Variations In Elevation Research Articles

Extraction of River Water Bodies Based on ICESat-2 Photon Classification

The accurate extraction of river water bodies is crucial for the utilization of water resources and understanding climate patterns. Compared with traditional methods of extracting rivers using remote sensing imagery, the launch of satellite-based photon-counting LiDAR (ICESat-2) provides a novel approach for river water body extraction. The use of ICESat-2 ATL03 photon data for inland river water body extraction is relatively underexplored and thus warrants investigation. To extract inland river water bodies accurately, this study proposes a method based on the spatial distribution of ATL03 photon data and the elevation variation characteristics of inland river water bodies. The proposed method first applies low-pass filtering to denoised photon data to mitigate the impact of high-frequency signals on data processing. Then, the elevation’s standard deviation of the low-pass-filtered data is calculated via a sliding window, and the photon data are classified on the basis of the standard deviation threshold obtained through Gaussian kernel density estimation. The results revealed that the average overall accuracy (OA) and Kappa coefficient (KC) for the extraction of inland river water bodies across the four study areas were 99.12% and 97.81%, respectively. Compared with the improved RANSAC algorithm and the combined RANSAC and DBSCAN algorithms, the average OA of the proposed method improved by 17.98% and 7.12%, respectively, and the average KC improved by 58.38% and 17.69%, respectively. This study provides a new method for extracting inland river water bodies.

Phylotranscriptomic and ecological analyses reveal the evolution and morphological adaptation of Abies.

Coniferous forests are under severe threat of the rapid anthropogenic climate warming. Abies (firs), the fourth-largest conifer genus, is a keystone component of the boreal and temperate dark-coniferous forests and harbors a remarkably large number of relict taxa. However, the uncertainty of the phylogenetic and biogeographic history of Abies significantly impedes our prediction of future dynamics and efficient conservation of firs. In this study, using 1,533 nuclear genes generated from transcriptome sequencing and a complete sampling of all widely recognized species, we have successfully reconstructed a robust phylogeny of global firs, in which four clades are strongly supported and all intersectional relationships are resolved, although phylogenetic discordance caused mainly by incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization was detected. Molecular dating and ancestral area reconstruction suggest a Northern Hemisphere high-latitude origin of Abies during the Late Cretaceous, but all extant firs diversified during the Miocene to the Pleistocene, and multiple continental and intercontinental dispersals took place in response to the late Neogene climate cooling and orogenic movements. Notably, four critically endangered firs endemic to subtropical mountains of China, including A. beshanzuensis, A. ziyuanensis, A. fanjingshanensis and A. yuanbaoshanensis from east to west, have different origins and evolutionary histories. Moreover, three hotspots of species richness, including western North America, central Japan, and the Hengduan Mountains, were identified in Abies. Elevation and precipitation, particularly precipitation of the coldest quarter, are the most significant environmental factors driving the global distribution pattern of fir species diversity. Some morphological traits are evolutionarily constrained, and those linked to elevational variation (e.g., purple cone) and cold resistance (e.g., pubescent branch and resinous bud) may have contributed to the diversification of global firs. Our study sheds new light on the spatiotemporal evolution of global firs, which will be of great help to forest management and species conservation in a warming world.

Conserving apollo butterflies: habitat characteristics and conservation implications in Southwest Finland

The conservation of insects, particularly endangered species such as the Apollo butterfly, is a pressing global concern. Understanding the habitat requirements and factors influencing species occupancy is crucial for designing effective conservation strategies. We focused on investigating the habitat characteristics expected to affect the occupancy of the nationally endangered Apollo butterfly in Southwest Finland. We conducted field surveys and GIS analysis to assess the impact of larval host plant and adult nectar resources, habitat encroachment, elevation, connectivity, and spatial variation on Apollo larval occupancy in rocky outcrop habitats. We found that rocky outcrops with abundant host plants and those less isolated from nectar patches play a significant role in supporting Apollo reproduction, whereas encroachment, specifically increased tree volume, negatively affected occupancy. We additionally observed spatial variation in occupancy across different blocks within the study area. Our findings emphasise the importance of resource availability for Apollo butterflies and highlight the dynamic nature of their habitat requirements. Maintaining a network of intact rocky outcrops with suitable resources is essential for the long-term persistence of the Apollo butterfly population in the region.Implications for insect conservation: Our research underscores the critical need to protect and restore habitats for the Apollo butterfly, particularly by addressing threats such as habitat encroachment and construction projects that pose risks to their breeding sites.

