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SummaryWith the increase in urbanization in China, people's neighborhood has an important influence on their well-being. This study aims to explore the impact of neighborhood mutual support on well-being from the perspective of social work. A total of 13,486 samples from the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey were utilized. The data were analyzed by the ordered logit model and propensity score matching while controlling for individual, family, and socioeconomic features.Findings(1) The more the neighborhood mutual support, the higher individuals' degree of well-being; this conclusion is robust. 2) Neighborhood mutual support has a larger improvement effect on the well-being of groups with low social status. (3) Neighborhood mutual support improves well-being through two mechanisms: it can grow an individual's support network, helping them obtain more material support, and it enhances individuals' integration into society, improving their well-being through increased feelings of community security. (4) The influence of neighborhood mutual support is weakened when a community has formal social support (full-time social workers) because individuals can resolve their problems through formal social support, reducing their reliance on neighbors.ApplicationsBased on the perspective of community development, understanding the influence of neighborhood mutual support on well-being is important. Social workers should adopt different intervention approaches according to characteristics of different groups to improve residents' level of neighborhood mutual support. Moreover, to promote community development, the government should consider arranging social work for less-developed communities.

Purpose Examines the impact of the presence or absence of a spouse on the risk of death among older Chinese people and explores issues such as differences in mortality risk among different populations. Method Using the five-period longitudinal data of the China Health Impact Survey on the Elderly (CLHLS) from 2005 to 2018 as the basis, a Cox risk regression model was constructed using the Chinese elderly population aged 65 to 105 years as the study population, with the risk of death among the elderly as the dependent variable and the presence of a spouse among the elderly as the core independent variable. Results Controlling for variables such as individual characteristics of the elderly, socio-economic characteristics and health status, the presence or absence of a spouse had a significant effect on the risk of death in older people, with older people with a spouse having a 45.2% lower risk of death than older people without a spouse, an effect that was more prevalent in older people, older people who were male, older people in rural areas, and older people without financial support from children or pension support. Further analysis of the risk of death without a spouse was widowed > divorced > unmarried. Conclusion Based on a sample of older people in China, we found that having a partner in later life is a worthwhile life goal, i.e. having a partner in old age is effective in reducing the risk of death in later life and is an important factor in coping with ageing and enjoying a high quality of life in later life. Being divorced, widowed and single is detrimental to health, especially in older, male, rural and insecure older people. To reduce the negative impact of spouselessness in later life on the risk of death in old age, we need to focus on the elderly, male elderly, rural elderly and the insecure elderly.

China is a rapidly growing country, where a considerable amount of rural female labor has shifted from agricultural to nonagricultural sectors. Meanwhile, a strong son preference has persisted in the vast rural areas of China. Does women’s off-farm work make a difference in their preference for sons? Using data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey, we employ a multilevel regression model to investigate the association between women’s off-farm work participation and their son preference. The results show that off-farm work participation significantly reduces women’s desired number of sons and the likelihood of their desire to have a second son. The results are robust to additional estimations, including propensity score matching and an instrumental variable approach. We also examine whether the effects of off-farm work on son preference vary by women’s employment status and find no significant difference between the effects of off-farm self-employment and wage employment. Moreover, the effects of off-farm work on weakening the son preference are more pronounced for older, less-educated, and poor women, implying the important role of off-farm employment in empowering women and enhancing their socioeconomic status. Our findings have potential implications for the future achievement of a balanced sex ratio at birth in China and other developing countries.

Using two-wave balanced panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS), this study examines the association between the number of children and the monetary transfers received by elderly parents in rural China. Through theoretical and empirical analysis, we find evidence that parents with more children receive more economic transfers. For each additional child, the probability of receiving transfers increases by 3.1%, and the amount of total transfers increases by 328 yuan, which is roughly equivalent to 5 percentage points of the per capita pre-transfer income of rural families. We conclude that the positive impact for the elderly is mainly reflected in cash transfers, specifically for those from high-income families, with non-co-residence with their children, and aged 60–69. Meanwhile, the quality of offspring and intimate parent–child ties stimulate the effectiveness of the number of children on the monetary transfers received by elderly persons. From the younger generation’s perspective, more siblings also contribute to reducing the burden of support for each child. These findings enhance our understanding of the relationship between the number of children and upstream intergenerational monetary transfers, and provide us with a useful reference for future policy design that encourages children to meet their filial obligations.

