Mountainous Regions Of China Research Articles

Геообразний світ мандрівної літератури Софії Яблонської: сучасна візія

The article analyzes the importance of travel literature in the genre of belles non-fiction for shaping the geographical images of countries and nations. In this aspect, the travel prose of the Ukrainian writer, cinematographer, and photographer Sofia Yablonska (1907–1971) was used. Genetic types of sensory verbal geographical images, in particular visual, audio, kinaesthetic (based on smell (odoriferous) and touch (tactile)) are distinguished using the travel novels “Charm of Morocco” (1932), “From the country of rice and opium” (1936), and “Far horizons” (1939) as an example. The artistic syncretism of geographical representation of S. Yablonska is noted (verbal images are harmoniously supplemented with photo and film frames, drawings). The wide spaciousness of the author’s thinking, which extends from specific places to oceanic and celestial infinities, is revealed. The content of S. Yablonska’s travel literature, which is essentially the author’s autobiogeography, is demonstrated by the mega-metaphor of home – the global world is like a native home for her. The natural and anthropocentric parallels of S. Yablonska’s literary texts employed to create geographical images are identified; the author’s accentuation on chronicling the sensations related to the natural features of the lands depicted (depiction of the sun, sea expanses and coasts, mountainous regions of China and volcanoes of Malaysia, etc.) is emphasized. The realism of verbal geographical images is highlighted. They are placed in specific geographical coordinates and characterized by completeness, diversity, grasp of the essential features of the phenomena depicted. The talent of the author’s thinking capable to see the general in each individual case is shown. The combination of descriptive and rational approaches (comparative as well as cause-and-effect methods) for creating cultural images of cities and people is noted. Author’s attention to the negative consequences of the European colonization on the autochthonous culture, the mentality of the enslaved peoples, and the promotion of their liberation in the future is emphasized. The conclusion is drawn about a harmonious blend of the Ukrainian and high-culture European civilization, in the personality of S. Yablonska who enriched the European culture with the ideas of openness and tolerance. The geographical images of exotic countries created by the writer are analyzed in the context of modern humanistic philosophy of travel, the concept of aestheticism, the natural and ethical concept of happiness, and the concept of environmental behaviourism. Key words: travelling literature, geographical image, geographical visual, geographical audial, geographical kinestet.

Evaluating Potential Areas for Mountain Wellness Tourism: A Case Study of Ili, Xinjiang Province

Evaluation of land-use suitability can prevent problems, such as environmental disruption, wastage of resources, and ecological disruption, when unsuitable tourism-based exploration is undertaken in an area. This study summarizes a novel concept and proposes the idea of wellness tourism, which constitutes health preservation, sports and recovery, medical healing, and aged nursing, integrated with Chinese culture. A spatial suitability evaluation system for wellness tourism was developed in a mountain area via the integration of the analytic network process-Delphi. As wellness tourism activities diversified, land suitability was assigned to four kinds of wellness tourism activities, while considering their unique requirements. Comparative analysis and five-degree suitable maps of four kinds of activities revealed that Yining City and its peripheral localities have the potential of functioning as a comprehensive and national wellness tourist destination. The counties of Horgos, Huocheng, Qapqal, Zhaosu, Tekes, Tokkuztara, and Narat should make full use of their strengths, as they have the advantage of catering to different wellness tourism activities. This paper discusses some conceptual aspects of wellness tourism, provides an example for the selection of potential areas for wellness tourism in the mountainous regions of China, and provides baseline information that can support the development of wellness tourism.

Belowground responses of woody plants to nitrogen addition in a phosphorus-rich region of northeast China

