Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Concerns have been raised about the potential effects of transgenic introductions on the genetic diversity of crop landraces and wild relatives in areas of crop origin and diversification, as this diversity is considered essential for global food security. Direct effects on non-target species, and the possibility of unintentionally transferring traits of ecological relevance onto landraces and wild relatives have also been sources of concern. The degree of genetic connectivity between industrial crops and their progenitors in landraces and wild relatives is a principal determinant of the evolutionary history of crops and agroecosystems throughout the world. Recent introductions of transgenic DNA constructs into agricultural fields provide unique markers to measure such connectivity. For these reasons, the detection of transgenic DNA in crop landraces is of critical importance. Here we report the presence of introgressed transgenic DNA constructs in native maize landraces grown in remote mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico, part of the Mesoamerican centre of origin and diversification of this crop.     

Ban on triazine herbicides likely to reduce but not negate relative benefits of GMHT maize cropping

The UK Farm-Scale Evaluations (FSE) compared the effects on biodiversity of management of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) spring-sown crops with conventional crop management. The FSE reported larger weed abundance under GMHT management for fodder maize, one of three crops studied. Increased seed production may be important for the long-term persistence of these arable weeds and may benefit invertebrates, small mammals and seed-eating birds. In three-quarters of FSE maize fields, growers used atrazine on the conventionally managed half, reflecting contemporary commercial practice. Withdrawal of the triazine herbicides atrazine, simazine and cyanazine from approved lists of EU chemicals could therefore reduce or even reverse the reported benefits of GMHT maize. Here we analyse effects of applications of triazine herbicides in conventional maize regimes on key indicators, using FSE data. Weed abundances were decreased greatly relative to all other regimes whenever atrazine was applied before weeds emerged. Here, we forecast weed abundances in post-triazine herbicide regimes. We predict weed abundances under future conventional herbicide management to be considerably larger than that for atrazine used before weeds emerged, but still smaller than for the four FSE sites analysed that used only non-triazine herbicides. Our overall conclusion is that the comparative benefits for arable biodiversity of GMHT maize cropping would be reduced, but not eliminated, by the withdrawal of triazines from conventional maize cropping.     

Limited ecological risk of insect-resistance transgene flow from cultivated rice to its wild ancestor based on life-cycle fitness assessment

Ecological impact caused by transgene flow from genetically engineered (GE) crops to their wild relatives is largely determined by the fitness effect brought by a transgene. To estimate such impact is critical for the ecological risk assessment prior to the commercialization of GE crops. We produced F₁ and F₂ hybrid descendants from crosses of two insect-resistant GE rice lines (Bt, Bt/CpTI) and their non-GE rice parent with a wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) population to estimate the transgenic fitness. Insect damages and life-cycle fitness of GE and non-GE crop–wild hybrid descendants as well as their wild parent were examined in a common-garden experiment. No significant differences in insect damages were observed between the wild rice parent and GE hybrid descendants under high-insect pressure. The wild parent showed significantly greater relative survival-regeneration ratios than its GE and non-GE hybrid descendants under both high- and low-insect pressure. However, more seeds were produced in GE hybrid descendants than their non-GE counterparts under high-insect pressure. Given that the introduction of Bt and Bt/CpTI transgenes did not provide greater insect resistance to crop–wild hybrid descendants than their wild parent, we predict that transgene flow from GE insect-resistant rice to wild rice populations may not cause considerable ecological risks.

     

Can transgenic rice cause ecological risks through transgene escape?

Alien transgene escape from genetically engineered rice to non-transgenic varieties or close wild relatives (including weedy rice) may lead to unpredictable ecological risks. However, for transgene escape to occur three conditions need to be met: (i) spatially, transgenic rice and its non-transgenic counterparts or wild relatives should have sympatric distributions; (ii) temporally, the flowering time of transgenic rice and the non-transgenic varieties or wild relatives should overlap; and (iii) biologically, transgenic rice and its wild relative species should have such a sufficiently close relationship that their interspecific hybrids can have normal generative reproduction. This paper presents research data on the geographic distribution, flowering habits, interspecific hybridization, and gene flow of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) and its closely related wild relatives containing the AA genome. The objective is to estimate the possibility of transgene escape to non-transgenic rice varieties and wild relatives of rice, which may result in unpredictable ecological risks.     

