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Many large-deep reservoirs have been built, are under construction, or are planned in southwestern China, to meet increasingly high energy demands. The construction of dams can significantly alter the natural hydrodynamic and thermal conditions of rivers, thereby, threatening aquatic ecosystems, e.g., fish and algae communities. However, the impacts of large-deep reservoir operations on the hydrodynamic and thermal conditions and their potential influence on aquatic ecosystems have seldom been addressed. In this study, a quasi-3D hydrodynamic model is developed to describe the hydrodynamic and thermal conditions of a large deep reservoir, Nuozhadu, the largest reservoir along the Lancang River. The water temperature and flow velocity after the impoundment of the reservoir are examined. To explore how reservoir operation changes the hydrodynamic and thermal conditions, five groups of reservoir operational scenarios based on different water levels and discharge rates are conducted. Our results indicate that a lower water level combined with a higher discharge rate can increase the flow velocity and decrease the surface water temperature in the reservoir, which may contribute to diminishing the growth of Cyanobacteria. Meanwhile low water levels can also increase the outflow water temperature to protect the downstream fish. Further, the LowLevel and MaxPower schemes were designed to provide ecologically favorable hydrodynamic conditions, and to maximize power generation, respectively. The LowLevel scheme was found to reduce the duration of high surface water temperature (>25°C) by 18 days annually and reduce the outflow temperature by 0.8°C in the fish spawning period, at the expense of a 10% reduction in power generation. This study contributes to a better knowledge of the linkage among hydrodynamic, thermal conditions, and ecological impacts due to reservoir operation, and provides a novel perspective regarding the ecological safety of a large deep reservoir operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isodon amethystoides (Lamiaceae) is a popular plant in folk medicine in the southern provinces of China. Our phytochemical investigation of the twigs and leaves of this plant led to the discovery of five new diterpenoids with isopimarane and 3,4-seco isopimarane scaffolds [isoamethinols A–E (1–5)], along with the known compound 3,4-seco isopimara-4(18),7,15-triene-3-oic acid methylester (6). The chemical structures of these compounds, including the absolute configurations of the new diterpenoids, were determined by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses and single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. These compounds were evaluated for their biological activities against a panel of human cancer cell lines, gram-positive bacterial strains and HIV. Notably, the 3,4-seco-isopimarane isoamethinol D (4) showed toxicity to the cervical Hela cancer (Hela) cells with an IC50 value of 27.21 μM and the lung (A549) cancer cells with an IC50 value of 21.47 μM. Compound 4 also exhibited mild antimicrobial activity against the oral bacterial strain Streptococcus mutans. These findings suggested that the diterpenoids with a 3,4-seco-isopimarane diterpenoids isolated from I. amethystoides could provide a novel structure scaffold for the discovery of anticancer and antimicrobial compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP), the first national park in China, is one of the most important biodiversity conservation areas in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve (SNNR) and even the world. The threatened ungulates play an irreplaceable role in maintaining the ecosystem diversity and stability in SNNR. Here, based on 1434 occurrence records of six ungulates, the maximum entropy model, with two different strategies, was utilized to determine the priority reserves. The results indicated that the priority reserves in SNNR was mainly located in and around SNP, which were mainly distributed in the middle east, middle west, and southwest of SNNR. Six ungulates shared preference for altitude ranging 4000–5000 m, the average annual temperature below −3.0°C, and average annual precipitation ranging 200–400 mm on meadow, steppe, and unused land. The proportion of high and medium suitable areas for ungulates in SNP was higher than that in SNNR. As the SNP is not contiguously spaced in space, and some core wildlife habitats are not included, it is suggested to optimize the functional areas and adjust the boundary range on the basis of the pilot scope of SNP, so as to enhance the integrity and connectivity of each functional area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, the achievements obtained from carrying out the policy of environmental protection price for promoting air pollution control in coal-fired power plants in China during more than a decade were summarized. Based on the situation of current electricity market reform, the role and effectiveness of environmental protection price for controlling the normal air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dust in China's coal-fired power generation plants, were investigated, including the price structure of electricity environmental protection for coal-fired power generation enterprises in different regions, generating units, and power demands. The policy suggestions were proposed, namely, the reform of electricity environmental protection price would be carried out gradually, the