Biodiversity Surveys in the Southern Borderlands of the People's Republic of China

该项目代表了一项综合努力，以记录中国南部边境地区的陆生脊椎动物生物多样性，该地区是世界上最少探索的地区之一。鸟类、哺乳动物、爬行动物和两栖动物方面的专家将为考察队提供工作人员，各种寄生虫群(蚤、苍蝇、扁虱、虱子、线虫、绦虫、血寄生虫、球虫等)的专家将陪同探险队。这5个探险队每次都将聚焦于边境地区的不同部分，包括与老挝、越南、缅甸和印度东北部的边境地区。每一位专家都会使用他或她所在领域最先进的工具进行盘点。最终结果将是广泛的标本系列和其他用于详细研究的新生物材料，以及大量记录当地脊椎动物和寄生虫群落、分类学见解和新物种的科学出版物。将收集和稳定寄生虫标本，以供长期管理和最终研究。项目数据将通过基于互联网的分布式数据库技术以最高效率提供给更广泛的科学界。该项目在对脊椎动物和许多寄生虫群体的广谱评估方面几乎是独一无二的。这种关于脊椎动物及其寄生虫全部(或至少是广泛的)多样性的观点在地球上的少数几个地方都能看到，这为一个地区真正的生物丰富提供了一个新的视角。在中国南方边疆的情况下，不仅许多寄生虫将是科学未知的，甚至一些或许多脊椎动物的宿主也是如此。对生物多样性保护的许多新见解将来自对这种多样性性质的如此详细的看法。这些信息将超越目前主导保护生物学的基于脊椎动物的快速和轻松的保护优先事项，以提供一个复杂和鲜为人知的地区生物多样性的真实维度的详细视图。

This project represents an integrated effort to document the terrestrialvertebrate biodiversity of the southern borderlands of China, one of theleast well explored regions worldwide. Specialists working with birds,mammals, reptiles, and amphibians will staff the expeditions, accompanied byexperts with various parasite groups (fleas, flies, ticks, lice, nematodes,cestodes, blood parasites, coccidia, etc.). The 5 expeditions will eachfocus on a different sector of the borderlands region, including the borderareas with Laos, Vietnam, Burma, and northeastern India. Each specialistwill use tools for inventory that are the 'state of the art' in his or herown field. The end result will be extensive series of specimens and othernew biological material for detailed study, as well as numerous scientificpublications documenting local vertebrate and parasite communities,taxonomic insights, and new species. Parasite specimens will be collectedand stabilized, with a view towards long-term curation and eventual study.Project data will be served to the broader scientific community with maximumefficiency via Internet-based distributed database technology.This project is near-unique in its broad-spectrum assessment of vertebratesand many groups of parasites. Such a view of vertebrates and the full (or atleast a broad sample of the) diversity of their parasites is available fromfew places on Earth, making for a new view into the true biological richnessof an area. In the case of the Chinese southern borderlands, not only willmany of the parasites be unknown to science, but even some or many of thevertebrate hosts as well. Many new insights into the conservation ofbiological diversity will come from such detailed views of the nature ofthis diversity. This information will go beyond the quick-and-easyvertebrate-based conservation priorities that currently dominateconservation biology to provide a detailed view of the true dimensions ofbiological diversity in a complex and little-known region.