Nitrogen addition leads to large increases in shoot growth but limited increases in root growth and reductions in mycorrhizal colonization of Sorbus pohuashanensis and Acanthopanax sessiliflorus. Soil in the cultivated fields of Changbai Mountain region of China is rich in phosphorus (P) and deficient in nitrogen (N) for most woody plants. However, currently N deposition is increasing and reducing its limitation on plant growth. How N addition shifts carbon investment among shoots, roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is not well understood, especially in woody plants growing in the field. We examine the responses of the growth, biomass partitioning and AM colonization of Sorbus pohuashanensis Hedl. and Acanthopanax sessiliflorus Seem. to low and high N fertilization in northeastern China on high-P soil over 3 years. With N addition, both plants increased shoot biomass by 20–45%, and N and P content by 13–30%, while root biomass increased only by 2.1–5.4%. The slower increase in root growth relative to shoot growth resulted in lower root mass fraction. After plant size (ontogeny) was accounted for, root mass fraction still decreased significantly with high N fertilization in both species. Mycorrhizal colonization intensity and AM-colonized root length decreased with an increase in N addition. In this P-rich site, the limited increase in root biomass and large decrease in AM colonization with N addition presumably promoted plant growth and nutrient uptake. Our results imply that the growth of these two species may be improved by increased carbon allocation to shoots, as N addition permitted sufficient nutrient uptake by roots and AM fungi to meet shoot nutrient demand without additional belowground carbon expenditure.

Integrating Phylogeographic Analysis and Geospatial Methods to Infer Historical Dispersal Routes and Glacial Refugia of Liriodendron chinense

Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl.), a Tertiary relic tree, is mainly distributed in subtropical China. The causes of the geographical distribution pattern of this species are poorly understood. In this study, we inferred historical dispersal routes and glacial refugia of this species by combining genetic data (chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA), and nuclear DNA (nDNA)) and geospatial data (climate and geology) with the methods of landscape genetics. Additionally, based on sequence variation at multiple loci, we employed GenGIS and Barrier software to analyze L. chinense population genetic structure. Dispersal corridors and historical gene flow between the eastern and western populations were detected, and they were located in mountainous regions. Based on species distribution model (SDMs), the distribution patterns in paleoclimatic periods were consistent with the current pattern, suggesting the presence of multiple refuges in multiple mountainous regions in China. The genetic structure analysis clustered most eastern populations into a clade separated from the western populations. Additionally, a genetic barrier was detected between the eastern and western populations. The dispersal corridors and historical gene flow detected here suggested that the mountains acted as a bridge, facilitating gene flow between the eastern and western populations. Due to Quaternary climatic fluctuations, the habitats and dispersal corridors were frequently inhabited by warm-temperate evergreen forests, which may have fragmented L. chinense habitats and exacerbated the differentiation of eastern and western populations. Ultimately, populations retreated to multiple isolated mountainous refugia, shaping the current geographical distribution pattern. These dispersal corridors and montane refugia suggested that the mountains in subtropical China play a crucial role in the conservation of genetic resources and migration of subspecies or related species in this region.

Aboveground forest biomass based on OLSR and an ANN model integrating LiDAR and optical data in a mountainous region of China

ABSTRACTAboveground forest biomass (Bagf) and height of forest canopy (Hfc) are of great significance for the determination of carbon sources and sinks, carbon cycling and global change research. In this paper, Bagf of coniferous and broadleaf forest in the Chinese Three Gorges region is estimated by integrating light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and Landsat derived data. For a better Bagf estimation, a synergetic extrapolation method for regional Hfc is explored based on a specific relationship between LiDAR footprint Hfc and optical data such as vegetation index (VI), leaf area index (LAI) and forest vegetation cover (FVC). Then, an ordinary least squares regression (OLSR) and a back propagation neural network (BP-NN) model for regional Bagf estimation from synergetic LiDAR and optical data are developed and compared. Validation results show that the OLSR can achieve higher accuracy of Hfc estimation for all forest types (R2 = 0.751, Root mean square error (RMSE) = 5.74 m). The OLSR estimated Bagf shows a good agreement with field measurements. The accuracy of regional Bagf estimated by the BP-NN model (RMSE = 12.23 t ha–1) is superior to that estimated by the OLSR method (RMSE = 17.77 t ha–1) especially in areas with complex topography.