relationship between electricity environmental protection price policy and other environmental protection policies would be matched under the relative overcapacity condition, and the environmental protection price regulation would be integrated into other environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has direct impacts on wildlife and future biodiversity protection efforts. Vulnerability assessment and habitat connectivity analyses are necessary for drafting effective conservation strategies for threatened species such as the Tibetan brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus). We used the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model to assess the current (1950–2000) and future (2041–2060) habitat suitability by combining bioclimatic and environmental variables, and identified potential climate refugia for Tibetan brown bears in Sanjiangyuan National Park, China. Next, we selected Circuit model to simulate potential migration paths based on current and future climatically suitable habitat. Results indicate a total area of potential suitable habitat under the current climate scenario of approximately 31,649.46 km2, of which 28,778.29 km2 would be unsuitable by the 2050s. Potentially suitable habitat under the future climate scenario was projected to cover an area of 23,738.6 km2. Climate refugia occupied 2,871.17 km2, primarily in the midwestern and northeastern regions of Yangtze River Zone, as well as the northern region of Yellow River Zone. The altitude of climate refugia ranged from 4,307 to 5,524 m, with 52.93% lying at altitudes between 4,300 and 4,600 m. Refugia were mainly distributed on bare rock, alpine steppe, and alpine meadow. Corridors linking areas of potentially suitable brown bear habitat and a substantial portion of paths with low‐resistance value were distributed in climate refugia. We recommend various actions to ameliorate the impact of climate change on brown bears, such as protecting climatically suitable habitat, establishing habitat corridors, restructuring conservation areas, and strengthening monitoring efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upland buzzard (Buteo hemilasius), Saker falcon (Falco cherrug), and Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis) are three common large raptors in the Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP), China's first national park. Among them, Upland buzzard and Saker falcon play a significant role in controlling plateau rodent populations and reducing the transmission of pathogens carried by rodents. The Himalayan vulture can provide services for the redistribution and recycling of nutrients in the ecosystem, and play an irreplaceable role in the celestial burial culture of Tibetans in China. Exploring their habitat suitability is important for the protection of the three raptors. Our research was based on the current distribution of Upland buzzard, Saker falcon, and Himalayan vulture that we had extensively surveyed in the Sanjiangyuan National Park from 2016 to 2017. Combined with the correlation analysis of environmental variables, we utilized maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) to evaluate and compare the habitat suitability of the three species in the Sanjiangyuan National Park. Elevation, climate, and human disturbance factors, which had direct or indirect effects on species survival and reproduction, were all included in the model. Among them, elevation was the most important environmental variables affecting the suitability of habitats of three species. Temperature‐related factor was another important predictor. The high (>60%) suitable habitat areas for Upland buzzard, Saker falcon, and Himalayan vulture were 73,017.63, 40,732.78, and 61,654.33 km2, respectively, accounted for 59.32%, 33.09%, and 50.08% of the Sanjiangyuan National Park and their total suitable area (i.e., the sum area of high and moderate habitats) reached 96.07%, 60.59%, and 93.70%, respectively. Besides, the three species have overlapping areas for the suitable habitats, which means that overlapping areas should be highly valued and protected. Therefore, understanding the distribution of suitable habitats of the three raptors can provide useful information and reasonable reference for us to put forward suggestions for their protection and regional management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese zokor, Eospalax fontanierii, is a group of common subterranean solitary rodents and endemic in China. The complete mitogenome sequence of E. fontanierii was determined based on next-generation sequencing in this study. The genome was 16,369 bp long, containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and one non-coding control region (D-loop). The overall base composition of the heavy strand is A (33.80%), C (23.85%), T (30.23%), and G (12.11%). The base compositions present highly biased toward A + T nucleotides. The result of phylogenetic analysis showed the four Eospalax species formed a monophyly with the high bootstrap value, and as a sister group of the genus Myospalax. This is the first report of the complete mitochondrial genomes of E. fontanierii, and the mitogenome is potentially important for evolutionary biology, population genetics, and species diagnosis studies of the Mysopalacinae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The salinization of freshwater lakes by agricultural activities poses a threat to many lake ecosystems around the world. Quantitative, medium- to long-term