Urbanization has profoundly reshaped biodiversity,yet its impacts on community seasonal changes remain poorly understood.Here,we used citizen science data from 839 bird species in 37 cities and their corresponding rur...Urbanization has profoundly reshaped biodiversity,yet its impacts on community seasonal changes remain poorly understood.Here,we used citizen science data from 839 bird species in 37 cities and their corresponding rural areas in China to assess how urbanization alters seasonal changes in bird communities.We calculated Sørensen beta dissimilarity indices(β_(sor))between seasons to compare the seasonality of communities in urban and rural areas and decomposed these indices into turnover(β_(sim))and nestedness(β_(nes))components.We evaluated whether there are differences in the latitudinal clines in community seasonality between urban and rural areas,and explored whether environmental and socio-economic factors affect the urbanization-driven changes in community seasonality.Our results show that the overall seasonalβ_(sor)in urban communities was 16.2%higher than in rural areas,due to a 49.5%increase inβ_(nes)(urban:0.22±0.12 vs.rural:0.15±0.08),but there was no significant difference inβ_(sim).In rural areas,β_(sor)increased with latitude,butβ_(sor)showed no latitudinal trend in urban communities.Human population emerges as a key predictor of urbanization-driven changes in the species turnover and nestedness components,with larger cities showing lower species turnover but higher nestedness components.We conclude that urbanization alters the seasonality of bird communities through nestedness components,decouples the relationship between community seasonality and latitude,and concentrates its impacts in densely populated cities.Future research must employ long-term monitoring to track how urbanization changes bird communities in space and time.展开更多
In the quiet town of De Aar,Sipho Dube often looks up at the towering 80-metre structures and their 42-metre blades,which seem to brush the clouds.To many,they are just a wind farm,but to Dube,they represent a lifeli...In the quiet town of De Aar,Sipho Dube often looks up at the towering 80-metre structures and their 42-metre blades,which seem to brush the clouds.To many,they are just a wind farm,but to Dube,they represent a lifeline.“I once struggled to find work after studying to become an electrician.I will always be grateful that CHN Energy Longyuan Power South Africa Branch offered me not just a job but a future,”Dube told ChinAfrica.展开更多
Identifying the community structure of complex networks is crucial to extracting insights and understanding network properties.Although several community detection methods have been proposed,many are unsuitable for so...Identifying the community structure of complex networks is crucial to extracting insights and understanding network properties.Although several community detection methods have been proposed,many are unsuitable for social networks due to significant limitations.Specifically,most approaches depend mainly on user-user structural links while overlooking service-centric,semantic,and multi-attribute drivers of community formation,and they also lack flexible filtering mechanisms for large-scale,service-oriented settings.Our proposed approach,called community discovery-based service(CDBS),leverages user profiles and their interactions with consulted web services.The method introduces a novel similarity measure,global similarity interaction profile(GSIP),which goes beyond typical similarity measures by unifying user and service profiles for all attributes types into a coherent representation,thereby clarifying its novelty and contribution.It applies multiple filtering criteria related to user attributes,accessed services,and interaction patterns.Experimental comparisons against Louvain,Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering,Label Propagation and Infomap show that CDBS reveals the higher performance as it achieves 0.74 modularity,0.13 conductance,0.77 coverage,and significantly fast response time of 9.8 s,even with 10,000 users and 400 services.Moreover,community discoverybased service consistently detects a larger number of communities with distinct topics of interest,underscoring its capacity to generate detailed and efficient structures in complex networks.These results confirm both the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.Beyond controlled evaluation,communities discovery based service is applicable to targeted recommendations,group-oriented marketing,access control,and service personalization,where communities are shaped not only by user links but also by service engagement.展开更多
Urban green spaces have positive effects on both physical and mental wellbeing.However,few studies have focused on the trends and thresholds of the effects of different influences on restorative benefits when viewing ...Urban green spaces have positive effects on both physical and mental wellbeing.However,few studies have focused on the trends and thresholds of the effects of different influences on restorative benefits when viewing scenes differfeaturing plant communities.We measured subjective evaluations and objective physiological data from 44 participants who viewed images of plant communities in the yellow to green hue range to compare differences in restorative benefits among plant communities at different visual distances,as well as quantifying the influencing factors involved.The following results were found:(1)Coniferous and multi-layered plant communities were found to provide greater restorative benefits,and the restorative benefits grew with increasing visual distance.(2)Shape and color characteristics were significantly correlated with restorative benefits,but the relationship is not simply linear.(3)The restorative benefits were found to be greatest when crown proportion was 61.23%,trunk proportion ranged from 4.11%to 13.70%,and the value of color index value ranged from 25.44%to 35.56%;the restorative benefits gradually increased when sky proportion exceeded 12.95%-13.19%,the fractal dimension exceeded 1.62-1.67,and hue index exceeded 91.64°-95.67°;additionally,the restorative benefits decreased when the saturation index increased.This study provides a scientific basis for the construction and improvement of plant landscapes in urban green spaces.展开更多
Habitat loss driven by land-use change is a major factor shaping the dynamics of urban bird community structures.However,the potential mechanisms by which the spatial configuration and composition of blue-green infras...Habitat loss driven by land-use change is a major factor shaping the dynamics of urban bird community structures.However,the potential mechanisms by which the spatial configuration and composition of blue-green infrastructure,recognized as biodiversity hotspots in urban landscapes,influence urban bird beta diversity remain insufficiently understood.This study was conducted in the built-up area of Yinchuan,an internationally recognized wetland city in Northwest China.From December 2023 to June 2024,we systematically surveyed bird communities during both the breeding and wintering periods across 29 blue-green space mosaics.We quantified taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic beta diversity,along with their turnover component and nestedness-resultant component,based on both pairwise beta diversity and multiple-site beta diversity.We further assessed the relative importance of landscape variables and spatial geographic distance in shaping beta diversity patterns and used hierarchical modeling of species communities(HMSC)to explore the responses of bird occurrence and functional traits to landscape variables.Our results revealed that species turnover was the dominant driver of taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic beta diversity.Seasonal differences were observed in the effects of spatial geographic distance and landscape structure on beta diversity and its components,with landscape variables showing higher explanatory power than geographic isolation.In the breeding period,landscape diversity and waterbody area had positive effects on bird occurrence,whereas in the wintering period,most landscape features—except for landscape diversity—exerted neutral or negative influences.Regarding functional traits,we found that reproductive traits,flight ability,and foraging characteristics responded significantly to landscape structure,and that some small-bodied species active in aerial and canopy layers were more adaptable to habitat fragmentation.This study provides novel insights into the assembly processes and driving mechanisms of urban bird communities and offers scientific support for the notion that designing and maintaining blue-green infrastructure can contribute to urban biodiversity conservation.展开更多
