The change of geographical distribution of two Asian species of rhinoceros in Holocene

At present only five species of rhinoceros surrive in the world, among which three in Asia No wild rhinoceros has been found alive in East Asia now But many recent evidences reveal the fact that rhinoceros still lived not very long ago in the East Asian Continent of Holocene The attention to East Asia rhinoceros in Holocene first arose from archaeological studies on ancient ruins in China Archaeologists first found some subfossil skeletons of rhinoceros in ruins of Yin Dynasty in Anyang of Henan in the 1930s Then more skeletons of rhinoceros were found in many other Neolithic Ages runis, such as in Tonghai (Yunnan), Nanning (Guangxi), Xichuan (Henan), Yuyao (Zhejiang), and Haian (Jiangsu).(Guangxi Archaeological Team 1972; Jia 1977; Wu 1983; Huang and Liang 1984; Xu 1990). Moreover, Zhou Benxiong reported some rhinoceros teeth containing residual organic matter found in caves in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River According to a number of very now skeletons of rhinoceros found in some caves in Central China and South China, Yang Zhongjian drew the inferences that rhinoceros might live in the Southern part of China until in the Han Dynasty (about 2000 yrs B P ) at least These discoveries provided the material evidences for the distribution of rhinoceros in East Asian Continent Recently, some scholars brought forward more new information about Chinese rhinoceros from the analysis of historical records and investigations of unearthed cultural relics respectively (Wen and He 1981; Sun 1982). Based on the above materials and informations, this paper is going to deal with the species of rhinoceros once living in East Asia from the viewpoint of zoo geography At last, we brouhgt up the evolution process of the rhinoceros in distribution in Asia with comprehensive analysis of physiographical elements and human activities

Estimation of the potential geographical distribution of a new potato pest(Schrankia costaestrigalis) in China under climate change

Global food security is threatened by the impacts of the spread of crop pests and changes in the complex interactions between crops and pests under climate change.Schrankia costaestrigalis is a newly-reported potato pest in southern China.Early-warning monitoring of this insect pest could protect domestic agriculture as it has already caused regional yield reduction and/or quality decline in potato production.Our research aimed to confirm the potential geographical distributions(PGDs)of S.costaestrigalis in China under different climate scenarios using an optimal MaxEnt model,and to provide baseline data for preventing agricultural damage by S.costaestrigalis.Our findings indicated that the accuracy of the optimal MaxEnt model was better than the default-setting model,and the minimum temperature of the coldest month,precipitation of the driest month,precipitation of the coldest quarter,and the human influence index were the variables significantly affecting the PGDs of S.costaestrigalis.The highly-and moderately-suitable habitats of S.costaestrigalis were mainly located in eastern and southern China.The PGDs of S.costaestrigalis in China will decrease under climate change.The conversion of the highly-to moderately-suitable habitat will also be significant under climate change.The centroid of the suitable habitat area of S.costaestrigalis under the current climate showed a general tendency to move northeast and to the middle-high latitudes in the 2030s.The agricultural practice of plastic film mulching in potato fields will provide a favorable microclimate for S.costaestrigalis in the suitable areas.More attention should be paid to the early warning and monitoring of S.costaestrigalis in order to prevent its further spread in the main areas in China’s winter potato planting regions.

Monitoring the little fire ant,Wasmannia auropunctata(Roger 1863),in the early stage of its invasion in China:Predicting its geographical distribution pattern under climate change