Elevational Variation in and Environmental Determinants of Fungal Diversity in Forest Ecosystems of Korean Peninsula.

Exploring species diversity along elevational gradients is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms. Our study focused on analyzing the species diversity of fungal communities and their subcommunities at different trophic and taxonomic levels across three high mountains of the Korean Peninsula, each situated in a different climatic zone. Using high-throughput sequencing, we aimed to assess fungal diversity patterns and investigate the primary environmental factors influencing fungal diversity. Our results indicate that soil fungal diversity exhibits different elevational distribution patterns on different mountains, highlighting the combined effects of climate, soil properties, and geographic topology. Notably, the total and available phosphorus contents in the soil emerged as key determinants in explaining the differences in diversity attributed to soil properties. Despite the varied responses of fungal diversity to elevational gradients among different trophic guilds and taxonomic levels, their primary environmental determinants remained remarkably consistent. In particular, total and available phosphorus contents showed significant correlations with the diversity of the majority of the trophic guilds and taxonomic levels. Our study reveals the absence of a uniform diversity pattern along elevational gradients, underscoring the general sensitivity of fungi to soil conditions. By enriching our understanding of fungal diversity dynamics, this research enhances our comprehension of the formation and maintenance of elevational fungal diversity and the response of microbial communities in mountain ecosystems to climate change. This study provides valuable insights for future ecological studies of similar biotic communities.

Team personality characteristics and performance in a simulated largeaircraft instrument control task

We investigated the relationship between personality characteristics and performance on a simulated large-aircraft instrument control task. The sample comprised 155 undergraduates in China, who completed the Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire to assess personality characteristics, and were randomly allocated to one of 31 teams of five people. We used multiple regression analysis to establish a predictive model of team performance based on team personality elevation and team personality diversity integration models. The results showed that when the team personality elevation integration was used as the independent variable, an increase in rule consciousness led to improvement in team performance, whereas an increase in vigilance, dominance, and social boldness led to a deterioration in team performance. When team personality diversity integration was used as the independent variable, an increase in warmth and openness to change led to improvement in team performance, and an increase in sensitivity led to deterioration in team performance. The simulation task designed in this study provides a specific tool for research involving flight crews on large aircraft. The findings provide a theoretical reference for optimum allocation of flight crews.

Climate factors dominate the elevational variation in grassland plant resource utilization strategies.

Specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) are key leaf functional traits often used to reflect plant resource utilization strategies and predict plant responses to environmental changes. In general, grassland plants at different elevations exhibit varying survival strategies. However, it remains unclear how grassland plants adapt to changes in elevation and their driving factors. To address this issue, we utilized SLA and LDMC data of grassland plants from 223 study sites at different elevations in China, along with climate and soil data, to investigate variations in resource utilization strategies of grassland plants along different elevational gradients and their dominant influencing factors employing linear mixed-effects models, variance partitioning method, piecewise Structural Equation Modeling, etc. The results show that with increasing elevation, SLA significantly decreases, and LDMC significantly increases (P < 0.001). This indicates different resource utilization strategies of grassland plants across elevation gradients, transitioning from a "faster investment-return" at lower elevations to a "slower investment-return" at higher elevations. Across different elevation gradients, climatic factors are the main factors affecting grassland plant resource utilization strategies, with soil nutrient factors also playing a non-negligible coordinating role. Among these, mean annual precipitation and hottest month mean temperature are key climatic factors influencing SLA of grassland plants, explaining 28.94% and 23.88% of SLA variation, respectively. The key factors affecting LDMC of grassland plants are mainly hottest month mean temperature and soil phosphorus content, with relative importance of 24.24% and 20.27%, respectively. Additionally, the direct effect of elevation on grassland plant resource utilization strategies is greater than its indirect effect (through influencing climatic and soil nutrient factors). These findings emphasize the substantive impact of elevation on grassland plant resource utilization strategies and have important ecological value for grassland management and protection under global change.

