Wolong_ArlequinThe microsatellite data of 142 giant pandas from the Wolong National Nature Reserve, in Arlequin formatArlequin Wolong.txt

Comprehending the population trend and understanding the distribution range dynamics of species is necessary for global species protection. Recognizing what causes dynamic distribution change is crucial for identifying species' environmental preferences and formulating protection policies. Here, we studied the rear-edge population of the flagship species, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), to 1) assess their population trend using their distribution patterns, 2) evaluate their distribution dynamics change from the 2nd (1988) to the 3rd (2001) surveys (2–3 Interval) and 3rd to the 4th (2013) survey (3–4 Interval) using a machine learning algorithm (The Extremely Gradient Boosting), and 3) decode model results to identify driver factors in the first known use of SHapley Additive exPlanations. Our results showed that the population trends in Liangshan Mountains were worst in the 2^nd survey (k = 1.050), improved by the 3^rd survey (k = 0.97), but got worse by the 4^th survey (k = 0.996), which indicates a worrying population future. We found that precipitation had the most significant influence on distribution dynamics among several potential environmental factors, showing a negative correlation between precipitation and giant panda expansion. We recommend that more study is required to understand the micro-environment and animal distribution dynamics. We provide a fresh perspective on the dynamics of Giant Panda distribution, highlighting novel focal points for ecological research on this species. Our study offers theoretical underpinnings that could inform the formulation of more effective conservation policies. Also, we emphasize the uniqueness and importance of the Liangshan Mountains giant pandas as the rear-edge population, which is at a high risk of population extinction.

The national surveys on giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) population and habitat quality have shown a high-density population of this species in the Qinling Mountains, China. We investigated five adjacent nature reserves (NR), i.e., the key distribution area of giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains, to model and identify the potential dispersal routes for giant pandas. We hypothesized that giant pandas will spread to neighboring areas when the population of the species keeps increasing. Habitat suitability was firstly evaluated based on environmental and disturbance factors. We then identified source and sink patches for giant pandas’ dispersal. Further, Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model was applied to calculate cost of movement. Finally, the Current Theory was adopted to model linkages between source and sink patches to explore potential dispersal routes of giant pandas. Our results showed that (1) the three large source patches and eight potential sink patches were identified; (2) the 14 potential corridors were predicted for giant pandas dispersing from source patches to the neighboring areas; (3) through the predicted corridors, the giant pandas in the source patches could disperse to the west, the south and the east sink patches. Our research revealed possible directional patterns for giant pandas’ dispersal in their key distribution area of the Qinling Mountains, and can provide the strong recommendations in policy and conservation strategies for improving giant panda habitat management in those identified sink patches and also potential dispersal corridors.

Reintroducing captive giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) to the wild is the ultimate goal of their ex situ conservation. Choosing higher fitness candidates to train prior to release is the first step in the giant panda reintroduction program. Disease resistance is one important index of individual fitness and presumed to be related to variation at major histocompatibility complex genes (MHC). Here, we used seven polymorphic functional MHC genes (Aime-C, Aime-I, Aime-L, Aime-DQA1, Aime-DQA2, Aime-DQB1 and Aime-DRB3) and estimate their relationship with Baylisascaris schroederi (Ascarididae) infection in giant panda. We found that DQA1 heterozygous pandas were less frequently infected than homozygotes. The presence of one MHC genotype and one MHC allele were also associated with B. schroederi infection: Aime-C*0203 and Aime-L*08 were both associated with B. schroederi resistance. Our results indicate that both heterozygosity and certain MHC variants are important for panda disease resistance, and should therefore be considered in future reintroduction programs for this species alongside conventional selection criteria (such as physical condition and pedigree-based information).

Aim: Understanding and predicting how species will respond to global environmental change (i.e., climate and land use change) is essential to efficiently inform conservation and management strategies for authorities and managers. Here, we assessed the combined effect of future climate and land use change on the potential range shifts of the giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).

Location: Sichuan Province, China.

Methods: We used ensemble species distribution models (SDMs) to forecast range shifts of the giant pandas by the 2050s and 2070s under four combined climate and land use change scenarios. We also compared the differences in distributional changes of giant pandas among the five mountains in the study area.

