Biodiversity of Sakhalin Island

该项目将对俄罗斯库页岛进行第一年的详细生物调查和清点。一个由俄罗斯、日本和美国科学家组成的团队将对植物、昆虫、蜘蛛、淡水和陆地软体动物、淡水鱼、两栖动物和爬行动物进行调查和清点。这项工作是俄罗斯千岛群岛调查人员此前七年类似工作的合乎逻辑和迫切需要的延伸。作为千岛群岛殖民的四个主要来源生物群之一--其他是北海道、堪察加半岛和亚洲大陆--库页岛是迄今为止生物学上最不为人所知的，处于过度开发的最大危险中。它与大陆相隔近1000公里，几乎触及日本南端的北海道，形成了一个天然的过滤器或屏障，阻止动植物从亚洲大陆扩散到千岛群岛。虽然有大量关于广泛的、具有重要商业价值的物种的信息，如帝王蟹、鲑鱼、鳕鱼和各种海洋哺乳动物，但库页岛作为一个整体的动植物群知之甚少。与此同时，自然资源的商业开采急剧增加，对该岛的环境构成了严重威胁。利用标准化调查方法、现代计算机清点程序以及通过互联网传播信息，调查结果将提供有关物种多样性格局的重要基线数据，可与千岛群岛和以类似方式抽样的其他区域进行准确比较。该项目与东道国的大学以及国家和地方政府合作，将为教师、学生和政府生物学家提供培训。最后，这项工作将提供一个信息基础，促进今后的长期研究以及整个库页岛-千岛行政区独特岛屿生物群的保护。

This project will conduct the initial, first-year phase of detailed biotic survey and inventory of the Russian island of Sakhalin. A team of Russian, Japanese, and American scientists will conduct a survey and inventory of the plants, insects, spiders, freshwater and terrestrial mollusks, freshwater fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. This work is a logical and much needed extension to the previous seven years of similar work by the investigators in the Russian Kuril Archipelago. As one of four primary source biotas for the colonization of the Kuril Islands--the others being Hokkaido, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Asian mainland--Sakhalin is by far the least known biologically and in the greatest danger of over exploitation. Narrowly separated from the continent for nearly 1,000 km and almost touching Hokkaido, Japan, at its southern tip, it forms a natural filter or barrier to dispersal of plants and animals from the Asian mainland to the Kurils. Although considerable information is available for wide-ranging, commercially important species, such as king crab, salmon, cod, and various marine mammals, the flora and fauna of Sakhalin as a whole are poorly known. At the same time, a steep rise in commercial exploitation of natural resources poses a serious environmental threat to the island. Using standardized survey methods, modern computer-based inventory procedures, and dissemination of information through the Internet, the results of the survey will provide important baseline data on patterns of species diversity that can be compared accurately with the Kuril Islands and other regions sampled in similar ways. Working cooperatively with universities and the national and local governments of the host country, the project will provide training for faculty, students, and government biologists. Finally, the work will provide a foundation of information that will promote long-term future research as well as conservation of the unique island biotas of the entire Sakhalin-Kuril administrative district.