Elevational and temporal patterns of pollination success in distylous and homostylous buckwheats(Fagopyrum)in the Hengduan Mountains

Reproductive strategies of sexually dimorphic plants vary in response to the environment.Here,we ask whether the sexual systems of Fagopyrum species(i.e.,selfing homostylous and out-crossing distylous)represent distinct adaptive strategies to increase reproductive success in changing alpine environments.To answer this question,we determined how spatial and temporal factors(e.g.,elevation and peak flowering time)affect reproductive success(i.e.,stigmatic pollen load)in nine wild Fagopyrum species(seven distylous and two homostylous)among 28 populations along an elevation gradient of 1299-3315 m in the Hengduan Mountains,southwestern China.We also observed pollinators and conducted hundreds of hand pollinations to investigate inter/intra-morph compatibility,self-compatibility and pollen limitation in four Fagopyrum species(two distylous and two homostylous).We found that Fagopyrum species at higher elevation generally had bigger flowers and more stigmatic pollen loads;lateflowering individuals had smaller flowers and lower pollen deposition.Stigmatic pollen deposition was more variable in distylous species than in homostylous species.Although seed set was not pollenlimited in all species,we found that fruit set was much lower in distylous species,which rely on frequent pollinator visits,than in homostylous species capable of autonomous self-pollination.Our findings that pollination success increases at high elevations and decreases during the flowering season suggest that distylous and homostylous species have spatially and temporally distinct reproductive strategies related to environment-dependent pollinator activity.

Development and Utilization of Water Resources and Countermeasures:A Case Study of Yuan'an County of Yichang City in Hubei Province

[Objective] To study current development and utilization of water resources in Yuan'an County and countermeasures. [Method] On the basis of analyzing basic characteristics of water resources in Yuan'an County as well as its current development and utilization, problems in the development and utilization of water resources in the study area were pointed out, and feasible countermeasures were proposed correspondingly. [Result] The county is endowed with rich water resources, but the overall use efficiency is low. There are many problems in the development and utilization of local water resources, such as pollution of water source, water and soil loss and so on. [Conclusion] In view of the problems, feasible suggestions were given to provide scientific support for the reasonable development and utilization of water resources in Yuan'an County.

Regional distribution of wheat yield and chemical fertilizer requirements in China

Quantification of currently attainable yield and fertilizer requirements can provide detailed information for assessing the food supply capacity and offer data support for agricultural decision-making.Datasets from a total of 5408 field experiments were collected from 2000 to 2015 across the major wheat production regions in China to analyze the spatial distribution of wheat yield,the soil nutrient supply capacity(represented by relative yield,defined as the ratio of the yield under the omission of one of nitrogen(N),phosphorus(P)and potassium(K)to the yield under the full NPK fertilizer application),and N,P and K fertilizer requirements by combining the kriging interpolation method with the Nutrient Expert Decision Support System for Wheat.The results indicated that the average attainable yield was 6.4 t ha^(−1),with a coefficient of variation(CV)of 24.9% across all sites.The yields in North-central China(NCC)and the northern part of the Middle and Lower reaches of the Yangtze River(MLYR)were generally higher than 7 t ha^(−1),whereas the yields in Southwest China(SWC),Northeast China(NEC),and the eastern part of Northwest China(NWC)were usually less than 6 t ha^(−1).The precentage of area having a relative yield above 0.70,0.85,and 0.85 for N,P,and K fertilizers accounted for 52.3,74.7,and 95.9%,respectively.Variation existed in N,P,and K fertilizer requirements,with a CV of 24.8,23.9,and 29.9%,respectively,across all sites.More fertilizer was needed in NCC and the northern part of the MLYR than in other regions.The average fertilizer requirement was 162,72,and 57 kg ha^(−1) for N,P2O5,and K2O fertilizers,respectively,across all sites.The incorporation of the spatial variation of attainable yield and fertilizer requirements into wheat production practices would benefit sustainable wheat production and environmental safety.

Dynamic evaluation of land productivity in China

For making rational and scientific land-use planning,an inventory indicator of land productivity subject to biophysical limitations and human disturbance is required.This study introduces agricultural land productivity(ALP)as the dynamic indicator to measure land productivity,involving factors that affect agricultural production,such as characteristics of climate,soil,and terrain.As a case study of this dynamic indicator,ALP was estimated at county level and aggregated into provincial level in the whole of China.The result shows that ALP increased during 2000-2010 in China,and the ratios of ALP to the actual grain yield were 65.40%and 66.38%in the years 2000 and 2005,respectively.The ALP is an effective dynamic indicator to estimate the land productivity and to represent the basic conditions about the supply of water,energy,nutrients,and the physical basis for plant growth,as well as the local input.ALP estimation could provide supporting information for policy-making about land production planning and land-use management.