Background The trade-off between fertility and longevity stands or falls in China, concerning the realization of the welfare of the parents in later life. With healthy ageing and the implementation of the three-child policy, the policies will always aim to safeguard the welfare of the elderly and increase the level of fertility. Based on Chinese households, whether this trade-off relationship is established or not is of great significance to family fertility orientation and the welfare in later life. Methods Based on data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2008 to 2018, a Cox proportional risk model and an accelerated failure time model were used to examine the impact of the number of children, the number of sons and the number of daughters on longevity. Results The study found that the trade-off between childbearing and longevity only existed for those with five or more children, and that for those with fewer than five children, their longevity was not associated with having more children. We further found that having five or more children significantly increased the risk of death for both rural male older adults and urban older adults; and that having a son had a greater negative impact on parental longevity than having a daughter. The timing of childbearing, both too early and late childbearing, adversely affects the longevity of older people. Conclusions Based on current policy fertility levels and desire of fertility in family, the negative impact of current fertility patterns on older people's longevity is not present, and promoting fertility and ensuring well-being in later life can be achieved simultaneously. The implications are as follows, firstly, for families, having three children does not affect later life welfare under the three-child policy. Secondly, in terms of fertility support policies, improving fertility services for women while increasing attention to the role of men and fertility services for urban residents; and promoting scientific fertility to avoid the negative effects of unreasonable childbearing behavior.

This study investigated the causal effect of retirement on the labor supply. We used male workers in China as an example and selected work hours as a measure of labor supply. The study employed two methods, namely fuzzy regression discontinuity and two-stage least squares, to analyze the impact of retirement on the work hours of the older adults based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2015. Results show that retirement did not significantly reduce the labor supply. However, its impact on the supply of different types of labor was inconsistent. We also found that retired old adults tended to allocate more work hours to self-employment. Policy implications are as following. There’s room for increasing retirement age, but it may not be as effective as expected in increasing the level of labor supply. If a delay retirement policy is to be implemented, we should pay attention to the side effects on the normal replacement of labor in the job market and maintaining a reasonable turnover rate by implementing a flexible retirement system. Moreover, establishing a good job market environment for older adults as well as a mechanism and system for retired older adults with high human capital accumulation to return to the labor market are also recommended to increase the productivity level of the labor force.

To improve the ecosystem services of wetlands in response to global climate change, wetland restoration projects have become prevalent worldwide. Restored wetlands have the potential to remove external nitrogen through denitrification, but incomplete denitrification may increase nitrous oxide (N2O) release. In order to comprehensively understand nitrogen removal and N2O emission processes in restored wetlands, we conducted carbon (anhydrous sodium acetate) and nitrogen (sodium nitrate) addition experiments in the Fengxian coastal wetland site. These experiments explored the roles of external nitrogen, carbon sources, and wetland plants in nitrogen removal and N2O emission. With the addition of nitrogen, the removal of external nitrogen was significant at the restored wetland site, but led to increasing N2O release. However, by adding carbon sources, the restored wetland could not only enhance nitrogen removal efficiency through denitrification, but also significantly reduce N2O emission. Our results demonstrate that carbon availability could improve the ecological functions of coastal restored wetlands by improving water quality and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

This paper proposes a liner low-dropout regulator (LDO) circuit using on-chip steady-state compensation technology. Firstly, a bandgap reference is designed with low temperature drift and low power consumption. Secondly, the on-chip compensation is adopted in the LDO, which can avoid the use of large off-chip capacitors and reduce the layout area of the LDO circuit. The circuit performances are verified in the TSMC 180 nm CMOS process. Test results show that temperature coefficient of the bandgap reference circuit is as low as 4.3 × 10-6 °C in the temperature range of -40°C to 125°C. The static current under the 3V power supply voltage is 4 μA. The LDO output voltage Vout is 1.8V . And the core area of the chip is 0.0848 mm2.

