Jilin Province Of China Research Articles

Research on Chaga hypoglycemic functional foods

Chaga, also known as Inonotus obliquus (Fr.) Pilát, belongs to the genera Basidiomycotina, Hymenomycetes, Hymenochaetales, Hymenochaetaceae, and Inonotus. Chaga is a brown polypore fungus that mostly grows under the bark of white birch and silver birch trees. It forms sarcoma-like sclerotia when the bark is damaged. It mainly grows in Northern Europe at the 40° to 50° north latitude, Siberia and the Far East in Russia, Hokkaido in Japan, and the Changbai Mountain area of the Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province in China. Chaga has various pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, hypoglycemic, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory. Inonotus obliquus, an edible fungus with the same origin as medicine and food, has attracted more and more attention. At present, Chaga has become a raw material with great potential for developing functional foods. In this article, Chaga’s blood sugar-lowering function, functional ingredients, and blood sugar-lowering mechanism and the development status of Chaga functional foods are reviewed and Chaga’s future development is analyzed and forecast.

Application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing and targeted metagenomic next-generation sequencing in diagnosing pulmonary infections in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients.

Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) technology has been widely used to diagnose various infections. Based on the most common pathogen profiles, targeted mNGS (tNGS) using multiplex PCR has been developed to detect pathogens with predesigned primers in the panel, significantly improving sensitivity and reducing economic burden on patients. However, there are few studies on summarizing pathogen profiles of pulmonary infections in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients in Jilin Province of China on large scale. From January 2021 to December 2023, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) or sputum samples from 546 immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia were collected. Pathogen profiles in those patients on whom mNGS was performed were summarized. Additionally, we also evaluated the performance of tNGS in diagnosing pulmonary infections. Combined with results of mNGS and culture, we found that the most common bacterial pathogens were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter baumannii in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients with high detection rates of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium, respectively. For fungal pathogens, Pneumocystis jirovecii was commonly detected in patients, while fungal infections in immunocompetent patients were mainly caused by Candida albicans. Most of viral infections in patients were caused by Human betaherpesvirus 5 and Human gammaherpesvirus 4. It is worth noting that, compared with immunocompetent patients (34.9%, 76/218), more mixed infections were found in immunocompromised patients (37.8%, 14/37). Additionally, taking final comprehensive clinical diagnoses as reference standard, total coincidence rate of BALF tNGS (81.4%, 48/59) was much higher than that of BALF mNGS (40.0%, 112/280). Our findings supplemented and classified the pathogen profiles of pulmonary infections in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients in Jilin Province of China. Most importantly, our findings can accelerate the development and design of tNGS specifically used for regional pulmonary infections.

Analysis of Female Employment Situation Based on Data from Jilin Province in China

In recent years, Chinas GDP has continued to grow, yet the labor share has not increased in a consistent manner. This paper employs an empirical analysis based on data from Jilin Province, China. It uses questionnaires and econometric modeling methods to investigate the role of gender in economic life and the role of other factors (such as employment pressure, the role of unions, etc.) in this process. The questionnaire survey examines the current state of gender employment discrimination in China, focusing on the existence, causes, and influencing factors of employment discrimination. In constructing the econometric model, this paper assumes a negative relationship between the proportion of female employees and the labor share, while there is a positive relationship between female education level and the labor income share. The two hypotheses, based on common sense and literature, are then tested by an econometric model. The results indicate that the proportion of female employees is indeed negatively correlated with the share of labor income, suggesting that women face more significant employment challenges.

Establishment and preliminary application of duplex fluorescence quantitative PCR for porcine circoviruses type 2 and type 3

