Precipitation variation on the Loess Plateau (LP) of China is not only important for rain-fed agriculture in this environmentally sensitive region, but also critical for the water and life securities over the whole Yellow River basin. Here we reconstruct high resolution precipitation variation on the western LP during the past 370 years by using two replicated, annually-laminated stalagmites. S...

Yak domestication represents an important episode in the early human occupation of the high-altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). The precise timing of domestication is debated and little is known about the underlying genetic changes that occurred during the process. Here we investigate genome variation of wild and domestic yaks. We detect signals of selection in 209 genes of domestic yaks, sev...

Climatic tolerance, especially drought tolerance, is one of the major factors shaping the geographic distributions of plant species. Thus, the general decline in rainfall from the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (HHM) to the inner Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) might account for the significant differences in species distributions and richness between the two regions. To test this hypothesis, we condu...

Based on temperature data from 79 meteorological stations, we estimate the warming rate by season on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 1984-2013. The warming rate was spatially heterogeneous across seasons over the past 30 years. The northern TP (NTP) experienced more warming than the southern TP (STP) (divided near 33 °N) in all seasons. The greatest north-south difference in warming was 0.70 ± ...

objectives: the aim of this study was to assess and compare the characteristics of commonly used initial archwires by their load deflection graphs. materials and methods : this study tested three wire designs namely copper nickel titanium (cnt), nickel titanium (niti), and multi-strand niti (msnt) archwires engaged in passive self-ligating (psl) brackets, active self-ligating (asl) brackets or ...

Subtropical China harbours the world's most diverse temperate flora, but little is known about the roles of geographical and eco-climatic factors underlying the region's exceptionally high levels of species diversity and endemism. Here we address this key question by investigating the spatio-temporal and ecological processes of divergence within the Dysosma versipellis-pleiantha species complex...

The atmospheric conditions above Dome A, a currently unmanned location at the highest point on the Antarctic plateau, are uniquely suited to astronomy. For certain types of astronomy Dome A is likely to be the best location on the planet, and this has motivated the development of the Plateau Observatory (PLATO). PLATO was deployed to Dome A in early 2008. It houses a suite of purpose-built site...

Despite recognition that nearly one-third of the 6300 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, our understanding of the general ecology and population status of many amphibians is relatively poor. A widely-used method for monitoring amphibians involves injecting captured individuals with unique combinations of colored visible implant elastomer (VIE). We compared VIE identification to a...

Groundwater plays a key role in maintaining the ecology and environment in the hyperarid Qaidam Basin (QB). Indirect evidence and data from sparse observation wells suggest that groundwater in the QB is increasing but there has been no regional assessment of the groundwater conditions in the entire basin because of its remoteness and the severity of the arid environment. Here we report changes ...