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With the acceleration of global warming, droughts are expected to both intensify and become more frequent. More so than forests, the productivity of grasslands is largely controlled by soil moisture and is highly susceptible to drought. Drought can impact grasslands though the effects may lag and accumulate over time. Because prior research has mainly focused on the annual or growing season scale, it remains unclear whether there are seasonal differences in the cumulative and lagged effects (CALEs) of drought. This study uses Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) data to explore the seasonal characteristics of the CALEs of drought on grassland growth in East Asia from 2001 to 2020. The main results include the following: (1) More than 40% of grasslands are significantly affected by the CALEs of drought for all three seasons (spring, summer, and autumn). (2) Grasslands are more sensitive to the CALEs of drought in summer. The spatial variability of the cumulative time scale is the greatest in spring, whereas the spatial variability of the lagged time scale is the greatest in summer. The lag time scale gradually shortens as moisture decreases in summer and autumn but shows an inverted U-shape in spring. As drought conditions intensify, the cumulative time scale gradually increases in spring and autumn, while gradually decreasing in summer. (3) The dominant drought effects vary among different seasons: the lagged effect (LE) predominates in spring and autumn, whereas in summer it is the cumulative effect (CE) that dominates. The LE exceeds the CE in 54.89% of the study area during the growing season. We emphasize that annual- or growing season-scale studies of drought CE and LE may obscure seasonal response characteristics. Given the seasonal nature of droughts and the seasonally varying sensitivities of grassland growth to these droughts, the impacts on vegetation fluctuate significantly across different seasons. The results help us more accurately predict grassland ecosystem changes under the background of global warming and the increasing probability of severe drought, providing important reference values for future grassland ecological protection and planning.

Soil aggregates are important indicators of soil structure stability and quality. The black soil region of northeast China, known for its high agricultural productivity, faces significant challenges due to soil erosion. This study investigates the impact of terracing on the stability and erodibility characteristics of soil aggregates in sloped farmlands, which is crucial for this important agricultural area. Three research sites with the same basic management modes were selected along a latitudinal gradient, from the mid-temperate zone to the cold temperate zone, in the black soil region of northeast China. The Savinov method was used to analyze the differences in soil aggregate size distribution, stability characteristics, and soil erodibility between terraced and non-terraced slopes at each research site. The results showed that terracing increased the content of large soil aggregates (>0.25 mm) by 5.38–6.35%, with the increase becoming more pronounced from north to south. The improvement in soil structure varied by location and slope position, with the most significant improvement at the middle slope position. Terracing enhanced soil aggregate stability, reduced soil erodibility, and improved soil structure by increasing clay and soil organic matter (SOM) content and reducing soil bulk density (BD), promoting the conversion of small aggregates to large aggregates. Soil stability indicators such as water-stable aggregates (WSAs), mean weight diameter (MWD), and geometric mean diameter (GMD) were dominated by aggregates > 5 mm, while erodibility indicators such as fractal dimensions (Ds) and the soil erodibility factor (K values) were mainly influenced by aggregates < 0.25 mm. Terraces can improve the soil structure and stability of sloping farmland by increasing the content of large soil aggregates and enhancing overall soil quality. The benefits of these improvements increase with latitude. These findings provide critical insights for determining effective management practices for sloped farmlands in the black soil region under various site conditions. They offer scientific evidence for preventing soil erosion and improving soil quality, thus supporting the sustainable development strategy for protecting black soil and ensuring long-term agricultural productivity.