Invasive alien ants(IAAs)are among the most aggressive,competitive,and widespread invasive alien species(IAS)worldwide.Wasmannia auropunctata,the greatest IAAs threat in the Pacific region and listed in“100 of the world’s worst IAS”,has established itself in many countries and on islands worldwide.Wild populations of W.auropunctata were recently reported in southeastern China,representing a tremendous potential threat to China’s agricultural,economic,environmental,public health,and social well-being.Estimating the potential geographical distribution(PGD)of W.auropunctata in China can illustrate areas that may potentially face invasion risk.Therefore,based on the global distribution records of W.auropunctata and bioclimatic variables,we predicted the geographical distribution pattern of W.auropunctata in China under the effects of climate change using an ensemble model(EM).Our findings showed that artificial neural network(ANN),flexible discriminant analysis(FDA),gradient boosting model(GBM),Random Forest(RF)were more accurate than categorical regression tree analysis(CTA),generalized linear model(GLM),maximum entropy model(MaxEnt)and surface distance envelope(SRE).The mean TSS values of ANN,FDA,GBM,and RF were 0.820,0.810,0.843,and 0.857,respectively,and the mean AUC values were 0.946,0.954,0.968,and 0.979,respectively.The mean TSS and AUC values of EM were 0.882 and 0.972,respectively,indicating that the prediction results with EM were more reliable than those with the single model.The PGD of W.auropunctata in China is mainly located in southern China under current and future climate change.Under climate change,the PGD of W.auropunctata in China will expand to higher-latitude areas.The annual temperature range(bio7)and mean temperature of the warmest quarter(bio10)were the most significant variables affecting the PGD of W.auropunctata in China.The PGD of W.auropunctata in China was mainly attributed to temperature variables,such as the annual temperature range(bio7)and the mean temperature of the warmest quarter(bio10).The populations of W.auropunctata in southern China have broad potential invasion areas.Developing strategies for the early warning,monitoring,prevention,and control of W.auropunctata in southern China requires more attention.

Natural variations and geographical distributions of seed carotenoids and chlorophylls in 1167 Chinese soybean accessions

Understanding the composition and contents of carotenoids in various soybean seed accessions is important for their nutritional assessment.This study investigated the variability in the concentrations of carotenoids and chlorophylls and revealed their associations with other nutritional quality traits in a genetically diverse set of Chinese soybean accessions comprised of cultivars and landraces.Genotype,planting year,accession type,seed cotyledon color,and ecoregion of origin significantly influenced the accumulation of carotenoids and chlorophylls.The mean total carotenoid content was in the range of 8.15–14.72μg g–1 across the ecoregions.The total carotenoid content was 1.2-fold higher in the landraces than in the cultivars.Soybeans with green cotyledons had higher contents of carotenoids and chlorophylls than those with yellow cotyledons.Remarkably,lutein was the most abundant carotenoid in all the germplasms,ranging from 1.35–37.44μg g–1.Carotenoids and chlorophylls showed significant correlations with other quality traits,which will help to set breeding strategies for enhancing soybean carotenoids without affecting the other components.Collectively,our results demonstrate that carotenoids are adequately accumulated in soybean seeds,however,they are strongly influenced by genetic factors,accession type,and germplasm origin.We identified novel germplasms with the highest total carotenoid contents across the various ecoregions of China that could serve as the genetic materials for soybean carotenoid breeding programs,and thereby as the raw materials for food sectors,pharmaceuticals,and the cosmetic industry.

Geographical distribution of Batrachospermaceae genera in Asia and its environmental factors

Batrachospermaceae is an important group of freshwater red algae.Available data of the latitude,longitude,and environmental factors on Batrachospermaceae distribution in Asia were analyzed to understand the geographical distribution of Batrachospermaceae genera in Asia.Statistical analyses,including one-way ANOVA,correlation analysis,stepwise regression analysis,principal component analysis,and linear discriminant analysis were conducted to characterize variation in geographical distribution and growth environment.Results reveal high variation in geographical distribution and growth environment among different Batrachospermaceae genera in Asia.Specifically,correlations between latitude and all environmental factors exclusive of altitude are significant,and longitude is significantly correlated with all environmental factors except for average relative humidity.The geographical distribution and growth environment of different Batrachospermaceae genera significantly differed.Altitude,maximum temperature,average temperature,minimum temperature,average relative humidity,average wind speed,maximum wind speed,and atmospheric pressure all contributed to explaining differences in the geographical distribution of Batrachospermaceae genera.Combining the results of correlation analysis,stepwise regression analysis,and principal component analysis,all environmental factors contributed to the different geographical distribution of Batrachospermum,Paludicola,Sheathia,Sirodotia,and Remainder(the rest),all environmental factors but atmospheric pressure contributed to the different geographical distribution of Kumanoa,and all environmental factors but average wind speed and maximum wind speed contributed to the different geographical distribution of Virescentia.However,the correlation between these significantly related environmental factors and taxa is not necessarily causative,and many other environmental factors,such as temperature,pH,conductivity,shading,current velocity,dissolved oxygen,hardness,substrata types,and nutrients etc.,are likely to have an important impact on the geographical distribution of taxa,which is an important topic for future research.

