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Mudstone, as a typical soft rock with wide distribution, has been endangering the slopes containing mudstone by its water-sensitivity of swelling and weakening strength when encountering water. To comprehensively understand the water-sensitivity of mudstone and reveal its influence on slope stability, we took the working slope containing water-sensitive mudstone of Shengli No.1 open-pit coal mine in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China, as an example. Mudstone samples taken from the working slope were remodeled and saturated, and then triaxial tested to obtain the effective cohesion and effective internal friction angle. The filter paper method was used to obtain the soil–water characteristic curve of unsaturated mudstone. The pore structure of mudstone samples with different water contents were analyzed using the mercury intrusion porosimetry tests combined with the fractal dimension. The total pore content of the mudstone sample with lower water content is greater than that of the mudstone sample with higher water content. The mesopores are more in the mudstone sample with lower water content, while the small pores are more in the mudstone sample with higher water content. The variation of water content will change the complexity of mudstone pore structure. The higher the water content, the simpler the mudstone pore structure and the smoother the pore surface. Numerical calculations were conducted on the stability of the working slope under different rainfall conditions. The effective saturation on the mudstone layer surface changed and the plastic strain all occurred on the mudstone steps under different rainfall conditions. The key to preventing landslide of the slope containing water-sensitive mudstone in Shengli No.1 open-pit coal mine is to control the deformation and sliding of the mudstone layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant carbon (C) input via litter decomposition is essential for forming soil organic C (SOC). Previous studies have investigated the fate of litter C through one-time litter addition, while litter input could be recurrent, e.g., gradual litter input from above-ground plant material in diverse ecosystems. This paper investigates how litter input's frequency (single vs. repeated) and amount (low vs. high) affect the SOC formation and the associated microbial community composition and activity in a controlled microcosm experiment. After incubating the 13C-labeled litter (Stipa krilovii) for 80 days with the fresh field soil collected from a semi-arid steppe in Inner Mongolia, China, we measured newly formed SOC, microbial biomass C (MBC), and microbial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) indicated by 13C-labeling. The repeated litter addition resulted in 19.92% greater and 12.45% more efficient SOC formation than the single addition. Repeated litter addition also increased C use efficiency (CUE, + 76.71%), indicating more substrate C allocated for microbial growth than respiration. It also enhanced the fungi to bacteria ratio by 47.40% (based on 13C-PLFA) and maintained relatively stable microbial assimilation of litter C (based on 13C-MBC). These findings were consistent regardless of litter amounts. Our results indicate that the uninterrupted litter input to the soil in natural ecosystems benefits SOC formation and highlights soil fungi's critical role in promoting SOC formation. This study suggests that incorporating plant C input frequency into SOC dynamic models may improve the predictions of C cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tamusu mudstone, located in Inner Mongolia, is being recognized to be the potential host formation in deep HLW disposal across China. This paper describes diverse laboratory experiments performed using the fractured Tamusu mudstone, with concern to the study of the combined mechanical and thermal effects on its hydraulic properties, as well as its self-sealing effect. A single rough fracture is generated down the sample diameter direction before the sample's installation. Considering a heating-cooling cycle, the evolution of the samples' hydraulic properties under different stress conditions has been monitored. The hydraulic conductivity is proved to be not only related to the temperature-induced water viscosity and density variation but also the change of stress state. At the same thermal conditions, the increase of confining pressure (or deviatoric stress) may weaken the flow capacity of the fractures and thus reduce the permeability. The non-coincidence for the curve of permeability versus temperature at the heating and cooling stage indicates that the permeability alterations in the fractures are irreversible. Fracture zone changes were observed by X-ray computer tomography (CT) before and after the tests. The self-sealing behavior, which may be beneficial from high confining pressure, was detected for fractured Tamusu mudstone. Morphologies of fracture surfaces were detected by the 3D scanning technique, which shows that the fracture surface roughness, due to the alteration of asperity contacts and void spaces under high stress, may take an important part of the responsibility to the change of permeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is facing the problem of depletion of natural sand and gravel resources, and a large amount of coal gangue solid waste is produced in Inner Mongolia, China, which has low utilization rate and causes ecological pollution. In order to improve the gangue in the mining infrastructure construction of a wide range of application prospects, the use of coal gangue as the coarse aggregate of pumice concrete is of great significance. Inner Mongolia is a cold region, and gangue mixed aggregate concrete (MFC) will certainly face the damage caused by freeze–thaw cycles. Therefore, design gangue by different volume replacement rate (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%) to replace pumice coarse aggregate. The results show that with the increase of gangue substitution rate, the mass loss rate, relative dynamic elastic modulus, and peak stress of MFC decrease, but the trend of peak strain increases. It is mainly attributed to the less Al2O3 and SiO2 content of gangue, which makes the MFC hydration products decrease with the increase of substitution rate and more original microcracks and pores in the specimens. In addition, the damage model of MFC was established by using Weibull statistical distribution theory and the principle of LEMAITRE equivalent effect variation assumption, and the damage evolution characteristics were explored by combining the experimental results. It can provide the theoretical basis for the application of MFC in cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, rangeland fragmentation leads to the problems of anticommons, in terms of livestock production and ecological conditions. As the countermeasure, rangeland use right transfer has been encouraged by the governments recently, which aims to integrate the fragmented rangelands by lease. Can transfer overcome the problems of anticommons? We addressed this question through a case study in Inner Mongolia, by comparing livelihoods and ecological conditions between the households with lease-in pastures and those without practicing transfer. We found that though transfer could make the livelihoods of lease-in households with larger rangeland better-off in weather good years, but worse-off in drought years; and the over grazing was intensified on the transferred pastures. We concluded that the transfer may not be able to fundamentally overcome the problems of anticommons. We argued that spatial anticommons and right anticommons are interrelated to each other, rather than two juxtaposed types as defined by anticommons scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the nitrogen (N) balance and its long-term trend is necessary for management practices because of the negative environmental effects caused by an imbalance of reactive N in grassland ecosystems. In this study, we designed a module for the IAP-N (Improving Anthropogenic Practices of managing reactive Nitrogen) model to enable it to assess the N budget of regional grasslands. The module was developed to quantify the individual components of the N inputs and outputs for grassland ecosystems using livestock and human populations, grassland area, and fossil-energy consumption data as the model inputs. In this paper, the estimation approaches for individual components of N budget, data acquisition, and parameter selection are described in detail. The model was applied to assess the N budget of Inner Mongolia in 2006 at the county scale. The simulation results show that the most important pathway of N outputs from the grassland was livestock intake. The N output from livestock intake was especially large in the middle of Inner Mongolia. Biological fixation, atmospheric deposition, and livestock excreta deposition were comparably important for the N inputs into the grassland. The N budget for Inner Mongolia grassland in 2006 was −1.7×10±0.6×10 kg. The case study for Inner Mongolia shows that the new grassland module for the IAP-N model