Зимостійкість та перспективи використання рослин-інтродуцентів Rodgersia aesculifolia Batalin в умовах міста Києва

Зимостійкість та перспективи використання рослин-інтродуцентів Rodgersia aesculifolia Batalin в умовах міста Києва

Spatial patterns of interprovincial mountain geographical names in China and implications for regional governance

Suffering from fragile environment, poor accessibility and infrastructure, as well as social, political and economic marginality, the interprovincial mountain geographical entities are difficult areas for the regional governance in China. By analyzing the spatial patterns and the influencing factors of the interprovincial mountain geographical names (IMGNs), the goal of this research is to clarify the geographical features of IMGNs and offer alternatives for the management of interprovincial mountain regions in China. The spatial visualization, the analysis of spatial agglomeration and the influencing factors of IMGNs were all implemented under a geographical information system. Results showed that there were 6869 IMGNs in China according to the database of “China’s Second National Survey of Geographical Names (2014–2018)”, including 4209 mountain geographical names, 1684 mountain peak geographical names and 976 the other mountain geographical names. Hunan Province had the largest number of names while Shanghai had the smallest number of names. In addition, the spatial variance of the mountain peak names and the mountain names were larger than that of the other mountain geographical names, and the IMGNs showed a significant clustering phenomenon in the southern part of China. The relative elevation and the population had an impact on the distribution of the IMGNs. The largest number of the names occurred where the relative elevation was between 1000–2000 m and where the population was between 40–50 million. Density of unnamed interprovincial mountain geographical entities declined from west to east in China. The analysis of generic names of different types of IMGNs implied that the naming of IMGNs is inconsistent. Based on these analyses, it is suggested that the government should take the IMGNs as management units, strengthen the naming of unnamed interprovincial mountain geographical entities, standardize the generic names of IMGNs and identify areas of poverty based on the survey of IMGNs.

Equipped for Migrations Across High Latitude Regions? Reduced Spur Length and Outcrossing Rate in a Biennial Halenia elliptica (Gentianaceae) With Mixed Mating System Along a Latitude Gradient.

Halenia (Gentianaceae) originated from the mountain regions of East Asia, and diversified in America following long migrations via Beringia. While Halenia elliptica, one species of the genus in China, migrated toward high latitudes in China. Spur length of H. elliptica is highly variable. We examined the relationship between spur length and mating pattern along a latitude gradient. Field experiments were performed in two populations of H. elliptica, and we found that this species could produce seeds via both autonomous selfing and the aid of pollinators, suggesting a mixed mating system. In seven populations of H. elliptica along a latitudinal gradient, we found a trend of decrease in spur length with the increase of latitude. Based on molecular data from 11 microsatellite loci, we found that multilocus outcrossing rate decreased with the increase of latitude while the estimated inbreeding depression increased significantly, indicating that a high degree of inbreeding depression might have prevented evolution toward complete selfing in the high latitude populations with short spur length, and thus maintained mixed mating system of H. elliptica. Our results suggest that the mixed mating system of this species might be helpful in overcoming pollinator scarcity in newly colonized populations toward high latitudes after its origination in the mountain regions of China, and the decrease of spur length in the high latitude populations could result from reduced resource allocation to pollinator associated traits.

An estimation of the extent of cropland abandonment in mountainous regions of China

AbstractWith the wages for migrant workers increasing dramatically in China since 2003, the size of the agricultural labour forces has been shrinking rapidly. Intensively substituting agricultural machinery for the shrinking farm labour force is hardly possible for croplands in the mountainous regions of China where mechanization is difficult to achieve due to small field size and rough terrain. This has eventually led to cropland abandonment in these regions. Considering the high pressure for food security in China, cropland abandonment in the mountainous regions should not be ignored. By employing a novel method, this study estimates the extent of recently abandoned croplands (period 2000–2010) and the changes that can be expected in the future in China's mountainous areas. The results show that the total extent of abandoned croplands in Chinese mountainous counties during the period 2000 to 2010 is estimated at 147 million mu (1 mu = 666.67 m2); in total, about 28% of croplands in mountainous counties was abandoned, including croplands converted in the Grain for Green Programme. With 3 scenario assumptions, a sizeable extent, 114 to 203 million mu, of croplands may be abandoned from 2010 to 2030 with the rapid decrease and ageing of projected farm labour forces. This could exacerbate the future challenges of maintaining China's food security. A substantial increase in agricultural project investments, including land consolidation and agricultural productive fixed assets, especially microtillage machines, could help mitigate the risk of cropland abandonment. Additionally, land‐use and environmental policymaking should take into account the expanding cropland abandonment in mountainous regions.

