Variations in ecosystem service value in response to land use/land cover changes in Central Asia from 1995-2035.

Acute farmland expansion and rapid urbanization in Central Asia have accelerated land use/land cover changes, which have substantial effects on ecosystem services. However, the spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem service values (ESVs) in Central Asia are not well understood. Here, based on land use products with 300-m resolution for the years 1995, 2005 and 2015 and transfer methodology, we predicted land use and land cover (LULC) for 2025 and 2035 using CA-Markov, assessed changes in ESVs in response to LULC dynamics, and explored the elasticity of the response of ESV to LULC changes.

Comparative analysis of drivers of energy consumption in China, the USA and India - A perspective from stratified heterogeneity.

With the limited amount of resources, developing effective strategies to make full use of them and decrease the energy consumption without too much sacrifice of economic output requires identifying key drivers of energy consumption growth rate as a prerequisite. Meanwhile, as top three consumers of primary energy of the world, China, the United States of America, and India burn over 45% of global fuels in 2016. Conducting an empirically comparative analysis of them can also set up pilot scheme for other economies to develop more efficient strategies for energy consumption.

Hydrochemical characteristics and irrigation suitability of surface water in the Syr Darya River, Kazakhstan.

The surface water hydrochemistry of the Syr Darya River in Kazakhstan was investigated at 39 locations to analyze regional hydrochemical characteristics and evaluate the irrigation suitability of the studied regions. The cations in the surface water are mainly Na, Ca, and Mg, while the anions are mainly SO. The main hydrochemical type is Ca-Mg-SO-Cl.

[Leaf C:N:P stoichiometry of 67 plant species and its relations with climate factors across the deserts in Xinjiang, China.].

Desert ecosystem has unique drought-enduring plants and stoichiometric characteristics. We collected leaf samples of 67 plant species from 63 desert sites in Xinjiang, and explored foliar carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry and the relationship between leaf nutrient stoichiometry and climatic factors. The results showed that the average content of leaf C, N and P in these plants were 394, 18.

Reconsideration of heterostructures of biochars: Morphology, particle size, elemental composition, reactivity and toxicity.

Great attention has been paid on biochar due to potential application as soil amendment. The majority of research concerning the structural evolution of biochar commonly considered biochar as a whole. However, the knowledge of structural evolution of biochar resulting from physicochemical disintegration is rarely known.

Linking hydrophobicity of biochar to the water repellency and water holding capacity of biochar-amended soil.

Biochar addition to soil may change the hydrophobicity of amended soil and influence soil hydraulic properties. Soil hydrophobicity, i.e.

Comparative Analysis of Deterministic and Semiquantitative Approaches for Shallow Landslide Risk Modeling in Rwanda.

The use of appropriate approaches to produce risk maps is critical in landslide disaster management. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the stability index mapping (SINMAP) and the spatial multicriteria evaluation (SMCE) models for landslide risk modeling in Rwanda. The SINMAP used the digital elevation model in conjunction with physical soil parameters to determine the factor of safety.

Monitoring and predicting land use/cover changes in the Aksu-Tarim River Basin, Xinjiang-China (1990-2030).

Land use/cover (LCLU) is considered as one of the most serious environmental challenges that threatens developed and less developed countries. LCLU changes' monitoring using the integration of remote sensing (RS) and geographical information systems (GIS) and their predicting using an artificial neural network (ANN) in the western part of the Tarim River Basin (Aksu), north-western Xinjiang-China, from 1990 to 2030 have been investigated first time through satellite imageries available. The imageries of 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 were downloaded from GLCF and USGS websites.

Female-female aggression in goitered gazelles: the desire for isolation.

In contrast to males, which compete with other males for access to mates, females compete with each other for forage-rich sites, birthing grounds, comfortable resting places, and access to sources of water and salt licking locations. This behavior has been observed in many species. However, many agonistic interactions between females occur where resources are not immediately at stake, and the reasons for their rivalry are often unclear.

Identifying climate change impacts on water resources in Xinjiang, China.

Water resources have an important role in maintaining ecological fuctions and sustaining social and economic development. This is especially true in arid and semi-arid areas, where climate change has a large impact on water resources, such as in Xinjiang, China. Using a combination of precipitation and temperature bias correction methods, we analyzed projected changes in different hydrological components in nine high-alpine catchments distributed in Xinjiang using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT).

Disentangling the relative impacts of climate change and human activities on arid and semiarid grasslands in Central Asia during 1982-2015.

In recent decades, climate change and human activities have severely affected grasslands in Central Asia. Grassland regulation and sustainability in this region require an accurate assessment of the effects of these two factors on grasslands. Based on the abrupt change analysis, linear regression analysis and net primary productivity (NPP), the spatiotemporal patterns of grassland ecosystems in Central Asia during 1982-2015 were studied.

Diversity of risk assessment patterns in antipredator behavior of goitered gazelles.