can capture the characteristics of the N budget in a semiarid grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term monitoring of soil properties reveals site-specific ecosystem shifts in soil processes due to land use and climate changes. This paper aims to study the effects of physical landscape changes associated with grazing on soil thermal and moisture regime at the plot scale in a semiarid Leymus chinensis steppe of Inner Mongolia, China. The investigated sites were subjected to three grazing intensities: ungrazed since 1979 (UG79), moderately grazed only in winter time (WG), and heavily grazed (HG). At each plot, we recorded the soil moisture and temperature over a 6-year period that spanned between June 2004 and September 2009 and experienced a large range in precipitation (162 to 362 mm). Based on these monitoring data, we divided a year into four hydric periods: (1) growing period (late April to August); (2) transitional period from summer to winter (September-October); (3) winter time (November-first March); and (4) transitional period from winter to summer (March-April). In general, soil moisture in grazed sites was lower than in the ungrazed site, particularly for the 30-50 cm soil layer. Seasonal fluctuation of the soil moisture, due to variable precipitation and atmospheric demands, was most significant in the topsoil (0-10 cm) and was less pronounced in deeper soil. Regardless of hydric seasons, soil moisture was significantly influenced by grazing intensity, whereas soil temperature was slightly influenced. With increasing grazing intensity, soil water storage decreased remarkably. Consequently, grazing reduced plant available water and therefore grassland productivity, which are linked to a great extent with the trampling-induced soil structure change and soil moisture regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ephedra sinica Stapf (commonly, Chinese ephedra) grows mainly in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and other regions of northern China. The stems of Chinese ephedra have been called the world's oldest medicine; other uses remain to be reported. Among the Mongolian people, in addition to medical applications, the fleshy bracts of the seed cones (or ‘fruit’) are traditionally used as food, fresh or dried, in several ways; for example, the fruit is used as a refined sugar, a cheese condiment, and a tea substitute. In this paper, we analyze the fruit's nutritional components: moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, carbohydrate, ash, pectin, vitamins, fatty acids, mineral elements, and amino acids. Ethnobotanical and nutritional component information may indicate that the plant has potential for development as a special food plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding use of resettlement as a tool for addressing environmental and poverty-related concerns in China calls for further research into its impacts on local populations. Our knowledge of the effects of such resettlement is very limited, particularly in relation to its social impacts. This paper examines the impoverishment risk of social disarticulation as it is experienced by resettlers in an Inner Mongolian environmental resettlement village—Wan Sheng village. We argue that social disarticulation as a risk of resettlement is by no means an inevitable downward spiral towards social oblivion and anomie. Resettlers, in this case at least, have recreated a living, functioning community that provides many aspects of support for its inhabitants. This is in spite of unfavourable construction and increased economic deprivation. It is the adaptive abilities of these resettlers that come to the fore in Wan Sheng, suggesting aspects of rearticulation and cohesion, and not simply disarticulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparison of structure and pattern of the soil seed bank was made between active and stabilized sand dunes in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. The objective of this paper was to determine the significance of seed bank in vegetation restoration of sand dunes. The results showed that (1) average seed density decreased from stabilized sand dune to interdune lowland of stabilized sand dune, to interdune lowland of active sand dune, and to active sand dune; (2) horizontally, along the transect from interdune lowland to ecotone and to sand dune top, a ‘V’ shaped pattern was presented in the active dune system, and a reverse ‘V’ shaped pattern in the stabilized sand dune system; (3) vertically, the proportion (accounting for the total seeds) of seeds found in 0–20 mm soil profile decreased from stabilized sand dune to interdune lowland of stabilized sand dune, to interdune lowland of active sand dune, and to active sand dune. The same order was also found in 20–50 mm and 50–100 mm soil profiles; (4) the Sokal and Sneath similarity indices in the species-composition between soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation were ranked as: the stabilized sand dune (24%) > the interdune lowland of active sand dune (21%) > the interdune lowland of stabilized sand dune (18%) > the active sand dune (5%); and (5) vegetation restoration of active sand dunes depends on the dispersal of seeds from nearby plant communities on the interdune lowlands. Much effort must be made to preserve the lowlands, as lowlands are the most important seed reservoir in the active sand dune field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic development in the aftermath of the Chinese post-1978 reforms has resulted in a shrinking of grain grown area in the southern and eastern regions of the country which in turn is believed to have put the marginal northern regions under increased pressure. This paper examines key indicators of agricultural performance as well as cultivated land area development of the pre- and post-1978 reform periods focusing on the agro-pastoral Tongliao City Prefecture, eastern Inner Mongolia. The results are related to the village level development through a case study as well as to the provincial level. Average annual grain per capita production increased from about 400 kg in the late 1970s to more then 1000 kg in the late 1990s. This was achieved through a combination of intensification and reclamation of cropland, with the latter restricted to pastoral classified counties. Production variability, in particular for the low producing counties, has also increased possibly as an effect of the substitution of traditional mixed pattern of crops with HYV monocultures. Average living standards have improved but have been accompanied by widening income gaps. Poor farmers' livelihoods continue to be insecure, particularly during dry years. Concern is raised regarding the sustainability of the rapid agricultural development; an increased use of costly fertilisers constrains poorer farmer's economy and may lead to deteriorating water quality while increasing irrigation depletes water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although remote sensing techniques have become important methodologies in geographical studies, their quantitative tradition and empirical strength have discouraged their use in ethnographically based research of cultural landscapes. Using Uxin Ju of Inner Mongolia in China as a case study, this paper, adopting the approach of "mixed methods," explores the integration of remote sensing techniques with ethnographic research in the study of cultural landscapes. In particular, it examines how remote sensing techniques, combined with ethnographic methods, can contribute to the study of cultural change and human perceptions as they relate to the landscape. Remote sensing analysis offers additional stories about changes in the landscape-stories not told by interviewees, or stories that supplement the account of interviewees. These stories provide important insights into cultural change and culture-landscape relationships. Through this case study, I argue that remote sensing techniques can greatly enhance ethnographic research in the study of cultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mudstone characterized by typical structures and mineral assemblages in the Tamusu Mudstone pre-selected area, in Inner Mongolia, Northwest China, has been selected as a potential host rock for China's high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repository purpose. Based on indications of petrological and geochemical characteristics, hydrothermal sedimentary geneses of host rock are well discussed from the perspectives of hydrothermal sedimentary structures, sedimentary environments, and the hydrothermal sedimentary model. The results show that host rocks have the characteristics of low-temperature "white smoke" hydrothermal sedimentary rocks. The rocks developed in a dry, anaerobic and reducing saline lake environment with transient oxidation and dry–wet evolution. The 100–120 Ma tectonic activity in the Altun fault may have been the main factor controlling the process of hydrothermal exhalative, which provided the migration pathway for water–rock reactions and contributed to the formation of typical structures and mineral assemblages. The hydrothermal sedimentary rock is a new kind of