This paper is based on investigations of the vertical dist ribution of fleas and their host s in nine sample areas in seven mountain ranges and refers to related data analyzed with statistical methods. According to the standardized mean of the diversity index for fleas in the vertical zones of each mountain range , the paper analyses and discusses the problems of the relationship of host s and of important environmental factors with the geographical dist ribution t rends and rules of flea species diversity in Yunnan Province’s Hengduan Mountains. The result s show geographical dist ribution t rends such that flea species diversity gradually decreases f rom the northwest to the south and the northeast . This t rend is related primarily with humidity and rainfall , then secondarily with latitude , flea richness , geographical environmental condition , vertical zonation , human activities , etc. It is concluded that the different geographical dist ribution t rends between fleas and host s was the main cause of their different adaptability to the environment , of which humidity is one of the important factors. In addition , the flea species richness in the Hengduan Mountains is the highest in the Chinese flea fauna. It was demonst rated that habitat heterogeneity in the Hengduan Mountains affect s species diversity , which act s on the relationship between species and area.

This study investigates characteristics and patterns of insect species diversity on the Ordos Plateau , a special ecotone with ext remely arid environment s in Northwest China. Using pitfall t raps , we collected 5159 insect specimen and 291 other invertebrates. As the most dominant group , beetles accounted for 45. 8 %of the total collected insect s , and among beetles , 92. 8 %of individuals are Tenebrionidae and Carabidae. Plotting the log values of individual numbers of different beetle species , from high to low , result s in patterns that separate the four investigated sites into two groups. One includes Hangjinqi , with mainly desert shrub environment s , and Shihuimiao with a variety of habitat s of different vegetation. The other includes Shilongmiao and Xinjiezhen with different environment s , frequently artificial regeneration. The former exhibit s high species diversity and richness , whereas the latter exhibit s high evenness. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) ordination of beetle communities indicates that the species dist ribution was determined by precipitation gradient and vegetation types. A positive correlation is seen between precipitation and beetle species diversity and evenness , while a negative correlation is one exhibited between precipitation and individual numbers. Species richness does not show such patterns. Thus , in an arid region as the Ordos Plateau , special insect species and their natural communities can be preserved only when the original vegetation is well protected and the disturbances of human activity are effectively limited. The environment s in this region can be improved and a high insect diversity can be developed when regeneration is increased and drift sanddune is decreased in most part s of this region.

The Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains (literally“a hundred thousand gigantic mountains”) are located in the southwestern part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region , China. The st reams on the northern side of the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains are mainly the upst ream tributaries of the southern side of the Mingjiang River basin , belonging to the Pearl River system. There are many substantive river st reams on the southern side and the st reams are near to each other but discharge independently into the Beibu Gulf . Due to the complicated geographical conditions in the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains , the species diversity of fish is very abundant . We collected 84 species and subspecies in the area during the spring of 1998 and the fall of 1999 , and another 18 species and subspecies were recorded in past references.Altogether 102 species and subspecies are found in the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains. All the fish belong to six orders , 18 families and 65 genera. Among them , 97 species and subspecies are pure f reshwater fishes , belonging to four orders , 16 families and 61 genera. There are 63 species and subspecies in Cypriniformes which account for 64. 95 % of the total f reshwater fish in the area ; 18 species belong to Perciformes which account for 18. 56 %of the total , 15 species are in the Siluriformes which account for 15. 46 % of the total , one species in the Synbranchiformes which accounts for 1. 03 % of the total.Apparently , Cypriniformes constitute the main component of the fish fauna in the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains. The analysis of average faunal resemblance (AFR) among the different river systems indicates that great differences of the fish fauna exist between the southern side and northern side. Sixty species and subspecies are dist ributed on the northern side , and 78 species and subspecies are on the south side , 40 species and subspecies are shared on both sides , and the AFR between both sides is 59. 6 %.Comparing the fish of the south side to the fish on Hainan Island sixty species and subspecies are shared and the AFR between areas is 67. 8 %. The above analyses indicate that the fish fauna of the south side of the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains has a much closer relationship to the fish fauna of Hainan Island than to the north side of the same mountains. It is suggested that the similarity of fish fauna between the south side of the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountians and Hainan Island is related to the change of environment during the Quaternary Ice Age. According to the literature , the level of sea descended about 150 meters during that period and the Beibu Gulf might have been a low continental bridge allowing the fishfauna between the two sides to exchang with each other. Regionally , the whole fish fauna of the Shi Wan Da Shan Mountains belongs to the South China Region (SCR) of the great Oritental Region , but the fish fauna of the south side belongs to the Hainan Subregion of SCR and the fish fauna of the northern side belongs to the Pearl River Subregion (SCR) .