Results: Our ensemble SDMs exhibited good model performance in terms of both AUC (0.931) and TSS (0.747), and suggested that precipitation seasonality, annual mean temperature, the proportion of forest cover and total annual precipitation are the most important factors in shaping the current distribution patterns for the giant pandas. Our projections of future species distribution also suggested a range expansion under an optimistic greenhouse gas emission, while suggesting a range contraction under a pessimistic greenhouse gas emission. Moreover, we found that there is considerable variation in the projected range change patterns among the five mountains in the study area. Especially, the suitable habitat of the giant panda is predicted to increase under all scenarios in Minshan mountains, while is predicted to decrease under all scenarios in Daxiangling and Liangshan mountains, indicating the vulnerability of the giant pandas at low latitudes.

Main conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of an integrated approach that combines climate and land use change to predict the future species distribution and the need for a spatial explicit consideration of the projected range change patterns of target species for guiding conservation and management strategies.

Reintroduction is a key approach in the conservation of endangered species. In recent decades many reintroduction projects have been conducted for conservation purposes, but the rate of success has been low. Given the important role of gut microbiota in health and diseases, we questioned whether gut microbiota would play a crucial role in giant panda's wild training process. The wild procedure is when -captive-born babies live with their mothers in a wilderness enclosure and learn wilderness survival skills from their mothers. During the wild training process, the baby pandas undergo wilderness survival tests and regular physical examinations. Based on their performance through these tests, the top subjects (age 2-3 years old) are released into the wild while the others are translocated to captivity. After release, we tracked one released panda (Zhangxiang) and collected its fecal samples for 5 months (Jan 16^th 2013 to Mar 29^th 2014). Here, we analyzed the Illumina HiSeq sequencing data (V4 region of 16S rRNA gene) from captive pandas (n=24) , wild-training baby pandas (n=8) of which 6 were released and 2 were unreleased, wild-training mother pandas (n=8), one released panda (Zhangxiang), and wild giant pandas (n=18). Our results showed that the gut microbiota of wild-training pandas is significantly different from that of wild pandas but similar to that of captive ones. The gut microbiota of the released panda Zhangxiang gradually changed to become similar to those of wild pandas after release. In addition, we identified several bacteria that were enriched in the released baby pandas before release, compared with the unreleased baby pandas. These bacteria include several known gut-health related beneficial taxa such as Roseburia, Coprococcus, Sutterella, Dorea, and Ruminococcus. Therefore, our results suggest that certain members of the gut microbiota may be important in panda reintroduction.

The red panda (which is much smaller than the giant panda) resembles a raccoon in size and appearance. The red panda weighs 3 - 6 kg (7 - 13 lb). It lives in mountain forests with a bamboo understory, at altitudes generally between 1500 and 4800 m (5000 - 15,700'). Red pandas almost exclusively eat bamboo. They are good tree climbers and spend most of their time in trees when not foraging. A female red panda picks a location such as a tree hollow or rock crevice for a maternal den, where she will bear 1 - 5 young. Red pandas are solitary, except for the mating period and the time when a mother and its young are together.

The red panda is found in a mountainous band from Nepal through northeastern India and Bhutan and into China, Laos and northern Myanmar. It is rare and continues to decline. It has already become extinct in 4 of the 7 Chinese provinces in which it was previously found. The major threats to red pandas are loss and fragmentation of habitat due to deforestation (and the resulting loss of bamboo) for timber, fuel and agricultural land; poaching for the pet and fur trades; and competition from domestic livestock.

Ursids (bears) in general, and giant pandas in particular, are highly altricial at birth. The components of bear milks and their changes with time may be uniquely adapted to nourish relatively immature neonates, protect them from pathogens, and support the maturation of neonatal digestive physiology. Serial milk samples collected from three giant pandas in early lactation were subjected to untargeted metabolite profiling and multivariate analysis. Changes in milk metabolites with time after birth were analysed by Principal Component Analysis, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and further supported by Orthogonal Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis, revealing three phases of milk maturation: days 1–6 (Phase 1), days 7–20 (Phase 2), and beyond day 20 (Phase 3). While the compositions of Phase 1 milks were essentially indistinguishable among individuals, divergences emerged during the second week of lactation. OPLS regression analysis positioned against the growth rate of one cub tentatively inferred a correlation with changes in the abundance of a trisaccharide, isoglobotriose, previously observed to be a major oligosaccharide in ursid milks. Three artificial milk formulae used to feed giant panda cubs were also analysed, and were found to differ markedly in component content from natural panda milk. These findings have implications for the dependence of the ontogeny of all species of bears, and potentially other members of the Carnivora and beyond, on the complexity and sequential changes in maternal provision of micrometabolites in the immediate period after birth.

