Detecting the distribution of and public attitudes to charismatic alien species based on media coverage

Charismatic species are often reported by the media,providing information for detecting population status and public perception.To identify the number and distribution of free-living Black Swan(Cygnus atratus),a charismatic alien species in Chinese mainland and to detect the public and the media attitudes to the species,we analyzed the reports and emotional tendency from media coverage in 2000-2022 using manual reading,crawler extraction and latent Dirichlet allocation.A total of 6654 Black Swans were reported at 711 sites,including 147 individuals at 30 nature reserves.Successful breeding was reported at one-fourth of the total sites,including five nature reserves.The proportion of positive emotional tendency to Black Swans was overwhelming in the reports and was higher than that to alien species in general,suggesting that the public and the media are unaware of the risk of biological invasion.Effective management of invasive species requires the media clarifies the invasion risk of charismatic alien species.Promoting the unity between the harmfulness of abstract concept of alien species and the charisma of a specific alien species among the public help effective management.

Quantitative studies on charcoalification:Physical and chemical changes of charring wood

Charcoal is commonly preserved in both natural and artificial sediments,and is intensively used in paleontological,paleoenvironmental,and archaeological studies due to the abundant bio-information it contains.The biochemical properties of charcoal are also used for paleoclimatic reconstruction;however,the reliability of this approach has been challenged due to a lack of clarity on how physicochemical properties change during the charring process,as well as the temperatures required for charcoalification.To address this lack,in this study,Qinghai spruce and Chinese pine wood samples from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau were heated at different temperatures and for different lengths of time under restricted oxygen conditions.The reflectance;carbon,nitrogen,and oxygen content;and tracheid morphology were quantified before and after heating to assess changes related to the charring process.Archaeological charcoal remains were then evaluated to determine the charcoalification temperatures by comparing with the experimental results.The minimum temperature required for wood charcoalification was∼300℃,while temperatures recorded by archaeological charcoal were concentrated at 400-500℃.During the charring experiments,the tracheid cell walls gradually homogenized,and tracheid cell wall thickness and lumen area decreased by∼20%.On average,50%mass losses were observed;the carbon and oxygen content(%wt.)approximately changed from 47%to 60%and 48%to 35%respectively,while the nitrogen content(%wt.)fluctuated around 0.2%.The reflectance increased slightly from 0%to 0.5%.We propose that the charcoalification of wood tissue refers to charring(in restricted air)and carbonization(in the almost absence of air)when the wood is exposed to a heat source,which then finally transforms into a black,inert solid.This quantitative study provided valuable data and a thorough assessment of the process of wood charcoalification,as well as accurately estimated the feasibility of using charcoal physicochemical properties in paleoclimatic research.

Experimental study on the oxidation kinetics of coal in typical coal mining areas of the Southern Junggar coalfield,Xinjiang,China

Coal spontaneous combustion(CSC)is a disaster associated with coal mining that leads to loss of coal resources and envi-ronmental and human health issues.To investigate kinetic characteristics for oxidation of coal,three coal samples were collected from different coal mining areas in the Southern Junggar coalfield.Subsequently,the collected coal samples were ground into different particle sizes and tested using microscopic and macroscopic methods,including thermal gravimetric analysis,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,X-ray diffraction,and temperature-programmed oxidation.The results obtained are as follows:the sharpest absorption peak(002)indicates that graphitization is high.Furthermore,the results show that the SKS coal sample is prone to spontaneous combustion;the greater the aromatic hydrocarbon content is,the more difficult it is for CSC to occur,while the opposite is true for oxygen-containing functional groups.The SKS data confirmed this conclusion;the rate for generation of CO and CO_(2)controlled the possibility of SKS oxidation at 110℃and provided an indication of the temperature.During the dehydration stage,the WD sample had the lowest activation energy,indicating that it was most susceptible to spontaneous combustion.During the combustion stage,the lowest activation energy was found for the SKS sample with particle sizes<0.075 mm,indicating that particle size was one of the factors affecting spontane-ous combustion.The activation energy for dehydration was significantly lower than that for combustion,which showed that the coal oxygen reaction was more likely to occur in the dehydration stage.Based on DSC curves,the SKS sample had the largest exothermicity,indicating that it would ignite more readily.

Spatiotemporal variation of agricultural patterns in different geomorphologic and climatic environments in the eastern Loess Plateau,north-central China during the late Neolithic and Bronze Ages

Human settlement and agricultural development are closely linked to local geomorphological and climatic environments.However,the variation in agricultural systems in different environmental and prehistoric contexts remains unknown.We report new archaeobotanical and radiocarbon dates from 34 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the Hutuo River Valley(HTRV)in north-central China and compare them with updated archaeobotanical studies in the Sushui River Valley(SSRV)and Henan Province(HNP),to explore the similarities and differences of agricultural patterns under different geomorphologic and climatic environments in north-central China.Our results reveal that humans consistently cultivated foxtail and broomcorn millet in the HTRV from the Miaodigou(6000–5700 cal.a BP)to the Shang-Zhou(3600–2256 cal.a BP)period,despite the introduction of wheat and barley into the area around 4000 a BP.Climate conditions and hilly landforms in the HTRV,SSRV and some parts of the HNP led people to develop foxtail and broomcorn millet dry land farming practices between 7000 and 3000 a BP.Alternatively,in other areas of the HNP,the climate conditions and alluvial plains enabled people to develop a mixed agriculture of millets,soybeans,and rice from 7000 to 4000 a BP,with the addition of wheat between 4000 and 3000 a BP.Farmers’different agricultural technologies and interactions with foreign cultures may have also influenced the formation of different agricultural patterns in the three regions between 7000 and 3000 a BP.Population growth during 7000–3000 a BP can explain the overall propensity of the higher-yield foxtail millet rather than broomcorn millet as the main cultivated crop.In the HTRV,however,higher proportions of broomcorn millet(as compared to the SSRV and HNP),may reflect the greater drought and heat tolerance of broomcorn millet,representing an adaptive agricultural strategy in the river valley.