From December 1999 to October 2000 , by analyzing bird diversities and component variation between seasons and habitat s , we surveyed bird species presence and abundance of three stage terraces on the Weihe Plain , Xianyang. According to the records , there are 124 species in this area , belonging to 15 Orders , 35 Families and 79 Genera. The result suggests that bird α-diversity is high in this area , as much as 3.28 , and is not the same between the terraces in different seasons. The higher β-diversity indices show that the species and component sare different among the habitats. The conclusion is that wetlands influence the bird diversities significantly and water is the dominant restriction factor to avian distribution and habitation in the Weihe Plain of China.

We int roduced the theory and methodology of Resource Selection Functions (RSFs) , and used a RSF to analyze nest site selection of Crested Ibis ( Nipponia ni ppon) . We compared the results of the RSF with those of principle component analysis (PCA) , and found that both methods indicated that habitat factors such as area of rice paddy , height of nest t ree , elevation and human disturbance played important roles in nest site selection. Nest orientation , coverage above the nest , aspect and slope of the hill where the nest tree was located were also not important . However , there were significant differences between the two methods. The RSF showed that the position of the nest t ree on the slope greatly affected nest site selection , and PCA indicated that the t ree density was more important .After detailed comparison , we concluded that RSFs are better than the commonly used PCA in studying habitat selection. We also discuss issues about how to select cont rol plot s and the independence of parameters while using RSFs. Finally we offer some suggestions for the conservation of Crested Ibis.

We compared morphological characters , phenology and chemical elemental content s of seven threatened plant species in limestone soil with those in acid red soil. The results show that the following variations occurred after the plants had been introduced to acid soil : 1) the leaves became larger and thinner , and the seeds and leaf shape of some species changed ; 2) the flowering , fruit bearing and leaf falling was delayed one week ;3) the chemical content of N , Zn , Band Al increased as much as 20 % , but Ca decreased by 10 % , though much higher than those in acid soil ; 5) the K, B absorbencies of the plants in limestone soil were about 10 %;4) the content of Ca decreased , but was still much higher than the plants in acid soil. The content of Al higher than those in acid soil , but the absorbencies of other elements (N , P , Ca , Mg , Fe , Al , Mn and Zn) were lower than those in acid soil.

Based on the analyses of daytime thermal effect s of different thermal active surfaces in canopy gaps in t ropical seasonal rain forest in the cool2fog and hot-wet season in Xishuangbanna , the thermal characteristics of different thermal active surfaces in canopy gaps are described. The finding showed that : The thermal effect of vertical thermal active surfaces is not negligent , not only in the cool-fog season , but also in the hot-wet season. Moreover , influenced by the height of t rees that form the edge of the gap , the height of maximum area of thermal effect of vertical thermal active surfaces at the east and north edge of gaps in tropical seasonal rain forest was higher than that in secondary forest ,but the intensity of thermal effects was weaker , compared to secondary forest . This indicates that , besides solar angle , time and intensity of radiation , the height of t rees is also an important factor that influences thermal effect s of vertical thermal active surface of edges. The results supply a research basis for understanding microclimatic formation of canopy gaps , for studying forest succession and effects of forest biodiversity.

