Alpine Ecosystems of Northwest Yunnan, China： an Initial Assessment for Conservation

Implementing conservation actions on-the-ground is not a straightforward process,especially when faced with high scientific uncertainty due to limited available information. This is especially acute in regions of the world that harbor many unique species that have not been well studied,such as the alpine zone of the Hengduan Mountains of Northwest Yunnan (NWY),a global biodiversity hotspot and site of The Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project. We conducted a quantitative,but rapid regional-level assessment of the alpine flora across NWY to provide a broad-based understanding of local and regional patterns of the alpine flora,the first large-scale analysis of alpine biodiversity patterns in this region. Multivariate analyses were used to classify the major plant community types and link community patterns to habitat variables. Our analysis indicated that most species had small distributions and/or small population sizes. Strong patterns emerged with higher diversity in the more northern mountains,but beta diversity was high,averaging only 10% among sites. The ordinations indicated that elevation and geographic location were the dominant environ-mental gradients underlying the differences in the species composition among communities. The high beta diversity across the alpine of these mountains implies that conservation strategies ultimately will require the protection of large numbers of species over a large geographical area. However,prioritiza-tion should be given to areas where potential payoffs are greatest. Sites with high species richness also have a greater number of endemic species,and,by focusing efforts on these sites,conservation investments would be maximized by protecting the greatest number of unique species.     

天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川退缩地植物群落演替规律及机理研究

以空间代时间的方法, 研究了天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川退缩地植物群落的演替. 结果表明, 1号冰川退缩地现代冰期冰碛物上共出现被子植物15科50种, 以菊科、 禾本科、 石竹科和莎草科为主. 植物群落演替可明显分为4个阶段, 并且表现出菊科→石竹科→禾本科→莎草科的基本演替规律. 在时间序列上, 物种数、 物种丰富度、 物种个体数、 多样性指数和群落盖度等重要值都与演替时间呈显著正相关. 该区域内植物种的分布主要受风力种子传播驱动, 种子小而多、 易于通过风力传播、 且株型低矮抗逆性强的植物种类优先出现, 而土壤发育程度则是植物群落演替的直接决定因素.     

Late Neogene loess deposition in southern Tarim Basin: tectonic and palaeoenvironmental implications

Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau during the late Cainozoic resulted in a thick apron of molassic sediments along the northern piedmonts of the Kunlun and Altyn Mountains in the southern Tarim Basin. Early Neogene sediments are characterised by sandstone, siltstone and red mudstone, representing floodplain to distal alluvial fan environments. The Early Pliocene Artux Formation consists of medium-grained sandstone and sandy mudstone with thin layers of fine pebbly gritstone. The Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene Xiyu Formation is dominated by pebble to boulder conglomerate typical of alluvial fan debris flow deposits. Sedimentological investigation, together with grain size and chemical analyses of siltstone bands intercalated with sandstone and conglomerate in the Xiyu and Artux Formations, point to an aeolian origin, suggesting desertic conditions in the Tarim Basin by the Early Pliocene. The onset of aeolian sedimentation in the southern Tarim Basin coincided with uplift of the northern Tibetan Plateau inferred from the lithofacies change from fine-grained mudstone and sandstone to coarse clasts. Tibetan Plateau uplift resulted in the shift of sedimentary environments northwards into the southern Tarim Basin, and could well have triggered the onset of full aridity in the Taklimakan region as a whole.     

Inversion of the asymmetry factor for desert areas of China

Deserts,which have high surface albedo and wide area,are important components of the earth system.It is very important for the research of surface radiation and energy balance to understand the anisotropic scattering of desert areas.The emergence and development of multi-angle remote sensing made possible the inversion of the anisotropic scattering of desert areas at the regional or global scale.Firstly,this paper explored the accuracy of the inversion of asymmetry factor using the Hapke model and the simul...     

Chemical weathering of monsoonal eastern China: implications from major elements of topsoil

Major element compositions of 36 bulk samples and 41 clay samples, which were obtained from 47 topsoils collected in monsoonal eastern China, were investigated with conventional wet chemistry and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, respectively. Based on major element analyses, the mobility of major elements and latitudinal distributions of SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratio, chemical index of alteration (CIA), chemical index of weathering (CIW) and weathering index of Parker (WIP) were analyzed. Meanwhile, the suitability of these chemical weathering indices to topsoils in monsoonal eastern China and its controls were discussed.These investigations indicate that Na, K, Ca, Mg, and Si are relatively depleted, while Mn, P, Fe and Ti are relatively enriched in topsoils of the study area by comparison with their contents in the upper continent crust (UCC), and that alkali metal (Na, K) and alkaline earth metal (Ca, Mg) elements are generally easier to be depleted from their parent materials than other major elements during chemical weathering. The latitudinal distributions of CIA, CIW and WIP show that they are suitable to both bulk and clay samples, but SiO₂/Al₂O₃ is only suitable to clay samples, not suitable in bulk ones. All these investigations indicate a significant dependence of grain-size in major element abundance and latitudinal distributions of SiO₂/Al₂O₃, CIA, CIW and WIP, but parent rock type has little effect on them, except its impact on the latitudinal distribution of WIP in clay samples. The significant grain-size dependence probably indicates the presence of unaltered minerals in bulk samples, thus we suggest that clay samples are more suitable to investigating chemical weathering of sediments on continents than bulk samples. The trivial effect of parent rock type probably indicates a relatively uniform chemical weathering on various parent rocks. Correlation analyses indicate that climate is the dominant control of chemical weathering of topsoils in the study area, and the significant latitude effect indicated by the spatial distributions of chemical weathering indices actually reflect the climate control on chemical weathering of topsoils.Chemical weathering indices actually reflect the integrated weathering history in the study area. Besides the dominant control of climate, other factors like tectonics, parent rock, biology, landform and soil depth and age might also have some effect on the chemical weathering of topsoils in the study area, which needs further research.     