Application and comparison of logistic regression model and neural network model in earthquake-induced landslides susceptibility mapping at mountainous region, China

ABSTRACTThe main objective of this study is to evaluate the performances of different earthquake-induced landslides susceptibility mapping models at mountainous regions in China. At first, 160 earthquake-induced landslide points were identified from field investigations. Concurrently, based on the results of a literature review and the field investigation, 12 influencing factors were considered, and the corresponding thematic layers were generated using geographic information system (GIS) technology. Subsequently, 20 groups with a fixed number of cells were collected as a common training dataset for the two different models, based on a random selection from the entire database (including landslide cells and no-landslide cells). The neural network (NN) model and logistic regression (LR) model were developed with R software. Finally, earthquake-induced landslides susceptibility maps of Wenchuan county were produced, very low, low, medium, high and very high susceptibility zones cover. The validation results indicate that the landslide data from field investigations are in good agreement with the evaluation results, and the LR model has a slightly better prediction than the NN model in this case. In general, the NN model and LR models are satisfactory for susceptibility mapping of earthquake-induced landslides at mountainous regions.

First Snowfall at Ancient Mountainous Wooden Walkways in China.

This painting (Fig. 1) depicts early snow falling in late autumn over the mountainous regions of China where wooden walkways built hundreds of years ago using simple tools and materials still remain. For the purpose of trade between Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces of China and its western-most region of Tibet, and extending beyond to Nepal, Burma, and India, walkways through the mountainous regions were required for transportation of goods. The ancient walkways were built by driving stakes deep into the sturdy rock surfaces of the mountain cliffs to support …

Hepatitis B virus infection in hilly/mountainous regions of southeastern China: a locality-dependent epidemiology

BackgroundThe overall prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in China is declining. The purpose of this study was to use a community-based epidemiological study to update the infection status of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in mountainous regions of China, and to evaluate the impact of the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) on HBV transmission.MethodsIn total, 10,383 participants were selected by multi-stage stratified random cluster sampling in two mountainous regions, Xianju and Anji, in Zhejiang province, China.ResultsThe positive rates of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HBV core antigen (anti-HBc), and anti-HBV surface antigen (anti-HBs) were 9.5%, 33.9%, and 51.0%, respectively. Positive HBV markers were more frequently detected in males than in females (P < 0.01). The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were elevated (>38 IU/L) in 15.3% of the HBsAg-positive and 6.3% of the HBsAg-negative subjects. The α-fetoprotein (AFP) level was elevated in 0.8% of the HBsAg-positive participants who were older than 30 years old.ConclusionsThe epidemiology of HBV infection is location dependent. The prevalence of HBV infection in the mountainous regions is higher than the national levels. Moreover, HBV infection in women of childbearing age is up to 10%, which represents a main factor for continuous HBV transmission.

Traditional manual tillage significantly affects soil redistribution and CO2 emission in agricultural plots on the Loess Plateau

Traditional manual tillage using hand tools is widely used by local farmers in hilly and mountainous regions in China and many South-east Asian countries. Manual tillage could result in severe soil erosion, redistributing slopes from upslope areas (erosion) to lower slopes (deposition). This soil redistribution process may potentially affect the soil carbon cycle, but few studies have quantified soil CO2 emission under different manual tillage practices. In the present study we evaluated the soil redistribution and its effects on in situ CO2 emission as affected by manual tillage of different intensities on three short slopes representing typical cultivated landscapes on the Loess Plateau. Soils were removed at 2, 6 and 10 cm depths by three types of hand tools, namely a hoe, mattock and spade respectively, from the upslope and subsequently accumulated at the downslope to simulate soil erosion and deposition processes by traditional manual tillage. Across the tilled hillslopes, soil CO2 emission was reduced at sites of erosion but enhanced at sites of deposition. Tillage with greater intensity (i.e. hoeing &lt; mattocking &lt; spading) resulted in greater change in CO2 emission. This change in soil CO2 emission was largely associated with the depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks at erosion sites and the increments of SOC available for decomposition at deposition sites. Moreover, with increasing tillage intensity, soil redistribution by manual tillage shifted the hillslope from a C sink to C neutral or even a C source. Furthermore, manual tillage resulted in substantial changes in soil CO2 emission and redistributed soil in amounts that dwarf animal-powered tillage. The results of the present study imply that manual tillage-induced soil redistribution could have a large effect on the C balance across the local landscape and therefore may have considerable implications for estimates of regional and global C budgets.

