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The Yellow River Basin is an important water conservation and ecological barrier in China. Studying its water supply services is of great significance for the development of the Yellow River Basin and conservation of its ecosystems. This study is based on the InVEST model and scenario analysis method. We used data including land use cover, meteorology and soil type as inputs to analyze the spatial and temporal pattern of water yield in the Yellow River Basin from 1995 to 2018 and the impact of precipitation and land use change on water yield in the basin. The results show that from 1995 to 2018, the water yield in the Yellow River basin increased by 20,106 million m3, the high-value areas of water yield distributed in the southwest and southeast, the low-value areas distributed in the northwest region, and the spatial pattern of water yield changed insignificantly. From 1995 to 2005, the contribution rates of land use change and climate change to water production were 3.32% and 96.68%, respectively, and the contribution rates of land use change and climate change to water production from 1995 to 2018 were − 0.48% and 100.48%, respectively. In conclusion, the influence of precipitation on water production is more significant, and the effect of land use change on water production is smaller. This study reveals the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of water yield and its controlling factors in the Yellow River Basin, which is of great significance to the protection of ecological environment and the maintenance of ecological balance of the whole basin.

Red mud (RM) is a by-product of extracting of alumina from bauxite. Red mud contains high quantities of alkali-generating minerals and metal ions, which can cause significant environmental damage. Many valuable components such as rare-earth elements, Al, and Fe, in RM are difficult to be utilized owing to their particle size and alkalinity. Thus, developing an economical and efficient technology to consume a large amount of RM can efficiently solve RM disposal issues. This paper systematically reviews the comprehensive utilization methods for reducing RM environmental pollution and divides the comprehensive utilization of RM into three aspects: the effective extraction of valuable components, resource transformation, and environmental application. Based on resource, economic, and environmental benefits, the development of new technologies and new processes with market competitiveness, environmental protection, and ecological balance should be the prerequisite for the low-energy, low-pollution, low-cost, and high-efficiency comprehensive utilization of RM. The direction of future research to solve RM disposal issues is also suggested.

Bayesian Data Analysis in Ecology Using Linear Models with R, BUGS, and STAN examines the Bayesian and frequentist methods of conducting data analyses. The book provides the theoretical background in an easy-to-understand approach, encouraging readers to examine the processes that generated their data. Including discussions of model selection, model checking, and multi-model inference, the book also uses effect plots that allow a natural interpretation of data. Bayesian Data Analysis in Ecology Using Linear Models with R, BUGS, and STAN introduces Bayesian software, using R for the simple modes, and flexible Bayesian software (BUGS and Stan) for the more complicated ones. Guiding the ready from easy toward more complex (real) data analyses ina step-by-step manner, the book presents problems and solutions-including all R codes-that are most often applicable to other data and questions, making it an invaluable resource for analyzing a variety of data types.

For the first time in half a century, real transformative innovations are coming to our world of passenger transportation.The convergence of new shared mobility services with automated and electric vehicles promises to significantly reshape our lives and communities for the better--or for the worse.

Why do organisms become extremely abundant one year and then seem to disappear a few years later? Why do population outbreaks in particular species happen more or less regularly in certain locations, but only irregularly (or never at all) in other locations? Complex population dynamics have fascinated biologists for decades. By bringing together mathematical models, statistical analyses, and field experiments, this book offers a comprehensive new synthesis of the theory of population oscillations. Peter Turchin first reviews the conceptual tools that ecologists use to investigate population oscillations, introducing population modeling and the statistical analysis of time series data. He then provides an in-depth discussion of several case studies--including the larch budmoth, southern pine beetle, red grouse, voles and lemmings, snowshoe hare, and ungulates--to develop a new analysis of the mechanisms that drive population oscillations in nature. Through such work, the author argues, ecologists can develop general laws of population dynamics that will help turn ecology into a truly quantitative and predictive science. Complex Population Dynamicsintegrates theoretical and empirical studies into a major new synthesis of current knowledge about population dynamics. It is also a pioneering work that sets the course for ecology's future as a predictive science.