Mycorrhizal symbioses are prevalent in terrestrial ecosystems and play essential roles in plant nutrition and health.However,the relative importance of plant evolutionary history,physiology,and eco-geographical factor...Mycorrhizal symbioses are prevalent in terrestrial ecosystems and play essential roles in plant nutrition and health.However,the relative importance of plant evolutionary history,physiology,and eco-geographical factors in shaping mycorrhizal fungal community assembly remains poorly understood.Here,we investigate how plant phylogeny,trophic mode,biogeographic distribution and environmental niche collectively influence the diversity and composition of mycorrhizal fungal communities across the Orchidaceae,spanning broad phylogenetic and ecological scales.By using family-wide orchid-fungal associations and global occurrence data,our analyses showed that the variation in fungal diversity and community structure can be partially explained by orchids’trophic mode,biogeographic distribution and environmental niche,but not by their overall phylogenetic relatedness.Among trophic modes,partially mycoheterotrophic orchids exhibited the highest level of fungal diversity(the lowest level of fungal specificity)in association with a broad range of phylogenetically dispersed fungal partners.Between biogeographical regions,a significantly higher level of fungal specificity was found for orchid species distributed in Australia than those in Eurasia and Africa.Furthermore,multivariate analyses showed that a small portion of the variation in fungal community structure was significantly related to broad climate,soil and vegetation variables,indicating the existence of large-scale habitat filtering on orchid mycorrhizal communities.Altogether,our findings indicate that mycorrhizal communities in the orchid family are likely shaped by multiple,intertwined factors related to orchid ecophysiology and biogeography on a global scale.展开更多
The Qaidam Basin,a typical alpine arid inland basin on the northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau,China,hosts wetland ecosystems that are strongly constrained by topography and extreme climate.These ecosystems exhibit pronou...The Qaidam Basin,a typical alpine arid inland basin on the northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau,China,hosts wetland ecosystems that are strongly constrained by topography and extreme climate.These ecosystems exhibit pronounced spatiotemporal heterogeneity and fragmented distribution patterns,rendering them highly sensitive to environmental change.This study integrated Sentinel-2 remote sensing imagery with the SedInConnect model to delineate wetland patch distributions and calculate the Index of Connectivity(IC)values across the basin.Based on IC values,we stratified field sampling sites into high-,moderate-,and lowconnectivity gradient groups to analyze the relationships among plant community characteristics,vegetation spatial patterns,and wetland connectivity in the Qaidam Basin.Partial Least Squares Path Modeling(PLSPM)was further employed to quantify the driving mechanisms underlying wetland vegetation characteristics.The results revealed that wetland connectivity across the basin was generally low,with IC values up to 1.32 and displaying a west-to-east decreasing gradient.The west and northwest were characterized by relatively continuous high-connectivity wetland networks,while fragmented and low-connectivity wetlands predominated in the east and southeast.Connectivity regulated wetland vegetation patterns primarily by affecting patch size,fragmentation,and internal adjacency.High-connectivity areas had higher class area(CA),largest patch index(LPI),and area-weighted mean patch size(AREA_AM)than low-connectivity areas.Connectivity had the strongest effect on vegetation coverage,which declined sharply from 87.577%in highconnectivity areas to 12.152%in low-connectivity areas.Meanwhile,species diversity showed a moderately negative response to connectivity changes,whereas species evenness remained relatively unaffected.PLS-PM explained 78.300%and 67.500%of the variance in vegetation community and vegetation pattern,respectively.Climate played a dominant role in shaping vegetation characteristics,with significant negative effects on both vegetation community and pattern.Topography influenced vegetation indirectly through climate,and connectivity was influenced by both drivers and exerted positive effects on vegetation community and pattern.This study reveals the multi-pathway driving mechanisms underlying vegetation pattern formation in alpine wetlands,providing a theoretical foundation and decision-support framework for the scientific conservation and adaptive management of wetlands in the Qaidam Basin.展开更多
Sedimentary microbial communities play an important role in driving biogeochemical cycles in river ecosystems.The Yellow River is one of the rivers with the highest turbidity over the world.However,limited is known ab...Sedimentary microbial communities play an important role in driving biogeochemical cycles in river ecosystems.The Yellow River is one of the rivers with the highest turbidity over the world.However,limited is known about the microbial variation and its influencing factors in the Yellow River.In this study,we examined the microbial communities and their influencing factors in the sediment of Upper and Mid–Lower reaches of the Yellow River.The results showed that Gammaproteobacteria were most dominant(with Hydrogenophilaceae being the predominant family)in the studied Yellow River sediments.Phyla of Deltaproteobacteria,Nitrospirae and family of Bacillaceae,Geobaceraceae were more abundant in the Mid–Lower reaches than in the Upper reaches,while phyla of Gammaproteobacteria,Verrucomicrobia and family of Caldilineaceae,Llumatobacteraceae were more abundant in the Upper reaches than in the Mid–Lower reaches.The microbial communities were predominantly affected by nutrient factors(such as NH_(4)^(+),TN and TP),followed by the spatial and the content of Chla in the Mid–Lower reaches,while they were by predominantly affected by spatial factors,followed by the nutrient factors and the content of Chla in the Upper reaches.The dominant microbial taxa were mostly correlated with COD,NH_(4)^(+),TP and temperature,but they responded differently to these physiochemical factors between the Upper and Mid–Lower reaches.In summary,the sedimentary microbial communities differ between the Upper and Mid–Lower reaches and respond differently to the environmental and spatial factors in the sediment of the Yellow River.展开更多
Professional learning communities(PLCs)offer essential contextual support for the development of foreign language teachers in higher education.The book Building Professional Learning Communities of Foreign Language Te...Professional learning communities(PLCs)offer essential contextual support for the development of foreign language teachers in higher education.The book Building Professional Learning Communities of Foreign Language Teachers in Higher Education,co-authored by Wen et al.(2021)systematically examines the necessity,practical measures,theoretical construction,and outcomes associated with building PLCs for university foreign language teachers.Notably,it introduces a research methodology rooted in local teacher education practices with Chinese characteristics—the dialectical research paradigm(DRP).This review introduces the content of the book,evaluates its contributions to teacher development,and explores its implications for future practice and research.展开更多
The Qinba Mountains are climatically and ecologically recognized as the north-south transitional zone of China.Analysis of its phenology is critical for comprehending the response of vegetation to climatic change.We r...The Qinba Mountains are climatically and ecologically recognized as the north-south transitional zone of China.Analysis of its phenology is critical for comprehending the response of vegetation to climatic change.We retrieved the start of spring phenology(SOS)of eight forest communities from the MODIS products and adopted it as an indicator for spring phenology.Trend analysis,partial correlation analysis,and GeoDetector were employed to reveal the spatio-temporal patterns and climatic drivers of SOS.The results indicated that the SOS presented an advance trend from 2001 to 2020,with a mean rate of−0.473 d yr^(−1).The SOS of most forests correlated negatively with air temperature(TEMP)and positively with precipitation(PRE),suggesting that rising TEMP and increasing PRE in spring would forward and delay SOS,respectively.The dominant factors influencing the sensitivity of SOS to climatic variables were altitude,forest type,and latitude,while the effects of slope and aspect were relatively minor.The response of SOS to climatic factors varied significantly in space and among forest communities,partly due to the influence of altitude,slope,and aspect.展开更多
Numerous studies have examined the impact ofwater quality degradation on bacterial community structure,yet insights into its effects on the bacterial ecological networks remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the...Numerous studies have examined the impact ofwater quality degradation on bacterial community structure,yet insights into its effects on the bacterial ecological networks remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the diversity,composition,assembly patterns,ecological networks,and environmental determinants of bacterial communities across 20 ponds to understand the impact of water quality degradation.Our findings revealed that water quality degradation significantly reduces the α-diversity of bacterial communities in water samples,while sediment samples remain unaffected.Additionally,water quality deterioration increases the complexity of bacterial networks in water samples but reduces it in sediment samples.These shifts in bacterial communities were primarily governed by deterministic processes,with heterogeneous selection being particularly influential.Through redundancy analysis(RDA),multiple regression on matrices(MRM),and Mantel tests,we identified dissolved oxygen(DO),ammonium nitrogen(NH_(4)^(+)-N),and C/N ratio as key factors affecting the composition and network complexity of bacterial communities in both water and sediment.Overall,this study contributes a novel perspective on the effect ofwater quality deterioration on microbial ecosystems and provides valuable insights for improving ecological evaluations and biomonitoring practices related to water quality management.展开更多