Integrating Neighborhood Geographic Distribution and Social Structure Influence for Social Media User Geolocation

Geolocating social media users aims to discover the real geographical locations of users from their publicly available data,which can support online location-based applications such as disaster alerts and local content recommen-dations.Social relationship-based methods represent a classical approach for geolocating social media.However,geographically proximate relationships are sparse and challenging to discern within social networks,thereby affecting the accuracy of user geolocation.To address this challenge,we propose user geolocation methods that integrate neighborhood geographical distribution and social structure influence(NGSI)to improve geolocation accuracy.Firstly,we propose a method for evaluating the homophily of locations based on the k-order neighbor-hood geographic distribution(k-NGD)similarity among users.There are notable differences in the distribution of k-NGD similarity between location-proximate and non-location-proximate users.Exploiting this distinction,we filter out non-location-proximate social relationships to enhance location homophily in the social network.To better utilize the location-proximate relationships in social networks,we propose a graph neural network algorithm based on the social structure influence.The algorithm enables us to perform a weighted aggregation of the information of users’multi-hop neighborhood,thereby mitigating the over-smoothing problem of user features and improving user geolocation performance.Experimental results on real social media dataset demonstrate that the neighborhood geographical distribution similarity metric can effectively filter out non-location-proximate social relationships.Moreover,compared with 7 existing social relationship-based user positioning methods,our proposed method can achieve multi-granularity user geolocation and improve the accuracy by 4.84%to 13.28%.

Life form and geographical distribution of plants in Posthband region,Khonj,Fars Province,Iran

A study was conducted to identify plant species,diversity,life form and relevant species to Mediterranean climate,Irano-Torunian and Sahara-Sindian in Postband region（N 27°58＇4＂-28°2＇16＂,E 53°17＇34＂-53°22＇30＂）.In total,95 species belonging to 29 families and 69 genera of flora were surveyed and identified from December 2006 to June 2008.Composite and Gramineae were important families in terms of species frequency.According to Raunkiaer＇s system and using X^2 tests,the life-form spectrum showed that therophytes accounted for 47% of all species,and hemicryptophytes for 31%,phanerophytes for 12%,chamaeophyte for 7%,and cryptophytes for 3%.In geographical distribution,29% species with the most frequency belonged to Irano-Torunian region.Results show that therophytes were more than normal spectrum and phaneropytes were less than normal spectrum,which was in agreement with data obtained in arid climate.

Preliminary Study on Geographical Distribution and Evolutionary Relationships Between Cultivated and Wild Adzuki Bean (Vigna angular is var. angularis and var. nipponensis) by AFLP Analysis

A set of representative 146 adzuki (Vigna angular is var. angularis, and var. nipponensis) germplasm from 6 Asian countries traditionally for adzuki bean production, together with an out group standard rice bean (Vigna umbellata), were analyzed by AFLP methodology using 12 informative primer pairs. 313 unambiguous polymorphic bands were created. According to the dendrogram by cluster analysis based on AFLP banding, 143 of the accessions were distinct and revealed enough genetic diversity for identification and classification of accessions within Vigna angularis. A neighbor joining tree was generated using newly developed Innan's nucleotide diversity estimate from the AFLP data. From analysis, 7 distinct evolutionary groups, named as "Chinese cultivated", "Japanese cultivated", "Japanese complex-Korean cultivated", "Chinese wild", "China Taiwan wild", "Nepal-Bhutan cultivated" and "Hymalayan wild", were detected. Nucleotide diversity with geographical distribution of each group is discussed, regarding the evolutionary relationships between wild and cultivated adzuki beans. The preliminary results indicated that cultivated adzuki bean should be domesticated from at least 4 progenitors in at least 3 geographical origins.