Interactive effects of elevation difference, slope variation, and terrain formation on road traffic crashes occurrences using triangular irregular network

AbstractNumerous factors contribute to traffic crashes, which result in fatalities and injuries. Road traffic crashes and their severity level are likely caused by variations in elevation, slope, and terrain formation. As far as our knowledge is concerned, the triangular irregular network (TIN) was not used to analyze dangerous zones of the road network with respect to traffic crashes' location. The main purpose of this study was to investigate a dangerous road network that was affected by traffic crashes using TIN. To address the goal, this study used elevation differences slope variation, and terrain between road traffic crash locations. The study used the intersection zone road network coordinates of traffic crashes in the city of Budapest that were recorded from 2017 to 2021. Using tools like ArcGIS and MS Excel, the study organized, modeled, and analyzed the data. Geometrical interval classification was used to classify the data in accordance with the characteristics of elevation deference and slope variation. Both inferential and descriptive statistics were engaged to explain, analyze, and summarize the findings. The results of this study demonstrated that the majority of traffic crashes occurred in locations with lower elevations and their differences, steeper/cliff slopes between points, and flat terrain. The finding was in contrast to what was observed in other studies. This study advocates that TIN is the optimal method and substitute for analyzing the risky zone of the road network at macroscopic level.

Ant impacts on global patterns of bird elevational diversity.

Using data on bird species elevational distributions from the world's mountain ranges, bird diets, and the distribution of the ant genus Oecophylla, we report that global patterns in bird elevational diversity show signals of competition with ants. Oecophylla is an abundant and effective predator of invertebrates, preying on the same species that invertivorous birds feed on. In mountain ranges with Oecophylla present in the foothills, the maximum species richness of invertivorous birds (but not other trophic guilds) occurs, on average, at 960 m, ca. 450 m higher than in mountain ranges without Oecophylla, resulting in a mid-elevation peak in bird species richness. Where Oecophylla is absent, bird species richness for all guilds generally show monotonic declines with increasing elevation. We argue that Oecophylla reduces prey density for invertivorous birds and that low prey abundance reduces invertivorous bird density, which in turn is correlated with lower bird species richness. These findngs suggest that competition between distantly related taxa can set range limits, leading to emergent diversity patterns over large scales.

Mapping paleoelevations along active continental margins with igneous geochemistry: A case study from South America

Mountains and mountain ranges, often situated at convergent plate margins, play a pivotal role in many fields of the Earth, climate, and biological sciences. Reconstructing past episodes of mountain building from the geological rock record is one of the main challenges for unravelling the ancient physical geography of Earth’s surface. Established methods for quantifying past elevations traditionally relied on sedimentary rocks, but in recent years, alternative approaches have emerged on the basis that geochemical signatures of magmatic rocks formed in convergent settings correlate with crustal thickness or elevation. Consequently, methods based on igneous samples have the potential to allow quantitative mapping of past topographic change for large spans of space and time where existing maps are largely based on a qualitative approach. Here, we investigate the application of paleoelevation estimates derived from geochemistry using the western margin of South America as a case study. We investigate their consistency with independent indicators of past elevations such as stratigraphy, stable isotopes, fossils etc. for Cenozoic samples along the Andean margin. For older times, we compare the estimated paleoelevations with more general aspects of the geological record, as well as paleoelevations from global paleogeography models widely used in climate modelling studies, to evaluate the extent to which these models are consistent with the igneous geochemical proxies. We find that estimates based on multiple geochemical proxies, and which account for variations in elevation as a function of MgO, are preferable to those based on individual proxies. The multi-mohometer estimates yield estimates of elevation that better match both present-day topography and Cenozoic paleoelevations, and retain more samples during the data filtering stage. In deeper time, we show that igneous geochemistry quantifies changes in elevation related to documented phases of crustal thickening and thinning, and is thus likely to allow improvements to existing maps of paleotopography.

