The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Phyllostachys incarnata Wen, 1982.

Phyllostachys incarnata Wen, 1982 is one of the important material and edible bamboo specie of high quality in China. We reported the complete chloroplast(cp) genome of P. incarnata in this study. The cp genome of P. incarnata (GenBank accession number: OL457160) was a typical tetrad structure with a full length of 139,689 bp, comprising a pair of inverted repeated (IR) regions (21,798 bp) separated by a large single-copy (LSC) region (83,221 bp) and a small single-copy (SSC) region (12,872 bp). And the cp genome contained 136 genes, including 90 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on 19 cp genomes suggested that P. incarnata was relatively close to P. glauca among the species analyzed.

Divergent responses of plant functional traits and biomass allocation to slope aspects in four perennial herbs of the alpine meadow ecosystem.

Slope aspect can cause environmental heterogeneity over relatively short distances, which in turn affects plant distribution, community structure, and ecosystem function. However, the response and adaptation strategies of plants to slope aspects via regulating their physiological and morphological properties still remain poorly understood, especially in alpine ecosystems. Here, we selected four common species, including Bistorta macrophylla, Bistorta vivipara, Cremanthodium discoideum, and Deschampsia littoralis, to test how biomass allocation and functional traits of height, individual leaf area, individual leaf mass, and specific leaf area (SLA) respond to variation in slope aspect in the Minshan Mountain, eastern Tibetan Plateau. We found that the slope aspect affected SLA and stem, flower mass fraction with higher values at southwest slope aspect, which is potentially related to light environment. The low-temperature environment caused by the slope aspect facilitates the accumulation of root biomass especially at the northeast slope aspect. Cremanthodium discoideum and D. littoralis invested more in belowground biomass in southeast and southwest slope aspects, although a large number of significant isometric allocations were found in B. macrophylla and B. vivipara. Finally, we found that both biotic and abiotic factors are responsible for the variation in total biomass with contrasting effects across different species. These results suggest that slope aspect, as an important topographic variable, strongly influences plant survival, growth, and propagation. Therefore, habitat heterogeneity stemming from topographic factors (slope aspect) can prevent biotic homogenization and thus contribute to the improvement of diverse ecosystem functioning.

Context-Dependency in Relationships Between Herbaceous Plant Leaf Traits and Abiotic Factors.

Leaf traits are important indicators of plants' adaptive strategy to environmental changes. It is an established fact that leaf traits are jointly regulated by climatic and edaphic factors besides genetic factors. However, the relative importance of these abiotic forces in determining the general patterns of herbaceous plant leaf traits across different climatic regions in China is far from clear. We collected 1,653 observations of 542 species of herbaceous plant leaf traits including leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen, and leaf phosphorus from 316 sampling sites across four climatic regions. We found that the leaf mass per area in the arid region was apparently larger than the others, whereas the smallest mass-based leaf nitrogen and mass-based leaf phosphorus were found in the humid region. Increased growing season temperature and evapotranspiration consistently promoted a conservative growth strategy indicated by higher relative benefit of leaf mass per area, especially in the arid region. Solar radiation in growing season promoted an acquisitive growth strategy indicated by higher relative benefits of mass-based leaf nitrogen and phosphorus in the humid region, but opposite patterns were found in the arid region and semi-humid region. Of all the soil nutrients including soil organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and available nitrogen, soil available nitrogen was the strongest predictor of relative benefits of leaf traits associated with a nutrient acquisitive strategy, except in the nutrient-rich semi-humid region. There was a relatively larger number of abiotic factors contributing to relative benefits of leaf traits in the arid and humid regions. We concluded that plant functionality could respond divergently to the same factor facing different habitat conditions. Moreover, the relative benefits of leaf traits tended to be more vulnerable to abiotic filtering in more stressful conditions. Our findings have important implications for understanding the context-dependency of plant functionality to environmental filtering and further improving the predictability of plant dynamics under global change.

Divergent coupling mechanism of precipitation on plant community multifunction across alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau.

Introduction: It is essential to understand plant adaptive strategies on plant stoichiometric traits at the species level rather than at the community level under various environmental conditions across the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Methods: Here, plant community function and edaphic and meteorological factors were collected at 111 sites along an extensive water-heat gradient during the peak growing season in 2015. Community-weighted mean trait (CWM) was introduced to illuminating dynamics of the functional trait at the community level. Results: Our results indicated that plant functional traits, including CWM-leaf total carbon (CWM_LTC), CWM-leaf total nitrogen (CWM_LTN), and CWM-leaf total phosphorus (CWM_LTP), showed similar and comparatively marked increases from alpine meadow (AM) to alpine steppe (AS). Moreover, since the tightly coordinated variation among each plant functional trait of AM was higher than that of AS, a more stable coupling mechanism of these plant functional traits could be observed in AM under a long-term evolutionary habit. Specifically, there was higher annual mean precipitation (AMP) in AM than that in AS significantly (P < 0.01), and AMP was significantly correlated with soil moisture and soil total phosphorus in AM. Generally, our findings suggest that precipitation determines divergent coupling plant community function in both AS and AM.