argillaceous rock that serves as a potential host rock, and will provide new insights into suitability evaluations of mudstone properties to promote the site screening of the Tamusu Mudstone pre-selected area for China's HLW disposal purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate system anomalies and intensified human disturbances have different impacts on the hydrological cycle at different scales, chiefly leading to prominent spatio-temporal heterogeneities in precipitation distributions. It is of great significance to accurately detect the non-stationary changes of precipitation. Focusing on the Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River basin which is considered as the key ecological barrier in northern China, the best probabilistic model with time-varying moments was established to fit the wet-season precipitation series from 1988 to 2017 for 38 meteorological stations. Considering four three-parameter distributions, time was used as covariate to describe the linear or nonlinear change of each parameter, and model optimization was performed by Akaike Information Criterion. Combined with conventional methods including the Trend-Free Pre-Whitening Mann–Kendall trend test and Sen's slope estimator, the non-stationary behaviors of wet-season precipitation variability were quantitatively captured. Results showed that the generalized gamma distribution performed best in fitting the wet-season precipitation series in the study area, characterized with high skewness and heavy tails. The non-stationary characteristics of the wet-season precipitation were obvious in most areas during the past 30 years, especially in the central region. The non-stationarities of wet-season precipitation manifested in a downward trend in the mean value, an increase in dispersion degree and significant changes in distribution shape with time, consequently adding the uncertainty to wet-season precipitation process and raising the risk of extreme conditions. The findings of this study provide scientific references to water resources management, drought resistance, and disaster reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the differences in geomorphology, climate, hydrology, and human activities in various regions, lake chemometrics may also vary. However, the spatial distribution of lake chemistry and the factors affecting such pattern are still unclear. Here, we collected data for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus from published literature and databases in 224 lakes and calculated the trophic status index to represent the nutrient classification state of lakes. We found that lakes with high carbon concentrations were located in the Tibet-Qinghai Limnetic Region of western China, whereas lakes with high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were located in the Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang Limnetic Region and Northeast Limnetic Region of northern China. Areas with larger cropland and urban residential land (such as the junction of the three lake regions, i.e., the Northeast Limnetic Region, East Limnetic Region, and Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang Limnetic Region) tended to have lakes with high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. Our analysis suggested that spatial distribution of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations reflect the effect of climate, geomorphology, and land use in each lake region and nationwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global surface temperature is increasing significantly under climate change with increasingly uneven distribution of precipitation, which has been making an important impact on the sustainable development of the dryland agriculture in semi-arid regions. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) has the largest area ratio of semi-arid regions in China, and spring wheat is one of its major grain crops, and the negative impacts of climate change pose a serious threat to its production. In order to reduce this threat, we assessed the impact thresholds and risks posed by the main climatic factors to spring-wheat production, and put forward quantitative adaptive countermeasures. The results showed that, from 1961 to 2012, the appropriate impact thresholds of average temperature, precipitation, fertilization level, and water supply level were 15.6 °C, 333 mm, 319.5 kg/ha, and 743.7 mm, respectively. Compared with the average values in 1996–2012, the maximum fertilization level and water supply level could be increased by 162.2 kg/ha and 406.5 mm, respectively, to improve the adaptive yield of spring wheat. The risks of adverse impacts of temperature rise, precipitation decrease, and their combined effect on spring-wheat production were found to be 11.1%, 9.3%, and 10.3%, respectively. The whole IMAR showed a high risk of adverse impacts of temperature rise and the combined action of temperature rise and precipitation decrease on spring-wheat production. In particular, the spring-wheat production in the northeastern, eastern, and central areas were found to be at the highest risk to the impacts of climate change. Based on the determined appropriate thresholds of fertilization level and water supply level, it was determined that in the northeastern area, the maximum fertilization level and water supply level could be increased by 229.9 kg/ha and 441.4 mm, respectively, to increase the adaptive yield of spring wheat. In the eastern area, the two factors could be increased by 142.2 kg/ha and 464.3 mm, respectively. In the central area, they could be increased by 242.2 kg/ha and 513.7 mm, respectively. In the southwestern area, they could be increased by 41.4 kg/ha and 201.7 mm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the serious shortage of water resources and the development of water-saving agriculture, the application of drip irrigation has been paid more and more attention. But there was lack of oat planting methods suitable for drip irrigation, currently. In order to establish an efficient oat planting method for drip irrigation, a study was conducted at Agriculture and Forestry Sciences of Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia during the season (2019–2020) to evaluate the effect of strip cropping with reducing row spacing and super absorbent polymer on the yield and water use efficiency of oat. To conduct the field trials, a split plot system in three replications was established. Three planting patterns were in the main plots, including conventional cropping with 20 cm equal row spacing (PA), strip cropping with the 15 cm row spacing (PB) and strip cropping with the 10 cm row spacing (PC), and two super absorbent polymer levels were in the subplots, including 22.5 kg ha−2 (Y) and 0 (N). The results showed that, compared with PA, PB and PC both decreased the irrigation volumes by 4.5–18.4 mm, and the irrigation volumes of PB was lower than that of PC. When super absorbent polymers were applied, compared with PA, PB significantly increased grain yield and above-ground biomass, but PC had the opposite effects. The grain yield and above-ground biomass of PB significantly increased by 16.65% and 7.31% on average in two years, respectively. And the increasing of grain yield was attributed by the significant increasing of pike number and kernel number per spike. But when super absorbent polymers were not applied, PB had no significant effects on grain yield and above-ground biomass. PB also had the significant effects on regulating water use of oats weather or not super absorbent polymers were applied, it significantly increased the precipitation ratio by 2.64% (PBY) and 2.13% (PBN) and decreased irrigation ration by 3.32% (PBY) and 5.28% (PBN) on average in two years. Although PB and PC both decreased the total evapotranspiration, but PB increased WUE and PC deceased WUE. The WUE of PB increased by 19.70% (PBY) and 9.87% (PBN) on average in two years. Also PB had the highest economic benefits in all treatments. In conclusion, a drip irrigation oat planting pattern was proposed, which the row spacing is 15 cm, adjusted the equal row spacing planting to 8-row strip planting, with a belt spacing of 30 cm, combined with the application of 22.5 kg ha−2 applying super absorbent polymers. And this oat planting pattern is a viable strategy to improve oat productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aridification of Central Asia since the Eocene has widespread evidence, but climate-controlled environmental reorganizations during the Oligocene remain ambiguous. We employed environmental magnetic, mineralogical and geochemical methods on a latest Eocene to late Oligocene terrestrial sequence in Inner Mongolia, China, to examine how global climatic trends and regional factors influenced the evolution of moisture and weathering in the region. Highlighting the climatic influence, our weathering and rainfall proxy data document the drawdown of atmospheric CO2 and global cooling during the early Oligocene semi-arid phase, which culminated in the Early Oligocene Aridification Event at 31 Ma. Moreover, for the first time in the terrestrial eastern Central Asian setting, we provide geochemical and