Observation and modelling of infragravity waves at a large meso-tidal inlet and lagoon

The role of infragravity waves (IG waves) in beach and dune erosion or in flood hazard has been extensively studied on open beaches. In contrast, the detailed characterization of IG waves and their contribution to the Total Water Level (TWL) along the shore of inlets received little attention so far. In such environment, there is a real lack of in situ observations of waves and hydrodynamics conditions at appropriate spatial and temporal coverage to study the role of infragravity (IG) waves (long waves of frequency typically ranging between 0.004 Hz and 0.04–0.05 Hz) on coastal hazards. This contribution is based on field observations collected at the Arcachon Lagoon, a shallow semi-enclosed lagoon connected to the ocean by a large tidal inlet, located in southwest France. Analyses combine observations made at several locations during storm events within the inlet and the lagoon with numerical simulation with the XBeach surfbeat model to explore the spatial variability of IG waves and simulate observed, historical, and idealized storm conditions. The results show that IG waves are substantial during typical winter storms at the inlet and range from Hm0 = 0.8 to over 1 m across the ebb delta and about 0.4–0.6 m in the inner part of the inlet. At the lagoon entrance, IG waves remain substantial (about 0.1–0.2 m) and decrease to a few centimeters at the lagoon shore. The spatial variability and magnitude of IG waves along the inlet coast, simulated for the historical storms, are quite comparable to those observed during classical winter, and do not increase linearly with offshore wave energy. However, both observations and simulations reveal local amplifications of IG waves in the inner part of the inlet, especially along the sheltered coast were IG waves dominate the variance of free surface elevation, reaching about 0.6–0.7 m during common storms and more than 1 m for an extreme storm scenario. A numerical experiment indicates that IG wave reflection from one coast to the other contributes up to 35–40% of the measured IG wave height at a hot spot located along the sheltered coast. Finally, the contribution of IG waves to TWL at the shore on both sides of the inlet has been estimated to be about 0.4–0.6 m for a common storm and 0.6–0.9 m for an extreme scenario, locally peaking at 0.74 and 1.1 m respectively and overpassing the contribution of wave-induced setup. This work provides new insights into the contribution of IG waves to TWL and its implications for overtopping flooding hazard and overwash processes at large inlets, highlighting the need to consider IG waves in Early Warning Systems or hazard mapping for flood prevention plans in these environments.

Repeated drone photogrammetry surveys demonstrate that reconstructed canopy heights are sensitive to wind speed but relatively insensitive to illumination conditions

ABSTRACT Unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) based structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry surveys are becoming a standard tool for ecologists to measure plant structure and biomass in non-forest ecosystems. The reproducibility of SfM survey results under different operational conditions, namely wind speed, sun elevation, and cloud condition, is poorly understood. It is also unclear to what extent commonly applied point-to-grid interpolation of derived point clouds affects inference of vegetation structure. These knowledge gaps limit the use of these methods for measuring and monitoring detection. We captured 61 UAV SfM surveys at the same study area under a range of wind/sun/cloud conditions over a 24-day period during 2021 and used generalized linear mixed effects models to test how the structural reconstructions varied with environmental conditions. Wind speed significantly influenced the canopy height reconstructions, with greater wind speeds reducing mean canopy height. Different plant species exhibited varying sensitivities to wind that are likely related to leaf attributes (size, structure, and density), growth form of the canopy, and physical properties such as limb flexibility. The movement of plants can reduce canopy height estimates derived from photogrammetric surveys, even under relatively low wind speeds. Reconstructed canopy heights were comparatively insensitive to solar elevation variations. Cloud conditions and illumination by direct sunlight had a weak, non-significant effect on reconstructed canopy height, with sunny conditions (generating shadows) resulting in a measurable but marginal reduction in mean canopy heights. When comparing canopy heights of interpolated and discontinuous derived canopy height models the results highlighted that these were insensitive to interpolation in this specific setting. We recommend measuring mean wind speeds throughout surveys where comparisons are to be made between different drone-based SfM surveys of vegetation over either time or space. Care should be taken to ensure that the effects of wind are controlled for so that inferences are valid.

