State Forestry and Grassland Administration

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

ABSTRACT We investigate managers' decisions to supplement their firms' management earnings forecasts. We classify these supplementary disclosures as qualitative “soft talk” disclosures or verifiable forward‐looking statements. We find that managers provide soft talk disclosures with similar frequency for good and bad news forecasts but are more likely to supplement good news forecasts with verifiable forward‐looking statements. We examine the market response to these forecasts and find that bad news earnings forecasts are always informative but that good news forecasts are informative only when supplemented by verifiable forward‐looking statements, supporting our argument that these statements bolster the credibility of good news forecasts.

A half-century policy of forest exploitation and monoculture in China has led to disastrous consequences, including degradation of forests and landscapes, loss of biodiversity, unacceptable levels of soil erosion, and catastrophic flooding. A new forest policy had been adopted in China called the Natural Forest conservation Program (NFCP), which emphasizes expansion of natural forests and increasing the productivity of forest plantations. Through locally focused management strategies, biodiversity and forest resources will be sustained, and downstream regions will be better protected from flooding. This new policy is being implemented with a new combination of policy tools, including technical training and education, land management planning, mandatory conversion of marginal farmlands to forest, resettlement and retaining of forest dwellers, share in private ownership, and expanded research. These policy tools may have wider relevance for other countries, particularly developing countries.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between cesarean delivery and previa and abruption in subsequent pregnancies. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of first 2 (n = 156,475) and first 3 (n = 31,102) consecutive singleton pregnancies using the 1989-1997 Missouri longitudinally linked data were performed. Relative risk (RR) was used to quantify the associations between cesarean delivery and risks of previa and abruption in subsequent pregnancies, after adjusting for several confounders. RESULTS: Rates of previa and abruption were 4.4 (n = 694) and 7.9 (n = 1,243) per 1,000 births, respectively. The pregnancy after a cesarean delivery was associated with increased risk of previa (0.63%) compared with a vaginal delivery (0.38%, RR 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-1.8). Cesarean delivery in the first and second births conferred a two-fold increased risk of previa in the third pregnancy (RR 2.0, 95% CI 1.3-3.0) compared with first two vaginal deliveries. Women with a cesarean first birth were more likely to have an abruption in the second pregnancy (0.95%) compared with women who had a vaginal first birth (0.74%, RR 1.3, 95% CI 1.2-1.5). Two consecutive cesarean deliveries were associated with a 30% increased risk of abruption in the third pregnancy (RR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.8). A second pregnancy within a year after a cesarean delivery was associated with increased risks of previa (RR 1.7, 95% CI 0.9-3.1) and abruption (RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.3). CONCLUSION: A cesarean first birth is associated with increased risks of previa and abruption in the second pregnancy. There is a dose-response pattern in the risk of previa, with increasing number of prior cesarean deliveries. A short interpregnancy interval is associated with increased risks of previa and abruption. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2.

Abstract Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system 1 . Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests 2–5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced 6 and satellite-derived approaches 2,7,8 to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151–363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139 Gt C) of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87 Gt C) of potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea 2,3,9 that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.

Hornworts, liverworts and mosses are three early diverging clades of land plants, and together comprise the bryophytes. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of the hornwort Anthoceros angustus. Phylogenomic inferences confirm the monophyly of bryophytes, with hornworts sister to liverworts and mosses. The simple morphology of hornworts correlates with low genetic redundancy in plant body plan, while the basic transcriptional regulation toolkit for plant development has already been established in this early land plant lineage. Although the Anthoceros genome is small and characterized by minimal redundancy, expansions are observed in gene families related to RNA editing, UV protection and desiccation tolerance. The genome of A. angustus bears the signatures of horizontally transferred genes from bacteria and fungi, in particular of genes operating in stress-response and metabolic pathways. Our study provides insight into the unique features of hornworts and their molecular adaptations to live on land.