This study investigates the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of soil moisture on slopes of China’s northeastern black soil region, focusing on the effects of terrain adjustment and vegetation. Soil moisture dynamics in the 0–60 cm soil layer were measured at 10 cm intervals using the TRIME-PICO64 TDR® device on slopes with similar gradients representing three land use types: transverse ridge tillage (TRT) farmland, terraced fields (TFs) farmland, and pure forest woodland (WL). The results indicate significant variations in soil moisture content and water storage across different land use types in the order of TF > TRT > WL. The study further identified that soil bulk density, porosity, and water-holding indicators were in the order of WL > TF > TRT, inconsistent with the soil moisture results, indicating that soil quality cannot be the sole reason for the differences in moisture. The moisture differences between farmland types (TRT and TF) and WL are substantial, especially during the rainy season. In the rainy season (0–60 cm) and the dry season (30–60 cm), significant differences in moisture content are observed (p < 0.05). Significant differences in moisture content between farmland types are found at 0–40 cm during the rainy season and at 0–10 cm during the dry season. In the rainy season, soil moisture for TRT and TFs first decreases from 26.76% and 30.85% to 22.44% and 25.38%, then slightly increases to 27.01% and 27.07% along the slope. Meanwhile, WL displays the opposite pattern on upper, relatively steep slopes, with soil moisture increasing from 16.66% to 17.81%, and exhibits a pattern of change similar to TRT and TFs on lower, gentler slopes. TFs consistently show higher soil moisture and water storage at all slope positions than TRT and WL. TFs improve soil quality, reduce erosion and sedimentation, and shift the lowest soil moisture content to a lower slope position. During the dry season, soil moisture differences between slope positions for TRT and WL were small. In general, terracing can effectively modulate moisture distribution along slopes, increasing moisture by an average of 0.26~12.43%, while afforestation, despite improving soil quality, leads to an 18.14~31.13% reduction in soil moisture content, with the impact being particularly significant during the rainy season. These findings provide important insights for optimizing land use and ecological construction, including keeping the balance between soil and water conservation, especially for sub-humid slope terrain areas.

Flash drought is characterized by rapid onset and short-duration drought conditions caused by a combination of factors, including high evaporation, high temperature, and prolonged periods of little to no precipitation, leading to a sudden and severe decrease in soil moisture levels. In comparison to conventional drought, it is more susceptible to the effects of global warming and has the potential to become a common drought phenomenon in the coming years, necessitating further research. In this paper, we focused on flash drought events, specifically in forest parts of northeastern China that are included within the Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM), Lesser Khingan Mountains (LKM), and Changbai Mountains (CM), using daily soil moisture data as well as SPOT- VEGETATION NDVI satellite data from 2000 to 2020 and determined their impact on the forest NDVI. Our major findings are as follows. (1) The forest within GKM had the maximum area being affected by flash drought events. (2) The frequency ranged from 1 to 2 times, whereas the total duration varied between 20 and 55 days over the study area in a 21-year period. (3) Flash drought was most common in the plant-growing seasons. (4) The flash drought events had a negative influence on the forest NDVI. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the flash drought dynamics in forest areas of northeast China for flash drought monitoring, prediction, and management strategies in this region.

As the climate has warmed, alpine treelines have moved to higher altitudes and the responses of tree growth to different climate factors have changed. We collected dendrochronologies of Larix gmelinii at different elevations on the Dabai Mountain, the highest peak in northeastern China’s Greater Khingan range, to measure the sensitivity and stability of radial growth over time. We found that the treeline has moved upslope since 1970. From the mid-1980s, radial growth increased in the treeline ecotone but decreased in the subtimberline forest, an example of “growth divergence” under warming conditions: increases in the previous October’s maximum temperatures promoted growth at higher altitudes but inhibited it at lower altitudes. The treeline ecotone appears to be more sensitive to climate change, with the effects on tree growth of different climate indicators varying by altitude in linear or U-shaped relationships. As warming continues, the management of boreal forests needs to consider the changing potential for tree growth and carbon sequestration capacity in relation to changing site conditions.

Abstract Background Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. Chinensis) is abundant with vitamin C and is a rapidly developing crop in China, New Zealand, and other countries. It has been widely used as a raw material for food and kiwifruit wine. Among these, A. chinensis var. chinensis and A. chinensis var. deliciosa are the most valuable kiwifruit in production. Kiwifruit is a typical dioecious plant and its female and male plants have different economic values. Therefore, sex identification, especially at the seedling stage, has important implications for the scientific planning of its production and economic benefits. However, the kiwifruit sex regulation mechanism is very complex and molecular studies are in the initial stages. Currently, there is not a universal and effective sex identification method for A. chinensis. Methods In this study, we used a label-free quantitative proteomics approach to investigate differentially accumulated proteins, including their presence/absence and significantly different levels of abundances during A. chinensis var. chinensis male and female flower bud development. Results A total of 6485 proteins were identified, among which, 203 were identified in male buds, which were mainly associated with phenylalanine metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, and plant hormone signal transduction. In female buds, 241 were identified, which were mainly associated with the ErbB signaling pathway, growth hormone synthesis, secretion and action, and mRNA surveillance pathway. A total of 373 proteins were significantly differentially accumulated proteins (fold change > 2; P