Understanding the interaction between life history, demography and population genetics in threatened species is critical for the conservations of viable populations. In the context of habitat loss and fragmentation, identifying the factors that underpin the structuring of genetic variation within populations can allow conservationists to evaluate habitat quality and connectivity and help to design dispersal corridors effectively. In this study, we carried out a detailed, fine-scale landscape genetic investigation of a giant panda population for the first time, using a large microsatellite data set and examined the role of isolation-by-barriers (IBB), isolation-by-distance (IBD) and isolation-by-resistance (IBR) in shaping the genetic variation pattern of giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains. We found that the Qinling population comprises one continuous genetic cluster, and among the landscape hypotheses tested, gene flow was found to be correlated with resistance gradients for two topographic factors, rather than geographical distance or barriers. Gene-flow was inferred to be facilitated by easterly slope aspect and to be constrained by land surface with high topographic complexity. These factors are related to benign micro-climatic conditions for both the pandas and the food resources they rely on and more accessible topographic conditions for movement, respectively. We identified optimal corridors based on these results, aiming to promote gene flow between human-induced habitat fragments. These findings provide insight into the permeability and affinities of the giant panda habitat and offer important reference for the conservation of the giant panda and its habitat.

Climate change is one of the most pervasive threats to biodiversity globally, yet the influence of climate relative to other drivers of species depletion and range contraction remain difficult to disentangle. Here, we examine climatic and non-climatic correlates of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) distribution using a large-scale 30-year dataset to evaluate whether a changing climate has already influenced panda distribution. We document several climatic patterns, including increasing temperatures, and alterations to seasonal temperature and precipitation. We found that while climatic factors were the most influential predictors of panda distribution, their importance diminished over time, while landscape variables have become relatively more influential. We conclude that the panda's distribution has been influenced by changing climate, but conservation intervention to manage habitat is working to increasingly offset these negative consequences.

Sensitivity to bitter tastes provides animals with an important means of interacting with their environment and thus, influences their dietary preferences. Genetic variants encoding functionally distinct receptor types contribute to variation in bitter taste sensitivity. Our previous study showed that two nonsynonymous sites, A52V and Q296H, in the TAS2R20 gene are directionally selected in giant pandas from the Qinling Mountains, which are speculated to be the causative base-pair changes of Qinling pandas for the higher preference for bamboo leaves in comparison with other pandas. Here, we used functional expression in engineered cells to identify agonists of pTAS2R20 (i.e. giant panda's TAS2R20) and interrogated the differences in perception in the in vitro responses of pTAS2R20 variants to the agonists. Our results show that pTAS2R20 is specifically activated by quercitrin and that pTAS2R20 variants exhibit differences in the sensitivity of their response to the agonist. Compared to pTAS2R20 in pandas from other areas, the receptor variant with A52V and Q296H, which is most commonly found in Qinling pandas, confers a significantly decreased sensitivity to quercitrin. We subsequently quantified the quercitrin content of the leaves of bamboo distributed in the Qinling Mountains, which was found to be significantly higher than that of the leaves of bamboo from panda habitats in other areas. Our results suggest that the decreased sensitivity to quercitrin in Qinling pandas results in higher-quercitrin-containing bamboo leaves to be tasting less bitter to them and thus, influences their dietary preference. This study illustrates the genetic adaptation of Qinling pandas to their environments and provides a fine example of the functional effects of directional selection in the giant panda.

Vertebrate neonates are born with a wide range of maturity at birth. Altricial newborns are born with limited sensory agency and require significant parental care, while precocial neonates are relatively mature physically and often capable of independent function. In extant mammals, placental newborns span this range, while marsupials and monotremes are all extremely altricial at birth. Bears (family Ursidae) have one of the lowest neonatal-maternal mass ratios in placental mammals and are considered to have the most altricial newborns among placentals. In particular, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) appear exceptionally altricial. Here we use μCT scanning to visualize and compare the neonatal skeletal maturity of ursids relative to other caniform outgroups. Most bear neonates resemble neonates of caniform outgroups in level of ossification; however, perinatal giant pandas have skeletal maturity more similar to that of fetal dogs. No bear exhibits any skeletal heterochronies seen in marsupial newborns.

