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Genetic diversity plays an important role in the evolution and adaptation of organisms. Losses of genetic diversity make organisms more vulnerable to climate changes and diseases, reducing the viability of small populations. In addition to natural selection, genetic drift, dispersal, inbreeding, and population bottleneck, the social systems of animals may also affect the genetic diversity of populations. We aimed to test the hypothesis that the delayed dispersal of group-living small mammals would reduce genetic diversity through attenuated gene flow but enhance genetic relatedness. We used microsatellite analysis to estimate genetic diversity and the Queller and Goodnight relatedness coefficients of Daurian pikas (Ochotona dauurica) and Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus), two socially monogamous small mammals living in social groups in Inner Mongolia, China. The average genetic relatedness of social groups was inversely related to the average genetic diversity of social groups in Daurian pikas but not in Mongolian gerbils, partially supporting our hypothesis. Dispersal following frequent local extinctions resulted in the recolonization of burrow systems by individuals with different genetic makeups, increasing genetic diversity and reducing the genetic relatedness of the social groups of Daurian pikas. On the other hand, delayed short-distance dispersal was sufficient to maintain the high genetic diversity and high genetic relatedness of gerbil social groups independently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is critically endangered and also the subspecies of the tiger with the most restoration potential in China. It is challenging to protect large‐ranging carnivores like tigers under increasing pressure of human development. To provide a more technically robust foundation for tiger habitat conservation prioritization, we conducted a comprehensively empirical analysis based on a broadly collected occurrence dataset of tigers and their prey. We modeled tiger distribution by running an ensemble model integrating nine different algorithms. We found that the ensemble model performed well and outperformed any individual model regarding the discrimination ability. We used cumulative resistant kernel analysis to identify core habitats as with high predicted movement density and used factorial least‐cost paths to model corridors among tiger occurrence locations. We found that core habitats for Amur tigers are distributed in three mountain areas, namely, eastern Wanda Mountain, southern Zhangguangcailing, and Laoyeling‐Dalongling. We found significant protection gaps as existing protected areas only cover less than one‐fourth of predicted core habitats, but this proportion will rise significantly with the establishment of the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park. Furthermore, we ranked spatial priorities for the expansion of the protected area network, simultaneously considering biological and socioeconomic dimensions under the Zonation framework. Our study presented the most up‐to‐date and detailed maps of the predicted potential distribution and area of the most important habitats for the Amur tigers in China, which can provide quantitative guidance in the effort to maximize the efficiency of conservation initiatives at a regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important tool for environment management, eco-efficiency has been widely applied, but eco-effectiveness has only made progress on eco-design and life cycle management in recent years. Few have attempted to integrate eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness into sustainable industrial systems. In a new framework integrating eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness, both concepts can find unique roles and complement each other in industrial ecosystems to dissolve conflicts between industry and the environment. This article provides a case study of China in which eco-efficiency indicators (energy, water and waste utilisation intensity) have demonstrated great progress in China, but eco-efficiency cannot stop the increasing release of pollutants and their accumulating impact on ecological life-support systems. China must integrate eco-effectiveness and eco-efficiency into concrete sustainable development strategies, questioning whether limited resources are being used correctly. Both eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness are identified as important indicators in the development of sustainable industrial systems. In the framework of sustainable industrial systems, eco-effectiveness must begin to play a more important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cement is the most widely used material and contributes around 8% to the global anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. In 2011 China produced 2.085 Gt cement (60% of the cement production of the world) but the carbon emission from cement industry still not accurately assessed. The LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) method was employed to thoroughly estimate China’s cement industry CO 2 emissions, and results indicated that the carbon emissions of Portland cement clinker, Portland cement, and average cement in China are lower than developed countries. In 2011, the direct CO 2 emission factor and manufactured CO 2 emission factor of China’s average cement manufacture is just 0.4778 t/t and 0.5450 t/t, respectively, and the direct CO 2 emission and manufacture CO 2 emission from China’s cement industry is 0.9983 and 1.1364 Gt, respectively, from the life cycle view, carbon emission of cement industry and the neat carbon emission from cement industry is just 0.8553 and 0.6386 Gt respectively, the share of six carbon emission sources is calculated. The RM CO 2 , FD CO 2 , ED CO 2 , total TD CO 2 and CS CO 2 counts 53.8%, 28.3%, 7.94% and 0.86%, respectively, 29.64% of those carbon emission can be sink by carbonization during 100 years after it cast. The policies to close down outdated facilities and improve recovery the waste heat significantly reduced carbon emission from cement industry, through public, industrial, and technological policies. As the biggest cement producer and consumer in the world, a holistic approach is proposed to slash the carbon emission of cement industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the majority of habitat loss is irreversible, and most species will never recover their former ranges. We have learned a great deal about what leads to population decline and extinction, but less about recovery. The recently downlisted giant panda provides a unique opportunity to understand the mechanisms of species recovery. In our study, we estimate giant panda suitable habitats, population density, and gene flow across landscapes to fully investigate the direct and indirect ecological mechanisms underlying bold conservation strategies. We found that the Giant Panda National Survey has modestly but systematically underestimated population size. China's effort to mitigate anthropogenic disturbances was associated with increased panda population density through improving habitat quality and reducing habitat fragmentation. Enhanced landscape connectivity reduced inbreeding