Purpose Under the background of aging population, the disability of the elderly is more serious, and childbirth affects the health status of elder women. The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between the number of births and the risk of maternal disability in later life. Methods Based on data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in 2018, 4,686 elder women were selected as study population. The logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate the effect of number of children and other fertility behaviours on the risk of disability and to test whether there were urban-rural differences and gender differences. Results A high number of births significantly reduced the risk of disability among elder women. For each additional birth, the odds ratio of maternal disability in later life decreased by 4.3%, especially elder women with fewer than five births. Heterogeneity analysis found that this effect was present in the urban areas, and that an increase in the number of births increased the probability of disability for both fathers and rural mothers, but this result was not significant. Further examination showed that later age at last birth and longer childbearing period both significantly reduced the probability of disability. Conclusions This paper found an association between early fertility behaviour and the risk of disability in later life. We need to promote urbanisation and to have children within the right limits, not too many, and improve relevant supporting measures to ensure the health of female elderly in later year.

Background Worker health is often influenced by their occupation type, and the accumulative effect of occupation has a significant impact on their health after retirement. Studies show that the type and level of occupation before retirement directly impact workers’ self-rated post-retirement health. However, there is little research on the self-rated post-retirement health of danwei leaders in China. This study seeks to examine the self-rated health level of Chinese danwei leaders after retirement. Furthermore, the differences between their self-rated health level and that of retirees from other occupations are explored by examining the accumulative effect of occupation and the mechanism underlying these differences. Methods Based on 5,910 samples’ data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey, ordinary least squares, logit, and propensity score matching models are used to investigate the self-rated health level of Chinese danwei leaders after retirement, their differences with other occupations, and the corresponding mechanism. Results The results show that retired danwei leaders have higher self-rated health levels than retirees in other occupations. This was mainly found among female, non-eastern, married, not living with children, and highly educated respondents. The difference in self-rated health between retired danwei leaders and other retired groups was influenced by their post-retirement income and social status. Conclusions In China, retired danwei leaders rated their health higher than retirees from other occupations. Danwei leaders have high socioeconomic status due to their occupation. Compared with other groups, their advantages are significant and enjoyed for a long time. Additionally, most danwei leaders have high social influence even after retirement and their higher income and social status have a positive impact on their self-rated health compared with other employees. This study provides empirical evidence from China and extends current literature on the effects of occupational type and level on self-rated health after retirement.

There is little empirical research on the effect of working after retirement on the mental health of the older adults in China. To fill this gap in the literature, this study examines the effects of working after retirement on the mental health of the older adults using data from the China Family Panel Studies. We employed the methods of ordinary least squares, ordered logit, and propensity score matching–difference in differences (PSM–DID). Results show that working after retirement is negatively related to mental health of the older adults in China. The deterioration effect of post-retirement work mainly impacts those aged over 60 years, women, and those with lower education background, urban household registration, higher pension, and higher social status. Working after retirement is negatively related to mental health through the mediating effects of deteriorating interpersonal relationships and lower positive attitude. It is necessary to consider mental health effects and their population differences to evaluate the impact and improve the quality of policies of active aging.

Purpose: The Internet has become an important part of daily life. However, older adults in China remain digital refugees amid the rapid development of digital information technology. This study attempts to scientifically answer how Internet use affects the subjective welfare of older adults.Method: Using data from the 2014 and 2016 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), a combination of ordinary least squares, ordered logit regression models, and propensity score matching (PSM) models were used to analyze the effects of Internet use on the mental health of Chinese older adults.Results: Our findings suggest that Internet use affects the mental health of older adults and increases the incidence of their depressive symptoms. These findings are robust to changing the key indicators, research method, and sample. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative effects on mental health are more evident for specific groups of older adults, such as those who are women, younger and middle-aged, high-income, non-rural Hukou, less educated, and living with others.Conclusions: Cultivating the ability of older adults to use the Internet and maintain a rational attitude while doing so can prevent its negative impact on their life satisfaction. Moreover, it can improve their attitudes toward using the technology and reduce their anxiety.