geophysical evidence for a second major Oligocene aridification event nearly synchronous to the mid-Oligocene Glacial Maximum at around 28 Ma. These aridification events were interrupted by periods of increased rainfall and weathering and can be associated with the terminations of glacial events seen in marine oxygen isotope records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation is an indicator of changes in the ecological environment and a key source of feedback on the impact of drought. In this work we selected northern China as the study area and used the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to assess the relationship between drought and vegetation dynamics at annual and seasonal scales for the period 1982–2015. The results indicated that annual drought showed a slight increase in northern China during this time, and it was mainly attributed to the intensified summer drought; the percentages of areas where significant drying, drying, wetting, and significant wetting occurred accounted for 3.30%, 53.36%, 40.39%, and 2.95%, respectively. Annual NDVI showed a highly significant (p < 0.01) upward trend in northern China, suggesting that vegetation there is greening. However, there was still a significant decrease in the NDVI trend in 13.65% of the study area, and forest accounted for the greatest area among the three land cover types studied. A positive correlation between annual SPEI and annual NDVI was found in most of northern China, and 18.66% of the study area (p < 0.05) were mainly distributed in the central-eastern part of Inner Mongolia, the central part of the Loess Plateau, and northwestern part of Xinjiang Province. Residual analysis found that the percentages of vegetation dynamics affected by human-induced degradation, human-induced improvement, and drought accounted for 13.91%, 47.91%, and 38.18%, respectively; however, 54.15% of the areas affected by drought were located in arid and semi-arid regions and that about 54.61% of those were grassland. The work could provide guidance for vegetation construction and water resource management in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The density of geological exploration boreholes is one of the main bases for blasthole charge structure design. Due to the low density of geological exploration boreholes, it is impossible to obtain the blast hole rock formations' distribution accurately. With the development and application of intelligent drilling rigs, the lithology distribution data of the blasthole can be accurately obtained, and a blasthole charge structure design method based on the lithology distribution is proposed. The blasthole lithology data collected by the intelligent drilling rig is divided into 7 categories according to the rock hardness, and the adjacent strata with similar lithology are combined and divided into two groups of soft rocks and hard rocks. According to the rock stratum grouping data of the blasthole and the unit explosive consumption of each type of lithology, the explosive amount and charge length required for the soft rock group and the hard rock group can be calculated, respectively. Finally, the blasthole charge structure is designed according to the thickness and charge position of the hard rocks. With the C++ programming language, this method is realized and applied in the Shengli Open-pit Coal Mine of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. The application results show that, compared with the traditional hole charging structure design method, this method can realize accurate segmented charging of the hole, improve the blasting effect and the degree of rock fragmentation, and reduce the blasting cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human brucellosis is caused by Brucella species and remains a major burden in both human and domesticated animal populations, especially in Inner Mongolia, China. The aims of this study were to analyze the spatiotemporal trends in human brucellosis in Inner Mongolia during 2010 to 2015, to explore the factors affecting the incidence of brucellosis. The results showed that the annual incidence was 29.68–77.67 per 100,000, and peaked from March to June. The majority of human brucellosis was male farmers and herdsmen, aged 40–59 years. The high-risk areas were mainly Xilin Gol League and Hulunbeier City. The incidence of human brucellosis in Inner Mongolia decreased during 2010 to 2015, although the middle and eastern regions were still high-risk areas. The regions with larger number of sheep and cattle, lower GDP per capita, less number of hospital beds, higher wind speed, lower mean temperature more likely to become high-risk areas of human brucellosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ring-width series was developed from Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii) in the northeastern forest area of Inner Mongolia, China. By analyzing the relationships between tree-ring data and climate records, an August–September mean maximum temperature (T89) series during 1845 and 2012 was reconstructed based on a simple linear regression equation. This reconstructed series explained 40.9% variance of the observed temperature from 1959 to 2012. The reconstructed T89 series was consistent with the historical disaster events caused by extreme climate (e.g., flood, frost disaster, and cold damage). Besides, the temperature comparisons showed that the year in which the warm months (April–September) in northeast China began to warm up has latitude differences. It started with a gradual delay from north to south, starting 1980 in the south region, after 1950 AD in the central region and after 1940 in the north region. Our study can enrich high-resolution temperature series in Northeast China and help clarify the characteristic of recent warming in northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve regional ecological inequity in carbon emissions, building a balanced ecological compensation mechanism is paramountly important. With the help of the carbon transfer mechanism, the study is designed to evaluate the ecological compensation of grain trade within urban, rural areas, and provinces in China. This current study applied the carbon footprint model of grain crops in various provinces and measures d the inter-provincial and urban–rural carbon transfer through a multi-objective optimization model. Obtained results show that the carbon footprint of crops for per-unit production of corn, wheat, and rice is higher in the southwest and northeast region than that of the northwest and southeast region, but across the regions, a net carbon sink trend was observed. The carbon footprint of wheat production in Inner Mongolia and rice in Shandong showed a net carbon emission effect and had negative externalities toward environmental protection. Carbon balance can be attained with a balance carbon payment system, but a proper carbon payment mechanism is not developed in China. Hence, concerning establishing a scientific and reasonable time-worthy carbon ecological compensation policy is urged by this current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal preparation solid waste, which is a major environmental issue for coal-producing areas in China, may be microbiologically digested and transformed into a product suitable as a soil amendment to increase soil organic matter content and prevent and enhance plant/crop growth. Coal preparation waste collected from a coal sorting plant in Inner Mongolia, China was digested in bioreactors inoculated with microbial enrichments prepared from activated sludge and cow manure. The effluent solids from the coal preparation waste bioreactors were analyzed for their suitability as organic soil amendments, which complied with China standards. Plant growth tests were conducted in sandy soil from a semi-arid region in Colorado, which was amended with the effluent solids. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and chives (Allium schoenoprasum) were used as the representative plants for the growth tests, where results indicated substantially higher yields of Kentucky bluegrass and chives for the sandy soils amended with the effluent solids when compared to a commercial organic fertilizer. The number and average length of Kentucky bluegrass shoots were 10 and 5.1 times higher, respectively, in soils amended with the effluent solids. Similarly, the number and average length of chives shoots were 10 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, in soils amended with the effluent solids. Overall, the microbial digestion of coal preparation waste for application as an organic soil amendment is a viable alternative and beneficial use of coal preparation solid waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Although halophilic archaea are rich in natural environments, their biotechnological applications are not as prevalent as those of other extremophiles, such as thermophiles and alkaliphiles. This study presents an simple method to prepare a hydrogel composite using crude cell lysate of a halophilic archaea, Halorubrum ejinoor sp. (H.e.) which was isolated from a saline lake in Inner Mongolia, China. Furthermore, formation mechanism and potential applications of the hydrogel as an adsorbing material are discussed. Results: Halorubrum ejinoor sp. (H.e.) cell lysate was firstly prepared by adding pure water onto the H.e. cell pellet, followed by a short incubation at 60 °C. The cell lysate was injected into different metal ion (or H+) solutions to obtain the hydrogel composite. It was observed that H+, Fe3+, La3+, Cu2+, and Ca2+ induced gelation of the cell lysate, while Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ did not. DNA and extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) in the H.e. cell lysate were found to be responsible for the gelation reaction. These results suggest that DNA and EPS should be crosslinked by metal ions (or H+) and form a networked structure in which the metal ion (or H+) serves as an anchor point. Potential application of the hydrogel as an adsorbing material was explored using La3+-induced H.e. hydrogel composite. The hydrogel composite can adsorb the fluoride, phosphate and DNA-binding carcinogenic agents, such as acridine orange. Conclusions: The simplicity and cost effectiveness of the preparation method might make H.e. hydrogel a promising adsorbing material. This work is expected to expand the technical applications of haloarchaea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymptotically correct simultaneous confidence bands (SCBs) are proposed in both multiplicative and additive form to compare variance functions of two samples in the nonparametric regression model based on deterministic designs. The multiplicative SCB is based on two-step estimation of ratio of the variance functions, which is as efficient, up to order n - 1 / 2 , as an infeasible estimator if the two mean functions are known a priori. The additive SCB, which is the log transform of the multiplicative SCB, is location and scale invariant in the sense that the width of SCB is free of the unknown mean and variance functions of both samples. Simulation experiments provide strong evidence that corroborates the asymptotic theory. The proposed SCBs are used to analyze several strata pressure data sets from the Bullianta Coal Mine in Erdos City, Inner Mongolia, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology employed by the ancient goldsmiths is traceable through archaeometallurgy. Using non-destructive analytical methods, namely, a 3D digital microscopy and a scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM–EDS), we investigated the manufacturing techniques and chemical composition of gold and silver artefacts recovered from Tomb 2 (M2), the richest find from Xigoupan cemetery (fourth-third century BCE) in the northern part of Jungar Banner, Inner Mongolia. The present research contributes to a better understanding of the inventive nature of precious metal working industry in early China (eighth-third century BCE). First, cultural interchange was evidenced in the metalwork examined, notably as being closely linked to techniques emerging from the Eurasian steppes. In Xigoupan M2, the ornamentation of sheet works in the Scytho-Siberian animal style was seen to be clearly influenced by the central Asian steppe goldsmithing practice, while certain cast items were typical of the Chinese tradition. Second, our analysis reveals that the gold appliqués with raised animal figures that were previously thought to be repoussé work have actually been made with double-sided carving. We consider such a new technology as one of local inventions that was inspired by methods arriving from the central Asian steppes. In addition, our analysis of elemental composition reveals that the gold artefacts found in Xigoupan M2 to be made of natural gold, while the horse harness ornament is made of pure silver. These results, combined with the study of the existing data pertaining to comparable examples, attest to the shared craftsmanship in prestige metal production across the northern Chinese states, especially with regard to the pre-imperial period Qin workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stability graph is an empirical approach to predicting stope performance based on the geometric dimensions of stopes and the geotechnical conditions of the surrounding rock mass. Stability graph is commonly used to design and estimate the stability of open-stope mines and underground openings. Most engineers calculate the rock stress factor by the stability graph method considering the maximum principal stress at the center of the critical face and the uniaxial compressive strength of the intact rock, whereas the spatial multidimensional stress state, compressive strength of the rock mass, and tensile strength of the rock mass are not taken into account. In this study, the maximum and the minimum principal stresses dominating the rock stress factor are introduced into the stability graph. The rock stress factor (A) is modified by the Mohr-Coulomb criterion with tensile cutoff. The modified stability graph method was validated by adopting Cavity Monitoring System (CMS) laser technology, and it was then successfully applied in a case study at the Alhada Lead-Zinc Mine in Inner Mongolia. Compared with Mitri's method, the proposed stability graph expands the scope of the narrow vein stope design dimensions. The modified rock stress factor in the stability graph provides a technical basis for the subsequent recovery of residual orebodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongniud Banner, as a mixed agricultural and pastoral county-level administrative region within the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, actively promotes an improved level of government services, especially the Fangguanfu Reform promoted by the central government of China. The banner government actively sought to overcome difficulties related to the foundation, technical conditions, and institutional constraints, and thus solidly promoted the Fangguanfu Reform in the county, achieving significant results in "decentralization", increased awareness of "supervision", and "service". The initial creation of the service system and the positive impact of significantly improved efficiency have enabled government services to increasingly reflect the political concept of governing for the people, effectively optimizing the environment for local development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Mudstones of Bayanhua Formation are characterized by high porosity, large content of swelling clay minerals, and weak cementation due to its late diagenesis in Wujianfang Basin, eastern Inner Mongolia, China. Mechanical properties heavily deteriorate during water absorption or dehydration, resulting in underground engineering instability. To study water absorption/dehydration and mechanical response for weakly cemented mudstones, two sets of weathering routes, namely, higher relative humidity (RHs) and lower RHs, are performed by using a self-developed weathering instrument, which can achieve environmental control and real-time weight measurement. The water migration is logged by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Finally, uniaxial compression tests are carried out on weathered samples to study their mechanical properties. The results show that dehydration occurs even under the 70% RH condition, due to their higher initial water content of more than 10%, and the dehydration content is exponential over time under the 60% RH condition. Variations of T2 spectrum reflect the water migration when the surrounding humidity changes. The maximum peak of the transverse relaxation time (T2) moves left during dehydration and shifts to the right when adsorbing water. The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) does not increase with the decreasing RH at any time, which is distinct from elasticity modulus (E). There is a critical RH at 50%, indicating that damages accumulate when the RH is lower than 50%. Tensile fracture occurs for the most types of weathered samples, and shear failure only occurs under the drying condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming China's economic growth pattern from investment-driven to consumption-driven can significantly change global CO2 emissions. This study is the first to analyse the impacts of changes in China's saving rates on global CO2 emissions both theoretically and empirically. Here, we show that the increase in the saving rates of Chinese regions has led to increments of global industrial CO2 emissions by 189 million tonnes (Mt) during 2007–2012. A 15-percentage-point decrease in the saving rate of China can lower global CO2 emissions by 186 Mt, or 0.7% of global industrial CO2 emissions. Greener consumption in China can lead to a further 14% reduction in global industrial CO2 emissions. In particular, decreasing the saving rate of Shandong has the most massive potential for global CO2 reductions, while that of Inner Mongolia has adverse effects. Removing economic frictions to allow the production system to fit China's increased consumption can facilitate global CO2 mitigation. The partial effects of saving rate changes on CO2 emissions remain unclear. Here the authors found that the increase in saving rates of China has led to increments of global industrial CO2 emissions by 