Grassland biomass is essential for maintaining grassland ecosystems. Moreover, biomass is an important characteristic of grassland. In this study, we combined field sampling with remote sensing data and calculated five vegetation indices (VIs). Using this combined information, we quantified a remote sensing estimation model and estimated biomass in a temperate grassland of northern China. We al...

The Loess Plateau region of northwestern China has unique geological and dry/semi-dry climate characteristics. However, knowledge about ectomycorrhizal fungal (EMF) communities in the Loess Plateau is limited. In this study, we investigated EMF communities in Populus simonii and Pinus tabuliformis patches within the forest-steppe zone, in pine forests within the forest zone, and the transitiona...

Small mammal communities living in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) may be sensitive to habitat isolation and invasion by exotic grass species. Yet there have been no spatially explicit models to improve our understanding of landscape-scale factors determining small mammal occurrence or abundance. We live-trapped small mammals at 186 locations in the Wyoming Basin Ecoregional Assessment area to devel...

[This corrects the article on p. 626 in vol. 5, PMID: 25505453.].

Global or regional environmental changes in climate or land use have been increasingly implied in shifts in boundaries (ecotones) between adjacent ecosystems such as beech or oak-dominated forests and forest-steppe ecotones that frequently co-occur near the southern range limits of deciduous forest biome in Europe. Yet, our ability to detect changes in biological communities across these ecosys...

Abstract Past vegetation and environmental changes the role of climate as well human activities are major interest. The Hyrcanian region with a high number endemic species has poorly known paleoenvironmental history, especially western northern Iran. This study aims to investigate radiocarbon-dated sediment core Kholasht-Kouh Lake (KHL) for recorded between ca. 510 1180 cal yr BP. KHL is locate...

Abstract Aim Grazing intensity and fire patterns across the Eurasian steppes have changed dramatically over past decades due to collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan is now a global hotspot. The implications these changes for ecosystem functioning are largely unclear. We aimed understand effects grazing frequency on key engineer, yellow ground squirrel Spermophilus fulvus , very large sc...

A 29-year-old female, an aesthetician, developed occupational allergic contact dermatitis caused by extracts of crude drugs. The results of 48-hour closed patch testing showed positive reactions to the moisturizing cream and oil that she used in her work. This cream and oil included Scutellraria Baicalensis, mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), and Artemisia capillaris,Gardenia. The results of patch t...