Urban ecosystem services, ecological security patterns and ecological resilience in coastal cities: The impact of land reclamation in Macao SAR.

Land reclamation from the sea is a common practice to create territorial space and accommodate urbanisation in coastal cities. However, previous studies did not adequately examine the changes in ecosystem service values, the spatial transformation of the ecological network and the ecological resilience at an urban scale in the context of land reclamation. This study uses Macao SAR, a fully urbanised city with two-thirds of its land reclaimed from the sea, as a case study.

Mating modifies oxidative stress in the brain and confers protection against Parkinson's Disease in a Drosophila model.

Mating exerts profound and multifaceted effects on the physiology of female insects, particularly influencing metabolic alterations and bolstering stress resilience. Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as an excellent model to investigate the mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases. However, interplay between mating and its impact on the Drosophila brain remains a tantalizing enigma, awaiting elucidation.

Robust Indoor Positioning with Smartphone by Utilizing Encoded Chirp Acoustic Signal.

Recently, indoor positioning has been one of the hot topics in the field of navigation and positioning. Among different solutions on indoor positioning, positioning with acoustic signals has its promise due to its relatively high accuracy in the line of sight scenarios, low cost, and ease of being implemented in smartphones. In this work, a novel acoustic positioning method, called RATBILS, is proposed, in which encoded chirp acoustic signals are modulated and transmitted by different acoustic base stations.

Reponses of morphological and biochemical traits of bamboo trees under elevated atmospheric O enrichment.

Dwarf bamboo (Indocalamus decorus) is an O-tolerant plant species. To identify the possible mechanism and response of leaf morphological, antioxidant, and anatomical characteristics to elevated atmospheric O (EO) concentrations, we exposed three-year-old I. decorus seedlings to three O levels (low O-LO: ambient air; medium O-MO: Ambient air+70 ppb high O-HO: Ambient air+140 ppb O) over a growing season using open-top chambers.

[Characterization of Ambient Volatile Organic Compounds, Source Apportionment, and the Ozone-NO-VOC Sensitivities in Liucheng County, Guangxi].

Liucheng county, as a suburb of Liuzhou City in Guangxi province, has a prominent ozone (O) pollution problem; however, there have been no relevant analyses of the cause of local O pollution reported. In order to investigate the causes of O pollution, an online observation of 116 VOCs with a time resolution of 1 h was carried out in Liucheng county from October 1 to 15, and the sensitivity of ozone to the relative changes in the NO and VOCs was analyzed. The results showed that the average value of ［total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs)］ during the observation period was 27.

Reproductive Dormancy in Overwintering Adult Eucryptorrhynchus brandti (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Dormancy is important for overwintering insects to resist and adapt to adverse conditions. Dormancy generally contains quiescence and diapause. Eucryptorrhynchus brandti Harold (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), tree-of-heaven trunk weevil (TTW), is a destructive pest and highly host-specific to Ailanthus altissima in China.

Effects of Trap Color and Shape on the Capture of Eucryptorrhynchus scrobiculatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Eucryptorrhynchus scrobiculatus (Coleoptera:Curculionidae) is an important pest in China that specifically damages Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle (Sapindales: Simaroubaceae). Trembler grid lamps and food attractant traps frequently were used to monitor and control E.