BackgroundThe association between food addiction (FA) and weight status in children and adolescents remains poorly understood. This study aimed to elucidate the association between FA and weight status using the validated Chinese version of the dimensional Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children 2.0 (dYFAS-C 2.0).MethodsParticipants were enrolled from clinic visitors for regular physical check in a children’s hospital. The dYFAS-C 2.0 was translated into Chinese and validated using reliability and validity tests. The participants’ body mass index Z score (BMIZ) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were used to characterize weight status. The FA severity was assessed using the translated dYFAS-C 2.0.ResultsAmong the 903 children and adolescents enrolled, 426 (47.2%) completed the survey [277 (65%) females and 149 (35%) males]. The Cronbach α of translated dYFAS-C 2.0 was 0.934, and confirmatory factor analysis indicated an acceptable model fit. FA correlated positively with BMIZ and WHtR in the whole sample after adjusting for the effect of gender (p < 0.001). Further analyses showed that the correlation remained significant in participants with BMIZ > 1 (p = 0.006) but not in those with BMIZ ≤ 1 (p = 0.220). However, the correlations between FA and WHtR were statistically significant in both participants with or without abdominal obesity (p < 0.05). The FA could explain 12.1 and 15.8% of variance in BMIZ and WHtR, respectively. The corresponding cutoff points of FA for excessive weight risk were 0.7 (BMIZ) and 0.4 (WHtR).ConclusionThe dYFAS-C 2.0 has good reliability and validity in the Chinese population. FA is associated with weight status characterized by BMIZ and WHtR, especially in participants with BMIZ > 1 and in those with abdominal obesity.Clinical Trial Registration[www.chictr.org.cn], identifier [ChiCTR2100052239].

Abstract The soil surface diurnal temperature range (SSDTR), reflecting the synchronicity of changes in the daily extremes of soil surface temperatures, provides an important and sensitive indicator of climate change. The climatology of SSDTR and its trends have a strong connection with the land surface energy budget, but this has received little notice up to now. Our research examines the spatial‐temporal characteristics of the annual cycle of SSDTR and its connection with other climate variables in China. The results demonstrate that the annual SSDTR curve changes gradually across space, with both regional and zonal characteristics. The shape of the annual SSDTR curve varies among regions. While it shows consistently strong positive associations with solar irradiance across China, a strong negative association with relative humidity is evident only in the dry western regions and the connection with relative humidity progressively decouples as we move toward the moist eastern regions. Atmospheric circulation affects SSDTR indirectly through derived changes in the seasonal cycles of moisture and solar irradiance. This produces a zonal character of the SSDTR annual curve in the east, while in the west the positive land‐atmosphere feedback under low moisture conditions is associated with a regional character. The magnitude of the annual cycle of SSDTR is large compared with temporal change, contributing to the generally stable nature of the cycle under global warming conditions.

The vast forests of Northeast China are under great pressure from climate change. Understanding the effects of changing climate conditions on spring phenology is of great significance to assessing the stability of regional terrestrial ecosystems. Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data from 1982 to 2013, this paper investigated the changes in the start date of the vegetation growing season (SOS) of two main forest types in Northeast China, analyzing the changes in temporal and spatial patterns of forest spring phenology before and during the recent short-term warming slowdown, and exploring the effects of day and night temperatures and precipitation on the start of the growing season. The results showed that, during the rapid warming period (1982–1998), the SOS of deciduous needleleaf forests (DNF) was significantly advanced (−0.428 days/a, p < 0.05), while the rate of advance of SOS of deciduous broadleaf forests (DBF) was nonsignificant (−0.313 days/a, p > 0.10). However, during the short-term slowdown (1998–2013), the SOS of DBF was strongly delayed (0.491 days/a, p < 0.10), while the change in SOS of DNF was not significant (0.169 days/a, p > 0.10). The SOS was sensitive to spring maximum temperature for both forest types during the analysis period. Increases in winter precipitation influenced the SOS during the rapid warming period for DNF; this combined with the increase in the spring maximum temperature contributed to the advance in SOS. The decrease in the spring maximum temperature during the short-term slowdown, combined with a decrease in the previous summer maximum temperature, contributed to the rapid delay of SOS for DBF. DBF SOS was also more influenced by lagged effects of prior conditions, such as previous autumn to spring precipitation during the rapid warming period and previous summer maximum temperature during the short-term slowdown. In general, SOS was mainly determined by changes in daytime thermal conditions; DNF is more sensitive to temperature increases and DBF is more sensitive to decreases. Different regional climate conditions lead to differences in the distribution of DNF and DBF, as well as in the response of SOS to climate change during the rapid warming and short-term slowdown periods.