C_4 plant species and geographical distribution in relation to climate in the desert vegetation of China

Water use efficiency of Ca plants is higher than that of C3 plants, and CAM （Crassulaceae Acid Metabolism） plants have the highest water use efficiency. In the desert regions of China, CAM plants are scarce, and C4 plants, especiaUy C4 woody plants, have an important position and role in the desert ecosystem. There are 45 species of Ca woody plants in the desert regions of China, including semi-woody plants, accounting for 6% of the total desert plant species in China, and most of them are concentrated in the families of Chenopodiaceae and Polygonaceae, which are 19 species and 26 species, respectively. The number of C4 herbaceous plants is 107 species, including 48 monocot species and 59 dicot species. C4 woody plants mainly inhabit the northwestem arid desert regions of China west of the Helan Mountains. The drought-resistance and drought-tolerance of Ca herbaceous plants are worse than C4 woody plants, and C4 herbaceous plants mainly inhabit areas with shallow groundwater depth and better water conditions in the desert regions, and are widely distributed along the margins of oases. The abundance of C4 woody plants is closely correlated with drought, but the abundance of C4 herbaceous plants increases with wet conditions.

Spatial distribution of snow depth based on geographically weighted regression kriging in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains, China

Snow depth is a general input variable in many models of agriculture,hydrology,climate and ecology.This study makes use of observational data of snow depth and explanatory variables to compare the accuracy and effect of geographically weighted regression kriging(GWRK)and regression kriging(RK)in a spatial interpolation of regional snow depth.The auxiliary variables are analyzed using correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factor(VIF).Three variables,Height,topographic ruggedness index(TRI),and land surface temperature(LST),are used as explanatory variables to establish a regression model for snow depth.The estimated spatial distribution of snow depth in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains in China with a spatial resolution of 1 km is obtained.The results indicate that 1)the result of GWRK's accuracy is slightly higher than that of RK(R^2=0.55 vs.R^2=0.50,RMSE(root mean square error)=0.102 m vs.RMSE=0.077 m);2)for the subareas,GWRK and RK exhibit similar estimation results of snow depth.Areas in the Bayanbulak Basin with a snow depth greater than 0.15m are mainly distributed in an elevation range of 2632.00–3269.00 m and the snow in this area comprises 45.00–46.00% of the total amount of snow in this basin.However,the GWRK resulted in more detailed information on snow depth distribution than the RK.The final conclusion is that GWRK is better suited for estimating regional snow depth distribution.

Geographical distribution of Aralia elata characteristics correlated with topography and forest structure in Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces,Northeast China

The Araliaceae family consists of numerous species of medical plants of significant value as non-wood forest products.To conserve and culture these plants in natural forest stands is an important undertaking which should be implemented according to the relationship between forest structure and understory population.In this study,thirtyfive plots were established in natural A ralia elata stands.Taller individual and denser populations were found in the northern and in the eastern regions,respectively.Both population densities and individual leaf weight increased along longitude.In contrast,their relationship with elevation and DBH were negative.Along with the altitude gradient,both height and root-collar diameter increased but population density declined.Root-collar diameter and population density decreased with latitude and DBH,respectively.Overall,dominant trees unlikely enforced strong disturbance to the development of understory A.elata populations unless concerning some specific topographic factors.

Prediction of the global potential geographical distribution of Hylurgus ligniperda using a maximum entropy model

Background: Hylurgus ligniperda(Fabricius) is native to Europe but has established populations in many countries and regions. H. ligniperda mainly infests Pinus species, and can cause severe weakness and even death of the host through its boring activity;it can also be a vector of various pathogenic fungi. This study was conducted to investigate the environmental variables limiting the distribution of H. ligniperda and the change trend of its suitable areas under climate change.Results: We used a maximum entropy model to predict the potential geographical distribution of H. ligniperda on a global scale under near current and future climatic scenarios using its occurrence data and environmental variables. The result shows that the areas surrounding the Mediterranean region, the eastern coastal areas of Asia, and the southeastern part of Oceania are highly suitable for H. ligniperda. The environmental variables with the greatest effect on the distribution of H. ligniperda were determined using the jackknife method and Pearson’s correlation analysis and included the monthly average maximum temperature in April, precipitation of driest quarter, the monthly average minimum temperature in December, precipitation of coldest quarter, mean temperature of driest quarter and mean diurnal range.Conclusions: Excessive precipitation in winter and low temperatures in spring had a great effect on the distribution of H. ligniperda. The potential geographical distribution of H. ligniperda was predicted to change under future climatic conditions compared with near current climate conditions. Highly suitable areas, moderately suitable areas and low suitable areas were predicted to increase by 59.99%, 44.43% and 22.92%, respectively, under the2081–2100 ssp245 scenario.