Exploration and Practice on Index System of Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Shennongjia, Hubei Province

This paper combined sustainable development theory, economic theory and ecology theory with the index system establishment of sustainable development experimental area. Based on the four subsystems(economy, society, resource and environment) the evaluation of sustainable development experimental area was established. And evaluation indicators system selected 29 specific indicators to characterize the sustainable development of the experimental area capacity. Taking Shennongjia as an example, the sustainable development index data of Shennongjia in 2009-2013 were analyzed and calculated based on constructing the sustainable development system, and the comprehensive coordination indexes was used to characterize Shennongjia as the sustainable development. The sustainable development index of Shennongjia in the recent five years was between 53.37 and 62.77. It was expected that the construction of the sustainable development experimental area should be guided by the scientific development concept. Social development should enhance the concept of sustainable development from top to bottom, change the growth mode, get rational development, take effective protection of resources and the environment, start the development of circular economy to build a low consumption, less emissions and sustainable economic development system.

DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN OF A DISASTER INFORMATION SYSTEM ON REGIONAL KARST ROCKY DESERTIFICATION

Based on a systematic analysis about the design principles, systematic objectives, clients’ demands and functional modules of the regional karst desertification disaster information system, a systematic application plan was proposed in this paper that the mainstream technologies like COMGIS, etc. can be used for secondary development, and Du’an Yao Autonomous County of Guangxi was taken as an example to illustrate the application of geographical information system in development of karst desertification disaster information system, and to provide a feasible plan for realization of accessory decision information aiming for sustainable development of karst desertification area.

Traumatic mating causes strict monandry in a wolf spider

DEAR EDITOR,We identified strict monandry in a wandering wolf spider species(Pardosa pseudoannulata) and revealed the underlying mechanisms of this mating structure. Evidence indicated that males damaged the inner walls of the female genital tract with the sharp part of their intromittent organ during insemination. The traumatic mating caused hemolymph hemorrhage, which mixed with seminal fluid and gradually formed an impermeable amorphous mating plug after about15 days, completely blocking the female copulatory opening.

Inferring of Organochlorine Pesticide Transmission under Atmospheric Circulation Impact

[ Objective] The study aims to infer the transmission of organochlorine pesticides under the influence of atmospheric circulation. [ Meth- od] A transmission profile of organochlorine pesticides was established in the region from the western margin of the Sichuan Basin to the western Si- chuan plateau, from which atmospheric particulate matter, atmospheric dry and wet deposition samples as well as corresponding soil samples were collected and analyzed. [ Result~ The study showed that HCHs content was the highest on the elevation boundaries of the study area, and,8-HCH content was the highest in the study area, indicating that there were no new HCHs input to the study area. In respect of HCHs content in the soil and atmospheric precipitation, it was significantly higher in low-lying areas than that of high-altitude areas. Besides, sources of organechlorine pesti- cides in high-altitude areas were mostly derived from atmospheric particulate matter and atmospheric dry deposition. A variety of factors affected the long-distance transmission of organochlorine pesticides, and the form of the atmospheric transport of organochlorine pesticides could be determined accurately based on the content of organochlorine pesticides in different media of each sample point. In different months, the sources of organechlo- rine pesticides in the atmospheric transmission varied with atmospheric circulation direction, so it could not be simply thought that organochlorine pesticides were transmitted from low-lying areas to high-altitude areas. Meanwhile, there was a transformation between the source and sink of or- ganochlorine pesticides in plateau areas because of atmospheric circulation changed. [ Condusionl The research could provide scientific references for the control of persistent organic pollutant diffusion and establishment of environmental protection measures. ds

Ecological Carrying Capacity of Shennongjia Based on Sustainable Development

Ecological carrying capacity is a significant index for measuring sustainability of natural resources in a region. This paper applied ecological footprint counting model to calculate ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of the typical resource-based city—Shennongjia from 2008 to 2012. The results showed that(a) ecological footprint and per capita ecological footprint in Shennongjia area increased from 86,464.48 ha and 1.076 ha. in 2008 to 93,13.59 ha. and 1.171 ha. in 2012;(b) total ecological carrying capacity, and per capita ecological carrying capacity fluctuated, and total ecological carrying capacity > total ecological footprint, per capita ecological carrying capacity > total ecological footprint, thus it had ecological surplus;(c) among all land use types, water resources had the largest ecological surplus, construction land and woodland had the second and third largest; waters and fossil energy land showed ecological deficit and needed outer supply. As a whole, Shennongjia area had an excellent ecological environment with less destruction and good sustainability.