The Eastern Ghat of India: A review on plant ecological perspectives

The Eastern Ghats, a discontinuous range of mountains spanning Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka has a humid tropical monsoon climate with moderate to high temperatures and heavy rainfall. The Eastern Ghats offer a diverse range of flora and fauna, including endemics. The vegetation is classified into various forest types, including moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry evergreen, evergreen, semi-evergreen, scrub jungles, and savannah. Eastern Ghat reflects the healthy carrying capacity of the ecosystem. The Eastern Ghats boasts a diverse plant community, with over 3200 flowering plant species, largely due to geographic factors, high seasonality, and elevational variations. The Eastern Ghats, a significant biodiversity granary in India, has been the subject of numerous taxonomic and quantitative surveys. The eastern coast of India's eastern forest (Eastern Ghats) is facing a decline in plant diversity due to overexploitation, habitat destruction, and rampant grazing. This has led to species loss and extinction. The forest cover has also decreased due to anthropogenic pressures. However, there is a lack of significant research on plant species population dynamics, soil surveys, soil chemistry, geomorphology, geobotany, pedology, edaphology, and phytochemistry. To address this, modern science and technology approaches, such as geomorphometry and geobotanical studies using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques, are the need of the hour.

Evaluating the Performance of Alternate Wetting and Drying Irrigation Technology: An On-farm Rice Case Study in An Giang Province, the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Alternate wetting and drying irrigation (AWD) is a promising technique that has been tried across Southeast Asia to reduce water consumption and methane emissions in irrigated rice cultivation. The study conducted in the upper Vietnamese Mekong Delta compared the effectiveness of plant growth, yield components, and yield under three different water application regimes: the treatments of community AWD (AWD_C), household individually (AWD_H), and continuous flooding (CF) with the expectation to explore the ability to use water effectively in rice cultivation. The results showed no significant difference in water use between the three treatments. However, there was a considerable difference in coefficient of variation value (CV); the CV value of the water column in the AWD_C (1.32%) was a significant difference from that of AWD_H (0.87%) and CF (0.89%). The mean chlorophyll content, the yield, and the weight of 1,000 grains of the AWD_H treatment were significantly higher than that of the other two treatments. In another aspect, the water productivity of the AWD_H treatment was the highest (0.66 kg/m3), a statistically significant difference compared to the AWD_C and CF (0.37; 0.33 kg/m3). In conclusion, the AWD_H shows efficiency in leaf chlorophyll content, 1,000-grain weight, yield, and water productivity. The AWD_C is inferior to the AWD_H due to the large variation of field elevation. It is noted that field elevation is critical to the technique’s success in being applied on a large scale.

Morphometric analysis in the sub basins of the Kali River using Geographic Information System, Karnataka, India

Morphometric analysis serves as a crucial tool for quantitatively characterizing drainage basins and exploring the intricate relationships between hydraulic parameters and geomorphological characteristics. This study presents a comprehensive morphometric analysis of the Kali Subbasin in Karnataka, covering an area of 1175.45 km². Utilizing remote sensing data and GIS tools, we quantified various morphometric parameters, including stream order, stream length, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, stream frequency, form factor, and circularity ratio, to understand the basin's geomorphological and hydrological characteristics. The study area is classified as a seventh-order basin displaying a dendritic drainage pattern with a drainage density of 2.853 km/km². Notably, the bifurcation ratio ranges from 4.396 to 3, indicating low to moderate structural control within the basin. The subbasin's elongated shape, with an elongation ratio of 0.604 and a circularity ratio of 0.298, indicates moderate peak flow and high susceptibility to erosion. Relief parameters showed significant elevation variations, contributing to intense erosion and heightened flood risks in lower-lying areas. The study identifies the basin's transition to a mature geomorphic stage, evidenced by an escalating stream length ratio from lower to higher orders. These findings underscore the importance of tailored watershed management strategies, including floodplain zoning, retention basins, afforestation, and terracing, to mitigate flooding and soil erosion. The study's insights are crucial for developing effective, localized water resource management plans and enhancing the resilience of the Kali Subbasin to future hydrological challenges.