Cushion plants as critical pioneers and engineers in alpine ecosystems across the Tibetan Plateau.

Cushion plants are widely representative species in the alpine ecosystem due to their vital roles in influencing abiotic and biotic environments, ecological succession processes, and ecosystem engineering. Importantly, cushion plants, such as Androsace L. and Arenaria L., are considered to be critical pioneers of ecosystem health, restoration, and sustainability across the Tibetan Plateau. This is because cushion plants (a) show tenacious vitality and can modify regional climates, substrates, and soil nutrients in extreme environments; (b) facilitate relationships with the surroundings and maintain the diversity of aboveground and belowground communities; and (c) are highly sensitive to environmental changes and thus can indicate grassland ecosystem health and resilience in the context of global change.

Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Potential Distribution of Meconopsis punicea and Its Influence on Ecosystem Services Supply in the Southeastern Margin of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Meconopsis punicea is an iconic ornamental and medicinal plant whose natural habitat has degraded under global climate change, posing a serious threat to the future survival of the species. Therefore, it is critical to analyze the influence of climate change on possible distribution of M. punicea for conservation and sustainable utilization of this species. In this study, we used MaxEnt ecological niche modeling to predict the potential distribution of M. punicea under current and future climate scenarios in the southeastern margin region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Model projections under current climate show that 16.8% of the study area is suitable habitat for Meconopsis. However, future projections indicate a sharp decline in potential habitat for 2050 and 2070 climate change scenarios. Soil type was the most important environmental variable in determining the habitat suitability of M. punicea, with 27.75% contribution to model output. Temperature seasonality (16.41%), precipitation of warmest quarter (14.01%), and precipitation of wettest month (13.02%), precipitation seasonality (9.41%) and annual temperature range (9.24%) also made significant contributions to model output. The mean elevation of suitable habitat for distribution of M. punicea is also likely to shift upward in most future climate change scenarios. This study provides vital information for the protection and sustainable use of medicinal species like M. punicea in the context of global environmental change. Our findings can aid in developing rational, broad-scale adaptation strategies for conservation and management for ecosystem services, in light of future climate changes.

Chinese caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) in China: Current distribution, trading, and futures under climate change and overexploitation.

Chinese caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) is a precious traditional medicine which is mostly distributed on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Due to its medicinal values, it has become one of the most valuable biological commodities and widely traded in recent years worldwide. However, its habitat has changed profoundly in recent years under global warming as well as anthropogenic pressures, resulting in a sharp decline in its wild population in recent years. Based on the occurrence samples, this paper estimates the potential distribution of caterpillar fungus using MaxEnt model. The model simulates potential geographical distribution of the species under current climate conditions, and examine future distributions under different climatic change scenarios (i.e., RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5 have been modelled in 2050s and 2070s, respectively). For examining the impacts of climate change in future, the integrated effects of climatic impact, trading, and overexploitation had been analyzed in detailed routes. The results show that: 1) The distribution patterns of caterpillar fungus under scenario RCP 2.6 have been predicted without obvious changes. However, range shift has been observed with significant shrinks across all classes of suitable areas in Tianshan, Kunlun Mountains, and the southwestern QTP in 2050s and 2070s under RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, respectively. 2) The exports were decreasing drastically in recent years. Guangzhou and Hongkong are two international super import and consumption centres of caterpillar fungus in the world. 3) Both ecological and economic sustainable utilization of the caterpillar fungus has been threatened by the combined pressures of climate change and overexploitation. A strict but effective regulation and protection system, even a systematic management plan not just on the collectors but the whole explore process are urgently needed and has to be issued in the QTP.

[Effects of growth stage and altitude on twig functional traits and biomass allocation of Rhododendron przewalskii in the headwater region of Minjiang River, China.] / å‘è‚²é˜¶æ®µå’Œæµ·æ‹”å¯¹å²·æ±ŸæºåŒºé™‡èœ€æœé¹ƒå°æžåŠŸèƒ½æ€§çŠ¶åŠç”Ÿç‰©é‡åˆ†é çš„å½±å“.

