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

该项目是对中国南部边疆地区陆生脊椎动物生物多样性的综合性研究。研究鸟类、哺乳动物、爬行动物和两栖动物的专家将在各种寄生虫（跳蚤、苍蝇、蜱、虱子、线虫、绦虫、血液寄生虫、球虫等）专家的陪同下参加探险。这5支探险队将分别关注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。每个专家都将使用在他或她自己的领域中最先进的工具进行库存。最终的结果将是大量的标本和其他新的生物材料进行详细的研究，以及大量的科学出版物记录当地的脊椎动物和寄生虫群落，分类学的见解，和新物种。将收集和稳定寄生虫标本，以便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大效率提供给更广泛的科学界。该项目在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。地球上只有少数几个地方能看到脊椎动物及其寄生虫的全部（或至少是广泛的）多样性，这为一个地区真正的生物丰富性提供了新的视角。在中国南部边境的情况下，不仅许多寄生虫是未知的科学，甚至一些或许多脊椎动物宿主也是如此。许多关于生物多样性保护的新见解将来自于对这种多样性本质的详细了解。这些信息将超越目前占主导地位的保护生物学的快速和容易的脊椎动物为基础的保护优先事项，以提供一个复杂和鲜为人知的地区的生物多样性的真实尺寸的详细视图。

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.