Welcome to the 31st IUBS General Assembly and Conference on ...

enterprises have become bio‐equip’s register members.
Visi<strong>to</strong>rs from 110 countries established relationship with
our register members through bio‐equip.cn according <strong>to</strong>
<strong>the</strong> latest report in Dec. 2011.
Chunxu HAN, Wenhua XIONG <strong>and</strong> Zhibin
ZHANG
ISZS, IOZ, CAS, Beijing, China. Email: iszs@ioz.ac.cn
Biological characteristics of Thitarodes pui
(Lepidoptera, Hepialidae), one host species
of Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Hypocreales,
Ophiocordycipitaceae)
Wenjing WU, Zixuan SUN <strong>and</strong> Guren ZHANG
State Key Labora<strong>to</strong>ry for Biological Control/Institute of
En<strong>to</strong>mology, Sun Yat‐sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Email: zhanggr@mail.sysu.edu.cn
The en<strong>to</strong>mopathogenic fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis
can parasitize <strong>the</strong> ghost moth Thitarodes pui, which is
endemic <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> alpine habitats of <strong>the</strong> Tibet Plateau above
4000m.The complex of <strong>the</strong> fungal fruiting body <strong>and</strong>
mummified moth larvae has been used as a health food
<strong>and</strong> traditional medicine, called Dong Chong Xia Cao in
Chinese. A complete generation of T. pui lasts 3–4 years,
including 41–47 days for egg, 990‐1350 days for larva,
35–41 days for pupa <strong>and</strong> 3–8 days for adult. Larvae dig
burrows in soil <strong>and</strong> feed on roots of herbaceous plants, as
well as humus fragments. There are 7 <strong>to</strong> 9 larval instars in
its life cycle. The survival rate of <strong>the</strong> experimental
population was fairly low (2.6%). The population trend
index was 7.95, indicating greater population size for <strong>the</strong>
next generation. Pupae occurred at <strong>the</strong> end of April <strong>to</strong>
early May. The 7th <strong>and</strong> 9th instars pupatedin<strong>to</strong> males <strong>and</strong>
females, respectively, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> 8th instar larvae pupated
in<strong>to</strong> ei<strong>the</strong>r males or females. The adults emerged with a
peak at 17:00pm from late June <strong>to</strong> mid‐July. The male <strong>to</strong>
female sex ratio was 1.5:1, higher than those of o<strong>the</strong>r
Thitarodes species in China. Female moths attracted males
from 21:00pm <strong>to</strong> 21:30pm <strong>and</strong> mated for 1–7 hours.
Oviposition began immediately after mating. Each adult
female laid 768 ± 206 eggs. Knowledge of <strong>the</strong> biology of
<strong>the</strong> ghost moth may help <strong>to</strong> optimize <strong>the</strong> rearing of larvae
<strong>and</strong> increase <strong>the</strong> underst<strong>and</strong>ing of <strong>the</strong> genus Hepialidae.
Biological consequences of global change
(BCGC)
Global change is now one of <strong>the</strong> most discussed <strong>to</strong>pics in
<strong>the</strong> world. Indeed, our earth is facing great challenges of
global change, such as global warming <strong>and</strong> human
disturbance. Underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>the</strong> impact of global change is
extremely important for <strong>the</strong> sustainable development of
our society. Unfortunately, <strong>the</strong> biological consequences of
global change have been largely ignored. There is urgent
need <strong>to</strong> streng<strong>the</strong>n researches on <strong>the</strong> biological
consequences of global change.
It was due <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>se circumstances that <strong>the</strong> International
Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS) initiated an
international research program called Biological
Consequences of Global Change (BCGC) in 2008, first
supported by <strong>the</strong> Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In
2009, ISZS organized a symposium on BCGC in Beijing
<strong>and</strong> about 130 participants attended <strong>the</strong> symposium. Also
in 2009, BCGC was adopted by <strong>the</strong> International Union of
Biological Sciences (<strong>IUBS</strong>) as a new international
research program, led by Dr Zhibin Zhang, Dr Yury Yu
Dgebuadze <strong>and</strong> Dr Hari Sharma. In June 2010 <strong>and</strong> July
2012, INZ published special issues on BCGC, edited by
Nils Chr. Stenseth <strong>and</strong> Zhibin Zhang respectively.
Currently, <strong>the</strong>re are over 20 scientists from Australia,
Chile, China, France, India, Norway, Russia, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> USA in
<strong>the</strong> program.
The focus of <strong>the</strong> BCGC program is <strong>to</strong> organize a diverse
group of international experts, with expertise in many
scientific disciplines, <strong>to</strong> develop an underst<strong>and</strong>ing of <strong>the</strong>
biological consequences <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> mechanisms on
biological structures, endangered species <strong>and</strong> biological
disasters under both global climate change <strong>and</strong> human
activities. BCGC has become a core scientific program of
<strong>IUBS</strong> according <strong>to</strong> a recent review by <strong>IUBS</strong>.The <strong>IUBS</strong>/ISZS
sponsored BCGC program provides an excellent platform
for scientists around <strong>the</strong> world <strong>to</strong> collaborate in exploring
<strong>the</strong> impact of global change on biodiversity, ecological
infectious diseases, agricultural pests, invasive species
<strong>and</strong> many o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>to</strong>pics of interest. In <strong>the</strong> future, BCGC
should exp<strong>and</strong> its research networks <strong>to</strong> include more
sciences from different places around <strong>the</strong> globe. This will
help <strong>to</strong> reveal regional differences in response <strong>to</strong>
biological aspects of global change. BCGC will continue <strong>to</strong>
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