Arsenic(As)methylation in soils affects the environmental behavior of As,excessive accumulation of dimethylarsenate(DMA)in rice plants leads to straighthead disease and a serious drop in crop yield.Understanding the m...Arsenic(As)methylation in soils affects the environmental behavior of As,excessive accumulation of dimethylarsenate(DMA)in rice plants leads to straighthead disease and a serious drop in crop yield.Understanding the mobility and transformation of methylated arsenic in redox-changing paddy fields is crucial for food security.Here,soils including unarsenic contaminated(N-As),low-arsenic(L-As),medium-arsenic(M-As),and high-arsenic(H-As)soils were incubated under continuous anoxic,continuous oxic,and consecutive anoxic/oxic treatments respectively,to profile arsenic methylating process and microbial species involved in the As cycle.Under anoxic-oxic(A-O)treatment,methylated arsenic was significantly increased once oxygen was introduced into the incubation system.The methylated arsenic concentrations were up to 2-24 times higher than those in anoxic(A),oxic(O),and oxic-anoxic(O-A)treatments,under which arsenic was methylated slightly and then decreased in all four As concentration soils.In fact,the most plentiful arsenite S-adenosylmethionine methyltransferase genes(arsM)contributed to the increase in As methylation.Proteobacteria(40.8%-62.4%),Firmicutes(3.5%-15.7%),and Desulfobacterota(5.3%-13.3%)were the major microorganisms related to this process.These microbial increasedmarkedly and played more important roles after oxygen was introduced,indicating that they were potential keystone microbial groups for As methylation in the alternating anoxic(flooding)and oxic(drainage)environment.The novel findings provided newinsights into the reoxidation-driven arsenic methylation processes and the model could be used for further risk estimation in periodically flooded paddy fields.展开更多
Ulva prolifera green tides are becoming aworldwide environmental problem,especially in the Yellow Sea,China.However,the effects of the occurrence of U.prolifera green tides on the community organization and stability ...Ulva prolifera green tides are becoming aworldwide environmental problem,especially in the Yellow Sea,China.However,the effects of the occurrence of U.prolifera green tides on the community organization and stability of surrounding microbiomes have still not been de-termined.Here,the prokaryotic microbial community network stability and assembly char-acteristics were systematically analyzed and compared between the green tide and non-green tide periods.U.prolifera blooms weaken the community complexity and robustness of surrounding microbiomes,increasing fragmentation and decreasing diversity.Bacteria and archaea exhibited distinct community distributions and assembly patterns under the influ-ence of green tides,and bacterial communities were more sensitive to outbreaks of green tides.The bacterial communities exhibited a greater niche breadth and a lower phyloge-netic distance during the occurrence of U.prolifera green tides compared to those during the non-green tide period while archaeal communities remained unchanged,suggesting that the bacterial communities underwent stronger homogeneous selection and more sensitive to green tide blooms than the archaeal communities.Piecewise structural equation model analysis revealed that the different responses of major prokaryotic microbial groups,such as Cyanobacteria,to environmental variables during green tides,were influenced by the variations in pH and nitrate during green tides and correlated with the salinity gradient during the non-green tide period.This study elucidates the response of the adaptability,associations,and stability of surrounding microbiomes to outbreaks of U.prolifera green tides.展开更多
Cadmium(Cd)contamination in soil can lead to food chain accumulation and greatly impacts on human health.Bioremediation has gained more and more attention due to its environment-friendly,high efficiency and low-cost.I...Cadmium(Cd)contamination in soil can lead to food chain accumulation and greatly impacts on human health.Bioremediation has gained more and more attention due to its environment-friendly,high efficiency and low-cost.In this work,we studied the impact of phosphate solubilizing bacterial agent(PSBA)on Cd bioavailability,microbial communities in soil and Cd accumulation in lettuce plants with pot experiment and field trial.Results of pot experiment showed that PSBA could decrease the bioavailability of Cd(Cd-acid extractable from 3.30 to 2.34mg/kg,Cd-reducible from 1.94 to 1.56 mg/kg),promote lettuce plants growth(increased by 33.85%height and by 33.65%fresh weight)and reduce the accumulation of Cd(from 5.85 to 3.73 mg/kg)in lettuce plants.High-throughput sequencing identified that PSBA could change the composition and structure of the soil microbial communities.The relative abundances of the three ecologically beneficial bacterial families of Pseudomonadaceae,Burkholderiaceae,and Enterobacteriaceae increased from 2.29%to 5.13%,0.56%to 5.24%,and 1.87%to 16.93%,respectively.And the former two were positively correlated with redox potential(Eh)(R^(2)=0.474,p<0.05,R^(2)=0.590,p<0.01,respectively).The bacterial networks were more complex in PSBA treatment,reflecting through more links(from 1893 to 2185)and a higher average degree(from 38.242 to 45.052)and density(from 0.390 to 0.469).Results of field trial demonstrated that PSBA could also decrease Cd content in lettuce plants and microbial composition in soil.This study indicated that PSBA could be served as an alternative material in bioremediation of Cd contamination in soil.展开更多
The authors regret that an error occurred during the preparation of their article:One of the official databases,which was used for functional trait collections,contained an incorrect term–'chametophytes'–for...The authors regret that an error occurred during the preparation of their article:One of the official databases,which was used for functional trait collections,contained an incorrect term–'chametophytes'–for the life form category'chamaephytes'.Unfortunately,this incorrect term was used throughout the article following the nomenclature of this official database:in one instance in the main text,in Fig.3 and its caption,in Fig.5,and in two instances in the supplementary material.展开更多
Elucidating the mechanisms underlying community assembly remains a central question in community ecology,especially in aquatic ecosystems disrupted by human activities.Understanding the causes and consequences of comm...Elucidating the mechanisms underlying community assembly remains a central question in community ecology,especially in aquatic ecosystems disrupted by human activities.Understanding the causes and consequences of community responses to changing environment is essential for revealing the ecological effects of anthropogenic disturbances and proposing practical strategies for ecological restoration.While stochastic dispersal and species sorting are known to influence local biological communities,most studies have focused on horizontal dispersal,often neglecting the vertical exchange of organisms between planktonic and sedimentary communities when studying stochastic dispersal.We used a highly disturbed urban river in Beijing as a model system to investigate the relative roles of stochastic dispersal versus species sorting driven by local pollution,as well as two components of stochastic dispersal,vertical exchange and horizontal dispersal,in structuring local bacterial communities.Our integrated analyses of planktonic and sedimentary bacterial communities revealed that,despite different spatial patterns along the river,both types of bacterial communities were primarily shaped by stochastic dispersal processes rather than species sorting influenced by the environmental gradient.Notably,in addition to the effect of horizontal dispersal along the river,the vertical exchange between planktonic and sedimentary bacterial communities significantly contributed to the formation of local communities.These findings suggest that both vertical exchange and horizontal dispersal should be considered when assessing the role of stochastic dispersal in shaping local community structure in microbial communities.展开更多
Home gardens serve as a crucial adaptation strategy for tribal communities in Keonjhar district,Odisha,enhancing food security,income generation,and climate resilience.This study examines the role of home gardens in s...Home gardens serve as a crucial adaptation strategy for tribal communities in Keonjhar district,Odisha,enhancing food security,income generation,and climate resilience.This study examines the role of home gardens in sustaining tribal livelihoods while addressing challenges such as climate variability,soil degradation,and market constraints.Adopting a mixed-methods approach,it integrates the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework(SLF)and socio-ecological resilience theory.Data from 120 tribal households across four villages in Banspal block were collected through structured interviews and focus group discussions.A key innovation lies in integrating indigenous knowledge systems with the Problem Facing Index(PFI)methodology to generate quantified,community-driven insights on climate adaptation barriers.Findings reveal that home gardens contribute around ₹10,000 per season to household income,reducing market dependency by over 70% during crises such as the COVID-19 lockdown.Over 75% of households face high to medium challenges due to climate variability(PFI=252),soil degradation(PFI=251),and wildlife intrusions(PFI=250).Other notable constraints include pests(75%)and poor market access(61.7%).Although 82.5% reported no issue with agricultural inputs,water scarcity remains a seasonal concern for 23%.Despite constraints,home gardens were found to enhance all five SLF capitals:natural,human,social,financial,and physical.The study recommends contextsensitive interventions,including seed distribution,organic inputs,weather-based advisories,and strengthened institutional support.It highlights the potential for scaling home garden models across other marginalized agroecological regions in India and Asia,aligning them with national rural development and climate adaptation programs.展开更多