Purpose: The research objectives of this study are to test the scientific propositions of whether Internet use promotes life satisfaction among the elderly, whether there is variability in the effect of Internet use on the well-being of the elderly, and through what channels Internet use affects the elderly's life satisfaction.Method: Using data from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this paper employed linear regression, ordered logit model, and the propensity score matching (PSM) approach to investigate the association of Internet use with life satisfaction among the elderly in China.Results: The results show that Internet use was significantly and negatively associated with the life satisfaction of the Chinese elderly. Further analysis on group heterogeneity demonstrates that the negative association was more prominent among the participants who were males, at a lower age, had lower income and education, non-agricultural registered, and relatively healthy. Finally, the mediating effect indicates that Internet use may affect life satisfaction among the elderly through the channel of reducing their perceptions of social justice.Conclusions: In order to avoid the negative effects of using the Internet, the following policy suggestions are put forward: Improve the elderly's attitudes toward Internet use; pay attention to the sense of fairness of the elderly to improve life satisfaction; guide the elderly to reduce the time of using the Internet.

Since the first case of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has quickly spread to all the corners of the world. Amid the global public health threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, active cooperative governance has gradually emerged as the most powerful weapon against its spread. To facilitate international cooperation for pandemic governance, this paper applied the evolutionary game theory to analyze the factors influencing active cooperative governance and, based on the results, proposed a series of recommendations for promoting international cooperation. (1) leveraging the role of international organizations to reduce the cost of realizing the strategy of active cooperative governance, (2) promoting the international exchange of related experiences to lower the cost of active pandemic governance, (3) sustaining productive and daily activities during the pandemic in a classified and hierarchical manner to reduce the economic loss incurred by active pandemic governance, and (4) optimizing the incentive measures of international organizations to facilitate the selection of active cooperative governance. Finally, from the four aspects of resource management of pandemic treatment, supply management of living materials, population flow cooperation management, and governance fund cooperation management, this paper gives the path of international pandemic cooperative governance.

After 2020, with Chinese baby boomers growing old, more and more working people will step into retirement. What kind of influence retirement behaviour will have on the mental health of the older adults and whether the existing findings of retirement on the mental health of the older adults are applicable to China's current conditions? The answers are related to the improvement of the well being of older adults and future policy orientation. Based on the China Family Tracking Survey data in 2016 and 2018, the paper employed the Ordinary Least Squares, Two Stage Least Squares, and Propensity Score Matching methods to investigate the effect of retirement on the mental health of older adults in China. Results show that retirement can significantly reduce the depression and has a positive impact on the their mental health, and no chronic diseases, poor economic status and shorter education years are conducive to improve mental health of the elderly. Further, the mechanisms differ between the sexes that while exercise is a positive mediator for both sexes, reading and family dinners are positive mediators for men but not for women.

Using data from the China Labor-Force Dynamic Survey, this study employed logistic regressions to investigate the association between fertility behavior and depression among Chinese women. The empirical results show that in China, women having children were significantly less likely to have depressive symptoms (OR = 0.651) compared to childless women. We also found a U-shaped relationship between fertility levels and depression in women. The results were robust to using the propensity score matching approach to address the sample selection problem. Further, our heterogeneity analysis demonstrated that the negative relationship between fertility level and depression was more significant among women who were in their 30s, lived in urban areas, and lived in high-income households. Compared to having male children (boys) (OR = 0.874), having female children (girls) (OR = 0.795) was more significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms among women. In the meantime, we did not find a significant relationship between the childbearing period and depression. The paper discussed possible reasons for our findings and policy implications from the perspectives of the government, society, and family.