189 million tonnes (Mt) during 2007-2012, while global CO2 emissions would be reduced by 186 Mt if the saving rates of China decreased by 15 percentage points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To qualify niche space and niche overlap, the current methods are based on a strict assumption of the normal distribution and restrict dependence to the linear structure between resource axes. In this study, we propose a new method for measuring the stoichiometric niche space and niche overlap based on copula theory. Our method does not require the resource axes to obey the multivariate normal distribution and only assumes that each dimension of resource availability follows a one-dimensional normal distribution. Based on the dependence structure presented by the three resource axes, an appropriate copula is selected to couple the normal assumptions and thus determine a joint distribution that fits the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus concentration data. Additional simulation studies were conducted to calculate niche space and niche overlap. We applied our method to qualify the stoichiometric niche space and niche overlap between seven grassland plants in Inner Mongolia, North China. Our results demonstrate that, except for a positive correlation, symmetrical tail correlations existed between nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, which had a significant influence on the shape of the niche space. The new method presented in our work extends types of joint distribution fitting resource axes from a multivariate normal distribution to an arbitrary joint distribution determined by copulas and normal margins, and it has the advantage of describing the complex dependence between resource axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring possible relationships between climate-induced maize yield and rainy-season precipitation under climate change is fundamental to science-based decision for food security in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR). To determine the relationship of maize yield with precipitation variables across IMAR during 1960-2012, we selected 11 precipitation indices of rainy season and divided IMAR into four sub-regions-west, middle, east, and northeast using principal component analysis and K-means clustering methods. Results show that climate-induced maize yield is more sensitive to precipitation variability in the west and middle IMAR. The most important precipitation factor that limits maize yield is moderate precipitation days in these two sub-regions. Moreover, west and middle Inner Mongolia was dominated by decreasing precipitation during the rainy season. Furthermore, the El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation cycle has the significant influence on the rainy-season precipitation in the west and middle IMAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canopy resistance substantially affects the partitioning of available energy over vegetated surfaces. This study analyzed the variability of canopy resistance and associated driving environmental factors over a desert steppe site in Inner Mongolia, China, through the use of eddy-flux and meteorological data collected from 2008 to 2010. Distinct seasonal and interannual variabilities in canopy resistance were identified within those three years, and these variabilities were controlled primarily by precipitation. Strong interannual variability was found in vapor pressure deficit (VPD), similar to that of air temperature. Based on the principal component regression method, the analysis of the relative contribution of five major environmental factors [soil-water content (SWC), leaf-area index (LAI), photosynthetically active radiation ( K), VPD, and air temperature] to canopy resistance showed that the canopy-resistance variation was most responsive to SWC (with > 35% contribution), followed by LAI, especially for water-stressed soil conditions (> 20% influence), and VPD (consistently with an influence of approximately 20%). Canopy-resistance variations did not respond to K due to the small interannual variability in K during the three years. These analyses were used to develop a new exponential function of water stress for the widely used Jarvis scheme, which substantially improved the calculation of canopy resistance and latent heat fluxes, especially for moist and wet soils, and effectively reduced the high bias in evaporation estimated by the original Jarvis scheme. This study highlighted the important control of canopy resistance on plant evaporation and growth for the investigated desert steppe site with a relatively low LAI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new genus and species, Hsiufua chaoi Zhang et Wang, is established based on a forewing from the Middle Jurassic Haifanggou Formation in Inner Mongolia, China and attributed to Campterophlebiidae, Isophlebioidea, Odonata. It is the largest odonate known in China and the fourth in the world in terms of forewing length. The maximum size (based on forewing length) of Odonata is smaller in the Permian than in the Mesozoic which is probably due to competition for prey between Odonata and Protodonata in the Permian. The reason that the maximum size of Jurassic odonates is larger than that of their extant relatives is most probably less competition and lower predation pressure from contemporary aerial vertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to the 50-year mean climatological value (1961-2010), the precipitation of middle-eastern Inner Mongolia exhibited a significant decrease during the past 10 years (2001-2010). To identify the climatic causes, a comprehensive investigation was conducted by inspecting climatic factors from this 50-year period, which appear to work together in connecting closely to the precipitation. Significant positive correlations with precipitation were found in sea level pressure (SLP) difference between the area of (30° N-20° S; 50-160° E) and the northeastern Pacific Ocean, between the Northern Atlantic and the northeastern Pacific Oceans, and sea surface temperature difference between the northeastern and northwestern Pacific in the previous year, while negative connections were found in the 500-hPa temperature difference between the Antarctic and the belt region around 60° S. During the period of 2001-2010, East Asia was prevailingly controlled by a huge high, which was regarded as one of unfavorable factors for producing rain or snow. Other factors were the enlarged 500 hPa temperature differences between the Antarctic and the zones around 60° S and the Equator, the negative SLP difference between the East Asia, northern Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Finally, the unique wind flows and associated moisture transports also played a key role in the precipitation reduction for the first decade of the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the responses of soil C mineralization to climate change is critical for evaluating soil C cycling in future climatic scenarios. Here, we took advantage of a multifactor experiment to investigate the individual and combined effects of experimental warming and increased precipitation on soil C mineralization and C and N natural abundances at two soil depths (0-10 and 10-20 cm) in a semiarid Inner Mongolian grassland since April 2005. For each soil sample, we calculated potentially mineralizable organic C ( C) from cumulative CO-C evolved as indicators for labile organic C. The experimental warming significantly decreased soil C mineralization and C at the 10-20-cm depth ( P < 0.05). Increased precipitation, however, significantly increased soil pH, NO-N content, soil C mineralization, and C at the 0-10-cm depth and moisture and NO-N content at the 10-20-cm depth (all P < 0.05), while significantly decreased exchangeable NH-N content and C natural abundances at the two depths (both P < 0.05). There were significant warming and increased precipitation interactions on soil C mineralization and C, indicating that multifactor interactions should be taken into account in future climatic scenarios. Significantly negative correlations were found between soil C mineralization, C, and C natural abundances across the treatments (both P < 0.05), implying more plant-derived C input into the soils under increased precipitation. Overall, our results showed that experimental warming and increased precipitation exerted different influences on soil C mineralization, which may have significant implications for C cycling in response to climate change in semiarid and arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a methodology for return period analysis and risk assessment of severe dust storm disaster. Meteorological observation data, soil moisture data, and remote sensing data from 30 meteorological stations in Inner Mongolia (western China) from 1985 to 2006 were used for the study. A composite index of severe dust storm disaster (Index I) based on the influence mechanisms of the main contributing factors was developed by using the analytic hierarchy process and the weighted comprehensive method, and the hazard risk curves (i.e., the transcendental probability curves of I) for the 