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Fossil wood of Chinese white pine (Pinus armandii Franch.) from the Late Pleistocene deposits of Maoming Basin of South China provides the first megafossil evidence for glacial expansion of the range of a cold-tolerant species in low latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species, Syzygium guipingensis sp. nov. (Myrtaceae), is described based on mummified fossil wood from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of Guiping Basin, Guangxi, South China. This species represents the most ancient reliable fossil record of the genus Syzygium in eastern Asia, showing the greatest similarity to the extant species S. buxifolium Hook. et Arnott. Its occurrence in the Miocene is consistent with the diversification age of the Asian lineage within Syzygium as estimated by molecular dating (11.4 Ma). The fossil record of Syzygium suggests that this genus migrated from Australia to eastern Asia in the Miocene, coincidently with the formation of island chains between these continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many fossil and molecular data suggest migrations from Malesia and Asia to Australia appear to dominate floristic exchange between Australian and Asian rainforests, evidence is emerging that demonstrate dispersal of plant groups from Australia to Asia. In this paper, a new species Agathis ledongensis sp. nov. is described on the basis of silicified wood from the late Oligocene–early Miocene of the Qiutangling Formation in Ledong, Hainan Island, South China. It is the first fossil record of Agathis in the Northern Hemisphere, and the only known fossil evidence of its dispersal outside of Gondwana. The close affinity of the fossil wood from Ledong with the genus Agathis was confirmed by comparing quantitative traits in 31 wood samples of 20 species representing all three extant genera of the Araucariaceae. The percentage of tracheids with uniseriate pitting on radial walls is shown as an additional diagnostic trait for separating Agathis and Wollemia from Araucaria. The wood of Agathis ledongensis provides evidence for the dispersal of this important plant group from Australia, or another Gondwanan terrane, to eastern Asia based on reliable fossil data. It records the occurrence of this genus in Hainan Island by the early Miocene, i.e. at the beginning of the formation of the island chains between Australia and the South-East Asia and thus the provision of a land migration route. As the land routes between these continents were restricted at that time, the migration of Agathis to Malesia and Asia was presumably facilitated by long-distance dispersal of its winged seeds by wind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the spatio‐temporal changes of heat risk in South China and the possible effects of urbanization using a dynamic method for classifying urban and rural sites based on time‐varying DMSP‐OLS night‐time light images. Ten different indicators are analysed, which include daily means and consecutive heat wave (HW) measures at 86 stations in Guangdong Province from 1971 to 2014. Results show that these heat risk indicators have been intensifying across the study area, and the intensifying trends are more profound in urbanized and populated areas (e.g., the Pearl River Delta) than less urbanized inland areas. In addition, the mean of daily maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures in urban (rural) areas increased by 0.35 (0.24), 0.21 (0.11), and 0.23 (0.13) °C per decade, and urbanization contributes to 31, 48, and 43% of the total trends, respectively. We also estimate that the urbanization effects on (contributions to) the increasing hot days and warm nights are 2.52 (36%) and 4.21 days per decade (53%). Moreover, urbanization induces an additional increase in the frequency and participating days of HW by 0.44 events (49%) and 3.96 days (51%) per decade, respectively. Effects of urbanization on increasing heat risks in South China are investigated by dynamically classifying meteorological stations into urban and rural types based on time‐varying DMSP‐OLS nighttime lights images. We found that both daily extremes and consecutive heat wave measures have been increasing during the past decades, and the increasing trends are especially strong in highly urbanized and densely populated areas. It is estimated that the urbanization contribution to the increasing heat risks reaches 50%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]