Simulation of Climate Change Scenarios for Phu Luong Watershed in Northern Viet Nam

The purpose of this paper is to apply ＂LARS-WG （Long Ashton Research Station--Weather Generator）＂ model to simulate the climate change scenarios for Phu Luong watershed in northem Viet Nam. Results indicated that LARS-WG adequately predicted precipitation and temperature with R2 = 0.80 and 0.73, respectively. Likewise, p-value of F test = 0.062 and p-value of t test = 0.885 for precipitation, meanwhile, for temperature are 0.092 and 0.564 at 0.05 level of significance, respectively. Moreover, results also stated that mean annual precipitation increases 1.62%, 2.17% and 3.96% and mean annual temperature increases 0.6 ℃, 0.8 ℃ and 1.05 ℃ in 2020, 2030 and 2040, respectively, with respect to those from baseline periods. This study also showed that LARS-WG model was used successfully for Viet Nam＇s watershed conditions.

Point Cloud Classification and Accuracy Analysis Based on Feature Fusion

A method for land-cover classification was proposed based on the fusion of features generated from waveform data and point cloud respectively.It aims to partially overcome the ineffectiveness of many traditional classifiers caused by the fact that point cloud is lacking spectral information.The whole flowchart of the method is as follows:Firstly,Gaussian decomposition was applied to fit an echo full-waveform.The parameters associated with the Gaussian function were optimized by LM(Levenberg-Marquard)algorithm.Six and thirteen features were generated to describe the waveform characteristics and the local geometry of point cloud,respectively.Secondly,a random forest was selected as the classifier to which the generated features were input.Relief-F was used to rank the weights of all the features generated.Finally,features were input to the classifier one by one according to the weights calculated from feature ranking,where classification accuracies were evaluated.The experimental results show that the effectiveness of the fusion of features generated from waveform and point cloud for LiDAR data classification,with 95.4%overall accuracy,0.90 kappa coefficient,which outperform the results obtained by a single class of features,no matter whether they were generated from point cloud or waveform data.

Effects of inoculating microorganisms on mesophilic anaerobic digestion of septic sludge

The anaerobic digestion of septic sludge was studied through inoculating effective microorganisms (EMs) under mesophilic condition (35 ℃). The variation of COD,total solid (TS),volatile solid (VS),pH value and the gas production rate during the digestion process were presented,and the optimal adding concentration of EMs was determined by comparing the reduction effectiveness of septic sludge. The results show that proper addition of EMs can enhance acid buffering capacity of the system,and the NH3-N concentration is lower than inhibition concentration of 2 g/L reported in the literature and maintain the range of pH value which is suitable for both hydrolysis-acidification and methanogenesis. However,overdose of EMs can reduce the initial pH value of septic sludge and decrease the effects of the anaerobic digestion. EMs can increase the quantity of microbe in septic sludge and improve the gas production and generation rate over a period of time. But overdosing EMs can lead to low pH,restrain activity of methanogenic bacteria and affect the quantity and the generation rate of gas. Adding 0.01% EMs achieves the highest sludge reduction with the removal rates of TS,VS and COD by 32.51%,42.34% and 40.97%,respectively.

Effects of the adaptations to climate changes on the income of herdsmen in Qinghai Province

This study aims to implement the empirical analysis of the effects of the adaptive measures on the income of herdsmen in the context of the climate change with the positive mathematical programming(PMP)model.The survey was first implemented in three counties in the Three Headwaters Region.Finally the measures and recommendations suitable for the economic development in the ecologically fragile areas were proposed.The main conclusions are as follows:priority can be given to the measures to prevent the damage from rats and the engineering measures for pasture maintenance in Zeku County,where the geological conditions and grass quality are inferior,while the fiscal subsidy can be prioritized in Tongde County where the grassland area is relatively less.These recommendations can not only provide good reference for the protection of grassland resources,but they also lay a foundation for the implementation of more suitable measures to help the herdsmen in the ecologically fragile areas to adapt to the climate change.

