Space Industry and Business News  
FLORA AND FAUNA
Giant pandas prefer old forests - study

by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Jan 12, 2011
Giant pandas greatly prefer old-growth forests, a finding with repercussions for China's efforts to save the iconic species, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Chinese-led scientists sent out field observers across the mountain ranges in southwestern Sichuan province where the panda lives.

For four years, the observers recorded evidence of panda habitation, such as droppings and vegetation that had been trampled or foraged, and documented the type of forest where these signs had been found.

Pandas, as expected, holed up in places where there was lots of bamboo, which is their staple food.

But the team were intrigued to find that an equally important factor in panda numbers was a habitat rich in mature forest, which was far more preferred over "secondary-growth" forest, where trees were regrowing after logging.

Bamboo that grows beneath old trees may be more nutritious and old-growth trees may provide hollows that female pandas use for maternity dens, speculate the researchers, led by Fuwen Wei of the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The findings are important because China is mulling a renewal of a ban, imposed more than a decade ago, on all logging in the panda area.

"It may be more cost-effective to protect the existing old growth than to open it up to logging, while protecting an equivalent area of secondary-growth forest," says the paper, published in Biology Letters, a journal of Britain's Royal Society.

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered species, with about 1,600 living in the wild and over 300 bred in captivity at zoos.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


FLORA AND FAUNA
How Mitochondrial Signals Extend Lifespan
La Jolla CA (SPX) Jan 10, 2011
In making your pro-longevity resolutions, like drinking more red wine and maintaining a vibrant social network, here's one you likely forgot: dialing down your mitochondria. It turns out that slowing the engines of these tiny cellular factories could extend your life-an observation relevant not only to aging research but to our understanding of how cells communicate with each another. So r ... read more







FLORA AND FAUNA
Direct Observation Of Carbon Monoxide Binding To Metal-Porphyrines

Japan's NTT Docomo, Dai Nippon launch e-book service

Liquid Pistons Could Drive New Advances In Camera Lenses And Drug Delivery

How Do You Make Lithium Melt In The Cold

FLORA AND FAUNA
JICO Support System Receives Production Approval

Northrop Grumman Demonstrates MR-TCDL Capabilities

IBCS Completes Warfighter-Centered Design Exercises

Arianespace Will Orbit Sicral 2 Milcomms Satellites

FLORA AND FAUNA
ISRO To Launch Two Communication Satellites This Year

Arianespace Will Have A Record Year Of Launch Activity In 2011

2011: The Arianespace Family Takes Shape

ISRO To Launch Singapore's First Satellite In Orbit In February

FLORA AND FAUNA
Another GPS Software Upgrade Completed

GPSCaddy Golf App Now Offers Free Course Maps

ISRO To Implement Regional Navigation Satellite System

Networks Of Up To 2 Million Cells Now Supported By GeoLENs Location Platform

FLORA AND FAUNA
Beijing to build second major airport

China's first stealth fighter makes maiden flight: reports

Bids in for British flight training system

Russian Firm Builds Another Aerostat System For China

FLORA AND FAUNA
Intel to pay NVIDIA billons in patent dispute

Greenpeace ranks 'greenest' electronics

Better Control Of Building Blocks For Quantum Computer

S.Korea's Hynix says chip price slump will hit Q4 profit

FLORA AND FAUNA
NASA Image Shows La Nina-Caused Woes Down Under

Google illegally gathered data in S.Korea: police

Sat-nav turtles go on trans-ocean trek

Cyclone Tasha Adds To Severe Flooding Over Eastern Australia

FLORA AND FAUNA
US orders more testing of chromium-6 in tap water

Gulf Methane Gas Concentrations Have Returned To Near-Normal Levels

UN warns over lead poisoning in northern Nigeria

Kenya bans plastic bags


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement