Ghimire Prashant, Dahal Nishma, Karna Ajit K, Karki Surendra, Lamichhaney Sangeet
Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH USA.
Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, HP India.
Avian Res. 2021;12(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s40657-021-00290-5. Epub 2021 Oct 30.
Nepal, a small landlocked country in South Asia, holds about 800 km of Himalayan Mountain range including the Earth's highest mountain. Within such a mountain range in the north and plain lowlands in the south, Nepal provides a habitat for about 9% of global avian fauna. However, this diversity is underrated because of the lack of enough studies, especially using molecular tools to quantify and understand the distribution patterns of diversity. In this study, we reviewed the studies in the last two decades (2000‒2019) that used molecular methods to study the biodiversity in Nepal to examine the ongoing research trend and focus. Although Nepalese Himalaya has many opportunities for cutting-edge molecular research, our results indicated that the rate of genetic/genomic studies is much slower compared to the regional trends. We found that genetic research in Nepal heavily relies on resources from international institutes and that too is mostly limited to research on species monitoring, distribution, and taxonomic validations. Local infrastructures to carry out cutting-edge genomic research in Nepal are still in their infancy and there is a strong need for support from national/international scientists, universities, and governmental agencies to expand such genomic infrastructures in Nepal. We particularly highlight avian fauna as a potential future study system in this region that can be an excellent resource to explore key biological questions such as understanding eco-physiology and molecular basis of organismal persistence to changing environment, evolutionary processes underlying divergence and speciation, or mechanisms of endemism and restrictive distribution of species.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40657-021-00290-5.
尼泊尔是南亚一个内陆小国，拥有约800公里的喜马拉雅山脉，包括世界最高峰。在北部的山脉和南部的平原低地之间，尼泊尔为全球约9%的鸟类提供了栖息地。然而，由于缺乏足够的研究，尤其是利用分子工具来量化和理解多样性的分布模式，这种多样性被低估了。在本研究中，我们回顾了过去二十年（2000 - 2019年）使用分子方法研究尼泊尔生物多样性的研究，以考察当前的研究趋势和重点。尽管尼泊尔喜马拉雅地区有许多进行前沿分子研究的机会，但我们的结果表明，与区域趋势相比，遗传/基因组研究的速度要慢得多。我们发现，尼泊尔的遗传研究严重依赖国际机构的资源，而且大多仅限于物种监测、分布和分类学验证方面的研究。尼泊尔开展前沿基因组研究的本地基础设施仍处于起步阶段，迫切需要国家/国际科学家、大学和政府机构的支持，以扩大尼泊尔的此类基因组基础设施。我们特别强调鸟类作为该地区未来潜在的研究系统，它可以成为探索关键生物学问题的绝佳资源，例如了解生物体对不断变化的环境的生态生理学和分子基础、分歧和物种形成的进化过程，或物种特有性和分布受限的机制。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s40657-021-00290-5获取的补充材料。