studies are needed to understand how some common agricultural practices, such as the discharge of crop irrigation in the vicinities of large lakes, may affect lake salinization. In this study, hydrological, hydrodynamics, water quality and meteorological datasets were used to analyze the long-term spatial-temporal variations of water salinities of a major lake, the Chagan Lake, in Northeast China. An integrated hydrodynamics-salinity model was used to simulate lake water salinity changes taking place at different times and locations, including (i) salt accumulations during a non-frozen period, and (ii) the time when water salinity may reach a significant threshold (1 psu) that jeopardizes a major environmental and economic value of this lake (i.e., the cultivation of local fish species). The results confirmed that Chagan Lake was indeed undergoing salinization in the ten year period between 2008 and 2018. The spatial-temporal patterns of the salinization processes were identified. For instance, (i) the mean salinity of the lake water was found to be 0.55 psu in the summer season of the region and 0.53 psu in the winter, and (ii) between May to October the salinity was up to 0.62 psu in the western region of the lake. The rate of salt accumulation was found to be 97 ton per annum during the non-frozen period. The simulation predicted that by 2024 the lake water will become sub-saline (salinity > 1.07 psu) which is toxic to fish species, if the current practice of irrigation discharge into the lake continues. In the scenario that the amount of irrigation discharges into the lake doubles, the western region of the lake will become sub-saline within one year, and then the whole lake within three years. Overall, this study has produced results that are useful to authorities around the world, for balancing the risks and benefits of developing crop irrigation fields in areas surrounding large freshwater lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent Sponge City Development (SCD) policy enacted in China has attracted tremendous investment, although its role in tackling water pollution remains vague. This study investigated the impact of SCD in Shenzhen, a national pilot city for SCD, on water quality in the transjurisdictional bay between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. A system modeling approach that coupled watershed nutrient load calculations with three-dimension bay water quality simulations was adopted. The main study findings include the following. While the planned SCD approach may result in much higher load reductions in total phosphorus and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and a comparable reduction in total nitrogen compared with those obtained by upgrading wastewater treatment plants, the contribution from green infrastructure (23.2%, 21.1% and 17.4% for total nitrogen, total phosphorus and BOD, respectively), which is a definitive component of SCD, is much smaller than that of pipeline construction (i.e., a gray infrastructure component of SCD). The overall cost-effectiveness ranking is green infrastructure > pipeline > upgrading wastewater treatment plants. On average, SCD in Shenzhen could reduce the total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations in the bay by 2.4% and 20.2%, respectively, but increase the chlorophyll a concentration by 5.5% due to improved light conditions. This study represents one of the few attempts to quantitatively assess the water quality impact of the SCD policy at a regional scale. The study findings suggest that SCD emphasizing green infrastructure should be preferably adopted by small-to medium-sized cities, and SCD for an individual city may only have a local impact on water quality and needs to be harmonized with other policies within the regional context. • A transboundary pollution issue between mainland China and Hong Kong was revisited. • SCD in Shenzhen can achieve more load reductions in TN and BOD than upgrading WWTPs. • Pipeline is more important than green infrastructure (GI) in Shenzhen's SCD. • The cost-effectiveness ranking with regard to load reduction is GI > pipeline > WWTPs. • SCD needs to be jointly applied with other policies to exhibit a regional impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop a reservoir many-objective optimal operation framework that incorporates SWT and environmental flow. • We leverage the many-objective robust decision-making approaches to consider uncertainties. • There are complex trade-offs among hydropower benefits, SWT, and environmental flow. • Scenario discovery shows how different uncertain factors impact the robustness of different operation objectives. The negative environmental impacts of large hydroelectric reservoirs have attracted wide attention. Reservoir operation alters seasonal flow patterns and reduces downstream flow during fish spawning seasons, which may lead to the loss of fish biodiversity. Meanwhile, reservoir impoundment reduces the flow velocity and raises the reservoir surface water temperature (SWT), potentially increasing the risk of algal blooms. While previous studies have designed various operation rules to balance the hydropower benefits and environmental flow or water temperature through multi-objective optimization approaches, a comprehensive analysis of trade-offs among the hydropower benefits, environmental flow, and SWT under an uncertain future remains lacking. This study contributes the many-objective robust decision-making (MORDM) framework to the