Coastal blue carbon refers to the carbon taken from atmospheric CO2; fixed by advanced plants (including salt marsh, mangrove, and seagrass), phytoplankton, macroalgae, and marine calcifiers via the interaction of plants and microbes; and stored in nearshore sediments and soils; as well as the carbon transported from the coast to the ocean and ocean floor. The carbon sequestration capacity per unit area of coastal blue carbon is far greater than that of the terrestrial carbon pool. The mechanisms and controls of the carbon sink from salt marshes, mangroves, seagrasses, the aquaculture of shellfish and macroalgae, and the microbial carbon pump need to be further studied. The methods to quantify coastal blue carbon include carbon flux measurements, carbon pool measurements, manipulative experiments, and modeling. Restoring, conserving, and enhancing blue carbon will increase carbon sinks and produce carbon credits, which could be traded on the carbon market. The need to tackle climate change and implement China’s commitment to cut carbon emissions requires us to improve studies on coastal blue carbon science and policy. The knowledge learned from coastal blue carbon improves the conservation and restoration of salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses; enhances the function of the microbial carbon pump; and promotes sustainable aquaculture, such as ocean ranching.

There are a few existing studies on whether domestic migration improves China’s pension system’s fiscal sustainability in the context of rapid urbanization and industrialization. In this paper, we systematically investigate the impact of migration on the solvency of the worker’s old-age insurance for urban employees by constructing actuarial and econometric models. We use panel data from 2002 to 2018, collected from 31 provinces in China. The results show that the association between migration and the solvency of pensions is an inverted-U shape along the urbanization process. Further regional comparison showed that the above-stated inverted-U curve is more pronounced in the central and western regions. We also established that the number of participants and the contribution base are the main contributors to these results. Our conclusions are important for future population policies and public pension systems in China.

Public pension insurance has become a major form of social protection around the world. However, little is known about the association between public pension expansion and individuals' fertility in developing economies. In this paper, we examine the effects of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) on the fertility of married women in rural China. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the difference-in-differences approach is employed to estimate the impact of NRPS expansion on fertility outcomes. The robustness of results is checked through additional estimations, including difference-in-differences with propensity score matching, fixed-effects model, and instrumental variable approach. Results show that the NRPS expansion has a significantly negative effect on the number of children, and it reduces the likelihood of having a second child. The fertility-reducing effect of the NRPS is larger for the younger, well-educated women and those in high-income families. Considerations of the fertility effects and their population differences are needed in the impact evaluations of relevant public pension reform.

In this study, we reported a practice at northern Hangzhou Bay, southeast China aimed at restoring coastal wetlands within the intertidal zone outside of the seawalls. The principle idea is protecting the site and helping the marsh establishment by engineering measures, and thereafter, relieving the protections to encourage the self-organization of the restored ecosystem. The results of this implementation showed the marsh reached an average vegetation cover of 70% in the first year. The excess nitrogen was removed by an ecological recirculating treatment system, which was coupled in the wetland. The long-term performance of the wetland suggested that it could resist disturbances such as hurricanes and algal blooms, and provided clean water habitat for aquatic fauna. By presenting the case of Hangzhou Bay, we call for more novel coastal restoration implementations that aim to create new boundaries with engineering features and self-organization, which benefit both human and nature.

When solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is developed as a novel approach to quantify gross primary production (GPP), narrow SIF emission spectrum around the atmospheric oxygen absorption windows (˜ 761 nm and ˜687 nm) has been widely used to represent SIF and to derive GPP. As SIF is a continuous spectrum, deriving the full broadband SIF emission spectrum over 640–850 nm provides an opportunity to fully explore the potential of SIF in estimating GPP. Using high-frequency measurements of canopy carbon flux and SIF emissions at the atmospheric absorption bands, we reconstruct the full SIF spectrum from SIF signals at the absorption bands, and then analyze correlations between the GPP and the selected single SIF bands and their combinations using both linear regression (LR) and Gaussian processes regression (GPR). Our results indicate that (1) the red SIF bands (640–700 nm) shows low correlation with GPP due to the strong (re)absorption of red SIF emissions by leaf chlorophyll; (2) the individual bands in near-infrared area (at 720 nm, 740 nm, and 761 nm) can determine about 60% and 62% of the variance in GPP with hourly scale by LR and GPR, respectively, and the combination of those SIF bands provide increased predictive power, explaining 66% and 76% variance in GPP with hourly scale by LR and GPR, respectively; (3) the solar radiation saturation, fraction of direct solar radiation, air temperature and leaf area index may have negative impacts on the SIF-GPP correlations when they are beyond optimal thresholds; and (4) the temporal aggregation of SIF-GPP (daily scale) enhances the correlations as compared with the hourly scale: the daily combination of SIF bands (at 687 nm, 720 nm, and 761 nm) can account for 80% and 93% of variance in daily daytime GPP by LR and GPR, respectively, suggesting that the combination of these three bands of SIF on the daily scale is the best proxy for GPP. Our results provide a new approach to analyze the SIF-GPP correlations using the ground-based full broadband SIF emission, suggesting that multi-bands SIF has a stronger capacity in predicting plant GPP than traditionally used signal band SIF data.