Processes regulating local community assembly of plants and spiders in high latitude mountains

AbstractAimMountains are often used to study how environmental factors influence biodiversity. However, we have limited understanding of the processes causing biodiversity variation in mountains and whether such processes vary across trophic levels and spatial scales. The aim of this study was to evaluate (i) whether community assembly processes varied along elevational gradients, (ii) whether there were differences in such variation between primary producers (vascular plants) and secondary consumers (spiders) and (iii) whether there were scale dependencies in any elevational variation in community assembly.LocationFennoscandia, Northern Sweden.TaxonVascular plants, spiders.MethodsWe used phenotypic and phylogenetic dispersion to quantify how elevation influenced community assembly of vascular plants and spiders and whether there were any scale dependencies in such influences. Our original data of plant and spider communities came from our own field surveys, phenotypic dispersion was calculated based on matrices of ecological traits, and phylogenetic dispersion was calculated from phylogenetic trees for each organism group. Trait matrices were based on a combination of literature values and our own measurements. The phylogeny for vascular plants was based on a published plant super‐tree, whereas the phylogeny for spiders was created by ourselves based on the DNA sequences at the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI).ResultsPlants were environmentally filtered throughout all elevations and scales, but the importance of convergent evolution increased with elevation. For spiders, the importance of environmental filtering as well as niche conservatism increased with elevation. For both groups, communities at smaller scales were more influenced by biotic regulation and niche conservatism than at larger scales.Main ConclusionsOur study highlights both taxonomic differences and scale dependencies in how elevation influences community assembly. We argue that these results can have broad ramifications for our understanding of how spatial variation in biodiversity is generated and maintained. This may have particular relevance for our ability to predict the ecological consequences of climate change. Our results further highlight that high elevation specialists may suffer increased risks of climate driven extinctions due to a combination of increased competition and increased fragmentation of suitable habitats. Particularly for spiders, which had high elevation specialists clustered along specific lineages, such extinctions could lead to significant loss of phylogenetic variation.

Nearshore Flow Dynamics Over Shore‐Oblique Bathymetric Features During Storm Wave Conditions

AbstractShore‐oblique bathymetric features occur around the world and have been statistically correlated with enhanced shoreline retreat on sandy beaches. However, the physical mechanisms that explain a causal relationship are not well understood. In this study, radar remote sensing observations and results from a phase‐resolved numerical model explore how complex morphology alters nearshore hydrodynamics. Observations at selected times during high‐energy storm events as well as a suite of idealized simulations indicate that shore‐oblique features induce strong spatial variations in the water surface elevation, wave breaking patterns, and mean current pathways. Re‐emergent offshore flows and longshore current accelerations occur near the shoreward apex of the oblique nearshore features. The results suggest that complex bathymetric morphology exerts a powerful control on nearshore hydrodynamics and increases the potential for enhanced cross‐shore and alongshore sediment transport.

Dispersal limitations and ecological adaptions shape phylogenetic diversity patterns of angiosperm woody plant communities along latitudinal and elevational gradients in East Asian islands