multi-objective reservoir ecological operation for the first time. We quantify the trade-offs among maximizing the hydropower benefits, maximizing the reliability of environmental flow, and minimizing the number of days with high SWT; and evaluate the robustness of the operation rules under deep uncertainties from the climate conditions and electricity market. We apply MORDM to a large and deep reservoir, Nuozhadu, located in southwest China. Our results indicate that trade-offs exist between environmental flow and SWT, emphasizing the necessity to consider multiple environmental objectives in reservoir operation. Based on MORDM, we identify an operation scheme that can not only balance hydropower benefits and two environmental objectives, but also have robust performance against the uncertain future states. Scenario discovery analysis shows that air temperature is the most important uncertain factor that influences the robustness of operation rules. Our study provides a new perspective on reservoir operation planning to achieve balanced and sustainable developments in hydropower and environments under uncertain climate and electricity market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Spatio-seasonal dynamics of antibiotics in a high-latitude agricultural catchment. • Concentrations of selected antibiotics were higher during freeze–thaw periods. • ARGs were related to the half-life and lipophilicity of antibiotics. • The mixture quotient risk map shows potential risks to the regional ecosystem. • A hierarchical priority control list of antibiotics is recommended. Antibiotics are widely consumed and are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems, such as in agricultural and fishery lake catchments, for prophylactic treatment. However, there are very few comprehensive studies reporting all seasonal occurrences, spatiotemporal dynamics, and risk assessments of antibiotics in agricultural lake catchments, especially in cold regions during the winter season. This study measured seasonality in the concentrations of 12 antibiotics belonging to seven different classes in the surface waters (tributary rivers and lakes) of the Chagan lake catchment in northeast China. All antibiotics were detected in most of the water samples across most seasons, with concentrations varying for different compounds, locations, and seasons. These levels were discussed in terms of the main sources at different sampling sites, including agriculture, fish farming, municipal wastewater, and others. In general, the highest concentrations of most compounds were observed during the freeze–thaw periods. The number of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) correlated with compound lipophilicity and half-life. Based on the ecological risks of antibiotics and the relative abundance of ARGs, a hierarchical control priority list (HCPL) of antibiotics was determined, considering four levels (critical, high, medium, and low). To further strengthen the control and effectively manage antibiotics, we highly recommend the reduction and selective use of veterinary antibiotics in winter and spring during the freeze–thaw periods in the Chagan lake catchment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An LSTM-based surface water temperature predicting method for large deep reservoirs was proposed. • Air temperature is the dominant factor for the surface water temperature. • Water level can influence surface water temperature in summer. Surface water temperature (SWT) is a key indicator to characterize the ecological health of a reservoir. Many newly built large-deep reservoirs, however, lack enough SWT observation data and high-efficient SWT predicting methods for water ecosystem management. This paper proposed a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) based SWT predicting method by surrogating a Delft3D hydrodynamic model. The Delft3D model calibrated by a handful of measured data was used to generate 30-year daily SWT data for training the LSTM model. The LSTM model that uses the air temperature, relative humidity, radiation, and water level data as input variables, can significantly improve the efficiency of SWT prediction. The SWT predicting method was implemented in the Nuozhadu reservoir, a large deep reservoir located in southwest China. The results showed that the LSTM model could predict the SWT generated by Delft3D accurately with an R2 value of 0.99, and had a dramatic reduction in computational burden. Meanwhile, the R2 between the LSTM model results and measured data was also over 0.93. Based on the SWT predicting method, we analyzed the sensitivity of SWT to the air temperature and water level to reveal the impacts of climate change and reservoir operation policies on the SWT. The major contribution of this study is that we greatly improve the computational efficiency of the SWT predicting method so that it can easily be coupled with reservoir operation optimization models, thereby enabling reservoir managers to identify optimal operation rules simultaneously considering the water temperature targets and other targets such as hydropower generation and water supply, and to eventually support reservoir management strategies that aim to reduce the potential aquatic ecosystems risk from abnormal water temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The usage of HGMs improves the thermal insulation and fire resistance of composite. • The HGMs-TIF was prepared using the solvent evaporation method. • The HGMs-TIF has a point to point