日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Home / World

Tasmanian devil pays for climate change

By Xinhua in Canberra | China Daily | Updated: 2014-11-06 07:57

Climate change, not disease or hunting, could be the main cause of a decline in the numbers of Tasmanian devils, according to researchers in Australia.

The team from the University of Tasmania discovered that the devils' low genetic diversity and previous population declines were driven by climate change rather than hunting or a rampant facial tumor disease, as previously thought.

Their study, which examined the largest ever set of genetic data for Tasmanian devils, found that the marsupials have lived with low genetic diversity for thousands of years, having suffered two huge population declines that wiped out around 80 percent of animals in the past 50,000 years.

Those events coincided with two periods of arid climate patterns, 20,000 and 3,000 years ago, when the population of the devils' prey - mainly wallabies and small mammalswould have been adversely affected.

This led to inbreeding and low genetic diversity among the devils, making them unable to adapt rapidly.

"It seems like the devils have survived for thousands of years with low genetic diversity," said the study's lead author, Anna Bruniche-Olsen, from the University of Tasmania.

"Having a low genetic diversity for a species means that they are much more prone to disease, so if a disease impacts the population, because they are all genetically very similar, they are quite prone to being wiped out."

As a top predator, Tasmanian devils are reliant on the populations and survival of their prey.

A decline in the numbers of wallaby and small mammals due to more arid conditions would have had a dramatic effect on the devil population, the researchers said.

That, combined with a diminished ability to combat disease, has researchers concerned that global climate change will be the final nail in the coffin for the wild population.

"It seems like climate is the main driver," Bruniche-Olsen said.

"Given that all the climate predictions for the future point toward Australia having a more arid climate again, I think it has big implications for devils."

The devils, the world's largest carnivorous marsupials, are restricted to the small island of Tasmania, south of mainland Australia, despite being widespread on the continent up until a few thousand years ago.

(China Daily 11/06/2014 page11)

Today's Top News

Editor's picks

Most Viewed

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 操的网站 | √新版天堂资源在线资源 | 免费高清欧美一区二区视频 | 亚洲精品视频免费看 | www.色人阁| 亚洲精品国精品久久99热 | 欧美一级久久久久久久大片 | 国产电影精品 | 国产精品亚洲视频 | 亚洲第1页 | 欧美午夜一区 | 中文字幕网在线 | 亚洲精品三级 | 日本精品中文字幕有码 | 天天干天天插天天操 | 亚洲第一页在线视频 | 91看片入口 | 欧美激情欧美激情在线五月 | 亚洲精品无码成人A片色欲 亚洲欧美日韩激情在线观看 | 97人人澡人人爽91综合色 | 久久亚洲美女久久久久 | 国产成人精品综合 | 短视频网站免费观看 | 久久综合伊人 | 亚洲一区二区三区福利在线 | 欧美成人免费高清网站 | 黄色国产在线视频 | 色综合色狠狠天天久久婷婷基地 | 午夜激情视频 | 国产福利一区二区 | 美女污污视频网站 | 日韩国产第一页 | 国产成人18黄禁网站免费观看 | 国产精品爱久久久久久久 | 波多野结衣在线观看网址 | 色插视频| 精品国产欧美一区二区 | 婷婷色爱区综合五月激情韩国 | 亚洲免费小视频 | 国产乱码精品一区二区三区中 | 国产精品久久嫩一区二区免费 |