In predator-prey encounters, risk assessment and threat identification are particularly important aspects in the prey's decision in how, when and where to escape. Previous studies devoted to this topic investigated mostly factors influencing risk perception by a prey animal and on its decision when to flee; however, information on the diversity of risk assessment displays is still very limited. Therefore in this paper, I considered various display types of risk assessments and the circumstances under which they were performed.

Vigilance, staring and escape running in antipredator behavior of goitered gazelle.

Predation is a very powerful force that shapes many ungulate traits. It is widely known that increasing vigilance intensity is costly and leads to a decline of forage intake. Consequently, ungulates gather into larger groups to reduce an individual vigilance burden by using the "many eyes" effect and to enhance their survival through the "safety in numbers" effect.

Alarm signals in goitered gazelle with special reference to stotting, hissing and alarm urination-defecation.

Compared to solitary species, social ungulates benefit from living in groups not only because of the "many eyes effect", when each individual devotes less time to vigilance and spends more time foraging and engaged in other activities, or of the "dilution effect", when the probability that any specific individual will be caught decreases with herd size, but also because of early alarm signals produced by conspecifics that provide enough time for a successful escape from predator attack. These signals can contain multiple messages about the category of the predator and the degree of risk. Among them, stotting, alarm calls and alarm urination-defecation acts are distinctive channels of prey-predator and/or prey-prey communications.

The use of tail-flagging and white rump-patch in alarm behavior of goitered gazelles.

Tail signals and rump patch exposure in ungulates are well-documented phenomena, but there is no consensus about their functional significance, which has remained disputed. In addition, these patterns have been analyzed for only a limited number of ungulate species; and until now did not include goitered gazelles. This paper, then, will discuss these aspects of goitered gazelle antipredator behavior.

Escaping behavior in goitered gazelle.

Prey species modify their behaviors in response to predation risks to minimize their vulnerability and enhance their survival. When a predation risk arises, gregarious, open-habitat-dwelling ungulates usually increase their vigilance rate and enlarge their herd sizes, which are the two antipredator responses that are most often investigated. However, other reactive responses, as well as prey risk assessments and escape strategies depending on a predator's approach behavior, are less explored.

Development of juvenile goitered gazelle social behavior during the hiding period.

In many ungulate species, social organization of adults is based on a linear dominance hierarchy, which in turn often positively correlates with age, body mass, and horn/antler size. In contrast to the social behavior of adults and specific mother-offspring interactions, the process of ungulate socialization in juveniles through contacts with other conspecifics is poorly understood, especially for hider species during their initial hiding period. Therefore, we investigated this process in goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), which is a typical hiding species, and analyzed all contacts between fawns and other conspecifics, omitting mother-young interactions, which are different by nature from other contacts and demands separate consideration.

Analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of aboveground net primary productivity in the Eurasian steppe region from 1982 to 2013.

To explore the importance of the Eurasian steppe region (EASR) in global carbon cycling, we analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics of the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of the entire EASR from 1982 to 2013. The ANPP in the EASR was estimated from the Integrated ANPP model, which is an empirical model developed based on field-observed ANPP and long-term normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. The optimal composite period of NDVI data was identified by considering spatial heterogeneities across the study area in the Integrated ANPP model.

Mother-young recognition in goitered gazelle during hiding period.

The mother-young recognition process is crucial for the growth and survival of progeny. In "follower" ungulate species, vocal and visual cues have been found to play a leading role in the mother-young identification process from the first days postpartum, with olfactory cues also important in establishing the initial selective mother-young bond immediately after birth. In "hider" species, however, much less has been documented of mother-young recognition behaviors, especially in their natural habitat.

Antipredator tactics are largely maternally controlled in goitered gazelle, a hider ungulate.

Predation is usually the primary cause of infant death among ungulate species, with the annual variation in the survival of neonates over their first summer a major factor in the population dynamics of many ungulates. Consequently, the maternal rearing strategy of a species is crucial for its reproductive success. Since the roles mothers and fawns play in the implementation of antipredator strategies in hider species have been poorly understood until now, this paper considers this behavior in the goitered gazelle, which is a typical hider species.

Geochemical Responses to Anthropogenic and Natural Influences in Ebinur Lake Sediments of Arid Northwest China.

Geochemical concentrations were extracted for a short sediment core from Ebinur Lake, located in arid northwest China, and mathematical methods were used to demonstrate the complex pattern of the geochemical anomalies resulting from the temporal changes in natural and anthropogenic forces on the lake sediments. The first element assemblage (C1) (aluminum, potassium, iron, magnesium, beryllium, etc.) was predominantly terrigenous; among the assemblage, total phosphorus and titanium were generally consistent with aluminum except with regards to their surface sequences, which inferred the differences of source regions for terrigenous detrital material led to this change around ca.

Antipredator strategy of female goitered gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa Guld., 1780) with hiding fawn.

In ungulates, predation is often a major cause of infant mortality and likely plays an important role in shaping maternal care strategies that favor progeny survival. The anti-predator strategies of ungulates can be broadly categorized into two groups, hiding infants and following infants. We studied the maternal behavioral strategies of goitered gazelle, which is a typical representative of a hiding species.