Crude oil pollution is a significant global environmental challenge.The eastern Gansu Province on the Loess Plateau,an important agricultural region containing the Changqing Oilfield,is facing increasing crude oil con...Crude oil pollution is a significant global environmental challenge.The eastern Gansu Province on the Loess Plateau,an important agricultural region containing the Changqing Oilfield,is facing increasing crude oil contamination.Understanding how microbial communities respond to varying pollution levels is critical for developing effective bioremediation strategies.This study examined how different concentrations of crude oil affect soil properties and microbial communities in Qingyang City,eastern Gansu Province,China by comparing lightly polluted(1895.84-2696.54 mg/kg total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH)),heavily polluted(4964.25-7153.61 mg/kg TPH),and uncontaminated(CK)soils.Results revealed that petroleum contamination significantly increased total organic carbon(TOC),pH,C:N:P ratio,and the activities of dehydrogenase(DHA)and polyphenol oxidase(PPO),while reducing total nitrogen(TN),available nitrogen(AN),total phosphorus(TP),available phosphorus(AP),available potassium(AK),soil organic matter(SOM),soil water content(SWC),the activities of urease(URE)and alkaline phosphatase(APA),and microbial alpha diversity(P<0.050).Light pollution(LP)soils demonstrated an increase in culturable microorganisms,whereas heavy pollution(HP)soils exhibited increased hydrocarbon-degrading microbes and higher expression of key functional genes,such as alkane monooxygenase(AlkB),cytochrome P450 alkane hydroxylases(P450),catechol 2,3-dioxygenase(C23O),and naphthalene dioxygenase(Nah)(P<0.050).Non-metric multidimensional scaling(NMDS)and redundancy analysis(RDA)indicated evident variations in microbial community structure across different oil contamination levels.LP soils were dominated by bacterial genera Pseudoxanthomonas and Solimonadaceae,whereas Pseudomonas,Nocardioides,and hydrocarbon-degrading genera(Marinobacter,Idiomarina,and Halomonas)were predominant in HP soils.The fungal genus Pseudallescheria exhibited the most pronounced abundance shift between LP and HP soils(P<0.050).Environmental factor analysis identified AN,SWC,TN,SOM,and alpha diversity indices(Shannon index and Chao1 index)as the key differentiators of CK soils,whereas the pollutant levels and metal content were characterized in HP soils.Hydrocarbon-degrading microbial abundance was a defining trait of HP soils.Metabolic pathway analysis revealed enhanced aromatic hydrocarbon degradation in HP soils,indicating microbial adaptation to severe contamination.These findings demonstrated that crude oil pollution suppressed soil nutrients while reshaping the structure and function of microbial communities.Pollution intensity directly affected microbial composition and degradation potential.This study offers valuable insights into microbial responses across contamination gradients and supports the development of targeted bioremediation strategies for oil-contaminated loess soils.展开更多
The environmental and economic difficulties arising from climate change affect developing world rural populations with increasing intensity.However,the traditional knowledge serves as a major means for understanding c...The environmental and economic difficulties arising from climate change affect developing world rural populations with increasing intensity.However,the traditional knowledge serves as a major means for understanding climate change adaptation processes in Kogi State’s rural populace while contributing to policy frameworks and climate messaging strategies.Correspondingly,this study examines how traditional knowledge supports rural communities during climate change adaptation and it examines the performance of communication methods for weaving indigenous understanding into adaptation procedures.The study was anchored on the Indigenous Knowledge Systems(IKS)Theory according to which the knowledge of indigenous people is considered to be valid and culturally grounded and sustainable instrument of environmental adaptation.It employed surveys by obtaining data from 246 participants in nine(three each from the senatorial districts)rural communities of Kogi State.The analysis focused on 246 responses collected during this research.The finding showed that local weather predictions systems,agricultural traditions,as well as traditional soil preservation methods,are popular and applied by the rural population with high confidence rates to overcome changes in climate.These are community practices,and are still part of the local adaptation strategies.It is also revealed in the study that conventional forms of communication-storytelling,use of indigenous languages,and incorporation of traditional leaders are moderately useful in persuasion of climate adaptation,although there is little reparation of government when it comes to development of communication tactics.The respondents confirmed that it is important to combine the traditional knowledge with suitable formal policy.The study concludes that to become effective and culturally responsive,climate policies and related communication strategies should include participatory approaches of traditional knowledge systems.Its outcomes can be used significantly by policymakers,development practitioners,and climate communication professionals to establish resilient and inclusive adaptation channels in Nigeria and other related settings.展开更多
Climate change and human activities have led to desertification and decreased land productivity,significantly affecting human livelihoods in desert regions.Identifying suitable areas for cultivating economic and nativ...Climate change and human activities have led to desertification and decreased land productivity,significantly affecting human livelihoods in desert regions.Identifying suitable areas for cultivating economic and native plants based on ecological capacity,biological restoration,and risk management can be valuable tools for combating desertification.In this study,we identified suitable areas for the growth of economic and medicinal Moringa peregrina trees in desert regions of Sistan and Baluchestan Province,southern Iran,using library research and field methods.We also assessed the economic involvement of local communities in areas under different topographic conditions(namely flat area,undulating area,rolling area,moderately sloping area,and steep area)in the study area.Financial indicators such as the net present value(NPV),benefit-cost ratio(BCR),internal rate of return(IRR),and return on investment(ROI)were calculated for areas under various topographic conditions in the study area.The rolling area with results of NPV(6142.75 USD),IRR(103.38),BCR(5.38),and ROI(in the 3rd year)was the best region for investing and cultivating M.peregrina.The minimum economic level varied from 0.80 hm2 in the flat area to 21.60 hm2 in the steep area.Also,approximately 5,314,629.51 hm2 of desert lands in the study area were deemed suitable for M.peregrina cultivation,benefiting around 1,743,246 households in the study area.Cultivating M.peregrina in southern Iran can positively affect local communities and help preserve land from erosion.Our study will provide theoretical support for planting native species in other degraded desert regions to enhance ecosystem services and the well-being of indigenous populations.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.32271733)the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(Grant No.2023A1515011045)。
文摘Urbanization has profoundly reshaped biodiversity,yet its impacts on community seasonal changes remain poorly understood.Here,we used citizen science data from 839 bird species in 37 cities and their corresponding rural areas in China to assess how urbanization alters seasonal changes in bird communities.We calculated Sørensen beta dissimilarity indices(β_(sor))between seasons to compare the seasonality of communities in urban and rural areas and decomposed these indices into turnover(β_(sim))and nestedness(β_(nes))components.We evaluated whether there are differences in the latitudinal clines in community seasonality between urban and rural areas,and explored whether environmental and socio-economic factors affect the urbanization-driven changes in community seasonality.Our results show that the overall seasonalβ_(sor)in urban communities was 16.2%higher than in rural areas,due to a 49.5%increase inβ_(nes)(urban:0.22±0.12 vs.rural:0.15±0.08),but there was no significant difference inβ_(sim).In rural areas,β_(sor)increased with latitude,butβ_(sor)showed no latitudinal trend in urban communities.Human population emerges as a key predictor of urbanization-driven changes in the species turnover and nestedness components,with larger cities showing lower species turnover but higher nestedness components.We conclude that urbanization alters the seasonality of bird communities through nestedness components,decouples the relationship between community seasonality and latitude,and concentrates its impacts in densely populated cities.Future research must employ long-term monitoring to track how urbanization changes bird communities in space and time.