Porcine circovirus types 2 (PCV2) and 3 (PCV3) are the two most prevalent porcine circoviruses in China, all of which can infect swine herds and cause serious diseases. To detect coinfection with PCV2 and PCV3, primers and probes for duplex PCV2 and PCV3 real-time PCR were designed to target their cap genes based on the constructed plasmids pUC57-PCV2 and pUC57-PCV3. The established duplex PCV2 and PCV3 real-time PCRs were specific to PCV2 and PCV3 and showed no cross-reactions with other porcine viral pathogens. The limit of detection was 5 and 50 copies for the PCV2 and PCV3 plasmids, respectively. The intra- and interassay repeatability had coefficients of variation below 3 %. The established methods were used to analyze clinical samples from Liaoning and Jilin provinces of China. The coinfection rates of PCV2 and PCV3 in pigs extensively fed in Liaoning and Jilin, large-scale farmed pigs in Liaoning and large-scale farmed pigs in Jilin were 15.0 % (6/40), 36.7 % (11/30) and 35.4 % (62/175), respectively. This study established a useful duplex PCV2 and PCV3 real-time PCR method that can be used for the detection of PCV2 and PCV3 in local clinical samples.

Model-based offline reinforcement learning framework for optimizing tunnel boring machine operation

Research on automation and intelligent operation of tunnel boring machine (TBM) is receiving more and more attention, benefiting from the increasing construction data. However, most studies on TBM operations optimization were trained by the labels of human drivers’ decisions, which were subjective and stochastic. As a result, the control parameters suggested by these models could hardly surpass the performance of a human driver, even the possibility of subjective incorrect decisions. Considering that the geomechanical feedback to TBM under drivers’ actions is objective, in this paper, a transformer-based model called the geological response for tunnel boring machine (GRTBM), is proposed to learn the relationship between operation-adjust and TBM monitoring changes. Additionally, with the model-based offline reinforcement learning, this paper provided a novel approach to optimizing the TBM excavation operations. The decision processes, recorded in the Yin-song TBM project for a waterway tunnel in Jilin Province of China, were used for the validation of the model. By adopting an implicit perception of geological conditions in the GRTBM model, the suggested method achieved the desired state within a single action, greatly outperformed the practical adjustments where 500 s were taken, revealing the fact that the proposed model has the potential to surpass the capability of human beings.

Rice leaf chlorophyll content estimation with different crop coverages based on Sentinel-2

Chlorophyll content is an important index for evaluating the health and productivity of crops, and environmental stress on them. The real-time, rapid, and accurate acquisition of chlorophyll content plays a key role in crop growth monitoring. Remote sensing can quickly obtain chlorophyll content in regional and global scale, but how to eliminate the interference of soil background in estimation is a major challenge. The statistical analysis method based on empirical/semi-empirical model is simpler, faster and easier to implement than that based on radiative transfer mechanism model. The statistical analysis method can eliminate the influence of environmental background by looking for a Vegetation index (VI) that is sensitive to the chlorophyll content but not to soil background to a certain extent. However, the accuracy of this method is low in fields with different degrees of crop coverage. Additionally, the special soil background characteristics of rice fields make the method a doubtful tool to estimate the Chlorophyll content in rice coverage. To improve the accuracy of the rice leaf chlorophyll content (LCC) estimation model, we here propose a new model based on crop coverage. We analyzed remote sensing images of the Sentinel-2 over rice-planting areas of Qian Gorlos County in Jilin Province of China. We divided the study area into three regions based on high-, medium-, and low-rice canopy coverage. Rice LCC in each region was estimated by identifying remote sensing vegetation indices that are sensitive to chlorophyll in different rice canopy coverages. Compared to the estimated results without considering the crop coverage, our model achieves a higher accuracy. In addition, we applied the model in the region of Northeast China in 2023 to verify its strong generalisability and robustness. Our study provides a reference for rapidly and non-destructively obtaining rice LCC based on Sentinel-2 images. However, the applicability of our model to other crops will be verified in the future.

REVIEW OF LEAF BEETLES OF THE SUBGENUS HYPERICIA BEDEL, 1899 (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE: CHRYSOLINA) FROM EAST ASIA

The East Palaearctic group of species in the subgenus Hypericia Bedel, 1899 (genus Chrysolina Motschulsky, 1860) is reviewed. Chrysolina (H.) nikkoensis (Jacoby, 1885) is first recorded for Kurile Islands and the Russian fauna, its type specimens studied and redescription is provided. Chrysolina (Hypericia) changbaishana sp. n. is described from Jilin Province of China; it differs from Ch. (H.) difficilis (Motschulsky, 1860) by smaller size, last abdominal ventrite without depression and narrow lateral calli of pronotum.