Characteristics of phosphorus chemistry and its geographical distribution in the Haihe River valley,North China

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The Effects of Temperature and Humidity around the Beehives on the Distribution of Nosema ceranae, and also Geographical and Seasonal Activity of the Infection in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey.

20 localities were randomly selected in Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey and samples were collected from around the beehives from April to September. Total of 4,640 dead adult worker bees were examined during the study. Total infection rate in worker bees was 21.23%. Nosema ceranae was identified in all localities with molecular techniques. Temperature and humidity values were measured from around the beehives during field studies. The infection rate ofN. ceranae increased proportionally with increasing temperature and humidity factors. Humidity was more effective than temperature on the infection rate ofN. ceranae. The seasonal activity ofN. ceranae was studied. The highest infection rates were observed in June and July. N. ceranae infection rate was higher in localities that were in low-altitude than in localities that were in high-altitude.

The Geographical Distribution and Historical Strata of Appellation Words Referring to ＂FATHER＂ in Jin Dialects --Exploring the Causes for the Formation of Historical Strata of Dialect Words

Based on geographical distribution and literature survey, the present study constructs the historical strata of the appellation words referring to ＂FATHER＂ in Jin Dialects. It holds that the patterns of the appellation words are the result of superposition of different historical periods. But their leading words directly inherit the appellation words of standard language of the Song Dynasty and are mainly monosyllabic words. Words used before the Song Dynasty as living fossils of the words only retain in some districts or localities. The different evolution route of＂pa （爸）＂ and ＂tiε （爹）＂ either in Jin dialects or in mandarin is a further proof that Jin dialects and mandarin evolves asynchronously. In addition, it maintains that the formulation of the historical strata is the interaction of the horizontal transmission of languages and systemic changes of local dialects.

Geographical distribution of general aerobic heterotrophic bacteria in surficial sediments from the Chukchi Sea and Canadian Basin

This paper determined the abundance of General Aerobic heterotrophic Bacteria （GAB） in surficial sediments from the Chukchi Sea and the Canadian basin by using MPN and discussed their geographical distribution. The result shows that the determination percentages of the GAB were high, even till 100 percentage. The abundance range and averages of GAB for 4℃and 25℃ were from 4.00 × 10^2 to 2.40× 10^6 , 1.71×10^6 ind.·g^-1 （wet sample ） and from 2.40 ×10^5 to 2.40×10^7 , 1.10×10^7 ind. ·g^-1 （wet sample ） respectively. Not only the abundance range but also the averages of GAB in 25℃ were higher than that in 4℃. The abundance of GAB in sediments show a tendency that it is roughly greater in the lower latitudinal area than in the higher latitudinal area. The abundance of GAB increased from east to west as for the longitudinal distribution. With the water depth increasing, the abundance of GAB at 4℃ decreased, but GBA at 25℃ is not changed obviously with water depth. It seems that warmer circumstantial temperature is more suitable for some GAB.