转基因农作物对生物多样性的影响

自 198 3年第一例转基因植物问世以来 ,转基因作物种类迅猛增加 ,种植的面积在不断扩大 ,也给人类带来了非常明显的经济效益。与此同时 ,人们已经注意到转基因作物对生物多样性已经或可能产生的影响 ;对遗传多样性的影响 ;对生态系统多样性的影响 ;对物种多样性的影响。     

水稻的起源与驯化——来自基因组学的证据

 水稻是世界上最重要的粮食作物, 约1 万年前开始被驯化。由于水稻与其祖先野生种存在一定的遗传分化, 水稻的起源和驯化问题长期存在争议。本文综述了水稻起源和驯化方面的研究成果, 特别是近年来基因组学方面的证据, 认为水稻2 个亚种独立起源于野生祖先种内很早就分化的不同类群, 但一些驯化基因--控制重要农艺性状的基因, 可能首先在一个亚种中被驯化, 然后通过基因渐渗, 扩散到另一个亚种中。因此, 水稻驯化的关键是研究驯化基因的起源和扩散方式。随着大规模基因组测序技术的发展和相应数据分析方法的建立, 在全基因组水平对水稻及其祖先进行大规模分析, 已成为揭示水稻起源与驯化之谜的必由之路。     

转基因作物在农业生产中的应用及发展趋势

将外源基因定向引入植物细胞,创造转基因作物新品种,已广泛应用于农业生产,产生了巨大的社会经济效益;在提高作物产量、改良作物品质、提高其抗旱、耐盐碱能力等方面将具有新的突破。     

籼-粳稻特异插入／缺失分子标记揭示的稻属植物遗传分化

籼-粳分化在亚洲栽培稻(Oryza sativa L.)的驯化过程中非常重要,但其分化机制仍不清楚.有的学者认为水稻籼-粳分化是亚洲栽培稻在驯化过程中适应不同生境的结果,也有人认为籼-粳分化在水稻的野生祖先种中就已经存在.为了研究普通野生稻的籼-粳分化,并解析稻属(Oryza)植物的籼-粳遗传变异,利用34对籼-粳特异插入/缺失分子标记(InDel)引物,研究了50份典型籼稻(O.sativa L.subsp.Indica Kato)和粳稻(O.sativa L.subsp.japonica Kato)样本以及来源于35个国家的348份稻属其他种材料.结果表明,亚洲栽培稻存在明显的籼-粳分化,普通野生稻复合体(O.rufipogon complex)中存在"偏籼"和"偏粳"类型,而稻属的其他种均未出现籼-粳分化,普通野生稻复合体中"偏籼"和"偏粳"类型的地理分布格局与籼稻和粳稻的地理分布格局相吻合.考虑到大部分普通野生稻复合体的样本取自邻近有栽培稻种植的普通野生稻群体,推测得出部分普通野生稻样本中表现出的"偏籼"和"偏粳"类型可能是栽培稻的籼稻品种和粳稻品种在普通野生稻的长期协同进化过程中基因交流的结果.     

生物技术与作物病虫害防治

阐述了生物技术在作物病虫害防治领域的最新研究成果,包括克隆的抗卷叶病毒外壳蛋白基因转化马铃薯的培育、新型植物杀虫剂的开发、"植物伟哥"的成功研制、基因叠加技术抗虫作物的培育、植物抗逆诱导研究培育抗立枯病水稻以及转双基因抗虫水稻的研究进展和产生的效益等。     