Forecasting regional water demand using multi-fidelity data and harris hawks optimization of generalized regression neural network models – A case study of Heilongjiang Province, China

Accurate forecasting of water demand plays a crucial role in decision makers to effectively allocate regional water resources and promotes the rational development and utilization of water resources. To address the challenges posed by limited raw data availability and the difficulty in selecting parameters for water demand forecasting models, this study proposes a coupled model called MF-HHO-GRNN (Multi-Fidelity Data, Hybrid Harris Hawks Optimization, and Generalized Regression Neural Network). Initially, multi-fidelity data was constructed employing water demand factor data for Heilongjiang Province, China (1999–2020) as high-fidelity data, alongside data from Liaoning and Jilin Provinces of China as low-fidelity data. Adaptive boosting algorithms, data concatenation, and data dimensionality reduction techniques were employed to construct multi-fidelity data, thereby improving the availability of the original data. Subsequently, Harris hawk optimization algorithms were implemented to optimize the smoothing factor of the GRNN to resolve the challenge of selecting suitable parameters for water demand forecasting models. Finally, the MF-HHO-GRNN model was compared with other prediction models to analyze the prediction accuracy. The optimized MF-HHO-GRNN model meeting accuracy requirements was utilized to forecast agricultural irrigation, industrial, domestic, ecological water demand, and total water demand in Heilongjiang Province for the next 5 years. Results demonstrated that the proposed MF-HHO-GRNN model attained predictive accuracy of 98 %, 98 %, and 97 % for total water demand under three distinct time horizons (1 year, 3 years, and 5 years), proving excellent predictive capabilities. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison was made between the predicted total water demand and user-specific water demands for the next 5 years in Heilongjiang Province and the regional development plans. The results showed that the predictions of the coupled model aligned with the future development trends of Heilongjiang Province, validating the practicality of the MF-HHO-GRNN model. This study provides decision-makers with an effective method for forecasting water demand, contributing to the future realization of more intelligent and accurate water resource management and decision-making.

Combination of metagenomic next-generation sequencing and conventional tests unraveled pathogen profiles in infected patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Jilin Province of China.

Infection is the main cause of death for patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, pathogen profiles still have not been reported in detail due to their heterogeneity caused by geographic region. To evaluate the performance of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and summarize regional pathogen profiles of infected patients after HSCT. From February 2021 to August 2022, 64 patients, admitted to the Department of Hematology of The First Hospital of Jilin University for HSCT and diagnosed as suspected infections, were retrospectively enrolled. A total of 38 patients were diagnosed as having infections, including bloodstream (n =17), pulmonary (n =16), central nervous system (CNS) (n =4), and chest (n =1) infections. Human betaherpesvirus 5 (CMV) was the most common pathogen in both bloodstream (n =10) and pulmonary (n =8) infections, while CNS (n =2) and chest (n =1) infections were mainly caused by Human gammaherpesvirus 4 (EBV). For bloodstream infection, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (n =3), Staphylococcus epidermidis (n =1), and Candida tropicalis (n =1) were also diagnosed as causative pathogens. Furthermore, mNGS combined with conventional tests can identify more causative pathogens with high sensitivity of 82.9% (95% CI 70.4-95.3%), and the total coincidence rate can reach up to 76.7% (95% CI 64.1-89.4%). Our findings emphasized the importance of mNGS in diagnosing, managing, and ruling out infections, and an era of more rapid, independent, and impartial diagnosis of infections after HSCT can be expected.

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of Bsr-d1 enhances the blast resistance of rice in Northeast China.

