Effectiveness of functional zones in National Nature Reserves for the protection of forest ecosystems in China.

Protected areas (PAs) have been established worldwide to conserve biodiversity. However, the conservation effectiveness of different PA functional zones remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated National Nature Reserves (NNRs) in China to explore and quantify the conservation in their core, buffer, and experimental zones.

Improving protected area effectiveness through consideration of different human-pressure baselines.

Previous assessments of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) focused primarily on changes in human pressure over time and did not consider the different human-pressure baselines of PAs, thereby potentially over- or underestimating PA effectiveness. We developed a framework that considers both human-pressure baseline and change in human pressure over time and assessed the effectiveness of 338 PAs in China from 2010 to 2020. The initial state of human pressure on PAs was taken as the baseline, and changes in human pressure index (HPI) were further analyzed under different baselines.

Which management measures lead to better performance of China's protected areas in reducing forest loss?

Protected areas (PAs) are considered essential for biodiversity conservation, and concerns about the effectiveness of PAs in terms of reducing deforestation are growing. However, few studies have identified the management measures that best reduce deforestation within existing PAs. Here, we carried out 10-year (from 2007 to 2016) field surveys and obtained a database of 10 management measures of 227 PAs mainly protecting forest ecosystems in China.

Phenological changes in herbaceous plants in China's grasslands and their responses to climate change: a meta-analysis.

Plant phenological events are sensitive indicators of climate change, and their change could markedly affect the structure and function of ecosystems. Previous studies have revealed the spatiotemporal variations in the phenological events of woody plants. However, limited studies have focused on the phenophases of herbaceous plants.

Biodiversity conservation in China: A review of recent studies and practices.

Biodiversity conservation plays an important role in the sustainable development of human society. China had made significant progress in biodiversity conservation studies and practices. This paper reviews major achievements in China in the past decades, especially those since 2010.

Magnetic nanoferromanganese oxides modified biochar derived from pine sawdust for adsorption of tetracycline hydrochloride.

In this study, a new type of composite material, namely modified biochar (MBC), was synthesized by loading the magnetic ferromanganese oxide nanoparticles on pine biochar. BET, SEM, and FTIR were employed to analyze the surface properties and pore structures of MBC. In addition, XRD was adopted to examine the crystal structure of MBC.

Integrating priority areas and ecological corridors into national network for conservation planning in China.

Considering that urban expansion and increase of human activities represent important threats to biodiversity and ecological processes in short and long term, developing protected area (PA) network with high connectivity is considered as a valuable conservation strategy. However, conservation planning associated with the large-scale network in China involves important information loopholes about the land cover and landscape connectivity. In this paper, we made an integrative analysis for the identification of conservation priority areas and least-cost ecological corridors (ECs) in order to promote a more representative, connected and efficient ecological PA network for this country.

Atmospheric deposition of mercury and cadmium impacts on topsoil in a typical coal mine city, Lianyuan, China.

Mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) in the atmosphere from coal combustion emissions play an important role in soil pollution. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to quantitatively evaluate the atmospheric Hg and Cd deposition and to determine the influence of atmospheric deposition on Hg and Cd contents in surface soil in a typical coal mine city. Atmospheric deposition samples were collected from May 2015 to May 2016 at 17 sites located in industrial, agricultural and forest areas in the Lianyuan city.

Spatial distribution and source identification of heavy metals in surface soils in a typical coal mine city, Lianyuan, China.

In this study, we investigated the pollution degree and spatial distribution of heavy metals and determined their sources in topsoil in a typical coal mine city, Lianyuan, Hunan Province, China. We collected 6078 soil surface samples in different land use types. And the concentrations of Zn, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, As, Mo, V, Mn, Fe and Cr were measured.