This study aimed at understanding the differences in traits of functional twigs and leaves of a typical alpine shrub species, Rhododendron przewalskii, at Kaka Mountain in the headwater region of Minjiang River. Leaf and twig traits were compared for shrubs at different growth stages (flower bud stage and flowering stage) and altitude (3600 m and 3800 m). The effects of spatial heterogeneity on their correlations and trade-offs were evaluated at leaf and twig levels, respectively. Our results showed that twig length was significantly longer at low altitude than high altitude for the shubs at the same growth stage. The number and mass of flowers at flowering stage were significantly higher at high altitude than those at low altitude. At the same altitude, twig mass, number of leaves, total leaf mass, total leaf area and total petiole mass were all significantly greater at the flower bud stage than those at the flowering stage, while the individual leaf mass and individual petiole mass at flower bud stage were significantly smaller than those at flowering stage. Compared with the flower bud stage, the proportion of leaf mass decreased by 13% at the flowering stage, while biomass proportion of twig significantly increased. At the flower bud stage, twig mass had a higher contribution to total twig mass. In contrast, the contribution of total leaf mass to total twig mass was higher at flowering stage. More biomass of leaf was allocated to individual leaf mass at flower bud stage. More biomass of leaf was allocated to individual petiole mass and individual leaf mass at flowering stage at low altitude and high altitude, respectively. At low altitude, allometric growth patterns presented between twig mass and total leaf area, total leaf mass. Similarly, individual petiole mass and individual leaf area had allometric growth. Our results indicated that the functional traits of twigs and leaves varied across both altitude and plant growth stage.

Reconsidering the efficiency of grazing exclusion using fences on the Tibetan Plateau.

Grazing exclusion using fences is a key policy being applied by the Chinese government to rehabilitate degraded grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and elsewhere. However, there is a limited understanding of the effects of grazing exclusion on alpine ecosystem functions and services and its impacts on herders' livelihoods. Our meta-analyses and questionnaire-based surveys revealed that grazing exclusion with fences was effective in promoting aboveground vegetation growth for up to four years in degraded alpine meadows and for up to eight years in the alpine steppes of the TP. Longer-term fencing did not bring any ecological and economic benefits. We also found that fencing hindered wildlife movement, increased grazing pressure in unfenced areas, lowered the satisfaction of herders, and rendered substantial financial costs to both regional and national governments. We recommend that traditional free grazing should be encouraged if applicable, short-term fencing (for 4-8 years) should be adopted in severely degraded grasslands, and fencing should be avoided in key wildlife habitat areas, especially the protected large mammal species.

The Haze Nightmare Following the Economic Boom in China: Dilemma and Tradeoffs.

This study aims to expand on a deeper understanding of the relationship between rapid economic development and ensuing air pollution in China. The database includes the gross domestic product (GDP), the value added of a secondary industry, the per capita GDP (PGDP), greenhouse gases emissions, and PM2.5 concentrations. The results indicate that China's PGDP has continued to rise over the past decade, and the rate of PGDP slowed down from 1980 to 2004 (slope = 5672.81, R² = 0.99, p < 0.001) but was significantly lower than that from the year 2004 to 2013 (slope = 46,911.08, R² > 0.99, p < 0.001). Unfortunately, we found that total coal consumption, annual steel production, and SO2 emission had been continually growing as the overall economy expands at temporal scale, with the coefficient of determinations greater than 0.98 (p < 0.001). Considering the spatial pattern aspect, we also found a significant relationship between GDP and greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, severe air pollution has negatively impacted the environment and human health, particularly in some highlighted regions. The variation explained by both total SO2 emission and total smoke and dust emission were 33% (p < 0.001) and 24% (p < 0.01) for the rate of total pertussis at temporal scale, respectively. Furthermore, at the spatial scale, pulmonary tuberculosis rates and pertussis mainly occurred in area with serious air pollution (economically developed region). It can be summarized that the extensive mode of economic growth has brought a number of serious environment and human health problems. Thus, a new policy framework has been proposed to meet the goals of maintaining a healthy economy without harming natural environment, which may prove integral, especially when coupled with long-term national strategic development plans.

[Effects of snow cover on the decomposition and nutrient dynamics of Sibiraea angustata leaf litter in western Sichuan plateau, Southwest China].

Soil-borne bag method was adopted to study the decomposition and nutrient dynamics of Sibiraea angustata leaf litter under different depths (0, 30 and 100 cm) of snow cover in western Sichuan plateau in January-May, 2010. In snow-free plot, the mass loss rate of the litter over the five months was 29.9%; in the plots with 30 and 100 cm snow cover, the litter mass loss rate was 33.8% and 35.2%, respectively. During the decomposition, definite N enrichment in the litter was observed, while the P enrichment fluctuated. The C content and C/N ratio of the litter decreased sharply at the early stage of decomposition, but increased gradually after then. Snow cover greatly contributed to the rapid decomposition of litter and the N enrichment in the litter, but had little effects on the litter C and P contents. In western Sichuan plateau, durable snow cover with a depth of > 30 cm could alter the litter decomposition pattern, and substantially affect the soil nutrient turnover and plant community composition.