Agriculture is largely dependent on climate and is highly vulnerable to climate change. The global mean surface temperatures are increasing due to global climate change. Temperature beyond the physiological optimum for growth induces heat stress in plants causing detrimental and irreversible damage to plant development, growth, as well as productivity. Plants have evolved adaptive mechanisms in response to heat stress. The classical plant hormones, such as auxin, abscisic acid (ABA), brassinosteroids (BRs), cytokinin (CK), salicylic acid (SA), jasmonate (JA), and ethylene (ET), integrate environmental stimuli and endogenous signals to regulate plant defensive response to various abiotic stresses, including heat. Exogenous applications of those hormones prior or parallel to heat stress render plants more thermotolerant. In this review, we summarized the recent progress and current understanding of the roles of those phytohormones in defending plants against heat stress and the underlying signal transduction pathways. We also discussed the implication of the basic knowledge of hormone-regulated plant heat responsive mechanism to develop heat-resilient plants as an effective and efficient way to cope with global warming.

Vegetation Dynamics and Food Security against the Background of Ecological Restoration in Hubei Province, China,

The use of microbes to change the concentration of heavy metals in soil and improve the ability of plants to deal with elevated metals concentrations has significant economic and ecological benefits. This paper reviews the origins and toxic effects of heavy metal pollution in soil, and describes the heavy metal accumulation mechanisms of microbes, and compares their different bioconcentration abilities. Biosorption, which depends on the special structure of the cell wall, is found to be the primary mechanism. Furthermore, Escherichia coli are found to adsorb more heavy metals than other species. Factors influencing microbial treatment of wastewater and soil containing heavy metals include temperature, pH, and different substrates. Finally, problems in the application of microbial treatment of heavy metal contamination are considered, and possible directions for future research are discussed.

Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world's temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resistance strategies of Northern Hemisphere woody species to infer trees' adaptations for minimizing frost damage to their leaves and to forecast forest vulnerability under the ongoing changes in frost frequencies. Trait values on leaf-out and leaf-freezing resistance come from up to 1,500 temperate and boreal woody species cultivated in common gardens. We find that areas in which LSFs are common, such as eastern North America, harbor tree species with cautious (late-leafing) leaf-out strategies. Areas in which LSFs used to be unlikely, such as broad-leaved forests and shrublands in Europe and Asia, instead harbor opportunistic tree species (quickly reacting to warming air temperatures). LSFs in the latter regions are currently increasing, and given species' innate resistance strategies, we estimate that ∼35% of the European and ∼26% of the Asian temperate forest area, but only ∼10% of the North American, will experience increasing late-frost damage in the future. Our findings reveal region-specific changes in the spring-frost risk that can inform decision-making in land management, forestry, agriculture, and insurance policy.

). Heat shock factors (HSFs) have well-documented functions in stress responses, but their roles in flavonoid synthesis and the flavonoid-mediated drought response mechanism remain elusive. In this study, we demonstrated that a drought-responsive HSF, designated MdHSFA8a, promotes the accumulation of flavonoids, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, and plant survival under drought conditions. A chaperone, HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN90 (HSP90), interacted with MdHSFA8a to inhibit its binding activity and transcriptional activation. However, under drought stress, the MdHSP90-MdHSFA8a complex dissociated and the released MdHSFA8a further interacted with the APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR family transcription factor RELATED TO AP2.12 to activate downstream gene activity. In addition, we demonstrated that MdHSFA8a participates in abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure and promotes the expression of abscisic acid signaling-related genes. Collectively, these findings provide insight into the mechanism by which stress-inducible MdHSFA8a modulates flavonoid synthesis to regulate drought tolerance.

As a new textile fiber produced from Neosinocalamus affinis, the structures of the bamboo fiber were studied thoroughly in this research. Using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) (using a Micro-FTIR Spectrometer), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we investigate the chemical composition, crystalline structure, molecular and morphology structure, respectively. Results show that the chemical composition of bamboo fiber is the same as all bast fibers, that is, cellulose constitutes the majority and lignin needs to be reduced further for textile applications. The bamboo fiber belongs to cellulose I crystalline structure as flax, cotton and ramie, while has a small molecular mass and a low degree of polymerization. The cross section of the single bamboo fiber is round with small lumen. It can be predicted that bamboo fiber has high breaking strength, but low elongation and has good water absorption properties. The structural characteristics of the bamboo fiber are different from those of other textile plant fibers.

