Reconsidering the efficiency of grazing exclusion using fences on the Tibetan Plateau.

Grazing exclusion using fences is a key policy being applied by the Chinese government to rehabilitate degraded grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and elsewhere. However, there is a limited understanding of the effects of grazing exclusion on alpine ecosystem functions and services and its impacts on herders' livelihoods. Our meta-analyses and questionnaire-based surveys revealed that grazing exclusion with fences was effective in promoting aboveground vegetation growth for up to four years in degraded alpine meadows and for up to eight years in the alpine steppes of the TP.

Compound health risk assessment of cumulative heavy metal exposure: a case study of a village near a battery factory in Henan Province, China.

The concentrations of the heavy metals Hg, As, Ni, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu and Zn in soil, groundwater, air, and locally produced grain (wheat and corn) and vegetables were determined in a village near a battery factory in Xinxiang, Henan Province, China. A multimedia, multipathway health risk assessment of heavy metal exposure was carried out using the health risk model recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). The results showed that the concentrations of Cd in soil, Cd and Pb in wheat, Hg in corn, Cd, Hg, and Pb in vegetables, and Cd and As in PM2.

Temporal-Spatial Analysis of the Warming Effect of Different Cultivated Land Urbanization of Metropolitan Area in China.

The regional warming effect is different when different cultivated land types are converted into urban construction land, while its temporal and spatial changes are unclear. We studied the temporal and spatial changes in the warming effect when dry land was converted to urban land (DL2UBL), and irrigated land to urban land (IL2UBL) in Yangtze River Delta (CSJ), Beijing-Tianjin- Hebei (JJJ) and Chengdu-Chongqing (CY) metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2015. The average warming effect of the three metropolitan areas was more intensive in DL2UBL than in IL2UBL in winter, and opposite occurred in summer.

Occurrence, source apportionment, and potential human health risks of metal(loid)s and PAHs in dusts from driving school campuses in an urban area of Henan, China.

Concentrations, health risks, and sources of 9 metal(loid)s (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and 16 PAHs in dusts collected from the 29 driving school campuses in the urban area of Kaifeng, Henan Province, China, were evaluated. The health risks due to exposure to these pollutants in dusts were assessed under three different scenarios (working for 10 years, 20 years, and 30 years in driving schools), using the health risk assessment model developed by US EPA. The results indicated that the mean concentrations for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn were higher than the local dust background except Co and Ni.