30 stations were established using the parameter estimation method. We then analyzed the risk of the occurrence of severe dust storm under different scenarios of 5-, 10-, 20-, and 50-year return periods. The results show that the risk decreased from west to east across Inner Mongolia, and there are four severe dust storm occurrence peak value centers, including Guaizihu, Jilantai, Hailisu, and Zhurihe-Erenhot. The severity of dust storms in seven places will be intolerable in the 50-year return period scenario and in three places in the 20-year return period scenario. These results indicate that these locations should concentrate forces on disaster prevention, monitoring, and early warning. The I was developed as an easily understandable tool useful for the assessment and comparison of the relative risk of severe dust storm disasters in different areas. The risk assessment was specifically intended to support local and national government agencies in their management of severe dust storm disasters in their efforts to (1) make resource allocation decisions, (2) make high-level planning decisions, and (3) raise public awareness of severe dust storm risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xing-Meng Orogenic Belt is the eastern extension of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which marks the boundary between the North China and Siberian blocks. Key information on the collision between these two blocks and the evolution of this orogenic belt at the end of the Paleozoic are preserved in the widely distributed Paleozoic sedimentary sequences. Petrographic studies of the clastic sedimentary rocks from the Ordovician to the Permian in this region have shown that the rocks are mainly greywackes and arkosic sandstones characterized by low maturity, poor sorting and a large number of lithic fragments. Provenances of Paleozoic sandstones are mainly newly accreted crustal materials. Nd model ages range from the Neoproterozoic to the Late Mesoproterozoic. These ages are very different from those of the North China Block, but the change of ɛ( t) (from the initial ɛ value) is similar to that of igneous rocks in the Xing-Meng Orogen. This result indicates that provenances of these Paleozoic sedimentary rocks mainly arise from the Xing-Meng Orogen itself. These clastic sedimentary rocks mainly consist of inputs of juvenile accreted crustal materials and limited recycled old crusts. Their provenance is controlled by the following three end members: a felsic basement, a partially melted mafic, and a mafic end member. From the point view of lithology, these three end members must have mixed in a ratio of 53:41:5 to form the average composition of the clastic sedimentary rocks. The depositional environment began to change from an arc to an orogen during the Permian, and therefore the collision was complete before the Triassic. This interpretation is consistent with the argument that the final collision time was at the end of the Permian or beginning of the Triassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mid-eastern Inner Mongolia of China, a typical agro-pastoral transitional zone, has undergone rapid agricultural land use changes including land reclamation and cropland abandonment in past decades due to growing population and food demand, climatic variability, and land use policy such as the 'Grain for Green' Project (GFG Project). It is significant to the regional ecology and sustainability to examine the pattern and its rationality of land use change. The processes of land reclamation and cropland abandonment were accessed by using land use change dataset for four periods of 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, derived from the interpretation of Landsat TM images. And then the rationality of land reclamation and cropland abandonment was analyzed based on the habitat suitability for cultivation. The results indicated that: (1) land reclamation was the dominant form of agricultural land use change from 1990 to 2005, the total cropland area increased from 64,954.64 km in 1990 to 76,258.51 km in 2005; However, the speed of land reclamation decreased while cropland abandonment increased around 2000. The Land Reclamation Degree decreased from 1995-2000 to 2000-2005, meanwhile, Cropland Abandonment Degree increased. (2) As for the habitat suitability levels, moderately and marginally suitable levels had largest areas where cropland was widespread. Pattern of agricultural land use trended to become more rational due to the decrease of land reclamation area in low suitable levels and the increase of cropland abandonment in unsuitable area after 2000. (3) The habitat suitability-based rationality analysis of agricultural land use implicated that the GFG Project should take cultivation habitat suitability assessment into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting the influences of land management on seasonal dynamics and interannual variabilities of grassland surface reflectance is of scientific and practical importance as it can help to monitor grazing effects on the grassland ecosystem. We conducted spectral reflectance measurements at five differently grazed sites in Inner Mongolia, China, during the growing seasons of 2005 and 2006 using a portable, highly resolving spectrometer. Through analyses of the measured surface reflectance spectra and the derived visible albedo and NDVI, we found that grazing influences the reflectance spectrum shape and affects the visible albedo and NDVI seasonal pattern; visible albedo and NDVI of grazed sites are more sensitive to precipitation than that of ungrazed sites. In addition, we observed a well-defined linear relationship between total shortwave and visible (PAR) albedo, with R = 0.83 and R = 0.94 for 2005 and 2006, respectively, and between NDVI and total shortwave albedo with R = −0.92. Thus, NDVI spectrometer measurements and total shortwave albedo pyranometer measurements are interchangeable when addressing different grazing intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditions, distribution and development of vegetation in semi arid regions are highly variable. In this study we detected the temporal and spatial variability of vegetation in the Xilin river catchment from 2000 to 2008 by analysis of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data products of that period. The study is based on LAI (Leaf area index) and supported by NDVI (Normalized difference vegetation index) and LST (Land surface temperature) data with a spatial resolution of 1 km. The mean LAI of the catchment from 2000 to 2008 is 0.59. Precipitation data of the study period governs the conditions and distribution of vegetation in the catchment. In dry years, e.g. 2001 and 2005, LAI was clearly lower (0.52) compared to 2003 (LAI = 0.72) which was a wet year. As precipitation generally decreases from south-east to north-west, LAI values decrease according to this gradient. The influence of heavy grazing in the vicinity of the Xilin river is obvious as LAI is low (0.4) in these areas. The high temporal variability of the LAI is displayed by its high mean CV (coefficient of variation) which is 48% for the observed years. The analysis of sample areas illustrates temporal and spatial differences in vegetation development within the catchment and shows a generally delayed growth start in the north-west of the catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant-microbe interactions are crucial regulators of belowground nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, such interactions have mostly been excluded from experimental setups for the investigation of gross inorganic N fluxes and N partitioning to plants and microorganisms. Ungulate grazing is likely to feed back on soil N fluxes, and hence it is of special importance to simultaneously investigate grazing effects on both plant and microbial N fluxes in intact plant-soil systems, where plant-microbe interactions persist during the experimental incubation. Based on the homogenous NH labelling of intact plant-soil monoliths we investigated how various stocking rates (0, 2.35, 4.8 and 7.85 sheep ha grazing season) in steppe of Inner Mongolia feedback on gross rates of N mineralization and short-term inorganic N partitioning between plant, microbial and soil N pools. Our results showed that the effect of grazing on gross N mineralization was non-uniform. At low stocking rate gross N mineralization tended to decrease but increased with higher grazing pressure. Hence, there was no significant correlation between stocking rate and gross N mineralization across the investigated grazing intensities. Grazing decreased N recovery both in plant and microbial N pools but strongly promoted NO accumulation in the soil and thus negatively affected potential ecosystem N retention. This appeared to be closely related to the grazing-induced decline in easily degradable soil C availability at increasing stocking rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grazing of grasslands changes soil physical and chemical properties as well as vegetation characteristics, such as vegetation cover, species composition and biomass production. In consequence, nutrient allocation and water