via gene flow but indirectly increased inbreeding temporarily due to high local panda density. Although the panda's recovery has been geographically uneven, we provide evidence for improving connectivity and gene flow resulting from conservation efforts. If these processes can be sustained and improved, the panda's path to recovery will be less encumbered by loss of genetic diversity, fostering hope that the present rate of recovery will not be stalled. Findings from this study will not only help guide future giant panda conservation management but also provide a model for how a more mechanistic examination of the genetic processes underlying species recovery can foster the development of more effective strategies for endangered species recovery., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Climate change-induced shifts in species phenology differ widely across trophic levels, which may lead to consumer-resource mismatches with cascading population and ecosystem consequences. Here, we examined the effects of different rainfall patterns (i.e., timing and amount) on the phenological asynchrony of population of a generalist herbivore and their food sources in semiarid steppe grassland in Inner Mongolia. We conducted a 10-y (2010 to 2019) rainfall manipulation experiment in 12 0.48-ha field enclosures and found that moderate rainfall increases during the early rather than late growing season advanced the timing of peak reproduction and drove marked increases in population size through increasing the biomass of preferred plant species. By contrast, greatly increased rainfall produced no further increases in vole population growth due to the potential negative effect of the flooding of burrows. The increases in vole population size were more coupled with increased reproduction of overwintered voles and increased body mass of young-of-year than with better survival. Our results provide experimental evidence for the fitness consequences of phenological mismatches at the population level and highlight the importance of rainfall timing on the population dynamics of small herbivores in the steppe grassland environment., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)

Warming, land-use change, and habitat loss are three major threats to aquatic biodiversity worldwide under the influences of anthropogenic disturbances. Positive feedback between warming and bottom-up regulation may cause irreversible ecological regime shifts. Threshold dynamics of interspecific interactions have been rarely studied in freshwater fish communities using threshold community models. Here we use 66 years (1950-2015) of data to link four ecological regime shifts of 9-species fish communities to climatic and land use changes in Lake Hulun, the largest freshwater lake of Northern China. Overfishing caused the collapse of piscivorous fish populations and an ecological regime shift of Lake Hulun in the late 1950s. The first recorded algal bloom of Lake Hulun took place in 1986, with accelerated warming and rapid increases in livestock grazing. The dominance of planktivorous minnow populations reduced fish biodiversity in a nonlinear, threshold manner when annual mean ambient temperature was >0.12 °C. Multivariate environmental vector regression demonstrated that warming, eutrophication, and water-storage reduction (i.e., habitat loss) were related to three ecological regime shifts of Lake Hulun from 1960 to 2015. Multivariate autoregressive models (MAR) did not detect predation by piscivorous fish in Lake Hulun after 1960. Threshold MAR models indicated that dominant minnow populations and other prey fish populations switched from top-down to bottom-up control during the 1980s. Sustained positive feedback between warming, the dominance of planktivorous fish populations, and bottom-up regulation caused predator-prey role reversal, and probably resulted in three regime shifts of Lake Hulun over 56 years. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of ecological regime shifts in Hulun Lake fish communities, and has potential implications for fish species living in similar environments that are subject to global warming, land-use changes, and overfishing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There are no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To compare postoperative outcomes between the perineal inverted-U and the vertical midline incision approaches of the urethroplasty and clarify them via gross anatomy., Patients and Methods: A total of 461 male patients, from Jan. 2006 to Jun. 2014, who underwent the urethroplasty via perineal midline vertical or inverted-U incision approach were recruited retrospectively. By match pairing for etiology and stricture length, 410 patients from two groups (205 for each group) were selected. Anatomy experiments were also performed. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: the Chi-square, Student's t and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to compare the operative and postoperative data on the two groups., Results: With regard to patients with bulbar urethral stricture, the rate of surgical site infection (SSI) in perineal inverted-U group was 18.6% while 1.9% in the midline vertical group (p < 0.001). As for patients with posterior urethral stricture, the rate of SSI in the perineal inverted-U group was 16.4% while 3.1% in the midline vertical group (p = 0.001). Mean hospital stay between both groups were 15.8 ± 9.0 vs. 12.7 ± 3.8 days (p < 0.001). Anatomy experiments showed the number of damaged vessels and nerves involved in the inverted-U incision were approximately 1.6 to 2.0 folds more than the vertical midline, but the visual operation fields are similar between two approaches., Conclusions: The perineal midline vertical incision is a safer approach with fewer SSI and shorter hospital stay than the perineal inverted-U incision for bulbar and posterior urethroplasty.

The circadian rhythm of animals is an adaptation to predictable variation in environmental conditions. Multiple internal oscillators may allow animals to cope with environmental oscillations in different frequencies. Heat stress and dramatic differences between night and day temperatures are the main selective pressures of the diel activity of desert mammals, particularly small-sized rodents. We tested the hypotheses that the diel activities of desert hamsters (Phodopus roborovskii) would be entrained by ambient humidity and temperature. We predicted that increases in night temperature and humidity would improve the propensity to perform activities of the hamster. We observed hourly activities of desert hamsters under semi natural conditions for 24 consecutive hours, with seven replicates in 7 different days. We fit generalized linear mixed models to observed proportions of active hamsters, temperatures, and relative humidity. Observed diel activities of desert hamsters consisted of three harmonic oscillations in the periodicities of 24 h, 12 h, and 6 h, respectively. Furthermore, probabilities to perform activities were positively related to night temperature and humidity. Therefore, the diel activities of desert hamsters are synchronized by atmospheric humidity, temperatures, and environmental cues of ultradian fluctuations., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)