Precipitation Variability Affects Aboveground Biomass Directly and Indirectly Plant Functional Traits in the Desert Steppe of Inner Mongolia, Northern China.

Clarifying the response of community and dominance species to climate change is crucial for disentangling the mechanism of the ecosystem evolution and predicting the prospective dynamics of communities under the global climate scenario. We examined how precipitation changes affect community structure and aboveground biomass (AGB) according to manipulated precipitation experiments in the desert steppe of Inner Mongolia, China. Bayesian model and structural equation models (SEM) were used to test variation and causal relationship among precipitation, plant diversity, functional attributes, and AGB.

Effects of elevation and slope aspect on the distribution of the soil organic carbon associated with Al and Fe mineral phases in alpine shrub-meadow soil.

Mountain ecosystems store a large amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) sensitive to global climate change. The SOC associated with Al and Fe minerals is important for SOC retention because of the ubiquitous nature and highly reactive surface properties of these minerals. Topography is also known to impact the distribution and transformation of SOC by creating different microclimates.

Pressure-Dependent Light Emission of Charged and Neutral Excitons in Monolayer MoSe.

Tailoring the excitonic properties in two-dimensional monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) through strain engineering is an effective means to explore their potential applications in optoelectronics and nanoelectronics. Here we report pressure-tuned photon emission of trions and excitons in monolayer MoSe via a diamond anvil cell (DAC) through photoluminescence measurements and theoretical calculations. Under quasi-hydrostatic compressive strain, our results show neutral (X) and charged (X) exciton emission of monolayer MoSe can be effectively tuned by alcohol mixture vs inert argon pressure transmitting media (PTM).

Correlatively Dependent Lattice and Electronic Structural Evolutions in Compressed Monolayer Tungsten Disulfide.

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising materials for optoelectronic devices. Their lattice and electronic structural evolutions under high strain conditions and their relations remain open questions. We exert pressure on WS monolayers on different substrates, namely, Si/SiO substrate and diamond anvil surface up to ∼25 GPa.

Pressure confinement effect in MoS2 monolayers.

With ever increasing interest in layered materials, molybdenum disulfide has been widely investigated due to its unique optoelectronic properties. Pressure is an effective technique to tune the lattice and electronic structure of materials such that high pressure studies can disclose new structural and optical phenomena. In this study, taking MoS2 as an example, we investigate the pressure confinement effect on monolayer MoS2 by in situ high pressure Raman and photoluminescence (PL) measurements.

[Effects of grazing disturbance on soil active organic carbon in mountain forest-arid valley ecotone in the upper reaches of Minjiang River].

Effects of grazing disturbance on the soil carbon contents and active components in the four vegetations, i.e., artificial Robinia pseudoacacia plantation, artificial poplar plantation, Berberis aggregate shrubland and grassland, were studied in the mountain forest-arid valley ecotone in the upper Minjiang River.

[Relationships between grazing-path and Berberis aggregate population characteristics in upper reaches of Minjiang River, Southwest China].

Taking the Berberis aggregate shrubs in the ecotone of dry valley and montane forests in upper reaches of Minjiang River as study objects, and by the methods of tracking grazing and field survey, this paper studied the characteristics of habitat utilization by livestock and the features of grazing-path. The major factors affecting the features of grazing-path were screened by redundancy analysis (RDA), and the relationships of the grazing-path features with the coverage, size class, and distribution pattern of the shrubs were analyzed. It was shown that the distribution pattern of the grazing-path could intuitively reflect the characteristics of the habitat utilization by livestock, being in accordance with the results of tracking grazing.

[Fractal features of soil aggregate structure in slope farmland with different de-farming patterns in South Sichuan Province of China].

By using fractal model, this paper studied the fractal dimension of soil aggregate structure (D) in the slope farmland (CK), its 5-year de-farmed Neosinocalamus affinis plantation (NAP), Bambusa pervariabilis x Dendrocalamopsis oldhami plantation (BDP), Alnus crenastogyne + Neosinocalamus affinis plantation (ANP), and abandoned farmland (AFL) in south Sichuan Province of China, and analyzed the relationships between the D and soil physical and chemical properties. In the de-farmed plantations and abandoned farmland, the contents of > 0.25 mm soil aggregates and water-stable aggregates were increased significantly, compared with those in the slope farmland.

[Effects of long-term fertilization on soil particulate organic carbon and nitrogen in a wheat-maize cropping system].

0-20 cm soil samples were collected from an 18-year wheat-maize rotation field on the North China Plain to study the effects of long-term fertilization on the contents and storages of soil particulate organic carbon (POC), particulate organic nitrogen (PON), incorporated organic carbon (IOC), and incorporated organic nitrogen (ION). The long-term fertilization experiment was designed to include 7 treatments, i.e.

[Research advances in forest soil respiration].

Among the methods of measuring forest soil respiration, infrared CO2 analysis is the optimal one so far. Comparing with empirical model, the process-based model in simulating the production and transportation of soil CO2 has the advantage of considering the biological and physical processes of soil respiration. Generally, soil respiration is positively correlated with soil temperature and moisture, but there are still many uncertainties about the relationships between soil respiration and forest management activities such as firing, cutting, and fertilization.