The economy system is a complex system, and the complex network is a powerful tool to study its complexity. Here we calculate the economic distance matrices based on annual GDP of nine economic sectors from 1995–2010 in 31 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, 1 then build several spatial economic networks through the threshold method and the Minimal Spanning Tree method. After the analysis on the structure of the networks and the influence of geographic distance, some conclusions are drawn. First, connectivity distribution of a spatial economic network does not follow the power law. Second, according to the network structure, nine economic sectors could be divided into two groups, and there is significant discrepancy of network structure between these two groups. Moreover, the influence of the geographic distance plays an important role on the structure of a spatial economic network, network parameters are changed with the influence of the geographic distance. At last, 2000 km is the critical value for geographic distance: for real estate and finance, the spearman’s rho with l 2000 is bigger than that with l > 2000 , and the case is opposite for other economic sectors.

Background: Around 2015, with the alternation of population generation, post-1960s baby boomers start to retire and post-1990s and 2000s baby busters successively enter into labor market in China, which has led to the decrease of working-age population, the increase of pension burden. Methods: We use dynamic programming method by improving the traditional OLG model. Results: This paper finds that a combination of immediately delayed retirement and accumulated pension system should be implemented if based on the goal of maximizing output, while a combination of undelayed retirement and accumulated pension system should be implemented if based on the goal of maximizing utility. Certainly, with using efficiency of elements unchanged, with the decrease of working-age population caused by the alternation of population generation, the increase of pension burden and the disappearance of capital dividend, a sharp decline of future economic growth cannot be changed no matter what kind of pension and retirement systems are implemented. Conclusions: In view of the substitutability of family utility and social output and synthesizing reform resistance, a combination of gradually delayed retirement and accumulative pension system should be implemented. At the same time, on the premise of stabilizing short-term economic situation, we should look for a new engine for economic development by system reform in the long run.

Accurate estimation of terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) remains a challenge despite its importance in the global carbon cycle. Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) has been recently adopted to understand photosynthesis and its response to the environment, particularly with remote sensing data. However, it remains unclear how ChlF and photosynthesis are linked at different spatial scales across the growing season. We examined seasonal relationships between ChlF and photosynthesis at the leaf, canopy, and ecosystem scales and explored how leaf-level ChlF was linked with canopy-scale solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) in a temperate deciduous forest at Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA. Our results show that ChlF captured the seasonal variations of photosynthesis with significant linear relationships between ChlF and photosynthesis across the growing season over different spatial scales (R2 = 0.73, 0.77, and 0.86 at leaf, canopy, and satellite scales, respectively; P

Simulation code. (DOCX 31 kb)

Plant phenology has a significant impact on the forest ecosystem carbon balance. Detecting plant phenology by capturing the time-series canopy images through digital camera has become popular in recent years. However, the relationship between color indices derived from camera images and plant physiological characters are elusive during the growing season in temperate ecosystems. We collected continuous images of forest canopy, leaf size, leaf area index (LAI) and leaf chlorophyll measured by a soil plant analysis development (SPAD) analyzer in a northern subtropical oak forest in China. Our results show that (1) the spring peak of color indices, Gcc (Green Chromatic Coordinates) and ExG (Excess Green), was 18 days earlier than the 90% maximum SPAD value; (2) the 90% maximum SPAD value coincided with the change point of Gcc and ExG immediately after their spring peak; and (3) the spring curves of Gcc and ExG before their peaks were highly synchronous with the expansion of leaf size and the development of L...