Decoupling Distribution of -Alkanes in Aeolian Sand and Vegetation of the Northern Ulan Buh Desert, China: Insight into Organic Matter Preservation in Arid Regions.

Fallen leaves and their decomposition directly deposit leaf wax -alkanes into sediments, which can be used to identify local flora. These -alkanes are important for studying past vegetation and climate, but their distribution in sediments must be known. Aeolian sand -alkanes are particularly important for understanding paleoclimates in arid regions, despite the challenges of extraction due to their extremely low abundance.

Habitat Variability and Ethnic Diversity in Northern Tibetan Plateau.

There are 56 officially-recognized ethnic groups in China. However, the distinct geographic patterns of various ethnic groups in relation to the physical environment in China have rarely been investigated. Based on the geo-referenced physical environmental parameters of 455 Han, Tu, Hui, Salar, Mongolian, and Tibetan communities in Qinghai, we found that the communities could be statistically demarcated by temperature and aridity threshold according to their ethnicity, implying that the geographic distribution of each ethnic group is mediated by the physical environment.