Assessing the Effects of Human Activities on Terrestrial Net Primary Productivity of Grasslands in Typical Ecologically Fragile Areas.

Global enhanced human activities have deeply influenced grassland ecosystems. Quantifying the impact of human activities on grasslands is crucial to understanding the grassland dynamic change mechanism, such as grassland degradation, and to establishing ecosystem protection measures. In this study, potential net primary productivity (PNPP), actual NPP (ANPP), and the forage harvest NPP (HNPP) were employed to establish the human activities index (HAI) to reveal the spatiotemporal changes of the effects of human activities on grassland ecosystems in eastern Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2017, and to further explore the relationship between human activities and grassland degradation.

Preparation of Bifidobacterium breve encapsulated in low methoxyl pectin beads and its effects on yogurt quality.

Yogurt is a popular product worldwide partly because of the health-promoting effects of the probiotics that it contains. Probiotics with high survivability constitute a promising direction for fortified yogurt products. This study aimed to prepare Bifidobacterium breve-loaded yogurt with the bacteria surviving transit to the lower part of small intestine or colon.

Historical grassland desertification changes in the Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China (1985-2013).

Since rural reforms in the 1980s, both the state and local governments of China have devoted great efforts to combating desertification through a number of eco-environmental restoration campaigns, resulting in burgeoning contention at all levels of government and sparking public concern. Monitoring and accurately assessing the statuses and trends of grassland desertification are important for developing effective restoration strategies. The Horqin Sandy Land (HSL), a very typical desertified grassland (DG) with better hydrothermal conditions among sandy lands in north China, was recently selected (1985-2013) to assess the spatiotemporal dynamic performances of grassland desertification before and after implementing restoration projects.

Spatio-temporal variation in vegetation biomass and its relationships with climate factors in the Xilingol grasslands, Northern China.

Knowledge about grassland biomass and its dynamics is critical for studying regional carbon cycles and for the sustainable use of grassland resources. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal variation of biomass in the Xilingol grasslands of northern China. Field-based biomass samples and MODIS time series data sets were used to establish two empirical models based on the relationship of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with above-ground biomass (AGB) as well as that of AGB with below-ground biomass (BGB).