The blast resistance allele of OsBsr-d1 does not exist in most japonica rice varieties of Jilin Province in China. The development of Bsr-d1 knockout mutants via CRISPR/Cas9 enhances broad-spectrum resistance to rice blast in Northeast China. Rice blast is a global disease that has a significant negative impact on rice yield and quality. Due to the complexity and variability of the physiological races of rice blast, controlling rice blast is challenging in agricultural production. Bsr-d1, a negative transcription factor that confers broad-spectrum resistance to rice blast, was identified in the indica rice cultivar Digu; however, its biological function in japonica rice varieties is still unclear. In this study, we analyzed the blast resistance allele of Bsr-d1 in a total of 256 japonica rice varieties from Jilin Province in Northeast China and found that this allele was not present in these varieties. Therefore, we generated Bsr-d1 knockout mutants via the CRISPR/Cas9 system using the japonica rice variety Jigeng88 (JG88) as a recipient variety. Compared with those of the wild-type JG88, the homozygous Bsr-d1 mutant lines KO#1 and KO#2 showed enhanced leaf blast resistance at the seedling stage to several Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) races collected from Jilin Province in Northeast China. Physiological and biochemical indices revealed that the homozygous mutant lines produced more hydrogen peroxide than did JG88 plants when infected with M. oryzae. Comparative RNA-seq revealed that the DEGs were mainly involved in the synthesis of amide compounds, zinc finger proteins, transmembrane transporters, etc. In summary, our results indicate that the development of Bsr-d1 knockout mutants through CRISPR/Cas9 can enhance the broad-spectrum resistance of rice in Northeast China to rice blast. This study not only provides a theoretical basis for disease resistance breeding involving the Bsr-d1 gene in Northeast China, but also provides new germplasm resources for disease-resistance rice breeding.

Research on agri-environmental technology efficiency——take Jilin Province in China as an example

From the perspective of the world agricultural development law, agricultural economic development and ecological environmental protection usually fall into a dichotomy paradox, according to the history of agricultural development in developed countries, they also experienced the rapid development of agriculture led to the destruction of the agro-ecological environment, which has become a key element hindering the sustainability of agriculture. Subsequently, developed countries rely on modern technology to achieve the transition from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture, crossing the paradoxical trap of economic development and ecological construction. At the present stage, China also shows the sharp contradiction between agricultural development and ecological construction, the traditional agricultural production methods of agricultural output has basically reached the limit, however, the established production methods of the ecological environment caused by the negative effects of the more and more serious, so that the agricultural environmental technology efficiency is not optimistic, so there is an urgent need to have a clear understanding of the main grain-producing areas of China's agricultural environmental technology efficiency and the factors affecting it. As an important grain producing area in China, Jilin Province's agricultural development level is in the forefront of the country, and it is also facing the contradiction between agricultural development and ecological environmental protection at the present stage. In order to realize the green transformation of agriculture and improve the technical efficiency of agricultural environment, it is necessary to rely on the optimisation of multi-dimensional factors such as technology and system. The study of agricultural environmental technical efficiency in Jilin Province has important theoretical significance and practical value for guiding other agricultural areas to realize the green transformation of production mode.

The role of estrogen receptors (ERs)-Notch pathway in thyroid toxicity induced by Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) exposure: Population data and in vitro studies

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the exposure level and risk of Di-2-ethylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP) among adults in Jilin Province, China, clarify the impact of DEHP on human thyroid function, and to explore the role of estrogen receptors (ERs)-Notch signaling pathway in the effect of DEHP metabolites on thyroid hormones based on population data and in vitro experiments. Methods312 adults participated in this study. Urinary DEHP metabolites were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS/MS). Two pharmacokinetic models were used to evaluate the estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) of the adults. Multiple linear regression and mediating effect models were used to evaluate the target associations. In cell experiments, thyroid follicular epithelial (Nthy-ori3–1) cells were exposed to mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) for testing. The inhibitions of ERα and Notch pathway were conducted by siRNA and Notch pathway inhibitor DAPT. ResultsThe detection rate of five DEHP metabolites was 97.1∼100.0%. The HQ value of 0.3% of adults was higher than 1. The levels of urinary DEHP metabolites were significantly correlated with thyrotropin (TSH), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) and gene (estrogen receptor α (ERα), Notch1, Dll4) levels. The ERα-Notch pathway played a mediating role in the association between DEHP metabolite levels and FT4. The cell results showed, the levels of FT3 and FT4 in cell supernatant decreased after MEHP exposure, and the downward trend was reversed after ERα and notch pathways were inhibited, notch pathway genes also decreased after ERα inhibition. ConclusionAdults in the Jilin Province of China were widely exposed to DEHP. ERs-Notch pathway played an important role in the effect of DEHP metabolites on thyroid hormones.