Farmland shelterbelts are widely used to reduce wind erosion, maintaining the ecological and food security of the black soil plain region of northeast China. In recent years, the protective effect of shelterbelts has been reduced due to tree degeneration. Efforts have been made to transform the construction of shelterbelts to conserve the stability of soil aggregates and enhance protection against erosion, however, the results are not well understood. To evaluate the impact of shelterbelt transformation on the stability of farmland soil aggregates and soil erodibility, three transformation modes of shelterbelts were selected, including pure Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica (ZC), pure Picea asperata (YS), and mixed Populus × xiaohei–Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica (ZY), with a degraded Populus × xiaohei shelterbelt (TYC) used as a control. We set up soil sampling points at 0.5H, 1H, 1.5H, 3H, 5H, 7H, and 9H from the shelterbelts and analyzed aggregate composition, mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), fractal dimension (D), soil erodibility (K-value), and their relationships to soil properties of the 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–40 cm soil layers and the shelterbelt structure by using dry and wet sieving and equation estimation methods. The results show that dry (d) sieved soil samples from the transformed shelterbelt-protected farmlands are mainly composed of 2–5 mm and >5 mm grain size aggregates; the sum of the two particle sizes ranged from 48.67% to 51.27%, significantly larger than in the degraded shelterbelts (15.37%), decreasing with increasing distance from the shelterbelts. The effect is most obvious in the 0–10 cm soil layer. Wet (w) sieved soil samples are all dominated by ZY > YS and decreasing with increasing distance from shelterbelts, while the opposite is true for D and K. The difference between wMWD and wGMD for different shelterbelts protected farmland is not significant and is significantly lower than that between dMWD and dGMD. Clay and silt content was highly significantly positively correlated with aggregates dMWD and dGMD, weakly positively correlated with wMWD, wGMD and wD, and highly significantly negatively correlated with dD and K values. This shows that particle composition parameters can be used to reflect the sensitivity of agricultural soils to wind erosion. Farmland shelterbelt porosity is the main factor driving changes in soil aggregates stability, soil erodibility, and other soil properties. The transformation of degraded farmland shelterbelts can decrease the porosity and reduce wind speed, resulting in improved stability and erosion resistance of the farmland soil aggregates by increasing the clay content of the farmland soils. These results are useful in renovating degraded shelterbelts, providing novel insights into how to regulate the stability of soil aggregates and soil erodibility characteristics at the shelterbelt network scale.

Rough sets theory is a powerful tool to deal with uncertainty and incompleteness of knowledge in information systems. Wang et al. proposed single valued neutrosophic sets as an extension of intuitionistic fuzzy sets to deal with real-world problems. In this paper, we propose the covering-based rough single valued neutrosophic sets by combining covering-based rough sets and single valued neutrosophic sets. Firstly, three types of covering-based rough single valued neutrosophic sets models are built and the properties of lower/upper approximation operators are explored. Secondly, the lower/upper approximations in two different covering approximation spaces are studied. The sufficient and necessary condition for generating the same lower/upper approximations from two different covering approximation spaces is discussed. Moreover, the relations of the three models are discussed and the equivalence conditions for three models are given.

Objectives: In this study, we extend previous research by re-examining the ethnic density effects on mental health of British ethnic minorities and exploring how the relationship varies across generations at a lower geographic scale Lower Super Output Areas (official census geographical classification designed for the consistent reporting of local statistics). Methods: We used random intercept logistic multilevel models to analyze the second wave (2010-2011) of the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS). Results: The results show that after controlling for neighborhood deprivation, respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, duration of stay in a neighborhood and moving preference, ethnic concentration has a detrimental effect on mental health for Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, black Caribbeans and black Africans. Moreover, the results show that the detrimental effects are particularly pronounced for the first-generation Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians compared to their second-generation counterparts. Conclusions: Policy interventions to ameliorate ethnic disadvantages in mental health may need to be more targeted to first-generation South Asian minorities living in ethnically clustered areas, and that previous research overlooking migration generation may conceal important internal differences within British ethnic minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]