| 1 | From unusual suspect to serial killer: Cyanotoxins boosted by climate change may jeopardize megafauna显示文摘The recent mass mortality event of more than 330 African elephants in Botswana has been attributed to biotoxins produced by cyanobacteria;however,scientific evidence for this is lacking.Here,by synthesizing multiple sources of data,we show that,during the past decades,the widespread hypertrophic waters in Southern Africa have entailed an extremely high risk and frequent exposure of cyanotoxins to the wildlife within this area,which functions as a hotspot of mammal species richness.The hot and dry climatic extremes have most likely acted as the primary trigger of the recent and perhaps also of prehistoric mass mortality events.As such climate extremes are projected to become more frequent in Southern Africa in the near future,there is a risk that similar tragedies may take place,rendering African megafauna species,especially those that are already endangered,in risk of extinction.Moreover,cyanotoxin poisoning amplified by climate change may have unexpected cascading effects on human societies.Seen within this perspective,the tragic mass death of the world's largest terrestrial mammal species serves as an alarming early warning signal of future environmental catastrophes in Southern Africa.We suggest that systematic,quantitative cyanotoxin risk assessments are made and precautionary actions to mitigate the risks are taken without hesitation to ensure the health and sustainability of the megafauna and human societies within the region. | Haijun Wang Chi Xu Ying Liu Erik Jeppesen Jens-Christian Svenning Jianguo Wu Wenxia Zhang Tianjun Zhou Puze Wang Shingirai Nangombe Jinge Ma Hongtao Duan Jingyun Fang Ping Xie | 2021 | The Innovation2021，2，2： | 3 |
| 2 | What triggered the Asian elephant’s northward migration across southwestern Yunnan?显示文摘The Asian elephant(Elephas maximus),an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List,is the largest terrestrial animal living in Asia.They require a relatively large space to live in.In China,the wild Asian elephants exist only in XiShuangBanNa,Pu’Er,and LinCang of southern Yunnan Province,with 95%of the wild population residing in the XiShuangBanNa National Nature Reserve.In recent years,territorial conflicts have arisen between humans and elephants around the national nature reserve.A herd of wild Asian elephants roamed north,venturing over 500 km from the largest area of the reserve,MengYang(998 km^(2),600–1,500 m above sea level[ASL]in altitude),in March of 2020 to KunMing(the capital of Yunnan Province,ca.2000 m ASL in altitude)in early June 2021(Figure 1A).These elephants,traipsing north through fields,highways,villages,and towns,have stepped into the international spotlight,not only because such long-distance migration never happened in the past half a century but also because the United Nations Biodiversity Conference will be held in KunMing in the coming October.However,no one knows exactly why this has happened,as elephant migration,a complex ecological process,can be of varied duration,distance,timing,and driver. | Haijun Wang Puze Wang Xu Zhao Wenxia Zhang Jing Li Chi Xu Ping Xie | 2021 | The Innovation2021，2，3： | 2 |
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