Fagaceae is one of the most important families in subt ropical evergreen broad-leaved forest sin the Yangtse River Valley. However , studies on its natural regeneration are lacking. In this paper ,the seed rain , soil seed bank and factors influencing seed survival of three Fagaceae species , Quercus variabilis , Q. serrata and Castanopsis fargesii , were studied in Dujiangyan Region of the upper Yangt se River Valley , China. A method for estimating the proportion of insect-damaged seeds , surviving seeds , predated seeds and decayed seeds , was developed. Result s showed that : 1) the seed rain of three Fagaceae species lasted from the end of September to the beginning of December in the year 2000. The peaks of seed rain were slightly different in primary forest and in secondary forest . 2) The acorn crops of three Fagaceae species were all very small , and the mean density of seed rain were very low. In primary forest , the mean acorn density of Q. variabilis , Q. serrata and C. fargesii was 2.3 ±3. 85/ m² , 6.5 ±17.43/ m² and 1.9 ±5.21/ m² ,respectively ; while in secondary forest , the mean density of the three species was 2.4±3.47/ m² , 6.5 ±13.55/ m² and 0.3 ±1.35/ m² . 3) At the end of the seed rain , the number of acorns or their debris were thoroughly investigated at different depths in the soil : litter layer , 0～2 cm underground and 2～10 cm underground. The investigation of soilseed bank of two Fagaceae species showed that no Q. variabilis acorns remained in primary forest , while a few acorns (0.15 ±0.37 / m²) remained only in the litter of secondary forest . A few acorns of Q. serrata remained in both primary forest and secondary forest (0.20 ±0.70/ m² and 0.10 ±0.31/m² , respectively) , and also a few germinated (0.50 ±1.82/ m² and 0.20 ±0.89/ m² , respectively) ;but no acorns of C. fargesii were found. Most acorns remained in the litter , while few acorns stayed underground ; 4) The role of decay , insect-damage , predation and removal by vertebrates in the fates of acorns of the three plant species were quantitatively measured. Vertebrate predation was the key factor ; insect-damage increased the proportion of decay but decreased predation by vertebrates. The survival of acorns of Q. variabilis was lower than that of the smaller acorns of Q. serrata.

The diversity , component and dist ribution of bacterial hysiological groups and microbial flora in eight soil types of the Tiantai Mountain were studied. The results indicated that the amount of bacteria , fungi and actinomyces is the highest in the soil of Pinus taiwanensis forest , bamboo forest , Rhododendron fortunei forest , and the smallest in Cryptomeria fort une forest soil , which is co-related to the content s of organic matter , net nit rogen , net phosphorus and the litter in soil. The ratios of the bacteria , fungi , actinomyces to the total of microorganisms are as follows : bacteria amount is the most common , actinomyces amount is the next , and fungi is the smallest . Different dist ribution patterns of bacteria physiological groups are recognized. The ratios of aerobic cellulose-decomposing bacteria , aerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria , ammoniation bacteria , organic phosphorus-decomposing bacteria ,inorganic phosphorus-decomposing bacteria to the net amount of soil bacteria physiological groups are the dominant bacteria groups. The ratios of anti-nitrify bacteria and anti-vulcanization bacteria to the soil bacteria physiological groups net amount are the next in eight soil types of the Tiantai Mountain. The Simpson index and Shannon-Wiener index of the bacteria physiological groups are smaller in soil of the Heptacodium miconioides forest , bamboo forest , Rhododendron fortunei forest and Chamaecyparis pisifera forest , that of the bacteria physiological groups are relatively larger in the soil of Cryptomeria fortune forest , tea plantatio forest ,Pseudolarix amabilis forest , and Pinus taiwanensis forest .

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in the rhizosphere of five dominant plants Tamari xchinensis , Phragmites communis , Suaeda glauca , Ael uropuslit toralis var. sinensis and Cirsium setosum grown in saline-alkaline soil of the Yellow River Delta were investigated on fixed sample sites from March 2000 to February 2001. AM fungi in the rhizosphere of the five plants were isolated. The result indicated that the diversity of AM fungi in saline-alkaline soil was quite low , especially in winter. Species richness and spore density were decreased by 18.0 % and 61.6 % , respectively , relative to those in summer. Differences were also observed in the dist ribution of AM fungi in different layers of soil.