自然杂交对植物物种生存进化的影响

自然杂交是一个常见现象,人类活动正加速自然杂交的发生,人类干扰导致的非自然的杂交过程对物种的生存、进化产生许多负面影响,本文根据文献对近年来自然杂交方面的研究进行了综述。自然杂交不仅影响着物种的生存、进化,也对物种的保护问题带来许多理论上与实践上的挑战。杂交与遗传渗入有利于提高物种的遗传多样性,为物种的进化提供原材料。遗传渗入有利于增加物种的适应性变异,甚至导致新的生态型、新物种的产生。但另一方面当小种群与大种群发生杂交时,小种群很易受遗传同化的影响而灭绝。自然杂交对生物学物种概念提出了挑战,自然杂交往往模糊种间边界,形成分类学及系统发育研究中的困难类群。自然杂交能通过强化种间生殖隔离机制来促进类群间的进化趋异,也能导致种间生殖隔离机制的崩溃,引起物种的融合而降低生物多样性。文章认为在当前生物入侵、物种灭绝加速的情况下,人们需要关注在什么条件下隔离机制被打破导致杂交的发生、遗传渗入形成机制以及如何采取有效措施防止杂交及遗传渗入对物种遗传多样性的影响。     

Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity

Protecting the world's freshwater resources requires diagnosing threats over a broad range of scales, from global to local. Here we present the first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts. We find that nearly 80% of the world's population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Massive investment in water technology enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels without remedying their underlying causes, whereas less wealthy nations remain vulnerable. A similar lack of precautionary investment jeopardizes biodiversity, with habitats associated with 65% of continental discharge classified as moderately to highly threatened. The cumulative threat framework offers a tool for prioritizing policy and management responses to this crisis, and underscores the necessity of limiting threats at their source instead of through costly remediation of symptoms in order to assure global water security for both humans and freshwater biodiversity.     

The impact of biofuel plantation on biodiversity: a review

Because plants convert solar energy into chemical energy stored in organisms, biomass production as an energy source can help to reduce the world＇s reliance on fossil energy and mitigate global warming. Biofuel production is a fast-growing industry that represents a new type of large-scale human disturbance on ecosystems. Thus, the benefits of biofuel production bring environmental risks that include its potential impact on biodiversity, which is still an open question. In this review, we start first with a brief overview of the evolution of biofuel concept; second, we review the state of biofuel production across the continents, with a major emphasis on the main species used and their major feedstock. For which, we found significant differences for land use and environmental cultural management of biofuel plantation between tropical and temperate regions. Third, we summarize the impacts of biofuel plantation on biodiversity at multiple scales, based on the case studied with respect to the corresponding issues. At the genetic level, introgression and contamination by aggressive genotypes are a primary risk. At the species level, habitat pollution, degradation, and disturbance caused by intensive management of biofuel plantation significantly raise the risk of habitat fragmentation, native extinction, and bio-invasion. At the ecosystem level, the large-scale homogeneous landscape of biofuel plantation results in simplified community and food web that severely damage ecosystem services, including ecosystem diversity. Finally, we compare the current and potential benefits and risks of biofuel plantations for the practical application of a biofuel industry of China. We emphasize the land use constraint from food security and biodiversity conservation, and the need for scientific research and systematic monitoring as a critical support for the sustainable development of biofuel production in China.     

Landscape ecological evaluation on the artificial forest of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leucaena leucocephala</Emphasis>

Based on the theory of ecology, this article conducted a landscape ecological evaluation on Leucaena leucocephala artificial forest in the add-hot valley, Yuanmou Xiaokua hill, using a combination method of qualitative analysis and landscape comprehensive evaluation. The comprehensive evaluation indexes of landscape include forest coverage, biodiversity, stability, soil erosion, environmental quality, availability, scientific research characteristic, economic benefits. Using AHP （analytical hierarchy process）, determine the grade of ecological evaluation factors and the weight of evaluation index and calculate the CEI （comprehensive evaluation index） on ecological evaluation. Evaluation results showed that the area CEI was 0.714 225, a better quality of the ecological level, but biodiversity indicators was the lowest. To sum up, it was difficult to maintain ecological restoration effectiveness and process but also guarantee a good biodiversity in the add-hot valleys. We must reasonably arrange the alien species and the native species, in order to obtain a stable and sustainable eco-system.     