binding structure, as well as open&closed pores. • The thermal conductivity of HGMs-TIF decrease with the proportion of HGMs. • HGMs-TIF-01 (HGMs%=88.5%) was a non-combustible thermal insulation material. Usually, the thermal insulation and flame retardancy of traditional building material are mutually exclusive. It is very challenging to make a material with both of these properties. In this study, a hollow glass microsphere based ultralight non-combustible thermal insulation foam (HGMs-TIF) with point-to-point binding structure was prepared using solvent evaporation method. Five samples were prepared with different mass ratios of hollow glass microspheres and phenolic resin. The results showed that as the mass proportion of HGMs increase from 60.6% to 88.5%, the thermal insulation as well as flame retardancy of composite is improved. Remarkably, the HGMs-TIF-01 which has the largest proportion of HGMs (88.5%) shows lowest thermal conductivity of 0.0452 W/(m∙K) and lowest gross heat of combustion of 2.844 MJ/kg, what implies it is a non-combustible material according to the National Standard of the People's Republic of China GB/T 8624-2019 (i.e. gross heat of combustion of the standard of class A2 is lower than 3 MJ/kg). Besides, the HGMs-TIF-01 also is a lightweight and high-strength material, which has a low density of 0.142 g/cm3 and a high compressive strength of 0.748 MPa. It is helpful for the further design of the non-combustible thermal insulation material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We assessed population density and distribution of wildlife by sample line method. • We used the suitable habitat area to calculate the number of wildlife. • The pressure index of livestock on pastures had decreased in recent years. • The wildlife population had less impact on grasslands. Grassland carrying capacity and the number of livestock and wildlife play important roles in maintaining the balance of the grassland ecosystem. In this study, we assessed the grassland-livestock balance between large wild herbivores and livestock. We used the sample line transect method to conduct a survey on population and habitat area of wildlife in Sanjiangyuan National Park, China, from 2016 to 2017 and got detailed information about the population density and distribution of wildlife. The maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) was used to calculate the suitable habitat area of large wild herbivores. In addition, we used a suitable area to calculate the number of wildlife. The results showed that the suitable habitat area of Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang) and Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata) were 14,463.7 and 15,306.3 km2, respectively, in Maduo County. The number of Tibetan wild ass and Tibetan gazelle was 12,176 and 4,231, respectively. The results indicated that the number of livestock was higher than that of wild herbivores, and overgrazing was the main cause of grassland desertification. However, the wildlife population had little effect on grasslands. The pressure index of livestock on pastures had gradually decreased in recent years. Therefore, we advise to protect the grasslands and control the number of livestock for maintaining local ecological balance and animal husbandry development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate change on nearshore coastal water quality and its interaction with pollution prevention efforts (e.g., the development of green and gray water infrastructure) still lack systematic investigation. This study performed a holistic analysis of the impact of climate change on the salinity and concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and chlorophyll a (Chl.a) in Shenzhen Bay between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the two most developed megacities in South China, based on three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality modeling. The major study findings were as follows. First, Chl.a was the most sensitive parameter, and its bay-wide average concentration in 2100 was predicted to be approximately 13% and 46% higher than those in 2015 under mild and rapid climate change scenarios, respectively. Second, sea level rise was found to be a major driver of all four water quality parameters, while temperature and radiation mainly influenced Chl.a and precipitation mainly influenced nutrients. Third, water quality responses to climate change were highly heterogeneous over the bay. Even under a mild climate change scenario, the highest location-specific changes (2100 vs. 2015) in salinity and TN, TP and Chl.a concentrations were projected to be approximately 21%, 19%, 25%, and 65%, respectively. Fourth, changes in seasonal variation due to climate change may lead to an enhanced ecological risk of algal blooms. Finally, the effect of reducing TN and TP concentrations by proposed water infrastructure development was found to be significantly weakened (nearly 40% and 20% for TN and TP, respectively, under a mild climate change scenario), while the negative effect (i.e., increase in the Chl.a concentration) was notably accelerated. Regional cooperation is critical for protecting the water quality of the bay, particularly under climate change. The insights obtained in this study are applicable to other coastal water zones around the world with similar socioeconomic backgrounds and climatic conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the limiting factors of phytoplankton growth and competition is