Explore Giant panda-Conservation-Juvenile literature through unique data from multiples sources: key facts, real-time news, interactive charts, detailed maps & open datasets

we applied RNA-seq to detect novel expressed transcripts in 12 tissues of giant pandas, using a transcriptome reconstruction strategy combining reference-based and de novo methods. Then we used mass spectrometry method to identify proteomes of five selected tissues, aiming at validating these novel full-length genes we identified.

Understanding the relative importance of the factors driving the patterns of biodi-

versity is a key research topic in community ecology and biogeography. However, the

main drivers of plant species diversity in montane forests are still not clear. In addi-

tion, most existing studies make no distinction between direct and indirect effects of

environmental factors and spatial constraints on plant biodiversity. Using data from

107 montane forest plots in Sichuan Giant Panda habitat, China, we quantified the

direct and indirect effects of abiotic environmental factors, spatial constraints, and

plant functional traits on plant community diversity. Our results showed significant

correlations between abiotic environmental factors and trees (r = .10, p value = .001),

shrubs (r = .19, p value = .001), or overall plant diversity (r = .18, p value = .001) in mon-

tane forests. Spatial constraints also showed significant correlations with trees and

shrubs. However, no significant correlations were found between functional traits

and plant community diversity. Moreover, the diversity (richness and abundance) of

shrubs, trees, and plant communities was directly affected by precipitation, latitude,

and altitude. Mean annual temperature (MAT) had no direct effect on the richness of

tree and plant communities. Further, MAT and precipitation indirectly affected plant

communities via the tree canopy. The results revealed a stronger direct effect on

montane plant diversity than indirect effect, suggesting that single-species models

may be adequate for forecasting the impacts of climate factors in these communities.

The shifting of tree canopy coverage might be a potential indicator for trends of plant

diversity under climate change.

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered mammals in the world; anthropogenic habitat loss and poaching still threaten the survival of wild pandas. Viral infection has become one of the potential threats to the health of these animals, but the available information related to these infections is still limited. In order to detect possible vertebrate viruses, the virome in the fecal samples of seven wild giant pandas from Qinling Mountains was investigated by using the method of viral metagenomics. From the fecal virome of wild giant pandas, we determined six nearly complete genomes belonging to the order Picornavirales, two of which may be qualified as a novel virus family or genus. In addition, four complete genomes belonging to the Genomoviridae family were also fully characterized. This virological investigation has increased our understanding of the gut viral community in giant pandas. Whether these viruses detected in fecal samples can really infect giant panda needs further research.

Details of the unique genotypes including four reintroduced giant pandas in Liziping National Nature Reserve

Dashboard: explore data about The giant panda party • Classified as: Book • Key facts: Author: Gill Arbuthnott, Isbn: 0863159510, Bnb Id: GBB2B9708, Language: eng, Publication Date: 2013, Book Publisher: Picture Kelpies

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the world’s most beloved endangered mammals. Although the draft genome of this species had been assembled, little was known about the composition of its microRNAs (miRNAs) or their functional profiles. Recent studies demonstrated that changes in the expression of miRNAs are associated with immunity. In this study, miRNAs were extracted from the blood of four healthy giant pandas and sequenced by Illumina next generation sequencing technology. As determined by miRNA screening, a total of 276 conserved miRNAs and 51 novel putative miRNAs candidates were detected. After differential expression analysis, we noticed that the expressions of 7 miRNAs were significantly up-regulated in young giant pandas compared with that of adults. Moreover, 2 miRNAs were up-regulated in female giant pandas and 1 in the male individuals. Target gene prediction suggested that the miRNAs of giant panda might be relevant to the expressions of 4,602 downstream genes. Subseuqently, the predicted target genes were conducted to KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis and we found that these genes were mainly involved in host immunity, including the Ras signaling pathway, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and the MAPK signaling pathway. In conclusion, our results provide the first miRNA profiles of giant panda blood, and the predicted functional analyses may open an avenue for further study of giant panda immunity.