Conductive polymer composites (CPCs) have attracted intensive attention for several decades because they can endow the materials with not only good processability but also various functionalities except the electrical conductivity. It is known that the electrical resistance of the CPCs is dominated by the conductive networks in the polymer matrix. Therefore, tiny change of the conductive networks can lead to remarkable changes in the output electrical signal of the CPCs. Utilizing this stimulus-response behavior of conductive networks to the environment conditions, CPCs can be used to design sensitive sensors to detect or monitor the environment conditions, such as the strain/stress, pressure, temperature, solvent or vapor. This review systematically outlines the preparation, microstructures, properties, and the stimulus-response mechanisms to the environment conditions of the CPCs as well as their applications in various sensitive sensors, including strain sensors, pressure sensors, liquid sensors, vapor sensors, and temperature sensors. Finally, the open question and future challenge of utilizing the stimulus-response behavior of CPCs to design versatile sensors are discussed.

Ability to directly sequence DNA from the environment permanently changed microbial ecology. Here, we review the new insights to microbial life gleaned from the applications of metagenomics, as well as the extensive set of analytical tools that facilitate exploration of diversity and function of complex microbial communities. While metagenomics is shaping our understanding of microbial functions in ecosystems via gene-centric and genome-centric methods, annotating functions, metagenome assembly and binning in heterogeneous samples remains challenging. Development of new analysis and sequencing platforms generating high-throughput long-read sequences and functional screening opportunities will aid in harnessing metagenomes to increase our understanding of microbial taxonomy, function, ecology, and evolution in the environment.

We have surveyed avian influenza virus (AIV) genomes from live poultry markets within China since 2014. Here we present a total of 16,091 samples that were collected from May 2016 to February 2019 in 23 provinces and municipalities in China. We identify 2048 AIV-positive samples and perform next generation sequencing. AIV-positive rates (12.73%) from samples had decreased substantially since 2016, compared to that during 2014-2016 (26.90%). Additionally, H9N2 has replaced H5N6 and H7N9 as the dominant AIV subtype in both chickens and ducks. Notably, novel reassortants and variants continually emerged and disseminated in avian populations, including H7N3, H9N9, H9N6 and H5N6 variants. Importantly, almost all of the H9 AIVs and many H7N9 and H6N2 strains prefer human-type receptors, posing an increased risk for human infections. In summary, our nation-wide surveillance highlights substantial changes in the circulation of AIVs since 2016, which greatly impacts the prevention and control of AIVs in China and worldwide.

Although the effects of fertilization and microbiota on plant growth have been widely studied, our understanding of the chemical fertilizers to alter soil chemical and microbiological properties in woody plants is still limited. The aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of long-term application of chemical fertilizers on chemical and microbiological properties of root-associated soils of walnut trees. The results show that soil organic matter (OM), pHkcl, total nitrogen (TN), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3−), and total phosphorus (TP) contents were significantly higher in non-fertilized soil than after chemical fertilization. The long-term fertilization led to excessive ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+) and available phosphorus (AP) residues in the cultivated soil, among which NH4+ resulted in soil acidification and changes in bacterial community structure, while AP reduced fungal diversity. The naturally grown walnut trees led to an enrichment in beneficial bacteria such as Burkholderia, Nitrospira, Pseudomonas, and Candidatus_Solibacter, as well as fungi, including Trichoderma, Lophiostoma, Phomopsis, Ilyonectria, Purpureocillium, Cylindrocladiella, Hyalorbilia, Chaetomium, and Trichoglossum. The presence of these bacterial and fungal genera that have been associated with nutrient mobilization and plant growth was likely related to the higher soil OM, TN, NO3−, and TP contents in the non-fertilized plots. These findings highlight that reduced chemical fertilizers and organic cultivation with beneficial microbiota could be used to improve economic efficiency and benefit the environment in sustainable agriculture.

Drought has become an important factor limiting crop yields in China. As an important greenhouse horticultural crop in China, the research of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Jinpeng No.10) is of great theoretical and practical significance. In the study, four different relative soil moisture contents (74% to 80%, 55% to 61%, 47% to 52%, and 25% to 30%) were used to induce drought stress. We investigated changes in photosynthetic gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, and other related physiological parameters in response to different relative soil moisture contents. Drought inhibited the photosynthesis of tomato significantly, as shown by a clear decline in the net photosynthetic rate. Our results indicated stomatal limitation and nonstomatal limitation were responsible for the photosynthesis reduction.