China has an extremely diverse flora with very high levels of endemism that has given China first place in the Northern Hemisphere in floristic richness. A combination of three reasons explains the floristic richness of China. First , the large area , long time for the organisms to evolve and climatic stability of China has made the country an important region of plant diversity in the Northern Hemisphere. Second , China is unique in being the country in the world that includes a region with vegetational continuity betweent ropical , subtropical , temperate , and boreal forests. Third , the tectonically active , highly dissected and elevated geography of China has made the country an important center of surrival , speciation and evolution. The diversity of plant is not uniformly distributed over China , but is concent rated in the south-central part of China which reaches from ca. 20°0′to 35°0′N. The diversity and levels of endemism within three localized hot-spots in south-central China , the Hengduan range ,the C. China and the Lingnan region , are notable in comparison with other regions. The Mt . Hengduan flora in particular is the richest of the three Chinese Hot-spots. However , of all the Hot-spots ,the Hengduan Range. C. China and Lingnan region are most in need of conservation attention.

Being a newly developed , cross-disciplinary field directed to answering the crisis of sharp biodiversity loss , conservation biology has made fast progress and become an independent subject in the past ten to twenty years. Scientists , however , seem to be indulging in the academic research of conservation biology and pay little attention to the issue of how biology conservation can conf ront all kinds of difficulties. As a result , conservation practice often has low impact or is even ineffective. In the present paper , we discuss the difficulties based on the ethics of biodiversity conservation , conservation biology theories and conservation practice. In our opinion , the most important factors that have sharply accelerated biodiversity loss are nothing else but complex negative driving forces from human society and economics and this is now restricting the achievement of biodiversity conservation practice. The purpose of this paper is to port ray the difficulties of biodiversity conservation and call attention from scientists , leaders , educators and farmers.

Many factors , such as pollution , species int roduction and reclamation around the Lake , have made the indigenous fishes in Dianchi Lake tend to decline or bcome endangered. The results from a survey conducted in 2000 showed that there are only 11 indigenous fishes remaining , and seven of them disappeared for many years in Dianchi Lake but still live in the upper reach of the rivers that flow into Dianchi Lake. By field survey of the indigenous fishes and their habitats , integrated with literature records , the historical change of the indigenous fishes , the spatial change pattern of their habitat sand the factors cont ributing to the fast decline of endemic fish diversity have been analyzed. Measures and approaches have been proposed here to protect these indigenous fishes.

Over-hunting and over-trade in wildlife and its products are big challenges to biodiversity conservation throughout the world. Globally , the trade in tiger bone and rhinoceros horn , illegalt rade in live wildlife in Southeast Asia , trade in wildlife products in Russian Far East and across Sino-Russia border , tropical bush meat hunting and trade , and illegal trade in wildlife products in Himalayan region , are increasingly threatening wildlife resources in the world. Advocating hunting sustainability is one of the approaches to resolving the problems of over-hunting and over-trade. In models for hunting sustainability ,“the model of game refugia”and“the spatial cont rol approach”which suggest to set aside reserves in hunted areas , will have good prospects in conservation practice. The future directions in conservation related to game hunting and wildlife t rade include : to understand poaching dynamics and characteristic and its effects on populations of endangered animals , to harmonize relationship between t raditional medicine and wildlife conservation , to cont rol illegal hunting and illegal trade in wildlife and its products across border between countries and to apply hunting sustainability models in conservation practice. The over-hunting and over-trade in wildlife and its products have seriously threatened China′s biodiversity and its sustainable use , but little information related is available. It is needed for establishing the working agency for monitoring wildlife hunting and wildlife t rade , and improving legislation and it s enforcement for conservation related and management of nature reserves , and st rengthening research on wildlife hunting and wildlife trade in China.

