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Abstract: In a world increasingly affected by global environmental changes, Low Income countries will play an ever more central role in determining the future health of the biosphere. While global use of the biosphere''s capacity has increased over the past 45 years, per capita demand for biocapacity, as measured by the Ecological Footprint, has only increased in high-income countries and has remained constant or fallen in middle- and low-income nations. Consumption has increased faster than population in high-income nations, while population growth has been the dominant factor in middle- and low- income countries. Although listed in the middle-income group of countries, China showed atypical trends in the past 45 years, with a rapid increase in per capita Ecological Footprint that outstrip its gains in income. Typical trends were instead noticed for India, whose per person Ecological Footprint has fallen slightly. The results of this paper show that decisions made in China and India will be of fundamental importance for future global sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Accurate and spatially explicit monitoring of gross primary productivity of agricultural ecosystems at a large scale is of great significance to assessment of crop conditions and agricultural production, and is necessary for understanding the carbon balance of the terrestrial biosphere. Identifying crop intensity (including multiple cropping and crop calendar) dynamics and assigning appropriate light use efficiency to C3 and C4 crops could substantially improve our ability to model and evaluate the seasonal dynamics of carbon flux in intensified agricultural ecosystems. In this paper, we have analyzed temporal dynamics of vegetation indices and phenological characteristics in the winter-wheat and maize double cropping system using multi-year satellite images from the moderate resolution imaging spectral radiometer (MODIS) and in situ observation of key crop phenological transition dates. The multiple cropping and crop calendar information were incorporated into simulations of the satellite-based vegetation photosynthesis model (VPM). Canopy-level maximum light use efficiency, a key parameter in the satellite-based VPM model, was estimated for both winter wheat (C3) and maize (C4) based on the observed CO2 flux data from an eddy flux tower site in a winter wheat-maize double cropping agro-ecosystem in the Huang-Huai-Hai plain, China. The seasonal dynamics of GPP predicted by the VPM model agreed well with estimated GPP from eddy flux tower data. These results demonstrate the potential of the satellite-driven VPM model for scaling-up GPP estimation of intensified agricultural ecosystems, which is relevant to food production and security. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Well-preserved organic-walled microfossils from the early Mesoproterozoic Xiamaling Formation in North China. • In total, 36 species of 28 genera including 1 new species are described. • The identification of 12 eukaryotic eukaryotic taxa indicates a moderate eukaryotic diversity in this formation. • The presence of Jixiania in North China strengthens its potential utility in biostratigraphy. The mid-Proterozoic (ca. 1.85–0.85 Ga) might have been environmentally "boring", but was a crucial interval of time for the early establishment of eukaryotic life on Earth. The Mesoproterozoic shale-dominated Xiamaling Formation (ca. 1.4–1.35 Ga) in North China preserved abundant organic-walled microfossils, some of which were of eukaryotic affinity but their taxonomic diversity and evolutionary implications remain unclear. In this paper, we present a palynological study of the lower Xiamaling Formation in the northern Tianjin Municipality. Similar to other Mesoproterozoic microbiotas, this assemblage consists of well-preserved and diverse spheroidal to ellipsoidal vesicles, filamentous microfossils and cellular aggregates. In total, 36 species belonging to 28 genera are identified, including 1 new species Quadrimurus clavatus gen. et sp. nov., and 5 unnamed forms. Majority of these taxa are recognised for the first time from this formation, indicating a richer assemblage than previously known. Although most taxa are of unknown biological affinities, this microbiota is thought to be composed of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, in which 12 taxa are inferred to be eukaryotic. These microfossils indicate a moderate diversity of eukaryotic life documented in the Xiamaling Formation, which is consistent with other microbiotas in the mid-Proterozoic. The presence of Jixiania lineata Yan, 1986 (= Lineaforma elongata Vorob'eva and Sergeev, 2015) in North China extends its geographic distribution and further enhances its potential as index fossil for the early Mesoproterozoic strata. The Xiamaling assemblage provides one of the broader pictures of the Mesoproterozoic biosphere, in which eukaryotes were predominantly protistan-grade microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]