crucial for the restoration of aquatic ecosystems. However, the role and synergistic effect of co-varying environmental conditions, such as nutrients and light on the succession of phytoplankton community remains unclear. In this study, a hydrodynamic-ecological modeling approach was developed to explore phytoplankton growth and succession under co-varying environmental conditions (nutrients, total suspended solids (TSS) and variable N:P ratios) in a large shallow lake called Lake Chagan, in Northeast China. A phytoplankton bloom model was nested in the ecological modeling approach. In contrast to the traditonal ecological modeling, competition between phytoplankton species in our study was modeled at both the species/functional group and phenotype levels. Six phytoplankton functional groups, namely diatoms, green algae, Anabaena, Microcystis, Aphanizomenon and Oscillatoria and each of them with three limitation types (i.e., light-limitation, nitrogen-limitation and phosphorus-limitation) were included in the bloom model. Our results demonstrated that the average biomass proportion of the three limitation types (light-limitation, nitrogen-limitation and phosphorus-limitation) in the six phytoplankton function groups accounted for approximately 50%, 37% and 23% of the total phytoplankton biomass, respectively. TSS suppressed the growth of diatoms and green algae, but favored the dominance of cyanobacteria in Lake Chagan, especially in the turbid water phase (TSS ≥ 60 mg/L). In addition, it was reported that the potential of either N-fixing or non-N-fixing cyanobacterial blooming along the gradients of N:P ratios could exist under the influence of the co-environmental factors in the lake. The proportion of non-N-fixing cyanobacteria (i.e., Microcystis and Oscillatoria) exceeded the proportion of N-fixing cyanobacteria (i.e., Anabaena and Aphanizomenon) when the N:P ratios exceeded 20. Non-N-fixing cyanobacteria would become dominant at higher TSS concentrations and lower light intensities in the turbid water. N-fixing cyanobacteria favored lower N:P ratios and higher light intensities in the clearwater phase (where TSS ≤ 60 mg/L). To sustain a good ecological status in the lake, our results suggest that nutrient and TSS levels in the lake should be maintained at or below the thresholds (TN ≤ 1.5 mg/L; TP ≤ 0.1 mg/L; N:P ratios between 15 and 20; and TSS ≤ 60 mg/L). These findings can help improve water quality management practices to restore aquatic ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The population of wild musk deer (Moschus spp.) has declined in recent decades and reached an endangered status in China. Global climate change may drive the extinction rate of these species. To understand the implications of global warming on the future potential space utilization and migration direction of musk deer, both the maximum entropy model and barycenter migration analysis were utilized. Five global climate models and four representative concentration pathway scenarios were considered to simulate the distribution of six species for the years 2050 and 2070. The results indicated that the suitable habitat area would decrease over the next 30 to 50 years. These decreases of suitable habitat were more significant for the Siberian musk deer (reduced by 4.98% of the land area of China), the forest musk deer (1.04%), the black musk deer (0.86%), and the Himalayan musk deer (1.82%) compared with the other two musk deer species. The area with suitable climate for the Siberian musk deer will migrate to the southwest (to higher elevations) while areas suitable for the Alpine musk deer, the Himalayan musk deer, and the Anhui musk deer would all migrate to the northeast (to higher latitudes). However, the forest musk deer and the black musk deer will not migrate in the same direction, but will mainly migrate to the west and the north, respectively. These results provide data in support for in-situ conservation, ex-situ conservation, natural reserve community, and bio-corridor construction of China's musk deer species in response to global warming., (Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Following significant developments in technology, alternative devices have been applied in fieldwork for animal and plant surveys. Thermal-image acquisition cameras installed on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used in animal surveys in the wilderness. This article demonstrates an example of how UAVs can be used in high mountainous regions, presenting a case study on the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey with a detection rate of 65.19% for positive individual identification. It also presents a model that can prospectively predict population size for a given animal species, which is based on combined initial work using UAVs and traditional surveys on the ground. A great potential advantage of UAVs is significantly shortening survey procedures, particularly for areas with high mountains and plateaus, such as the Himalayas, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Hengduan Mountains, the Yunnan-Gui Plateau and Qinling Mountains in China, where carrying out a traditional survey is extremely difficult, so that species and population surveys, particularly for critically endangered animals, are largely absent. This lack of data has impacted the management of endangered animals as well as the formulation and amendment of conservation strategies., (© 2019 International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)