Mapping flood susceptibility in mountainous areas on a national scale in China

Mountainous terrain covers nearly half of China and is susceptible to floods, which can lead to substantial losses of human life and property. Historical flooding records from government bulletins and newspapers, the only available information regarding floods that have occurred in some mountainous areas, are valuable for understanding flood disaster mechanisms in these regions. In this study, the flood susceptibility in mountainous regions in China was mapped based on historical flooding records from 1949 to 2000. A Random Forest (RF) model, which can handle large datasets through factor contribution analysis, was chosen to characterize the relationships between flooding occurrences and twelve geographic, meteorological, and hydrological explanatory factors. The results indicate that the RF model can effectively identify flood-prone areas and has advantages over artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) methods. Among these explanatory factors, the geographic factors (elevation, longitude and drainage density) are the most important predictors of flooding in China's mountainous areas, whereas the hydrological factors (relative elevation and curve number) are the least important. Two independent datasets of historical flooding events from the Bulletin of Flood and Drought Disasters in China (2006–2014) alongside news reports and yearbooks (2008–2014) were collected and chosen to validate the capability of the RF model. The validation results confirm that the RF model can identify the flood susceptibility with satisfactory accuracy. This study proposes a preliminary flood susceptibility map of mountainous areas in China and provides a reference for predicting and mitigating potentially disastrous flooding events.

The Use of Fractal Theory Methods to Measure Growth Boundary, Planning and Control of Qinling and Bashan Mountainous Regions

Many cities of various types are distributed in the large area of mountainous regions in China. In these cities, there are acute contradictions between man and earth. Considering that the space growth mode of mountainous cities is widely different from that of flatland cities, the fractal method was adopted in the research aimed at demarcating the urban growth boundary of mountainous cities. The fractal features of the investigated mountainous cities in space were figured out via inference from their function, dimension, region, grade, and environment, and the fractal mode and conceptual framework of urban growth boundary of Qin-Ba mountainous region were constructed according to some concepts and methods such as fractal dimension, fractal network, and fractal order. In the research, the traditional urban growth boundary form-was decomposed into scattered points (point form), paths (linear form), and patches (plane form) to form the fractal theory units for the research of urban growth boundary, and the leading idea, procedure, and control method for “fractal demarcation of urban growth boundary” were established to provide strategies for demarcation of urban space growth boundary of Qin-Ba mountainous region.

Correlation between vegetation and environment at different levels in an arid, mountainous region of China.

Vegetation patterns and spatial organization are influenced by the changing environmental conditions and human activities. However, the effect of environment on vegetation at different vegetation classification levels has been unclear. We conducted an analysis to explore the relationship between environment and vegetation in the land use/land cover (LULC), vegetation group, vegetation type, and formation and subformation levels using redundancy analysis with seven landscape metrics and 33 environmental factors in the upper reaches of the Heihe River basin in an arid area of China to clarify this uncertainty. Atmospheric counter radiation was the most important factor at the four levels. The effect of soil was the second determinant factor at three levels (except in vegetation formation and subformation level). The number of variables whose relationship to vegetation reached significant levels varied from 26 to 28, and 20 variables were the same at all four levels. The factors affecting vegetation were basically the same at vegetation group level and vegetation‐type level. It was sufficient to analyze the relationship between environmental and vegetation patterns only in LULC, vegetation group and vegetation formation and subformation level in mountainous regions; different factors should be considered at different vegetation levels.