Mesozooplankton distribution and diversity from the Bering Sea shelf to the Chukchi Sea

In recent decades,environmental changes in the Arctic have aroused widespread concern around the world.To better understand ecology issues such as ecosystem dynamics,the Arctic and the subarctic regions were integrated as the“pan-Arctic”region.In this study,mesozooplankton were sampled from the Bering Sea shelf to the northern Chukchi Sea during the 10th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in 2019.Based on the species composition and abundance,three geographical communities were identified:the Bering Sea shelf community(BSS),the Bering Strait transitional community(BST),and the Chukchi Sea shelf community(CSS).The BSS was characterized by Bering Sea oceanic species such as Eucalanus bungii;the BST was mainly composed of the pan-Arctic distributed Calanus glacialis,meroplankton of benthos,and neritic species such as Centropages abdominalis;copepods,especially the copepodite of C.glacialis,were predominant in the CSS community.The BSS community structure was strongly affected by the inflow of Bering Shelf Water,while those of BST and CSS were determined by the recruitment of local species.The zooplankton community structure is influenced by both advection and environmental changes such as warming and a prolonged productivity period.Here,it was difficult to distinguish the changes induced by climate change from the effects of the Bering Sea Water.The key to solving this problem is the accumulation of comparable data,which requires continuous monitoring of key species such as C.glacialis and Calanus hyperboreus.

Prediction of Potential Distribution of the Genus Cricotopus(Diptera:Chironomidae)Based on MaxEnt Model

The prediction of suitable area is a method for predicting the potential distribution by using the maximum entropy model.This study predicted the potential suitable habitats for the genus Cricotopus of Chironomidae in China.The latitude and longitude information of 98 distribution sites of Cricotopus in China and the biological environmental factors and altitude distribution in China were collected,and suitable habitats for Cricotopus were predicted,obtaining the suitable ranges and areas of Cricotopus in China,which is consistent with the known living conditions of Cricotopus.The study on the diversity of Cricotopus and the prediction of its suitable habitats provide a theoretical basis for Cricotopus in water monitoring and paddy fields,as well as basic data for the study on the genus Cricotopus.

FKF1b controls reproductive transition associated with adaptation to geographical distribution in maize

Maize(Zea mays subspecies mays)is an important commercial crop across the world,and its flowering time is closely related to grain yield,plant cycle and latitude adaptation.FKF1 is an essential clock-regulated blue-light receptor with distinct functions on flowering time in plants,and its function in maize remains unclear.In this study,we identified two FKF1 homologs in the maize genome,named ZmFKF1a and ZmFKF1b,and indicated that ZmFKF1a and ZmFKF1b independently regulate reproductive transition through interacting with ZmCONZ1 and ZmGI1 to increase the transcription levels of ZmCONZ1 and ZCN8.We demonstrated that ZmFKF1b underwent artificial selection during modern breeding in China probably due to its role in geographical adaptation.Furthermore,our data suggested that ZmFKF1bHap_C7 may be an elite allele,which increases the abundance of ZmCONZ1 mRNA more efficiently and adapt to a wider range of temperature zone than that of ZmFKF1bHap_Z58 to promote maize floral transition.It extends our understanding of the genetic diversity of maize flowering.This allele is expected to be introduced into tropical maize germplasm to enrich breeding resources and may improve the adaptability of maize at different climate zones,especially at temperate region.

Examining Inequality in the Public Health Workforce Distribution in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDCs) System in China, 2008–2017

Objective Allocation of human resources to address inequalities in the public health system has increasingly attracted societal and political attention.Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDCs)system of China as an example,we evaluated inequality in the public health workforce distribution across different regions in China between 2008 and 2017,with the aim of providing information for policymakers to support resource allocation and address growing health inequities.Methods We used three standard public health workforce inequality indices-Gini coefficient,Theil L,and Theil T-and spatial autocorrelation analysis to explore spatial clusters of the workforce in different provinces,visualized with geographical tools.Results The aggregate workforce-to-population ratio decreased from 1.47 to 1.42 per 10,000 population from 2008 to 2017,and was consistently lower than the National Health Commission’s(NHC)recommended critical shortage threshold of 1.75.The workforce distribution inequality indices varied by regional socioeconomic and health system development.Geographic clustering of CDCs workforce distribution was evident,with H–H and L–L clusters in western China and the Guangdong-Fujian region,respectively.Conclusions Our study addressed key issues for government and policymakers in allocation of public health human resources.There is an urgent need for careful identification of analytic questions that will help carry out public health functions in the new era,alongside policy implications for an equitable distribution of the public health workforce focusing on the western region and low–low cluster areas.