For centuries, ecologists have been captivated by the assembly of local communities from regional species pools, which gives rise to spatial diversity patterns. This study focused on hierarchical filtering process, which involves dispersal limitation and climatic constraint across regional to local scale, that underpins plant biodiversity patterns in East Asian islands, as one of the biodiversity hotspots with high endemicity. We used vegetation and species pool datasets of angiosperm woody plant communities collected from seven mountains across Japan to Taiwan to explore the relative contributions of local factors of individual plots, islands, latitude, elevation, and climatic variables related to the pattern of phylogenetic community assembly. Using linear regression and variation partitioning, we found that the island factor had the strongest filtering effect followed by latitude. Elevation and local factors (slope, aspect) accounted for a very small proportion of the variance in phylogenetic dispersion and community clade age between member species. Geographical factors involving islands, distance, and elevation had overriding filtering effects over climatic factors (minimum temperature of the coldest month, precipitation of the driest month) in shaping woody plant assembly patterns at the regional scale across East Asia islands. Tropical niche conservatism contributed to shaping woody plant communities in temperate region and high elevational regions on subtropical mountains as young and closely related species coexisted in those regions due to their adaptation to cold climates. This also explained the minor climate effects on species sorting in temperate mountains characterized by temperate-specific species pool which had already been filtered by cold climates. Inconsistent elevational phylogenetic diversity patterns in East Asia islands suggest a mountain-specific process that governs community assembly along elevational gradients, likely attributed to the location and climate of the mountain. These results suggest that historical factors (geohistorical isolation) related to islands and mountains contribute to in situ diversification that shaped plant diversity gradient from subtropical to temperate forests.

Diversity of soil fungi and entomopathogenic fungi in subtropical mountain forest in southwest China

AbstractTill now, the diversity of entomopathogenic fungi in subtropical mountain forest was less studied. Here, the vertical distribution of forest soil fungi, entomopathogenic fungi, and their environmental influencing factors in a subtropical mountain in western China were investigated. Soil samples were collected from four elevations in a subtropical forest in Shaanxi. The results indicated a greater richness of soil fungi at middle elevations and soil fungi were more even at low elevation. Soil pH, available iron, available potassium, total potassium, and available zinc were the most important influencing factors affecting this vertical distribution of fungi. Interestingly, the Isaria genus was predominant while Metarhizium and Beauveria showed decreasing abundance. The presence of Isaria showed a significant positive correlation with both total phosphorus and available iron, while, available zinc was negatively correlated. Metarhizium was influenced by elevation, pH, available phosphorus, and available copper and Beauveria was influenced by soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, total potassium, available potassium, and available zinc. Overall, as environmental factors affecting soil fungi, elevation, and plant species diversity were less important than soil physical and chemical properties. The virulence of isolated entomopathogenic fungi were tested against larvae of Tenebrio molitor, with mortality ranging from 31.11% to 100%. The above findings provide valuable data to deepen our understanding of the diversity of entomopathogenic fungi in subtropical mountain forests.

The mitigating effect of street trees, urban flora, and the suburban environment on seasonal peak UV indices: A case study from Brisbane, Australia.

Tree shade, particularly shade that obscures direct sunlight near peak periods of midday solar exposure can have a pronounced effect on potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation, and in turn, strongly influence the maximum daily UV index (UVI). In this study, the seasonal influence of tree shade on the UVI is evaluated from 210 hemispherical sky view images collected alongside public walkways and footpaths from 10 residential Brisbane suburbs. The effective sidewalk UV index is calculated underneath planted tree canopies, adjacent residential gardens, buildings and background tree species. Results are presented with respect to seasonal variations in the diurnal solar elevation for each month of the year at Brisbane's latitude. The research also examines the total reduction in UVI due to the presence of individual tree species, showing reductions in the midday UVI of up to 91% of an equivalent unimpeded sky hemisphere when overhead tree canopies are present. Important footpath tree species for peak midday UVI mitigation include Pongamia pinnata, Xanthostemon chrysanthus, Senna siamea, and Libidibia ferrea. The planting and maintenance of existing tree species already growing alongside residential Brisbane streets will improve the shade characteristics of suburbs and enhance UV protection for local residents.

Ant Species Distribution Models Reveal Mixed Elevational Diversity Patterns in Complete Elevation Gradients: Past and Present Climatic Effects?

Ant Species Distribution Models Reveal Mixed Elevational Diversity Patterns in Complete Elevation Gradients: Past and Present Climatic Effects?