Biodiversity is , in nature , a kind of highly comprehensive and multi-valued resource on which human society depends for survival and development . The conservation and utilization of biodiversity resources often conflict against each other during the development of human society , but can be harmonized. The management of biodiversity resources is the fundamental approach to keep the two issues of realizing sustainable utilization of biodiversity resources and the sustainable development of regional social economy in harmony. Management , composed of subject layer , object layer and target layer , is a complex , hierarchical and dynamic feedback process with six basic steps , which should have features in the diversity of subject components , universality of participation , dynamic and persistence of the process , differentiation according to scale and region , and equity. The subject layer , made of various groups of people , is a functional layer derives from socio-economic system. The object layer ,the focus of management , is the coupling of biodiversity resources system and socio-economic system. The target layer comprises the sustainable utilization of iodiversity resources , the establishment and development of eco-civilization and the sustainable development of regional socio-economy. Eco-civiliza- tion is the very guarantee of the other two. The subject layer and object layer are entitative components of the management , and the target layer is the frame of reference. The six basic steps are area define ,problem recognition , object establishment , policy making and planning , implementation , monitoring and evaluation , and adaptation. Scientific researches play important roles in the management process.Therefore , it is urgent to fill the gaps between science and management to transform scientific fruits into effective management activities during the intensification of biodiversity research.

Recent progress in studying mechanisms of biological invasion is reviewed involving several aspects , such as biological characteristics of exotic species , interaction among exotic species and their new neighbours , the relationships between species diversity and community resistance to invasion , the effects of changing ecological factors in new habitats. We also analyze the progress of research methodologies and some unsolved vague points in this field. According to recent studies , the mechanisms of biological invasion seem so diverse that no common pattern could explain all cases. A better understanding of invasive mechanisms is essential in developing ecological theory and significant in cont rolling exotic pests.

The broad sense of the biosafety concept should be composed of human health , and safeties of agricultural and environmental organisms (biodiversities) . By reviewing the phylogeny of the regulations and organizations relating to this field both worldwide and within China , and by consulting the international development trend , countermeasures aimed at the existing problems of biosafety in our country from the point of view of sanitary and quarantine are proposed.

Plant invasions are unintended consequences of globalisation , which facilitates the transglobal movement of plant species across all geographical and physical boundaries with the vastly increasing movement of people and commercial goods. As an internationalised city that has various channels through which plant s′movements occur , Shanghai has been subject to a heavy invasion of plants. This paper firstly deals with some characteristics of plant invasions in Shanghai. It is concluded that : 1) alien plants play an important role in the flora of Shanghai , accounting for 57. 4 %of the total flora ; 2) annual and biennial plant s are the major component s of Shanghai′s alien flora , representing 69.1 %; 3) most alien plants belong to a relatively few families (e. g. Asteraceae and Poaceae) ; 4) monocotylous families tend to have a higher proportion of alien plants with respect to their world′s number of species than do dicotylous families ; and 5) plant invasions will continue to sweep across literally every part of Shanghai as the consequence of it s further urbanisation and increasing global trade (c. f . China′s ent ry into WTO by November 2001) . These patterns of plant invasions reflect the role of humans as global plant dispersers and of human disturbance in plant invasions. In the rest of the paper , we briefly review other issues in the field of plant invasions , including att ributes of invasive species , habitat invisibility , environmental and economic costs of plant invasions , and future research directions.

About 30 species of exotic marine organism have been int roduced to China for mariculture and planting at present , including ten species of fish , two species of shrimp , nine species of mollusks , one species of echinnoderm , four species of alga and two species of halophytic weeds. Among the alien mariculture species , only a few of them such as kelps , L aminaria japonica and Undaria pinnatifidab , and scallops , Argopecten irradians and Patinopecten yessoensis , have been developed into industries and brought big economic value. Most of them have failed to succeed in culture and perhaps produced potentially adverse impacts on native marine ecosystems. Over 27 aquaria have been built in the coastal cities in China in the last decades , and hundreds of marine ornamental plant s and animals were imported and exhibited in these aquaria. Hundreds of exotic species were t ransported to the harbors by ship hull fouling , boring , dry and semi-dry ballast , and water ballast in China.