Econometric analysis of the impacts of climate change on the livestock production in Qinghai Province

This study aims to investigate the effect of the impact mechanism of climate change on the livestock production at small watershed level and county level with the Multi-level Model(MLM)in Qinghai Province.The result indicated that the gross livestock output value was greatly influenced by the climatic factors of the small watershed level.Higher temperature promoted also by the increase of precipitation,relative humidity and sunshine duration was found to be beneficial to the development of livestock production,except in some areas where temperature rise restrained the development of local livestock production to some degree when exceeding a certain level;besides,the impact of the socioeconomic factors on the livestock output value is obvious at the county level.The gross economic output measured with GDP has some inhibitory effects on the reinvestment of livestock production,while population growth promotes development of livestock production to some degree.The results not only provide scientific basis for the management of livestock production in Qinghai Province,but also provide reference for formulating the policies and adaptation measures targeted at climate change to promote the sustainable development of livestock production in other regions.

Simulation Nutrient Load under Climate Change Condition and Deforestation Scenarios in Phu Luong Watershed, Viet Nam

The purpose of this paper is to apply ＂Soil and Water Assessment Tool （SWAT）＂ model to simulate the impacts of climate change and deforestation on nutrient （nitrogen and phosphorus） yield from Phu Luong watershed in Northern Viet Nam. Among the three climate change scenarios B1, B2 and A2, which represented low, medium, and high levels of greenhouse gas emission respectively, were set up for Viet Nam. The B2 scenario was selected for this study. Two land use scenarios （SI-2030 and S2-2050 which converted 4.43%. and 13.40% forest-mixed land into agricultural land, respectively） were formulated by combination with climatic change in SWAT simulation. In B2 climate change scenario, mean temperature increases 0.7 ℃ （2030） and 1.3 ℃（2050）; annual rainfall increases 2.1% （2030） and 3.80% （2050） with respect to baseline scenario. The results showed that monthly Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of Efficiency （NSE） ranged from 0.81 to 0.96 and percent bias （PB1AS） ranged from -7.88 to 9.38. Additionally, SWAT simulation results also showed that climate change and deforestation caused significant percentage of changes in total N and P loads within Phu Luong watershed.

Associations of land use around rail transit stations with jobs-housing distribution of rail commuters from smart-card data

Previous studies generally used land use and travel flow to investigate the efficiency of the railway system in Transit-Oriented Development(TOD)cities.Furthermore,to study the association of land use and jobs-housing distribution of commuters,we can find out the potential development of rail commuting.In this research,four railway lines in Wuhan,China,were selected to explore the land use in promoting practical commuting population according to the smart-card data obtained.For land use issues,except the road density and building density,a Normalized Location-Weighted Landscape Index(NLWLI)based on the source-sink theory in landscape ecology was established to assess the jobs-housing land use around rail transit stations.Meanwhile,employment and housing details of commuters around rail transit stations were identified using smart-card data.We found that the generation of commuting flow was affected by building density and the land use of employment in the immediate vicinity of rail transit stations.The distribution of building density and commuters in a mature rail line was roughly a normal distribution.However,due to the inconsistency of land use and jobs-housing distribution around stations,the requirement of the balance of land use and jobs-housing distribution should be reduced at the scale of rail stations in the TOD planning systems.This study is the application of massive smart-card data in the field of urban research.It identifies land use issues that affect rail transit commuting flow,and can help urban planners improve the efficiency of rail transit through planning and design.

Designing a spatial pattern to rebalance the orientation of development and protection in Wuhan