Mitigation of asphaltics deposition during CO2 flood by enhancing CO2 solvency with chemical modifiers

CO₂ injected in the reservoir of McElroy Field, TX, for a CO₂ flood was in the supercritical state. Supercritical CO₂ fluid is capable of extracting light and intermediate hydrocarbons from rocks but is unable to extract heavy hydrocarbons and asphaltics. Therefore, plugging of asphaltics in reservoir rocks and a consequent reduction in injectivity and recovery may result when CO₂ only is used in enhanced oil recovery. By adding common solvents as chemical modifiers, the flooding fluid shows marked improvement in solvency for heavy components of crudes due to its increased density and polarity. Numerous supercritical CO₂ fluid extractions of dolomite rock from the Grayburg Formation containing known amount of spiked McElroy crude oil have been carried out to evaluate extraction efficiencies of CO₂ and CO₂ with chemical modifiers at various temperatures and pressures. All experiments show that extraction efficiency increases with increasing CO₂ pressure but decreases with increasing temperature. Addition of chemical modifiers to CO₂ also shows improved extraction efficiency and reduced asphaltic deposits. Under the pressure and temperature similar to McElroy reservoir conditions; chemically modified CO₂ yielded almost 3 times as much oil extracts as those in extractions with CO₂ only. It also reduced the asphaltics content in extracted rocks to nearly one half; indicating its potential for mitigating asphaltics plugging of formation rocks     

杂交水稻株型因素的相关性及其规律

根据我国超级杂交稻育种研究的技术思路 ,以两优培九 (培矮 6 4S/931 1 )、6 5396、931 1、E32、汕优 6 3、培矮 6 4S、399等 7个株型特性不同的品种 (组合 )为材料 ,测定了 4类 2 0项株型因素并作相关分析。认为株高和叶角是超高产育种和栽培的两项最主要的株型因素。通过对生态条件和两优培九株高变化关系的分析 ,有平均株高的 1 2 .6 %是由温度引起的 ,并建立了株高的生态预测模型。通过对抽穗后顶部三叶的 8种叶角度配置的单位受光量的理论模拟计算证明 ,理想的株型应以剑叶与倒二叶距离 ( d1 2 )为 1 5cm,倒二叶与倒三叶距离 ( d2 3)为 2 5cm,叶角配置应以 4°～ 6°(剑叶 ) ,9°～ 1 1°(倒二叶 ) ,1 4°～ 1 6°(倒三 )为宜。这些结果可以为超级杂交稻株型育种提供依据。     

Starch grains from dental calculus reveal ancient plant foodstuffs at Chenqimogou site, Gansu Province

Chenqimogou site, located at the south bank of Tao River, is comprised of a large group of graves dated to ~4000 a BP. For its large scale, unique mortuary system, and abundant of typical artifacts, the site was named one of Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of 2008 in China. Many intact human skeletons have been excavated from the graves. Three teeth from two adult skeletons excavated from graves M187 and M194 were examined. Forty-eight starch grains were retrieved from dental calculus of three teeth. Six...     

A comment on ‘a note on the characteristics and possible origins of desert varnishes from Southeast Morocco’ by Drs. Smith and Whalley

This note queries the discussion of the origins of ‘desert varnishes’ (Smith and Whalley, 1988), with particular reference to manganese-rich conditions. The case for a biotic model of varnish development is proposed and illustrated as opposed to the abiotic model put forward by Smith and Whalley.     

巴丹吉林沙漠湖泊水化学空间分带性与湖泊面积的等级关系

依据Q-型系统聚类分析方法,选取巴丹吉林沙漠湖泊水化学离子为变量,将研究区划分为A、B、C三个分带（区）。同时,利用遥感影像资料提取相应湖泊的面积信息,并进行等级划分,与湖泊水化学特性作对比分析,以探究二者的关系。结果表明：位于沙漠东南边缘的A类湖泊沿东北-西南向呈带状分布,以淡水湖和微咸水湖为主,湖泊面积极小;B类湖...