Demographics and Clinical Characteristics Assessment of Severe Acute Toxic Ingestions in Pediatric Patients: A Single-Center Study in Jilin Province of China.

This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of severe acute toxic ingestions in children in Jilin Province and provide a reference for seeking effective measures to prevent poisoning accidents. The clinical data of patients diagnosed with acute toxic ingestions and who presented with severe life-threatening symptoms or organ dysfunction at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the First Hospital of Jilin University were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with incomplete clinical medical records, unclear toxic substance, and loss to follow-up within 6 months of discharge are excluded. We sorted out these children's demographic characteristics, types of poisoning, clinical manifestations, treatment process, and follow-up, etc. This study enrolled 141 cases with no significant differences in sex and region; adolescents accounted for 44.68%. The most common poisons were pesticides and insecticides for rural areas and internal medication for urban areas. With poisoning details as a grouping variable, there was no statistical difference between sex groupings (χ2 = 6.018, P = 0.198) and no difference between region groups (χ2 = 3.775, P = 0.289). However, there were statistical differences between age groups (χ2 = 28.22, P = 0.001). In this research, patients younger than 6 years are mainly unintentionally poisoned, whereas the suicide rate of the urban group (P < 0.05), adolescents (P < 0.01), and girls (P < 0.01) has increased significantly; moreover, the suicide group is more likely to take more overdose medication or pesticides and insecticides (P < 0.01). In addition, there was a statistical difference between suicide and length of intensive care unit stay (r = 0.268, P < 0.01). A total of 90.78% of the patients were successfully discharged after comprehensive treatment. Children aged younger than 12 years had good psychological and intellectual development during the follow-up period, whereas adolescents diagnosed with depression often required long-term psychological and medication intervention. This study identified poisoning details in different ages, regions, and sex of acute severe oral poisoning in children from Jilin Province. The results presentation of different prevention priorities should vary among children of different ages and emphasize adolescent suicide being a reality in Jilin Province. There is an urgent need for further culture-specific research in this area.

Impacts of energy-saving and emission-reduction on sustainability of cement production

How energy saving and emission reduction measures influence the interrelationship between carbon emissions and environmental sustainability of cement industry is not very clear, and this could lead to trade-off. This study investigates effects of three representative energy saving and emission reduction measures (steam Rankine cycle power generation (SRC), organic Rankine cycle power generation (ORC) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU)) on environmental performance of cement production using an improved emergy analysis and carbon emissions amounting. The proposed approach can investigate resource efficiency and emissions' impact as well as carbon footprint of a system in study simultaneously. A cement enterprise, in Jilin Province in China, as a case, is explored using the proposed combined approach based on scenario analysis. The results illustrate that combination of SRC + ORC can promote environmental sustainability of cement production and carbon emission reduction by 4.61 % and 4.28 % respectively, mainly derived from SRC application (by 4.06 % and 3.81 %), (2) CCU can promote carbon emission reduction by 3.97 % but weaken the environmental sustainability by 2.10 % due to enhancing share of purchased nonrenewable electricity, and (3) combination of SRC + ORC + CCU can promote the environmental sustainability (by 2.43 %) and carbon emission reduction by 8.25 %. In addition, due to strong dependence on nonrenewable resources, combination of SRC + ORC + CCU is still limited in improvement of environmental performance of the industry. In the future, China's cement industry should further enhance environmental performance of CCU and efficiency of ORC, as well as improve the resource structure of this industry.

