2010年4月30日，SCIENCE在Random Samples栏目发表了“野生熊猫的希望”（Hope for wild pandas）文章，报道了动物所魏辅文研究员领导的研究组发表在保护生物学主流期刊Conservation Biology上的有关小相岭山系大熊猫栖息地丧失与破碎化对该地区大熊猫种群生存威胁的研究工作，该项工作将推动国家林业局在该区域逐步实施大熊猫放归工程，为该野生大熊猫种群的长期生存带来希望。
中科院动物所科研人员采用非损伤性遗传取样法，深入小相岭山系收集大熊猫新鲜粪便样品，通过微卫星标记进行遗传分析发现大渡河的隔离作用使得小相岭种群缺乏足够的外源基因流；他们还发现小相岭大熊猫孤立种群曾发生过严重的崩溃，种群数量从清康乾盛世开始剧烈下降，至今其种群缩小了近60倍。他们针对性的提出适当重引入新的大熊猫个体，实施大熊猫放归工程是挽救该种群的重要措施，该建议得到国家林业局的采纳。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原文出处：
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.
