Search

Filtering processes across environmental gradients can structure patterns of trait variation within communities. The community‐weighted mean (CWM) is a metric that is commonly used to indicate the directionality of such filtering processes and the optimal adaptive strategy of taxa within community. Proximity to the CWM indicates higher fitness, and deviations from this optimal value result in changes in the relative abundances of coexisting species.We investigated patterns of intraspecific trait variation in four coexisting carrion beetle species (Coleoptera: Silphidae) across elevational gradients. The study was conducted in temperate forest ecosystems with distinct natural vegetation zones ranging from 950 m to 1700 m above sea level.Of the 12 traits measured, we found that intraspecific variation ranged from 34% (body length) to 100% (ratio of elytra length, head length and head width to body length) and accounted for a larger proportion of variation than interspecific variation in 7 traits. For most traits, trait range, which indicates the niche breadth of species at a given elevation, was positively correlated with relative abundance. The CWMs of traits associated with long‐distance dispersal decreased with elevation, whereas those associated with microhabitat use showed the opposite trend. Soil temperature influenced tibia length after controlling for the effects of species identity, but soil water content had no effect on trait variation. Patterns of variation in body width and thorax width of two beetle species supported the CWM‐optimality hypothesis; however, patterns of trait variation in body width and thorax length of another species showed an opposite trend.Our study identifies several traits that can be highly variable within carrion beetle species. Such high levels of intraspecific trait variation may enable populations to adapt across a wide range of elevations and vegetation types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of economy and urbanization, municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has also increased dramatically. MSW poses great threat to the ecological environment and the survival of humankind, and forms a bottleneck restricting the healthy and sustainable development of an economy. Research on the influence factors of MSW could provide useful information for formulation of pollution control policies. This article develops a multiple regression model to assess the impact of these influencing factors. We find that MSW generations are strongly and positively related to urban population, GDP, the quantity of solid waste transport vehicles, collection area of solid waste, and the per capita disposable income of urban residents. However, we find that MSW generations have strong and negative correlations with the inflation rate and the solid waste treatment rate. Finally, based on the empirical findings, we put forward policy recommendations to help government agencies to design measures that can effectively address the increasing trend of waste generation. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 35: 1629-1633, 2016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]