Tillage Methods Change Nitrogen Distribution and Enzyme Activities in Maize Rhizosphere and Non-Rhizosphere Chernozem in Jilin Province of China

The tillage method in farming systems is essential to develop strategies to increase fertilizer uptake by plant roots and to avoid environmental pollution. The field study aimed to investigate the characteristics of nitrogen and enzyme activities in rhizosphere soil with different tillage methods. Four treatment plots applied with fertilizers were established: continuous rotary tillage (CR), plowing-rotary tillage (PR), continuous no-till (CN) and ploughing-no-till (PN). The total content of nitrogen in chernozem was high during early stages of plant growth, and then it decreased with the maize growth. In the rhizosphere soil, the total N accounted 1314.45, 1265.96, 1120.47, 1120.47, 1204.05 mg·kg−1 of CR, PR, CN, and PN, respectively, which were markedly greater than that of non-rhizosphere soil (1237.52, 1168.40, 984.51, 1106.49 mg·kg−1 of CR, PR, CN, and PN, respectively). At first growth stages, content of NH4+-N and NO3−-N in two soil regions was low, then increased gradually, which followed the order of CR &lt; PR &lt; PN &lt; CN. The rhizosphere soil showed slightly higher concentration of NH4+-N and NO3−-N than non-rhizosphere. The soil enzymes were more active in the rhizosphere soil than that of non-rhizosphere during the whole maize growth stages. Due to minimal damage to the soil environment and optimal soil moisture and temperature, the urease and catalase activities were greatest in the rhizosphere for CN treatment. Therefore, CN was recommended to be used by farmers for the improvement of macronutrient availability and soil enzyme activities in the soil.

Estimation of the Population Dynamics of Taxus cuspidata by Using a Static Life Table for Its Conservation

Taxus cuspidata is a rare and endangered plant species with an extremely small population which is endemic to China. This study focused on the natural T. cuspidata population in Jilin Province in China. Conventional population ecology survey methods were used to describe its population structure characteristics. Then, we chose diameter structure instead of temporal structure to establish a static population life table, draw a population survival curve, and quantify the future development trend by using population dynamic analysis and time sequence prediction. The results showed that: (1) the static life table suggested that the population of T. cuspidata was stable overall. The population survival curve tended to be Deevey Ⅱ, with a high early seedling mortality, and the later population growth tended to be stable; (2) the survival curve suggested that the population initially experienced higher mortality rates in the early stage. However, as time progressed and the population aged, the mortality rates decreased, resulting in a more stable population in the middle and late stages; (3) The diameter class structure of T. cuspidata was stable overall, and the dynamic indices showed that the population was fluctuating. The population was influenced by external disturbances and showed some resistance to human disturbance; (4) time sequence prediction analysis showed that the mortality rate of young individuals was high, natural renewal could be maintained, and the population size would remain at a certain amount in the future. The result shows that the Jilin region is a highly suitable area for the growth of Taxus cuspidata’s population in Northeast China. We recommend in situ conservation of remaining wild populations, relocation of germplasm resources, and reduction of human activities; these actions will be beneficial to Taxus cuspidata’s long-term survival.

First Report of Apple Brown Rot caused by Monilinia polystroma in Jilin Province in China.