storage in the top soil are affected. Land use and management changes alter these processes. Knowledge on the impacts of grazing management on nutrient and water fluxes is necessary because of the global importance of grasslands for carbon sequestration. Soil water in semi-arid areas is a limiting factor for matter fluxes and the intrinsic interaction between soil, vegetation and atmosphere. It is therefore desirable to understand the effects of grazing management and stocking rate on the spatial and temporal distribution of soil moisture. In the present study, we address the question how spatio-temporal soil moisture distribution on grazed and ungrazed grassland sites is affected by soil and vegetation properties. The study took place in the Xilin river catchment in Inner Mongolia (PR China). It is a semi-arid steppe environment, which is characterized by still moderate grazing compared to other regions in central Inner Mongolia. However, stocking rates have locally increased and resulted in a degradation of soils and vegetation also in the upper Xilin River basin. We used a multivariate geostatistical approach to reveal spatial dependencies between soil moisture distribution and soil or vegetation parameters. Overall, 7 soil and vegetation parameters (bulk density, sand, silt and clay content, mean weight diameter, mean carbon content of the soil, vegetation cover) and 57 soil moisture data sets were recorded on 100 gridded points on four sites subject to different grazing intensities. Increasing stocking rates accelerated the influence of soil and vegetation parameters on soil moisture. However, the correlation was rather weak, except for a site with high stocking rate where higher correlations were found. Low nugget ratios indicate spatial dependency between soil or plant parameters and soil moisture on a long-term ungrazed site. However, the effect was not found for a second ungrazed site that had been excluded from grazing for a shorter period. Furthermore the most important soil and vegetation parameters for predicting soil moisture distribution varied between different grazing intensities. Therefore, predicting soil moisture by using secondary variables requires a careful selection of the soil or vegetation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the aim of searching for a more sustainable grazing management system, a mixed management system (grazing and haymaking alternate annually) was proposed and tested against traditional management system (used consistently either for grazing or haymaking) in the semiarid grassland of Inner Mongolia with a field manipulation experiment. The responses of aboveground biomass to the two grazing management systems were examined across different levels of organization (i.e., species, plant functional group, and community) and in five consecutive years from 2005 to 2009. The effects of the two systems on seed production potential of four dominant species ( Leymus chinensis, Stipa grandis, Agropyron cristatum, Cleistogenes squarrosa) were also investigated. Our results demonstrate that, in the traditional system, aboveground biomass production across all the levels of organization was reduced by grazing. In mixed system, however, no significantly negative relationship between the biomass response and stocking rate was detected at all organization levels. Precipitation fluctuation had strong influence on biomass responses, and compared to the traditional system the slope of the biomass-precipitation relationship tends to be higher in the mixed system. This effect might be attributed to the more positive response of L. chinensis and A. cristatum to increase in precipitation. In the traditional system, both the ratio and the density of reproductive tillers of the grazing subplots were significantly reduced compared to the haymaking or ungrazed control plots. In the mixed system, there was no significant difference between the haymaking subplots and the ungrazed control plots, regardless of the grazing pressures imposed on the haymaking subplots in the previous growing season. Our findings suggest that the mixed system mitigates the sheep grazing-induced species shift and it tends to be more responsive to increasing precipitation as compared to the traditional system. Therefore, replacement of the traditional grazing strategy with the mixed system could provide an important contribution to sustainable land-use of the Inner Mongolia grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chromosome counts are reported for 15 species of the family Asteraceae from Inner Mongolia (People’s Republic of China). This study includes representatives of the tribes Anthemideae ( Artemisia, Chrysanthemum, Filifolium, Hippolytia and Neopallasia), Astereae ( Heteropappus) and Cardueae ( Echinops and Olgaea). The significance of the chromosome counts is discussed for each species. Within the Anthemideae, chromosome counts for Hippolytia alashanensis (2 n = 36) and the tetraploid level of Artemisia eriopoda (2 n = 36) are reported for the first time. The chromosome number of Heteropappus altaicus (Astereae) agrees with previous reports of one (4 x) of the two ploidy levels reported for this taxon. As a complement to the karyological data, genome size of the Cardueae representatives was assessed using flow cytometry. Within this tribe, Echinops gmelini (2 n = 26) and its sister taxon E. acantholepis (2 n = 14) show strongly divergent karyological patterns of difficult interpretation, whereas the count of E. przewalskyi (2 n = 32), assigned here for the first time, coincides with those of its close relatives. In Olgaea tangutica, the chromosome count (2 n = 24) and genome size (2C = 3.01 pg) given here are the first reports for both the species and the genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key variable functionally related to plant biomass production. Accurate estimation of LAI is important for monitoring vegetation dynamics, and LAI information is essentially required for the prediction of microclimate and various biophysical processes within and below canopy. The traditional, direct and destructive method of measuring LAI is time-consuming. Modern gap fraction technique can assess LAI fast and easily, however its application is problematic with vegetations of low stature. Alternatively, NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) as a widely used spectral reflectance index has been shown to be a good estimator of LAI and is used to estimate LAI indirectly. In situ measurements of NDVI and LAI at three sites in semi-arid grassland in Inner Mongolia, China were carried out during the growing season in 2005 and 2006. Based on these sites, a general linear and a general exponential relationship (LAI = −0.0897 + 1.424 * NDVI, R = 0.79; LAI = 0.128 * exp(NDVI/0.311), R = 0.77) were developed, which can be used for various grazing intensity grasslands and also for higher vegetation cover area (e.g. wetland) in the region. These equations for estimating LAI are suitable for the natural range of vegetation in this area during the growing season under both normal and dry weather conditions. By simply applying NDVI measurements and these relationships, the vegetation status and grass yield in the area will be rapidly and nondestructively estimated, which is helpful for livestock management and sustainable land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  A roving tower concept was used to compare a semi-arid grassland site in Inner Mongolia (China), which was fenced in 1979 and ungrazed thereafter (UG79) with differently grazed semi-arid steppe ecosystems. The study was conducted during three consecutive years characterised by contrasting precipitation. The different grazing intensities included continuously and moderately grazed (CG), winter grazed (WG), and heavily grazed (HG). Here, we compare the energy fluxes and surface parameters that characterise the differently managed plots. The main focus is on sensible heat flux (H), available energy (AE), surface temperature (T s ), and surface albedo (α). Systematic errors were excluded by a side-to-side intercomparison of the instruments, and systematic climatic differences were minimised by the close distance between the fixed and the roving eddy covariance tower. Statistically, AE and T s were always significantly different between two simultaneously measured grazing intensities. Whereas AE was higher at UG79 in all years (mean difference of about 19Wm−2), T s was typically lower at UG79 (mean differences of 0.4°C to about 2°C). The exception was the end of the vegetation period in 2004 when T s was 0.6°C higher at UG79 compared to CG. At UG79 α was typically significantly lower, and H was typically significantly higher. Consequently, latent heat fluxes (both as energy balance residual and directly measured) do not differ much between the different grazing intensities. It is concluded, that (1) the roving tower concept is able to detect differences due to grazing, (2) differences between the sites can be attributed to real surface differences, and (3) differences due to grazing intensities are small compared to interannual differences in surface fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]