文摘In the quiet town of De Aar,Sipho Dube often looks up at the towering 80-metre structures and their 42-metre blades,which seem to brush the clouds.To many,they are just a wind farm,but to Dube,they represent a lifeline.“I once struggled to find work after studying to become an electrician.I will always be grateful that CHN Energy Longyuan Power South Africa Branch offered me not just a job but a future,”Dube told ChinAfrica.
文摘Identifying the community structure of complex networks is crucial to extracting insights and understanding network properties.Although several community detection methods have been proposed,many are unsuitable for social networks due to significant limitations.Specifically,most approaches depend mainly on user-user structural links while overlooking service-centric,semantic,and multi-attribute drivers of community formation,and they also lack flexible filtering mechanisms for large-scale,service-oriented settings.Our proposed approach,called community discovery-based service(CDBS),leverages user profiles and their interactions with consulted web services.The method introduces a novel similarity measure,global similarity interaction profile(GSIP),which goes beyond typical similarity measures by unifying user and service profiles for all attributes types into a coherent representation,thereby clarifying its novelty and contribution.It applies multiple filtering criteria related to user attributes,accessed services,and interaction patterns.Experimental comparisons against Louvain,Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering,Label Propagation and Infomap show that CDBS reveals the higher performance as it achieves 0.74 modularity,0.13 conductance,0.77 coverage,and significantly fast response time of 9.8 s,even with 10,000 users and 400 services.Moreover,community discoverybased service consistently detects a larger number of communities with distinct topics of interest,underscoring its capacity to generate detailed and efficient structures in complex networks.These results confirm both the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.Beyond controlled evaluation,communities discovery based service is applicable to targeted recommendations,group-oriented marketing,access control,and service personalization,where communities are shaped not only by user links but also by service engagement.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32471953)the Educational Department of Liaoning Province Key Research Project(LJ212410153073).
文摘Urban green spaces have positive effects on both physical and mental wellbeing.However,few studies have focused on the trends and thresholds of the effects of different influences on restorative benefits when viewing scenes differfeaturing plant communities.We measured subjective evaluations and objective physiological data from 44 participants who viewed images of plant communities in the yellow to green hue range to compare differences in restorative benefits among plant communities at different visual distances,as well as quantifying the influencing factors involved.The following results were found:(1)Coniferous and multi-layered plant communities were found to provide greater restorative benefits,and the restorative benefits grew with increasing visual distance.(2)Shape and color characteristics were significantly correlated with restorative benefits,but the relationship is not simply linear.(3)The restorative benefits were found to be greatest when crown proportion was 61.23%,trunk proportion ranged from 4.11%to 13.70%,and the value of color index value ranged from 25.44%to 35.56%;the restorative benefits gradually increased when sky proportion exceeded 12.95%-13.19%,the fractal dimension exceeded 1.62-1.67,and hue index exceeded 91.64°-95.67°;additionally,the restorative benefits decreased when the saturation index increased.This study provides a scientific basis for the construction and improvement of plant landscapes in urban green spaces.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32401409)the Central Government’s Special Fund for National Key Protected Wildlife Conservation Projects in Yinchuan City(HXCG-ZC2023148,XZ-2024-16)。
文摘Habitat loss driven by land-use change is a major factor shaping the dynamics of urban bird community structures.However,the potential mechanisms by which the spatial configuration and composition of blue-green infrastructure,recognized as biodiversity hotspots in urban landscapes,influence urban bird beta diversity remain insufficiently understood.This study was conducted in the built-up area of Yinchuan,an internationally recognized wetland city in Northwest China.From December 2023 to June 2024,we systematically surveyed bird communities during both the breeding and wintering periods across 29 blue-green space mosaics.We quantified taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic beta diversity,along with their turnover component and nestedness-resultant component,based on both pairwise beta diversity and multiple-site beta diversity.We further assessed the relative importance of landscape variables and spatial geographic distance in shaping beta diversity patterns and used hierarchical modeling of species communities(HMSC)to explore the responses of bird occurrence and functional traits to landscape variables.Our results revealed that species turnover was the dominant driver of taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic beta diversity.Seasonal differences were observed in the effects of spatial geographic distance and landscape structure on beta diversity and its components,with landscape variables showing higher explanatory power than geographic isolation.In the breeding period,landscape diversity and waterbody area had positive effects on bird occurrence,whereas in the wintering period,most landscape features—except for landscape diversity—exerted neutral or negative influences.Regarding functional traits,we found that reproductive traits,flight ability,and foraging characteristics responded significantly to landscape structure,and that some small-bodied species active in aerial and canopy layers were more adaptable to habitat fragmentation.This study provides novel insights into the assembly processes and driving mechanisms of urban bird communities and offers scientific support for the notion that designing and maintaining blue-green infrastructure can contribute to urban biodiversity conservation.
基金the funding provided by the China Scholarship Council(Grant No.201804910634)the Ecology Fund of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences(KNAWWF/807/19039)to Deyi Wang.