The alien marine species have produced a great deal of dest ructive impact on the native marine eco - environment . First , the exotic marine species compete with natives. For example , Spartina anglica was introduced to Fujian Province coast from Britain and cultured on the beach , but the weed has exiled native fish , shrimp and mollusks and killed the mangrove on the beach in the past years. The decline of the native echinoderm , Strongylocentrotus nudus ,on the coast in Dalian corresponds closely with the arrival of another echinoderm , Strongylocentrotus intermedius , from Japan , which was introduced in 1989 for mariculture and can compete for food with the native urchin. Second , mating between some alien and native species can lead to an extinction of the native marine species by replacement of its genes. Forexample , the Japanese scallop , Patinopecten yessoensis , can hybridize with thenative species , Chlamys farreri , because they have a similar propagation period and have completed hybridization in the laboratory. Thirdly , pathogens can be int roduced by alien species. Forexample ,large scale mortality broke out in the northern coast in China among maricultured Chinese shrimp , Penaeus chinensis , in 1993 and has continued to date. One of main reasons was that propagules of Japanese shrimp , Penaeus japonicus , with virus pathogen was int roduced. Fourthly , brown tide harms more and more of the coast in China. Many species of red tide alga are believed to have been introduced in ship water ballast and are considered to be responsible for the ecological disaster. We proposes the following strategic recommendations on invasive alien marine species management in China : (1) limit the int roduction of alien marine species for mariculture or planting ; (2) st rengthen quarantine of imported alien marine organisms and their products ; (3) take integrated measures and policies to prevent and eradicate harmful alien marine species ; (4) establish an effective and harmonious management system for alien marine species.

Aust ralia is an island continent with prosperous sea2borne transport which makes Aust ralia at high risk of the hazard of biological invasions through intentional or unintentional pathways. Australian government has paid high attention to invasive alien species management , and has developed several regulatory documents such as ”National St rategy for the Conservation of Aust ralian Biological Diversity”, ”National Weeds Strategy”, as well as ”Aust ralian Ballast Water Guidelines”to enhance the management of invasive alien species. This paper gives a brief int roduction of these document s , and proposes the following st rategic recommendations on invasive alien species management in China :(1) establish the legal and institutional f rameworks to provide management with authorized basis ; (2)st rengthen organization building to form a coherent management mechanism across the multiple2sectors relating to invasive alien species ; (3) develop series of a Risk Assessment System , an Int roduction License System , and a Record System to improve the prevention of intentional int roduction of invasive alien species ; (4) carry out appropriate integrated approaches of prevention , eradication and cont rol of harmful alien species ; (5) st rengthen national research capacity to provide management with a scientific foundation ; (6) develop educational and t raining programs and enhance public awareness.

The Three Gorges Project ( TGP) ,now under const ruction , will cause hydrological variation of Yangtze River. Reservoir inundation and large amounts of resettlement of people are direct and key factors affecting biodiversity conservation of the affected area. Based on the latest field investigations and research findings , this paper reviews the related issues on biodiversity conservation of TGP. For the Three Gorges reservoir area , there are 144 vegetation types , 6388 high plant species , 3418 insect species , and 500 terrest rial vertebrate species. The reservoir inundation and resettlement are major factors affecting terrest rial life , in which 36 vegetation types will be affected and four endemic plant species will be submerged (one species range fully submerged and three species partly) . There are 350 fish species and 1085 aquatic species including plankton , benthic and aquatic plants in Yangtze River which are mainly affected by the hydrological variation. Some endemic or endangered aquatic lives ,such as Chinese River Dolphin , Chinese Finless Porpoise , Chinese sturgeon , Chinese Paddlefish , Dabry Sturgeon , Chinese Sucker and four fish species (Black Carp , Grass Carp , Silver Carp and Bighead) , are worth paying more attention to. The populations of these species have already sharply de creased due to non-Three Gorges Project factors. With the const ruction of TGP , many countermeasures will be taken , such as setting up a long-term ecological and environmental monitoring network , setting up nature reserves for conservation priorities , and implementing artificial breeding and stocking for the endangered fishes , to reduce negative impacts on biodiversity and thereby to assure no loss of species from the TGP.

The pattern and causes of poaching in Maolan Nature Reserve were investigated by surveys ,questionnaires and PRA ( Participatory Rural Appraisal) . The species listed on state protection lists and local protection lists and other species were targeted by poaching. The poachers mainly consisted of males from 10 to 70 years old. The main reasons for poaching were poverty , undeveloped economy and protection of livestock , poultry and crops from damage by wildlife. The income from poaching activities was used for daily necessities and childrens′education. Measure for cont rolling poaching included improving the local economicst ructure and traditional production regime.