During the period of 1997–2008, 1847 stranded animals were documented from 1777 reported events. These animals represented 9 families and 34 species that ranged from tropical delphinids to pagophilic seals. This biodiversity is higher than levels observed in other regions. Most strandings were of coastal bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) (56%), harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) (14%), and harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) (4%). Overall, strandings of northern species peaked in spring. Bottlenose dolphin strandings peaked in spring and fall. Almost half of the strandings, including southern delphinids, occurred north of Cape Hatteras, on only 30% of NC’s coastline. Most stranded animals that were positive for human interaction showed evidence of having been entangled in fishing gear, particularly bottlenose dolphins, harbor porpoises, short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), harbor seals, and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Spatiotemporal patterns of bottlenose dolphin strandings were similar to ocean gillnet fishing effort. Biodiversity of the animals stranded on the beaches reflected biodiversity in the waters off NC, albeit not always proportional to the relative abundance of species (e.g., Kogia species). Changes in the spatiotemporal patterns of strandings can serve as indicators of underlying changes due to anthropogenic or naturally occurring events in the source populations.