Detecting anthropogenic impact on forest succession from the perspective of wood exploitation on the northeast Tibetan Plateau during the late prehistoric period

Human activities are usually considered to have had impacts on forest degradation and/or changes of forest composition in the past.The Tibetan Plateau,an environmentally sensitive area,has witnessed a high intensity of human activities since the late Neolithic,but the evidence is still incomplete concerning how human activities affected the environment,especially vegetation changes.This may result,in part,from the fact that research on prehistoric wood utilization by humans in the northeast Tibetan Plateau(NETP)is scarce,especially from the perspective of charcoal analysis,which is an archaeological index directly related to human activities.To fill this gap,we report new data here concerning charcoal analysis from 24 archaeological sites dated 5200–2300 a BP in the NETP,where this period saw remarkable environmental and social changes.By coupling the results with published paleoenvironment records(especially pollen),we aim to explore the utilization of wood and its spatial-temporal changes,as well as the anthropogenic impacts on past forest dynamics in the NETP.The results suggest that the wood resources collected by humans were mainly needleleaf trees(Picea L.and Pinus L.),broadleaved trees(Populus L.,Salix L.,and Betula)as well as shrubs(Hippophae L.and Tamarix L.),and that these were distributed around the human habitation areas.There was a clear spatial difference in the woody assemblage collected by humans in the period 3600–2300 a BP.This was likely related to the diversity of natural environments in local areas,but there was an abnormal spatial pattern of forest composition with broadleaved trees dominant above 2500 masl caused not by climate change,but by the rapid increase of human settlement and wood collection in high altitude areas of the NETP since 3600 a BP.

Tuning the concentration of surface/bulk oxygen vacancies in CeO_(2) nanorods to promote highly efficient photodegradation of organic dyes

To enhance the photodegradation ability of CeO_(2) for organic dyes,an effective strategy is to introduce oxygen vacancies(Vo).In general,the introduced Vo are simultaneously present both on the surface and in the bulk of CeO_(2).The surface oxygen vacancies(Vo-s) can decrease the band gap,thus enhancing light absorption to produce more photogenerated e-for photodegradation.However,the bulk oxygen vacancies(Vo-b) will inhibit photocatalytic activity by increasing the recombination of photogene rated e-and Vo-b.Therefore,regulating the concentrations of Vo-s to Vo-b is a breakthrough for achieving the best utilization of photogene rated e-during photodegradation.We used an easy hydrothermal method to achieve tunable concentrations of Vo-s to Vo-b in CeO_(2) nanorods.The optimized CeO_(2) presents a 70.2%removal of rhodamine B after 120 min of ultraviolet-visible light irradiation,and a superior photodegradation performance of multiple organics.This tuning strategy for Vo also provides guidance for developing other advanced metal-oxide semiconductor photocatalysts for the photodegradation of organic dyes.

Historical mitochondrial genome introgression confounds species delimitation: evidence from phylogenetic inference in the Odorrana grahami species complex

Species delimitation is essential to informing conservation policy and understanding ecological and evolutionary processes.Most of our recent gains in knowledge on animal diversity rely on morphological characteristics and mitochondrial(mt)DNA variation.Concordant results based on both have led to an unprecedented acceleration in the identification of new species and enriched the field of taxonomy.However,discordances are also found commonly between morphological and mtDNA evidence.This confounds species delimitation,especially when gene flow or mt genome introgression has occurred.Here,we illustrate how mt genome introgression among species of the Odorrana grahami complex confounds species delimitation using the combined evidence of morphological characters,mt variation,and thousands of nuclear single-nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)from genotyping-by-sequencing(GBS).Fifty-eight samples across the distribution of the O.grahami complex were included.The mtDNA matrilineal genealogy indicated 2 clades,with O.grahami and Odorrana junlianensis clustered together.In contrast,all nuclear evidence including gene trees,species trees,and genetic structure analyses based on GBS data support 3 species with distinct genetic clusters.These 3 distinct genetic clusters also correspond to distinct morphological characters.They affirm the distinct taxonomic entities of both O.grahami and O.junlianensis,as well as a third clade distinct from either.Which species the third clade belongs to remains unclear and will require further testing.The nuclear genomic loci contradict the COI evidence,with indications of rampant historical mt genome introgression among the species of the O.grahami complex.These discordant signals previously confused species delimitation efforts in this group.Based on these findings,we recommend the integration of independent data,especially nuclear genomic evidence,in species delimitation so as to be robust against the pitfalls of mt introgression.