Spectral characteristics and species identification of rhododendrons using a discriminative restricted Boltzmann machine

ABSTRACTRhododendrons are an important genus of alpine flowering plant used ornamentally worldwide. The purpose of this study is to improve the application of remote-sensing technology for investigating and monitoring mountain rhododendron germplasm. Research area is the Baili Rhododendron National Forest Park located in the karst region of Guizhou Province, China. Field spectrometry was used to acquire spectral data for 20 samples extracted from eight rhododendron species. A deep-learning algorithm from a discriminative restricted Boltzmann machine was used with the original spectral data from the different rhododendron species to obtain the optimal parameters for the model. Simultaneously, the data processing methodology from the discriminative restricted Boltzmann machine was used to recognize the original spectra, the noise smoothed spectra, and the first- and second-order spectral derivatives with accuracies of 88.54%, 88.54%, 93.75%, and 90.62%, respectively. The results show that the discriminative restricted Boltzmann machine is effective in recognizing spectral information for different rhododendron species. Changes in the first-order derivative gave the most accurate classification, but changes in the second-order derivative significantly reduced the sample training time. Changes in both derivatives therefore proved useful in recognizing and extracting particular features of the plant species. This research may therefore further support the use of hyperspectral remote-sensing imagery for investigating and monitoring germplasm, species classification, and physiological parameter inversions for rhododendrons from various mountain regions of China.

Spatial distribution of mountainous regions and classifications of economic development in China

China is a mountainous country with a great diversity of landform and geomorphology. This diversity underlines the need for regionalization and classification. This study defines the mountain terrains and regions with three criteria - elevation, relative height, and slope, and examines the extent of mountainous regions by using county as the basic administrative unit. According to the three parameters of economic base, resident income and development potential, we classified the economic development level in mountainous regions of China. The findings reveal that the extent of the mountainous region accounts for 74.9% of the Mainland China's total area. The economic development of mountainous regions in China is classified into 4 main types and 23 subtypes.

Study of infectious conjunctivitis among children in rural areas of Qinghai province.

Infectious conjunctivitis is no longer a common eye disease in cities and developed areas, but in remote mountainous regions of China where living conditions are relatively under-developed, the occurrence of infectious conjunctivitis remains a public health issue. Here, we evaluate the ratio of infectious conjunctivitis among primary school students in the rural areas of Xunhua, Huangyuan, and Huzhu Counties in the Qinghai province of China, and report the microorganisms involved in causing infection. Of the 765 eligible primary school students, 694 participated to this study (a response rateof 90.7%), 381 boys and 313 girls, with a mean age of 7.52 years (range 7-9 years). A clinical diagnosis of infectious conjunctivitis was returned for 238 of the 694 children examined. The ratio of infectious conjunctivitis in Xunhua County (46.64%) was higher compared to that in Huangyuan (26.67%; P=0.03) and Huzhu Counties (23.61%; P=0.02). The leading cause of conjunctivitis was bacterial, followed by chlamydial and viral. Our results show that there is a high ratio of infectious conjunctivitis among rural primary school students in Qinghai province.

Genetic variation between Schistosoma japonicum lineages from lake and mountainous regions in China revealed by resequencing whole genomes

Schistosoma infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Schistosomiasis japonica is endemic in mainland China along the Yangtze River, typically distributed in two geographical categories of lake and mountainous regions. Study on schistosome genetic diversity is of interest in respect of understanding parasite biology and transmission, and formulating control strategy. Certain genetic variations may be associated with adaptations to different ecological habitats. The aim of this study is to gain insight into Schistosoma japonicum genetic variation, evolutionary origin and associated causes of different geographic lineages through examining homozygous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) based on resequenced genome data. We collected S. japonicum samples from four sites, three in the lake regions (LR) of mid-east (Guichi and Tonglin in Anhui province, Laogang in Hunan province) and one in mountainous region (MR) (Xichang in Sichuan province) of south-west of China, resequenced their genomes using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, and made use of the available database of S. japonicum draft genomic sequence as a reference in genome mapping. A total of 14,575 SNPs from 2059 genes were identified in the four lineages. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed significant genetic variation exhibited between the different geographical lineages, and further revealed that the MR Xichang lineage is phylogenetically closer to LR Guich lineage than to other two LR lineages, and the MR lineage might be evolved from LR lineages. More than two thirds of detected SNPs were nonsynonymous; functional annotation of the SNP-containing genes showed that they are involved mainly in biological processes such as signaling and response to stimuli. Notably, unique nonsynonymous SNP variations were detected in 66 genes of MR lineage, inferring possible genetic adaption to mountainous ecological condition.