文摘Mycorrhizal symbioses are prevalent in terrestrial ecosystems and play essential roles in plant nutrition and health.However,the relative importance of plant evolutionary history,physiology,and eco-geographical factors in shaping mycorrhizal fungal community assembly remains poorly understood.Here,we investigate how plant phylogeny,trophic mode,biogeographic distribution and environmental niche collectively influence the diversity and composition of mycorrhizal fungal communities across the Orchidaceae,spanning broad phylogenetic and ecological scales.By using family-wide orchid-fungal associations and global occurrence data,our analyses showed that the variation in fungal diversity and community structure can be partially explained by orchids’trophic mode,biogeographic distribution and environmental niche,but not by their overall phylogenetic relatedness.Among trophic modes,partially mycoheterotrophic orchids exhibited the highest level of fungal diversity(the lowest level of fungal specificity)in association with a broad range of phylogenetically dispersed fungal partners.Between biogeographical regions,a significantly higher level of fungal specificity was found for orchid species distributed in Australia than those in Eurasia and Africa.Furthermore,multivariate analyses showed that a small portion of the variation in fungal community structure was significantly related to broad climate,soil and vegetation variables,indicating the existence of large-scale habitat filtering on orchid mycorrhizal communities.Altogether,our findings indicate that mycorrhizal communities in the orchid family are likely shaped by multiple,intertwined factors related to orchid ecophysiology and biogeography on a global scale.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42230720)the 2023 Annual Qinghai Province"Kunlun Talents-High-end Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent"Program Project.
文摘The Qaidam Basin,a typical alpine arid inland basin on the northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau,China,hosts wetland ecosystems that are strongly constrained by topography and extreme climate.These ecosystems exhibit pronounced spatiotemporal heterogeneity and fragmented distribution patterns,rendering them highly sensitive to environmental change.This study integrated Sentinel-2 remote sensing imagery with the SedInConnect model to delineate wetland patch distributions and calculate the Index of Connectivity(IC)values across the basin.Based on IC values,we stratified field sampling sites into high-,moderate-,and lowconnectivity gradient groups to analyze the relationships among plant community characteristics,vegetation spatial patterns,and wetland connectivity in the Qaidam Basin.Partial Least Squares Path Modeling(PLSPM)was further employed to quantify the driving mechanisms underlying wetland vegetation characteristics.The results revealed that wetland connectivity across the basin was generally low,with IC values up to 1.32 and displaying a west-to-east decreasing gradient.The west and northwest were characterized by relatively continuous high-connectivity wetland networks,while fragmented and low-connectivity wetlands predominated in the east and southeast.Connectivity regulated wetland vegetation patterns primarily by affecting patch size,fragmentation,and internal adjacency.High-connectivity areas had higher class area(CA),largest patch index(LPI),and area-weighted mean patch size(AREA_AM)than low-connectivity areas.Connectivity had the strongest effect on vegetation coverage,which declined sharply from 87.577%in highconnectivity areas to 12.152%in low-connectivity areas.Meanwhile,species diversity showed a moderately negative response to connectivity changes,whereas species evenness remained relatively unaffected.PLS-PM explained 78.300%and 67.500%of the variance in vegetation community and vegetation pattern,respectively.Climate played a dominant role in shaping vegetation characteristics,with significant negative effects on both vegetation community and pattern.Topography influenced vegetation indirectly through climate,and connectivity was influenced by both drivers and exerted positive effects on vegetation community and pattern.This study reveals the multi-pathway driving mechanisms underlying vegetation pattern formation in alpine wetlands,providing a theoretical foundation and decision-support framework for the scientific conservation and adaptive management of wetlands in the Qaidam Basin.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.42402310)the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province(No.242300421657)+1 种基金the National Key Research and Development Program(No.2024YFD2402005)the China Agriculture Research System(No.CARS-50)。
文摘Sedimentary microbial communities play an important role in driving biogeochemical cycles in river ecosystems.The Yellow River is one of the rivers with the highest turbidity over the world.However,limited is known about the microbial variation and its influencing factors in the Yellow River.In this study,we examined the microbial communities and their influencing factors in the sediment of Upper and Mid–Lower reaches of the Yellow River.The results showed that Gammaproteobacteria were most dominant(with Hydrogenophilaceae being the predominant family)in the studied Yellow River sediments.Phyla of Deltaproteobacteria,Nitrospirae and family of Bacillaceae,Geobaceraceae were more abundant in the Mid–Lower reaches than in the Upper reaches,while phyla of Gammaproteobacteria,Verrucomicrobia and family of Caldilineaceae,Llumatobacteraceae were more abundant in the Upper reaches than in the Mid–Lower reaches.The microbial communities were predominantly affected by nutrient factors(such as NH_(4)^(+),TN and TP),followed by the spatial and the content of Chla in the Mid–Lower reaches,while they were by predominantly affected by spatial factors,followed by the nutrient factors and the content of Chla in the Upper reaches.The dominant microbial taxa were mostly correlated with COD,NH_(4)^(+),TP and temperature,but they responded differently to these physiochemical factors between the Upper and Mid–Lower reaches.In summary,the sedimentary microbial communities differ between the Upper and Mid–Lower reaches and respond differently to the environmental and spatial factors in the sediment of the Yellow River.
文摘Professional learning communities(PLCs)offer essential contextual support for the development of foreign language teachers in higher education.The book Building Professional Learning Communities of Foreign Language Teachers in Higher Education,co-authored by Wen et al.(2021)systematically examines the necessity,practical measures,theoretical construction,and outcomes associated with building PLCs for university foreign language teachers.Notably,it introduces a research methodology rooted in local teacher education practices with Chinese characteristics—the dialectical research paradigm(DRP).This review introduces the content of the book,evaluates its contributions to teacher development,and explores its implications for future practice and research.
基金National Key Research and Development Program of China,No.2023YFE0208100,No.2021YFC3000201Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province,No.232300420165。
文摘The Qinba Mountains are climatically and ecologically recognized as the north-south transitional zone of China.Analysis of its phenology is critical for comprehending the response of vegetation to climatic change.We retrieved the start of spring phenology(SOS)of eight forest communities from the MODIS products and adopted it as an indicator for spring phenology.Trend analysis,partial correlation analysis,and GeoDetector were employed to reveal the spatio-temporal patterns and climatic drivers of SOS.The results indicated that the SOS presented an advance trend from 2001 to 2020,with a mean rate of−0.473 d yr^(−1).The SOS of most forests correlated negatively with air temperature(TEMP)and positively with precipitation(PRE),suggesting that rising TEMP and increasing PRE in spring would forward and delay SOS,respectively.The dominant factors influencing the sensitivity of SOS to climatic variables were altitude,forest type,and latitude,while the effects of slope and aspect were relatively minor.The response of SOS to climatic factors varied significantly in space and among forest communities,partly due to the influence of altitude,slope,and aspect.
基金supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(No.LTGS24D010004)the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant(No.42307064)+2 种基金the National Students’platform for innovation and entrepreneurship training program(No.202410346054)Hangzhou“Young science and technology talent cultivation”project(No.4305F45623004)the Fundamental Research Funds for Climbing Project from Hangzhou Normal University(No.KYQD-2023-217).
文摘Numerous studies have examined the impact ofwater quality degradation on bacterial community structure,yet insights into its effects on the bacterial ecological networks remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the diversity,composition,assembly patterns,ecological networks,and environmental determinants of bacterial communities across 20 ponds to understand the impact of water quality degradation.Our findings revealed that water quality degradation significantly reduces the α-diversity of bacterial communities in water samples,while sediment samples remain unaffected.Additionally,water quality deterioration increases the complexity of bacterial networks in water samples but reduces it in sediment samples.These shifts in bacterial communities were primarily governed by deterministic processes,with heterogeneous selection being particularly influential.Through redundancy analysis(RDA),multiple regression on matrices(MRM),and Mantel tests,we identified dissolved oxygen(DO),ammonium nitrogen(NH_(4)^(+)-N),and C/N ratio as key factors affecting the composition and network complexity of bacterial communities in both water and sediment.Overall,this study contributes a novel perspective on the effect ofwater quality deterioration on microbial ecosystems and provides valuable insights for improving ecological evaluations and biomonitoring practices related to water quality management.
