合成生物学是否挑战传统生命观

合成生物学为揭示生命奥秘提供了一条主动建构的新进路,对人类深入理解生命本质和推动科技创新具有重要意义。但是,从头设计与构建生命也被认为构成对传统生命观的挑战,引发“扮演上帝”、挑战生命定义、侵犯生命尊严、干预自然进化等争议。然而,支持构成挑战的部分观点并不符合事实,需要作出反思与澄清合成生物学不同于上帝从无到有创造生命,而是对自然基因的复制;生命的定义应该走一条建构的路径,并非一成不变;合成生命没有真正地脱离自然进化,应当分有自然属性并可以融合于自然。最终我们应该正确看待科技进步带来的挑战和风险,谨慎使用合成生物技术,使其致力于造福人类,而非伤害人类。

Competition-density effect in plant populations

The competition-density effect of plant populations is of significance in theory and practice of forest management and has been studied for long time. The differences between the two reciprocal equations of the competition-density effect in nonself-thinning populations and self-thinning populations were analyzed theoretically. This supplies a theoretical basis for analyzing the dynamics of forest populations and evaluating the effect of forest management.