As a nature-based and cost-effective solution, forestation plays a crucial role in combating global warming, biodiversity collapse, environmental degradation, and global well-being. Although China is acknowledged as a global leader of forestation and has achieved considerable overall success in environmental improvements through mega-forestation programs, many negative effects have also emerged at local scales due to the planting of maladapted tree species. To better help achieve carbon neutrality and the new vision of an ecological civilization, China has committed to further increase forestation. However, where forestation lands and such efforts should really be located is not so well understood yet and agreed upon, especially in the face of rapid climate change. Based on an ensemble-learning machine, we predicted the spatial habitats (ecological niche) of the forest, grassland, shrubland, and desert under present and future climate conditions based on the natural climax vegetation distribution across China. We show that the potential forestation lands are mainly located in eastern China, which is east of the Hu Line (also known as the Heihe-Tengchong Line). Under future climate change, forests will shift substantially in the latitudinal, longitudinal, and elevational distribution. Potential forestation lands will increase by 33.1 million hectares through the 2070s, mainly due to the conversions of shrub and grassland to forests along the Hu Line. Our prediction map also indicates that grassland rehabilitation is the universal optimal vegetation restoration strategy in areas west of the Hu Line. This analysis is consistent with much of the observed evidence of forestation failures and recent climate-change-induced forest range shifts. Our results provide an overview and further show the importance of adaptive science-based forestation planning and forest management.

Human activities have shaped large-scale distributions of many species, driving both range contractions and expansions. Species differ naturally in range size, with small-range species concentrated in particular geographic areas and potentially deviating ecologically from widespread species. Hence, species' responses to human activities may be influenced by their geographic range sizes, but if and how this happens are poorly understood. Here, we use a comprehensive distribution database and species distribution modeling to examine if and how human activities have affected the extent to which 9,701 vascular plants fill their climatic potential ranges in China. We find that narrow-ranged species have lower range filling and widespread species have higher range filling in the human-dominated southeastern part of China, compared with their counterparts distributed in the less human-influenced northwestern part. Variations in range filling across species and space are strongly associated with indicators of human activities (human population density, human footprint, and proportion of cropland) even after controlling for alternative drivers. Importantly, narrow-ranged and widespread species show negative and positive range-filling relationships to these human indicators, respectively. Our results illustrate that floras risk biotic homogenization as a consequence of anthropogenic activities, with narrow-ranged species becoming replaced by widespread species. Because narrow-ranged species are more numerous than widespread species in nature, negative impacts of human activities will be prevalent. Our findings highlight the importance of establishing more protected areas and zones of reduced human activities to safeguard the rich flora of China.

BACKGROUND: Intensification of world trade is responsible for an increase in the number of alien species introductions. Human-mediated dispersal promotes not only introductions but also expansion of the species distribution via long-distance dispersal. Thus, understanding the role of anthropogenic pathways in the spread of invading species has become one of the most important challenges nowadays. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analysed the invasion pattern of the pinewood nematode in China based on invasion data from 1982 to 2005 and monitoring data on 7 locations over 15 years. Short distance spread mediated by long-horned beetles was estimated at 7.5 km per year. Infested sites located further away represented more than 90% of observations and the mean long distance spread was estimated at 111-339 km. Railways, river ports, and lakes had significant effects on the spread pattern. Human population density levels explained 87% of the variation in the invasion probability (P<0.05). Since 2001, the number of new records of the nematode was multiplied by a factor of 5 and the spread distance by a factor of 2. We combined a diffusion model to describe the short distance spread with a stochastic, individual based model to describe the long distance jumps. This combined model generated an error of only 13% when used to predict the presence of the nematode. Under two climate scenarios (stable climate or moderate warming), projections of the invasion probability suggest that this pest could expand its distribution 40-55% by 2025. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides evidence that human-induced dispersal plays a fundamental role in the spread of the pinewood nematode, and appropriate control measures should be taken to stop or slow its expansion. This model can be applied to Europe, where the nematode had been introduced later, and is currently expanding its distribution. Similar models could also be derived for other species that could be accidentally transported by humans.