基金supported by the Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation of Major Basic Research Program (No.ZR2020ZD34)the Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.42230706)+3 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.42307164)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos.2023TQ0191 and 2023M732060)the Shandong Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.SDBX2023041)and the Qingdao Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.QDBSH20230202052).
文摘Arsenic(As)methylation in soils affects the environmental behavior of As,excessive accumulation of dimethylarsenate(DMA)in rice plants leads to straighthead disease and a serious drop in crop yield.Understanding the mobility and transformation of methylated arsenic in redox-changing paddy fields is crucial for food security.Here,soils including unarsenic contaminated(N-As),low-arsenic(L-As),medium-arsenic(M-As),and high-arsenic(H-As)soils were incubated under continuous anoxic,continuous oxic,and consecutive anoxic/oxic treatments respectively,to profile arsenic methylating process and microbial species involved in the As cycle.Under anoxic-oxic(A-O)treatment,methylated arsenic was significantly increased once oxygen was introduced into the incubation system.The methylated arsenic concentrations were up to 2-24 times higher than those in anoxic(A),oxic(O),and oxic-anoxic(O-A)treatments,under which arsenic was methylated slightly and then decreased in all four As concentration soils.In fact,the most plentiful arsenite S-adenosylmethionine methyltransferase genes(arsM)contributed to the increase in As methylation.Proteobacteria(40.8%-62.4%),Firmicutes(3.5%-15.7%),and Desulfobacterota(5.3%-13.3%)were the major microorganisms related to this process.These microbial increasedmarkedly and played more important roles after oxygen was introduced,indicating that they were potential keystone microbial groups for As methylation in the alternating anoxic(flooding)and oxic(drainage)environment.The novel findings provided newinsights into the reoxidation-driven arsenic methylation processes and the model could be used for further risk estimation in periodically flooded paddy fields.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2022YFC2807500)Laoshan Laboratory(No.LSKJ202203201)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.42206147,42120104006 and 42176111)the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province(Nos.ZR2022QD046,ZR2021QD051).
文摘Ulva prolifera green tides are becoming aworldwide environmental problem,especially in the Yellow Sea,China.However,the effects of the occurrence of U.prolifera green tides on the community organization and stability of surrounding microbiomes have still not been de-termined.Here,the prokaryotic microbial community network stability and assembly char-acteristics were systematically analyzed and compared between the green tide and non-green tide periods.U.prolifera blooms weaken the community complexity and robustness of surrounding microbiomes,increasing fragmentation and decreasing diversity.Bacteria and archaea exhibited distinct community distributions and assembly patterns under the influ-ence of green tides,and bacterial communities were more sensitive to outbreaks of green tides.The bacterial communities exhibited a greater niche breadth and a lower phyloge-netic distance during the occurrence of U.prolifera green tides compared to those during the non-green tide period while archaeal communities remained unchanged,suggesting that the bacterial communities underwent stronger homogeneous selection and more sensitive to green tide blooms than the archaeal communities.Piecewise structural equation model analysis revealed that the different responses of major prokaryotic microbial groups,such as Cyanobacteria,to environmental variables during green tides,were influenced by the variations in pH and nitrate during green tides and correlated with the salinity gradient during the non-green tide period.This study elucidates the response of the adaptability,associations,and stability of surrounding microbiomes to outbreaks of U.prolifera green tides.
基金supported by the Science and Technology Programs of Department of Natural Resources of Zhejiang Province,China(No.2020006)the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(No.LGF22D030001)the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang Province,China(No.2021C04020)。
文摘Cadmium(Cd)contamination in soil can lead to food chain accumulation and greatly impacts on human health.Bioremediation has gained more and more attention due to its environment-friendly,high efficiency and low-cost.In this work,we studied the impact of phosphate solubilizing bacterial agent(PSBA)on Cd bioavailability,microbial communities in soil and Cd accumulation in lettuce plants with pot experiment and field trial.Results of pot experiment showed that PSBA could decrease the bioavailability of Cd(Cd-acid extractable from 3.30 to 2.34mg/kg,Cd-reducible from 1.94 to 1.56 mg/kg),promote lettuce plants growth(increased by 33.85%height and by 33.65%fresh weight)and reduce the accumulation of Cd(from 5.85 to 3.73 mg/kg)in lettuce plants.High-throughput sequencing identified that PSBA could change the composition and structure of the soil microbial communities.The relative abundances of the three ecologically beneficial bacterial families of Pseudomonadaceae,Burkholderiaceae,and Enterobacteriaceae increased from 2.29%to 5.13%,0.56%to 5.24%,and 1.87%to 16.93%,respectively.And the former two were positively correlated with redox potential(Eh)(R^(2)=0.474,p<0.05,R^(2)=0.590,p<0.01,respectively).The bacterial networks were more complex in PSBA treatment,reflecting through more links(from 1893 to 2185)and a higher average degree(from 38.242 to 45.052)and density(from 0.390 to 0.469).Results of field trial demonstrated that PSBA could also decrease Cd content in lettuce plants and microbial composition in soil.This study indicated that PSBA could be served as an alternative material in bioremediation of Cd contamination in soil.
文摘The authors regret that an error occurred during the preparation of their article:One of the official databases,which was used for functional trait collections,contained an incorrect term–'chametophytes'–for the life form category'chamaephytes'.Unfortunately,this incorrect term was used throughout the article following the nomenclature of this official database:in one instance in the main text,in Fig.3 and its caption,in Fig.5,and in two instances in the supplementary material.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.32471608)the Open Project of Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology,CAS(No.kf2020002)Yunnan Collaborative Innovation Center for Plateau Lake Ecology and Environmental Health.
文摘Elucidating the mechanisms underlying community assembly remains a central question in community ecology,especially in aquatic ecosystems disrupted by human activities.Understanding the causes and consequences of community responses to changing environment is essential for revealing the ecological effects of anthropogenic disturbances and proposing practical strategies for ecological restoration.While stochastic dispersal and species sorting are known to influence local biological communities,most studies have focused on horizontal dispersal,often neglecting the vertical exchange of organisms between planktonic and sedimentary communities when studying stochastic dispersal.We used a highly disturbed urban river in Beijing as a model system to investigate the relative roles of stochastic dispersal versus species sorting driven by local pollution,as well as two components of stochastic dispersal,vertical exchange and horizontal dispersal,in structuring local bacterial communities.Our integrated analyses of planktonic and sedimentary bacterial communities revealed that,despite different spatial patterns along the river,both types of bacterial communities were primarily shaped by stochastic dispersal processes rather than species sorting influenced by the environmental gradient.Notably,in addition to the effect of horizontal dispersal along the river,the vertical exchange between planktonic and sedimentary bacterial communities significantly contributed to the formation of local communities.These findings suggest that both vertical exchange and horizontal dispersal should be considered when assessing the role of stochastic dispersal in shaping local community structure in microbial communities.
