Remote Sensing Monitoring of the Subalpine Coniferous Forests and Quantitative Analysis of the Characteristics of Succession in East Mountain Area of Tibetan Plateau——A Case Study With Zamtang County

The study area lies in the Dadu River drainage area in upstream Yangtze River.The spatial distribution of subalpine coniferous forests in 1989 and 2009 was extracted by means of a combined method of object orientation and visual interpretation,and then the overlaying analysis of these data was conducted.The type and spatial location of succession were discovered and served as the sample of dependant variable.Meanwhile,supported by GIS technology and based on DEM and thematic data,the eight variables including altitude,slope,sin and cosin of aspect,curvity of land surface,and distance to residential area,cultivated land and road were extracted served as the sample of spatial succession of subalpine coniferous forests to fit Logistic Regression,and then the contribution of each independent variable as well as the spatial property of the occurrence probability of succession was calculated.The results suggested that,during the succession of subalpine coniferous forests to meadow,the closer to the residential area and cultivated land,the greater the contribution to succession is.In particular,when the distance to the residential area decreases by one unit,the probability for its conversion to meadow will be increased by 1.15 times.During the succession of subalpine coniferous forests to deciduous-broadleaved shrubs,the sin of aspect and distance to residential area contribute more,and the probability of succession increases with increasing degree of northwardness,i.e.when the degree of northwardness increases by one unit,the probability will be increased by 1.2 times.The quantitative analysis of spatial succession property of subalpine coniferous forests will supply scientific basis to the protection and restoration of subalpine coniferous forests.

Geochemical Information Indicating the Water Recharge to Lakes and Immovable Megadunes in the Badain Jaran Desert

Calc-sintersdistributed in the middle of lakes and rhizoconcretions scattered at the slopes of sand dunes were observed during three explorations to the Badain Jaran Desert in the past two years. Wet sands were also found underneath the dry surface sand layers of about 20-50 cm in thickness. The geochemical parameters were measured on minerals and water samples collected from the Badain Jaran Desert and neighboring areas. The results show that the water system in the desert may be recharged from the groundwater originating from the precipitation of the Qilian Mountains and/or the Tibetan Plateau rather than the local rainfalls.

Protecting wild yak (Bos mutus) species and preventing its hybrid in China

China has made efforts to protect wild yak （Bos mutus） species and prevent the hybrids between wild yak and domestic yak （Bos grunniens） species.At present,wild yak population of a reasonable estimate would be over 70,000.Due to conservation efforts in environmental protection and ecological construction such as the Wildlife Protection and Nature Reserve Construction Project,the ＂Grain-for-Green＂ Project and the Natural Forest Resources Protection Project,the number of wild yaks is increasing.In general,Tibetan Plateau＇s ecosystem is getting better and its environmental quality shows a gradual improving trend.Tibetan Plateau is one of the world＇s cleanest regions called as the ＂Third Pole＂.In order to preserve the genetic pool of wild yaks,local pastoralists and polices drive off the wild male yaks from the domestic yak herds by making noise （banging washbasins,pots,etc.） or driving cars.Local government also incentivizes the culling of domestic yaks found in wild herds.For the sake of the biological and genetic features of this wild species,and the pastoralist way of life,wild yaks should continuously be protected to keep their genetic integrity.We appeal plans to investigate the gene pollution of wild yaks in some important distribution regions of this species.In the face of hybridizing with domestic yaks,proper guidance is urgently needed to address genetic pollution and protect the genetic integrity of wild yaks.

Challenges of snow leopard conservation in China

The snow leopard（Panthera uncial,Figure 1A）is a kind of beautiful big cat that is believed to originate on the Tibetan Plateau seven million years ago（Tseng et al.,2013）,and now inhabits alpine and subalpine zones in the remote and rugged mountains on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding mountain ranges.