Shengbin Chen

Intraspecific trait variation is increasingly recognised as a key component of ecological responses to environmental change in both tropical and subtropical ecosystems, yet sex-specific differences in phenotypic integration remain largely understudied. We investigated sexual dimorphism in the dung beetle Onthophagus atripennis across seven subtropical forest plots in southwestern China, by integrating single-trait analyses with trait network approaches. We measured 18 morphological traits in 299 individuals (150 females and 149 males). At the single-trait level, six morphological traits differed significantly between sexes, with males consistently larger than females; these differences were concentrated in body size and structures associated with digging. Trait–environment associations also diverged between sexes, with females showing more specific responses to herb-layer diversity and litter cover, whereas males exhibited more diffuse responses across altitude, litter thickness, and shrub structure. At the trait network level, although network parameters did not differ significantly between sexes, environmental drivers affected network integration in a sex-specific manner. Females showed increased network integration in response to steeper slopes and thicker litter, whereas males displayed decreased integration at higher elevations. These results indicate that sex differences were primarily reflected in trait values, in trait–environment associations, and in network–environment associations, rather than in intrinsic differences in static network topology. Owing to limited plot-level replication ( n = 7 plots available for network analyses), these results should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating. Our findings suggest that sex-specific perspectives could improve assessments of functional responses in soil fauna. This is particularly relevant for tropical and subtropical forest restoration efforts.

The present research, “Evaluating the agronomic performance of various vetch genotypes,” was conducted at the Fodder and Forage Crop Section at the National Agricultural Council (NARC), Islamabad, Pakistan. The basic objective of this trial was to compare the yield and related attributes of different vetch varieties in the Pothohar zone. Six different vetch genotypes comprising Koshak, NARC-S1, NARC-S2, NARC-S3, NARC-S4, and NARC-S5 were used as experimental material in this study. All the genotypes were subjected to the same agronomic practices throughout the growth period. The results revealed that the maximum emergence per unit area (58 plants) was found in NARC-S1, while the lowest value (46.7 plants) was observed for NARC-S2. Similarly, based on visual crop stand ranking, NARC-S4 exhibited the best performance (by depicting the highest value) while the lowest was observed for Koshak. Significant variations among the tested genotypes were found as NARC-S3 resulted in the highest fresh weight per plant, while the lowest was recorded for NARC-S1. In terms of dry weight, NARC-S2 revealed the highest value per plant, while the lowest and statistically at par values were found for Koshak and NARC-S1. Both root and shoot lengths of the tested genotypes did not vary significantly. It can be inferred from the findings of this trial that the tested newly developed genotypes varied for some traits and showed similarity for the rest. The existence of genotypic variation can be exploited in the future to develop new ones with better performance in terms of seed emergence, crop stand, and crop biomass accumulation. Similarly, some of these genotypes outclassed the check variety Koshak based on the tested traits, which suggests that these genotypes can be recommended for sowing by farmers in the Pothohar region.

Assessing conservation effectiveness in mountainous protected areas (PAs) is challenged by weak counterfactuals, spatial confounding, and limited historical baselines. This study develops a spatial gradient dose–response framework using linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) to evaluate conservation-associated ecological responses in Daxiangling Nature Reserve, China, controlling for topography, climate, and neighboring protected area effects. Using 1 km resolution time-series data (2003–2022), we assessed three indicators—Net Primary Productivity (NPP), Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC), and a human-footprint-derived Ecosystem Integrity Index (EII)—each across state, trend, and stability dimensions. In the state dimension, NPP (β = 0.99, p < 0.001) and EII (β = 1.23, p < 0.001) were significantly higher inside the PA than in the peripheral reference zone, whereas FVC showed no significant difference, indicating indicator-specific sensitivity. NPP exhibited positive spillover to 15–20 km, while EII displayed a “boundary collapse” pattern—sharp decline within 0–5 km followed by distal recovery—suggesting edge effects and possible leakage. In the state dimension, high elevations amplified conservation effects on NPP and FVC. In the stability dimension, high elevations were associated with greater interannual variability across indicators, revealing a state–stability trade-off. Proximity to neighboring national PAs significantly enhanced EII across buffer zones, underscoring network connectivity. Cross-dimensional divergence was pronounced: NPP showed a state–stability trade-off in the PA, while EII exhibited decoupled state and trend signals across the boundary gradient. We recommend: (1) differentiated control in near-boundary zones (0–5 km); (2) prioritizing high-elevation core zones with stability monitoring; and (3) cross-PA patrols and ecological corridors. This framework offers a replicable, baseline-independent diagnostic approach for data-limited mountain systems where traditional counterfactual methods are difficult to apply.