文摘Home gardens serve as a crucial adaptation strategy for tribal communities in Keonjhar district,Odisha,enhancing food security,income generation,and climate resilience.This study examines the role of home gardens in sustaining tribal livelihoods while addressing challenges such as climate variability,soil degradation,and market constraints.Adopting a mixed-methods approach,it integrates the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework(SLF)and socio-ecological resilience theory.Data from 120 tribal households across four villages in Banspal block were collected through structured interviews and focus group discussions.A key innovation lies in integrating indigenous knowledge systems with the Problem Facing Index(PFI)methodology to generate quantified,community-driven insights on climate adaptation barriers.Findings reveal that home gardens contribute around ₹10,000 per season to household income,reducing market dependency by over 70% during crises such as the COVID-19 lockdown.Over 75% of households face high to medium challenges due to climate variability(PFI=252),soil degradation(PFI=251),and wildlife intrusions(PFI=250).Other notable constraints include pests(75%)and poor market access(61.7%).Although 82.5% reported no issue with agricultural inputs,water scarcity remains a seasonal concern for 23%.Despite constraints,home gardens were found to enhance all five SLF capitals:natural,human,social,financial,and physical.The study recommends contextsensitive interventions,including seed distribution,organic inputs,weather-based advisories,and strengthened institutional support.It highlights the potential for scaling home garden models across other marginalized agroecological regions in India and Asia,aligning them with national rural development and climate adaptation programs.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province(23JRRM0752,22JR5RA345,21JR1RM333)the Project of Science and Technology Specialist in Gansu Province(24CXGM002)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31860148)the Research Fund Project for PhD of Longdong University(XYBYZK2208)the Natural Science Foundation of Longdong University(HXZK2488).
文摘Crude oil pollution is a significant global environmental challenge.The eastern Gansu Province on the Loess Plateau,an important agricultural region containing the Changqing Oilfield,is facing increasing crude oil contamination.Understanding how microbial communities respond to varying pollution levels is critical for developing effective bioremediation strategies.This study examined how different concentrations of crude oil affect soil properties and microbial communities in Qingyang City,eastern Gansu Province,China by comparing lightly polluted(1895.84-2696.54 mg/kg total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH)),heavily polluted(4964.25-7153.61 mg/kg TPH),and uncontaminated(CK)soils.Results revealed that petroleum contamination significantly increased total organic carbon(TOC),pH,C:N:P ratio,and the activities of dehydrogenase(DHA)and polyphenol oxidase(PPO),while reducing total nitrogen(TN),available nitrogen(AN),total phosphorus(TP),available phosphorus(AP),available potassium(AK),soil organic matter(SOM),soil water content(SWC),the activities of urease(URE)and alkaline phosphatase(APA),and microbial alpha diversity(P<0.050).Light pollution(LP)soils demonstrated an increase in culturable microorganisms,whereas heavy pollution(HP)soils exhibited increased hydrocarbon-degrading microbes and higher expression of key functional genes,such as alkane monooxygenase(AlkB),cytochrome P450 alkane hydroxylases(P450),catechol 2,3-dioxygenase(C23O),and naphthalene dioxygenase(Nah)(P<0.050).Non-metric multidimensional scaling(NMDS)and redundancy analysis(RDA)indicated evident variations in microbial community structure across different oil contamination levels.LP soils were dominated by bacterial genera Pseudoxanthomonas and Solimonadaceae,whereas Pseudomonas,Nocardioides,and hydrocarbon-degrading genera(Marinobacter,Idiomarina,and Halomonas)were predominant in HP soils.The fungal genus Pseudallescheria exhibited the most pronounced abundance shift between LP and HP soils(P<0.050).Environmental factor analysis identified AN,SWC,TN,SOM,and alpha diversity indices(Shannon index and Chao1 index)as the key differentiators of CK soils,whereas the pollutant levels and metal content were characterized in HP soils.Hydrocarbon-degrading microbial abundance was a defining trait of HP soils.Metabolic pathway analysis revealed enhanced aromatic hydrocarbon degradation in HP soils,indicating microbial adaptation to severe contamination.These findings demonstrated that crude oil pollution suppressed soil nutrients while reshaping the structure and function of microbial communities.Pollution intensity directly affected microbial composition and degradation potential.This study offers valuable insights into microbial responses across contamination gradients and supports the development of targeted bioremediation strategies for oil-contaminated loess soils.
文摘The environmental and economic difficulties arising from climate change affect developing world rural populations with increasing intensity.However,the traditional knowledge serves as a major means for understanding climate change adaptation processes in Kogi State’s rural populace while contributing to policy frameworks and climate messaging strategies.Correspondingly,this study examines how traditional knowledge supports rural communities during climate change adaptation and it examines the performance of communication methods for weaving indigenous understanding into adaptation procedures.The study was anchored on the Indigenous Knowledge Systems(IKS)Theory according to which the knowledge of indigenous people is considered to be valid and culturally grounded and sustainable instrument of environmental adaptation.It employed surveys by obtaining data from 246 participants in nine(three each from the senatorial districts)rural communities of Kogi State.The analysis focused on 246 responses collected during this research.The finding showed that local weather predictions systems,agricultural traditions,as well as traditional soil preservation methods,are popular and applied by the rural population with high confidence rates to overcome changes in climate.These are community practices,and are still part of the local adaptation strategies.It is also revealed in the study that conventional forms of communication-storytelling,use of indigenous languages,and incorporation of traditional leaders are moderately useful in persuasion of climate adaptation,although there is little reparation of government when it comes to development of communication tactics.The respondents confirmed that it is important to combine the traditional knowledge with suitable formal policy.The study concludes that to become effective and culturally responsive,climate policies and related communication strategies should include participatory approaches of traditional knowledge systems.Its outcomes can be used significantly by policymakers,development practitioners,and climate communication professionals to establish resilient and inclusive adaptation channels in Nigeria and other related settings.
基金funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences President's International Fellowship Initiative(2024VCC0009).
文摘Climate change and human activities have led to desertification and decreased land productivity,significantly affecting human livelihoods in desert regions.Identifying suitable areas for cultivating economic and native plants based on ecological capacity,biological restoration,and risk management can be valuable tools for combating desertification.In this study,we identified suitable areas for the growth of economic and medicinal Moringa peregrina trees in desert regions of Sistan and Baluchestan Province,southern Iran,using library research and field methods.We also assessed the economic involvement of local communities in areas under different topographic conditions(namely flat area,undulating area,rolling area,moderately sloping area,and steep area)in the study area.Financial indicators such as the net present value(NPV),benefit-cost ratio(BCR),internal rate of return(IRR),and return on investment(ROI)were calculated for areas under various topographic conditions in the study area.The rolling area with results of NPV(6142.75 USD),IRR(103.38),BCR(5.38),and ROI(in the 3rd year)was the best region for investing and cultivating M.peregrina.The minimum economic level varied from 0.80 hm2 in the flat area to 21.60 hm2 in the steep area.Also,approximately 5,314,629.51 hm2 of desert lands in the study area were deemed suitable for M.peregrina cultivation,benefiting around 1,743,246 households in the study area.Cultivating M.peregrina in southern Iran can positively affect local communities and help preserve land from erosion.Our study will provide theoretical support for planting native species in other degraded desert regions to enhance ecosystem services and the well-being of indigenous populations.