加强生物育种技术协同发展

生物育种技术快速发展，转基因育种技术引起全球关注。本文从自然界基因转移和物种进化等方面进行了有关转基因争议方面的释疑。提出要根据生物遗传育种的研究条件、改良作物、改良性状等方面的需要，协同发展不同层次的生物育种技术，培育出抗逆优质高产品种。最后根据物种抗性竞争进化的原理，建议要科学利用生物多样性和农艺措施防治作物病虫害，减少环境污染，保障生物多样性和人类健康。     

Evolutionary biology: evidence for sympatric speciation?

Sympatric speciation is difficult to demonstrate in nature and remains a hotly debated issue. Barluenga et al. present a case of putative sympatric speciation for two cichlid species in the Nicaraguan crater lake Apoyo, but they overlook or reinterpret some key published information on the system. Although sympatric speciation is possible in theory, we show here that, when this information is taken into account, the results of Barluenga et al. do not provide conclusive evidence for sympatric speciation: this is because the null hypothesis of multiple invasion with introgression cannot be rejected.     

北京地区野生维管束植物组成特征及分布

随着北京地区人口的增多,人类活动范围越来越大,野生维管束植物的分布也逐渐发生了变化.依据北京地区实地野外调查数据及相关文献,对15个调查单元的野生维管束植物进行统计分析.结果表明:北京地区野生维管植物共计1505种,国家重点保护野生维管束植物3种,北京市保护野生维管束植物98种,受危胁野生维管束植物36种,中国特有野生维管束植物199种,且主要分布于门头沟区、密云县、延庆县、怀柔区、海淀区、房山区、昌平区.本文的研究对北京市各县(区)进行生物多样性评价及生物多样性保护等提供了最新最基础的数据.     

不同生育时期野生荞麦主要器官的黄酮含量与变化研究

在苗期、现蕾期、盛花期和成熟期测定苦荞野生近缘种、金荞麦、细柄野荞麦、齿翅野荞麦、甜荞野生近缘种和硬枝万年荞主要器官的黄酮含量.结果表明:6种野生荞麦叶片从苗期至盛花期,黄酮含量表现为由低到高逐渐增加并达到最大值,盛花期至成熟期黄酮含量呈现逐渐递减的低—高—低变化规律;从苗期、现蕾期、盛花期到成熟期茎的黄酮含量在一定程度上略显低—高—低的变化趋势,且各种野生荞麦峰值出现的时期不一致;苦荞野生近缘种花和种子中黄酮的含量最高,分别为7.11 g/100 g和2.41 g/100 g.     

转基因作物的利弊分析

近年来,转基因作物的培育已取得显著进展,但其潜在的问题也日益突出和明显.文章对转基因作物的优越性与潜在风险进行了简要综述.     

甘薯近缘野生植物的开花特性研究

对2个甘薯野生种和4个甘薯种间体细胞杂交种的开花性及其特征特性进行总结:甘薯种间体细胞杂种“北农5501”、“北农5521”、“北农5522”、“北农5502”和6倍体野生种(I.trifida)在重庆容易开花,日单株开花数分别为10.7,9.1,7.0,4.9,5.4朵,而4倍体野生种(I.littoralis)不易开花,开花数仅为1.4朵.表明4个种间体细胞杂种和6倍体野生种的形态特征更接近于甘薯品种.     

Collapse and recovery of marine fishes

Overexploitation and subsequent collapse of marine fishes has focused attention on the ability of affected populations to recover to former abundance levels and on the degree to which their persistence is threatened by extinction. Although potential for recovery has been assessed indirectly, actual changes in population size following long-term declines have not been examined empirically. Here I show that there is very little evidence for rapid recovery from prolonged declines, in contrast to the perception that marine fishes are highly resilient to large population reductions. With the possible exception of herring and related species that mature early in life and are fished with highly selective equipment, my analysis of 90 stocks reveals that many gadids (for example, cod, haddock) and other non-clupeids (for example, flatfishes) have experienced little, if any, recovery as much as 15 years after 45-99% reductions in reproductive biomass. Although the effects of overfishing on single species may generally be reversible, the actual time required for recovery appears to be considerable. To exempt marine fishes from existing criteria used to assign extinction risk would be inconsistent with precautionary approaches to fisheries management and the conservation of marine biodiversity.