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The Mu Us dune field is one of China's four major dune fields, which are ecologically vulnerable areas of northwest semiarid land across Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia, also very sensitive to the global temperature rise and environmental changes. This paper uses data on the temperature, precipitation, and precipitable water vapor (PWV) in the Mu Us dune field and its surrounding areas to analyze and discuss the time series and spatial distribution characteristics of these three factors in this area. The results of the study show that, in recent years, the trend of temperature increase in the Mu Us dune field has been higher than the average level in China, but this trend has gradually subsided since 2000. The spatial distribution of temperature presents an obvious characteristic of gradual increase from north to south and is affected by latitude, altitude, and topography. The annual cumulative precipitation of the Mu Us dune field is lower than the average level in China. However, in recent years, the rate of the increase in precipitation in this area has been significantly higher than that of the average rate of increase in China. The eastern part of the dune field has the most precipitation, which gradually decreases to the west. The spatial distribution of precipitation is greatly affected by monsoon factors in the region and the distribution of rivers. In the research field, PWV has been rising in recent years, which is greatly related to the increase of vegetation coverage in this region. This demonstrates that the Mu Us dune field has experienced a "warmer and wetter" trend in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change in natural disasters such as droughts and floods has caused people to adopt, extend, and diffuse adaptive agricultural technologies. Meanwhile, the development of the farmland leasing market has pushed agricultural laborers to migrate from rural to urban areas, resulting in less participation in collective action. It is generally believed that no-tillage technology lessens the agricultural production risks instigated by climate change and natural disasters. However, previous literature has given little attention to this phenomenon, especially in the context of China. So, to fill this gap, the current study explores the influence of natural disaster shock and collective action on farmland transferees' no-tillage technology adoption using the data of 621 farmland transferees from Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia provinces, China. By using Heckman's two-stage and moderating-effect models, the findings initially reveal that in the sample, 249 farmland transferees adopt no-tillage technology, accounting for 40.10% of farmland transferees. The farmland area in which no-tillage technology is adopted accounts for 23.90% of the total farmland area. Natural disaster shock exerts a positive and significant influence on transferees' no-tillage technology adoption, i.e., if the intensity of natural disaster shock increases by one unit, the adoption rate and adoption degree will increase by 24.9% and 9.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, collective action also positively and significantly impacts transferees' no-tillage technology adoption. If the number of transferees participating in collective action increases by one unit, the adoption rate and degree will increase by 13.3% and 6.5%, respectively. Further, it is found that collective action positively moderates the relationship between natural disaster shock and the adoption of no-tillage technology by farmland transferees. Additionally, educational level, agricultural income, farmland area, etc., are also found to influence transferees' no-tillage technology adoption significantly. Moreover, based on gender and organizational participation differences, the findings reveal that the effects of natural disaster shock and collective action are heterogeneous. The results propose that policymakers should take countermeasures such as providing training in no-tillage skills, raising no-tillage subsidy standards, and guiding long-term farmland transference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]