Biomineralization is a process in which organic matter and inorganic matter combine with each other under the regulation of living organisms. Because of the biomineralization-induced super survivability and retentivity, biomineralization has attracted special attention from biologists, archaeologists, chemists, and materials scientists for its tracer and transformation effect in rock evolution study and nanomaterials synthesis. However, controlling the biomineralization process in vitro as precisely as intricate biology systems still remains a challenge. In this review, the regulating roles of temperature, pH, and organics in biominerals forming process were reviewed. The artificially introducing and utilization of biomineralization, the bio-inspired synthesis of nanomaterials, in biomedical fields was further discussed, mainly in five potential fields: drug and cell-therapy engineering, cancer/tumor target engineering, bone tissue engineering, and other advanced biomedical engineering. This review might help other interdisciplinary researchers to bionic-manufacture biominerals in molecular-level for developing more applications of biomineralization.

All organisms live in clusters, but such fractured local populations, or demes, nonetheless maintain connectivity with one another by some amount of gene flow between them. Most such metapopulations occur naturally, like clusters of amphibians in vernal ponds or baboon troops spread across the African veldt. Others have been created as human activities fragment natural landscapes, as in stands of trees separated by roads. As landscape change has accelerated, understanding how these metapopulations function—and specifically how they adapt—has become crucial to ecology and to our very understanding of evolution itself. With Adaptation in Metapopulations, Michael J. Wade explores a key component of this new understanding of evolution: interaction. Synthesizing decades of work in the lab and in the field in a book both empirically grounded and underpinned by a strong conceptual framework, Wade looks at the role of interaction across scales from gene selection to selection at the level of individuals, kin, and groups. In so doing, he integrates molecular and organismal biology to reveal the true complexities of evolutionary dynamics from genes to metapopulations.

Protection of the ecological environment is an effective strategy for maintaining ecosystem health, improving provision of ecosystem services, and increasing human well-being. However, traditional calculations of the value of ecosystem services (VES) provide weak guidance because they ignore the costs of these services, leading to economically inefficient strategies. To understand the difference between VES and the net ecosystem services value (NES, after subtracting costs from VES) and to improve evaluations of ecosystem services, we estimated NES for mainland China (including farmland, grassland, forest, and wetland). NES totaled 10.0×10 3 RMB ha −1 yr −1 in 2014, which is only 35.1% of the corresponding VES. Grassland NES was–0.7×10 3 RMB ha −1 yr −1 , in contrast with a positive grassland VES. NES of farmland, grassland, forest, and wetland in 2014 totaled 7.2×10 12 RMB, accounting for 27.0% of China’s GNP. Recent Chinese planning based on VES emphasizes forest conservation and ignores the conservation of other important ecosystems, such as grassland, leading to a continuing loss of China’s natural capital. Due to regional differences in economic conditions, resource endowments, and geographical characteristics, VES and NES differ among regions. To maximize the ecological benefits from conservation, it is necessary to account for these differences by comparing strategies based on NES, thereby choosing projects that maximize both economic and ecological benefits. To maintain the ecological balance, ecological restoration and socioeconomic activities should account for the costs of providing ecosystem services. This is essential to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of projects.

This Test Guideline describes an in vitro procedure the identification on its own of chemicals (substances and mixtures) not requiring classification (No Cat), requiring classification for eye irritation (Cat 2) and requiring classification for serious eye damage (Cat 1) according to the UN GHS ocular hazard categories. It makes use of reconstructed human cornea-like epithelium (RhCE) which closely mimics the histological, morphological, biochemical and physiological properties of the human corneal epithelium. The test evaluates the ability of a test chemical to induce cytotoxicity in a RhCE tissue construct, as measured by the MTT assay. RhCE tissue viability following exposure to a test chemical is measured by enzymatic conversion of the vital dye MTT by the viable cells of the tissue into a blue MTT formazan salt that is quantitatively measured after extraction from tissues. Cytotoxicity is measured at different time points of exposure; this is one of the methodological differences with the original TG 492.

Increased attention has been paid to the influences of coal mining subsidence on the ecological environment. The revegetation of former mining areas is critical to restore the ecological balance. The subsidence area in the Shendong mining area, located in the semiarid region of China, has been restored from 2003, using five different plant species. In July 2017, we compared the plant and microbial communities of artificial restoration areas (AR) and naturally regenerated areas (NR). Based on our results, restoration planting was somehow successful, but the sites did not reach a level similar to that prior to mining. Higher plant species richness, canopy coverage, and bacterial community diversity were observed in AR. However, these features have lower similarity compared with those in NR sites. Soil factors such as pH, moisture content, total carbon content, organic matter, nitrogen level, and bulk density have a greater impact on soil bacterial community structure and diversity. In the ecological restoration of mining areas, attention should be paid to the restoration of soil properties. This study provides a scientific basis for the successful ecological restoration or highly damaged mining areas.