Administrative fragmentation, whereby political boundaries are used as analytical extents, can disrupt ecological flows and weaken ecological network planning by creating a mismatch between governance units and ecological processes. However, the pathways through which such fragmentation alters network structure and function remain insufficiently quantified. This study quantifies these effects and identifies the landscape conditions that shape the effectiveness of cross-boundary integration. Using a multi-scale buffer experiment (1–32 km) across 30 representative counties in China, we constructed ecological networks based on Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis and on the minimum cumulative resistance model. Results show that relaxing administrative boundaries reduced structural distortions and lowered total ecological flow cost, indicating that fragmentation increases connectivity costs. Mechanistically, reducing redundant internal links and forced detours improved network efficiency mainly by shortening corridors and lowering flow costs, whereas mean corridor resistance changed little. This suggests that functional degradation is driven primarily by topological disruption rather than by declines in corridor quality. The benefits of cross-boundary integration were greater in counties with regular shapes, high grassland cover, humid climates, and rugged terrain, but weaker under strong human pressure and warmer temperatures. Improvements leveled off beyond 32 km, suggesting a 32 km buffer (study-specific) for integration and supporting context-specific strategies for ecological network planning.

Ecosystem degradation stands as one of the most formidable barriers to achieving global sustainable development goals

Delineating conservation priority areas for both preservation and restoration is essential for developing adaptive ecosystem management strategies across production–living–ecological spaces (PLES). This study developed a coherent framework with four steps: (1) mapping spatial distributions of biodiversity and ecosystem services, (2) ranking the relative importance of ecosystems across spaces, (3) delineating priority areas for preservation and restoration according to the human footprint and priority ranks, and (4) contrasting with current conservation networks and overlapping with PLES. This framework was applied in Ganzi, China, to delineate the preservation priority areas (PPAs) of 8714.2 km² and 11,308.1 km², and restoration priority areas (RPAs) of 36,817.7 km² and 63,578.4 km² under the target to conserve 30% and 50% of territories, respectively. The priority areas, including PPAs and RPAs, achieve higher conservation capacity than the current Ecological Conservation Redline (ECR) in terms of biodiversity conservation or ecosystem service delivery. Roughly 67% of PPAs, 40% of RPAs, and a total of 75% of large patches with high priority are covered by ECR, indicating the necessity to adjust boundary and conduct restoration for ECR. As for PLES, the conservation priority areas encompass proportionally more ecological space (67–76%) than ECR (63.5%) or Ganzi (61.4%), implying the lower potential conflict between local residents’ production and conservation, and meanwhile, new opportunities and challenges in sustainable development in human-dominated spaces. The coherent framework to delineate PPAs and RPAs is flexible in terms of threshold in human impact or ecological degradation and can be improved by considering the complex relationships between indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This study highlights the importance of incorporating ecosystem features, land uses, and human activities in developing different strategies according to different conservation purposes in the context of sustainable development.

Understanding the drivers of geographic variation in species richness is one of the fundamental goals in ecology and biogeography. Fish is the key element in freshwater ecosystem and the focus of fishery production and biological conservation. Chinese freshwater fish fauna is rich and largely endemic due to variable geography and climate. By compiling the published data on fish richness for 86 nature reserves, and taking environmental predictors into consideration, we aimed to test latitudinal and longitudinal gradients in fish richness and the relative roles of energy availability, physiological tolerance, climatic seasonality and habitat heterogeneity hypotheses in explaining geographic fish richness pattern. Fish richness in China's nature reserves decreases with latitude and showed a hump-shaped relationship with longitude. Latitudinal fish richness is mainly shaped by mean temperature of the coldest month. Mean elevation and associated changes in temperature lead to longitudinal fish richness gradient. Among the four hypotheses tested, physiological tolerance hypothesis performs best and accounts for 55.4 % of the spatial variance in fish richness. Minimum temperature and precipitation are the primary determinants of fish species richness. Habitat heterogeneity is not negligible since adding river density to physiological tolerance model can explain additional 2 % variance in fish richness. Our results can provide useful information for regional fish production and conservation.

Niche-based and neutrality-based theories are two major classes of theories explaining the assembly mechanisms of local communities. Both theories have been frequently used to explain species diversity and composition in local communities but their relative importance remains unclear. Here, we analyzed 57 assemblages of angiosperm trees in 0.1-ha forest plots across China to examine the effects of environmental heterogeneity (relevant to niche-based processes) and spatial contingency (relevant to neutrality-based processes) on phylogenetic structure of angiosperm tree assemblages distributed across a wide range of environment and space. Phylogenetic structure was quantified with six phylogenetic metrics (i.e., phylogenetic diversity, mean pairwise distance, mean nearest taxon distance, and the standardized effect sizes of these three metrics), which emphasize on different depths of evolutionary histories and account for different degrees of species richness effects. Our results showed that the variation in phylogenetic metrics explained independently by environmental variables was on average much greater than that explained independently by spatial structure, and the vast majority of the variation in phylogenetic metrics was explained by spatially structured environmental variables. We conclude that niche-based processes have played a more important role than neutrality-based processes in driving phylogenetic structure of angiosperm tree species in forest communities in China.