Patterns of spatial development and protection form a basic category of geoscience,and redesigning them is a popular subject of research in regional sustainable development that is important for ecological civilization construction.The authors here report a case study of Wuhan city using the circuit theory model and minimum cumulative resistance(MCR)model to rebalance its spatial protection and development.The results show the following:(1)Using the density of the gross domestic product(GDP),density of population,rate of urbanization,and access to transportation as evaluation indicators,seven core areas of development in Wuhan were identified,accounting for 59%of the total number of streets,that exhibited a “circular-satellite”spatial structure.(2)According to the importance of ecosystem services,ecological sensitivity,land use type,and slope of the terrain,the resistance surface of spatial development in Wuhan had a stereoscopic spatial form of an“inverted pyramid,”with high surroundings and a low center.The area of low resistance accounted for 6.64%of the total area of Wuhan.(3)Based on coupling analysis using the MCR and spatial morphological characteristics of current,nine axes of spatial development with a total area of 427.27 km2 and eight key strategic points with a total area of 40.02 km2 were identified.Streets that were prioritized for development accounted for 9.63%of Wuhan's total area.(4)By combining the characterization of the development axis with the structure of the three-level core area,we extracted the structure of spatial development of "one heart,two wings,and three belts" in Wuhan.The research framework and empirical results can provide scientific guidance for the urban spatial layout,the development of regional linkages,and ecological environmental protection in China.

Assessment and analysis of ecosystem services value along the Yangtze River under the background of the Yangtze River protection strategy

The Yangtze River is the third largest river in the world and the longest and largest river in China.China has adopted a national strategy to protect the Yangtze River.A better understanding of the ecosystem services value along the Yangtze River would provide support for the Yangtze River protection strategy.Using Costanza’s method to estimate the ecosystem services value,the value of 10 ecosystem services was estimated within 1 km and 2 km from the Yangtze River in 2017.These 10 services were derived from the four established groupings of provisioning,regulating,supporting,and cultural services.This study compared and analyzed the changes in the ecosystem services value in the upper,middle,and lower reaches of the river,and in provinces,cities,and villages along the Yangtze River.The total ecosystem services value within 1 km and 2 km from the river was 37.208 and 43.769 billion yuan,respectively.Within 1 km,the ecosystem services value in the middle reaches was 12.93 billion yuan,while the next highest value was in the upper reaches at 12.45 billion yuan,and the downstream area had the smallest value of 11.855 billion yuan.Within 2 km,the value of upstream ecosystem services was the highest at 16.31 billion yuan,while the second highest value was in the middle reaches at 14.376 billion yuan,and the smallest value was in the downstream area at 13.083 billion yuan.In the Yangtze River Basin,regulating services played a leading role,accounting for 81.6%and 78.9%of the ecosystem services value within 1 km and 2 km from the river,respectively.Among the 10 ecosystem services,hydrological regulation was the most important,while the value of raw material production made the smallest contribution.Among the provinces and cities along the Yangtze River,the highest ecosystem services value was in Hubei Province,while the lowest values were in Shanghai and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.If villages within 1 km and 2 km from the river were to be relocated,the total regional ecological value would increase by 527 and 975 million yuan,respectively.

Dynamic Drought Monitoring in Guangxi Using Revised Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index

Moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer （MODIS） data are very suitable for vast extent, long term and dynamic drought monitoring for its high temporal resolution, high spectral resolution and moderate spatial resolution. The composite Enhanced Vegetation Index （EVI） and composite land surface temperature （Ts） obtained from MODIS data MOD11A2 and MOD13A2 were used to construct the EVI-Ts space. And Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index （TVDI） was calculated to evaluate the agriculture drought in Guangxi province, China in October of 2006. The results showed that the drought area in Guangxi was evidently increasing and continuously deteriorating from the middle of September to the middle of November. The TVDI, coming from the EVI-Ts space, could effectively indicate the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of drought, so that it could provide a strong technical support for the forecasting agricultural drought in south China.

Assessing the relative role of climate and human activities on vegetation cover changes in the up-down stream of Danjiangkou,China

Danjiangkou Reservoir is water source of Middle Route Project of the South-to-North Water Diversion(SNWD)Project,research on the dynamic changes in vegetation cover and its influencing factors is of great significance for understanding the ecological environment of the water diversion area and formulating protection measures.In this study,the normalized difference in vegetation index(NDVI)was used to analyze the dynamic changes and influencing factors of vegetation in the upstream and downstream of Danjiangkou Dam from 1982 to 2018.The results showed that the NDVI exhibited an upward trend of 0.017 year−1(P<0.05),and that the significantly increased area was located near the valley upstream of the dam,while the significantly decreased area was mainly distributed in the basin downstream of the dam and around the central city.The comprehensive contributions of climate and human activity factors to NDVI changes were 92.03%and 7.97%,respectively.The human activities in the upstream of the dam were mainly reflected in the ecological measures such as returning farmland to forest;the human activities at the downstream of the dam were mainly reflected in urban expansion,occupation of cultivated land and forest land by construction land.