Brown rot caused by Monilinia spp. is an important postharvest disease. It affects fruit quality and can cause serious economic losses. In October 2021, typical brown rot symptoms on fruit were observed at an apple orchard in Xiaobaishan Township, Jilin Province, China (E126°39'10″, N43°44'21″). Over 1200 plants were surveyed in the orchard, and nearly 25% of the plants were infected. In this research, samples from ten different trees showing typical symptoms were isolated and identified. Freshly diseased fruits were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 15s, then fungal colonies were isolated from 3 mm diameter diseased tissue samples. The purified colonies were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA), oatmeal agar (OA) and water agar (WA + Sterilized apple pulp) and incubated at 25 ℃ in a 12 h/12 h light-dark photoperiod for 5 days. The colonies became light to dark brown; they grew faster on PDA with a growth rate of 5.53 mm/d, most densely on OA and slowest on SA + sterilized apple pulp with thin mycelia. After 20 days, some transparent, oval, smooth conidia were observed on the SA + sterile apple culture medium. Conidia sizes were 8.27-16.54 (avg. 11.97) x 2.92-7.09 (avg. 4.52) um (n=50) (Hilber-Bodmer et al. 2012). Pure cultures of eight samples were isolated from single spores, and DNA was extracted with a commercial nucleic acid extraction kit (Omega, cat#D3390-01). Then, fragments of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1-alpha), beta-tubulin (Bt), and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes(G3pdh) were PCR amplified using primes ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EF1-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), BT-2a/BT-2b (Glass and Donaldson 1995), and G3pdhF/G3pdhR (Hu et al. 2011) respectively. The amplicons were sequenced by Takara Bio Inc. Sequences of all isolates were identical, thus one set of sequences were run with BLASTn against the NCBI GenBank nr database. The homology analysis showed that ITS (OQ170786), Bt (OQ179019), EF (OQ834046) and G3pdh (OQ834047) gene fragments were 100% (0/540 nt) , 100% (0/462 nt), 99.01% (3/304nt) and 99.61% (3/767 nt) similar to M. polystroma （NR154198.1, MT038414.1, LT632542.1, MT038415.1）respectively. Based on morphological characteristics and sequence analysis, the fungal isolate was identified as M. polystroma. Koch's postulates were conducted using ten healthy apple fruits that were surface disinfected with 0.2% sodium hypochlorite and repeatedly rinsed with sterile water. The test apples were wounded with a sterile needle, inoculated with mycelial agar plugs (3 mm diameter) on the wounds, and incubated at 25℃, 50% room humidity. The equivalent sterile PDA plugs were used as control and the experiment was repeated three times. After 5 days, brown rot symptoms appeared on the inoculated apples. 10 days later, nearly 1/3 of the inoculated apple surface appeared rotted, but the controls were symptomless. Subsequently, the same strain was re-isolated from the inoculated apples by pure culture and molecular identification. Therefore, M. polystroma (named JL-1) was confirmed as the causal agent of brown rot in Jilin Provincen China. M. polystroma is a typical pathogen of brown rot in the north of China, and only reported on apples in Shandong, apricots in Heilongjiang and pears in Hebei in China (Zhu et al. 2016) but never in Jilin. In addition, it was reported that the contribution of M. polystroma species to brown rot disease on apple and pear in China is 20% out of all the Monilinia spp. species that cause the disease, but M. polystroma virulence is not significantly different from other Monilinia species more widely distributed (Zhu et al, 2016). This is the first report of M. polystroma causing apple brown rot in Jilin Province of China. This finding will provide useful information for future diagnosis and management.

Developing machine learning models with multiple environmental data to predict stand biomass in natural coniferous-broad leaved mixed forests in Jilin Province of China

Forest biomass is influenced by multiple environmental factors. Multi-source data on site-specific soil, climate, and stand factors are essential for stand biomass prediction. While previous studies concerning planted forest biomass at stand level highlighted the importance of environmental factors, few have been conducted on the effects of climate and soil on stand biomass estimation, especially for natural mixed forest with complicated stand structure. Machine learning (ML) algorithms provide new tools for examining the effects, but the applications are still limited. Therefore, the objectives of this paper were to develop ML models for stand biomass estimation with stand and multiple environmental predictors, and quantify the relative importance of environmental variables. Tree above- and below-ground biomass at stand level was set as output variable with the random forest (RF) and boosted regression tree (BRT) regression methods. The data were from 286 sample plots from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) in Jilin Province, northeast China. The results showed that models with the inclusion of stand, soil, and climate variables explained > 89% of forest biomass variations. BA (stand basal area) and H (stand average height) were the most important stand variables, DD18 (degree-days above 18 °C) was the most important climate variable, and bdod (bulk density) and pH were the most important soil variables. Relative importance of climate and soil factors was 0.5% to 5.1% and 1.2% to 4.1%, respectively, which were weak but important predictors of stand biomass. In the RF model, climate variables were more important than soil variables, but the opposite in the BRT models. We concluded that above forest stand, climate and soil factors were significant input variables for regional forest biomass mapping using ML.

A new species of Stavsolus Ricker, 1952 (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) from Jilin Province, China

Stavsolus shihu sp. n., a new species of stonefly family Perlodidae is described from the Jilin Province of China, illustrated and compared with the related taxa. Habitat data of the new species are given. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6FE17647-7877-­4C03-81CC-784CBDB23F6F

Impact of Cultivated Land-Use Change on the Cultivated Land Pressure in Jilin Province of China from 1980 to 2015

Impact of Cultivated Land-Use Change on the Cultivated Land Pressure in Jilin Province of China from 1980 to 2015