Activity

Loss of mobility in rangeland use has emerged as a dominant theory to explain ecosystem degradation in the research area of rangeland ecology. The loss of mobility in rangeland use in China resulted from multiple interacting natural and social factors as well as policy changes. Re-establi-shing mobility in rangeland use is critical to rangeland restoration and sustainable management in China. TrichostatinA However, the recovery of rangeland might be difficult through simply reverting to traditional rotational grazing. Alternatively, we explored various state-of-the-art rangeland management techniques, including smart fence, intelligent wearables for livestock, and rapid forage biomass measurement using drones. Such novel rangeland management techniques could be used in different regions with different climate and vegetation in China to re-establish mobility in rangeland utilization. Paired with these advanced techniques, new rotational high-mobility grazing systems could further integrate with other essential measures of grass-livestock husbandry in China, such as balancing of forage production and livestock grazing, supplemental forage of livestock, and replenishment of soil nutrients in rangeland. All these practices would ensure a more sustainable and effective utilization of rangeland in China.Drought is a crucial factor affecting seed germination and seedling growth of desert plants. In the study, we examined the effects of seed size (large, small) and bract (without bracts, with bracts) on seed germination and seedling growth of Ceratoides arborescens, a perennial super xerophyte semi-shrub, under different drought levels (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 g·L-1 PEG6000). The results showed that drought stress significantly inhibited seed germination and reduced shoot length of seedlings. Under the 100 and 200 g·L-1 PEG6000 stress conditions, root length of seedlings were significantly increased, whereas it was significantly reduced under the 300 and 400 g·L-1 PEG6000 stress intensities. The presence of bract significantly reduced seed germination percentage by 12%, germination index by 50.5%, and shoot length by 20.8%, but increased root length by 6.3%. Seed size did not affect seed germination index. Compared with small seeds, germination percentage of large seeds was 3% higher, shoot length and root length of seedlings were 20.5% and 33.0% higher, respectively. In summary, seed bract in C. arborescens through delaying seed germination and seed size through influencing the survival of the early state of seedling were the most important strategies to adapt extremely arid environment.We examined the response of 11 functional traits of Cleistogenes squarrosa, including plant height and clump width, to the grazing of different intensity (no grazing; twice grazing in May and July; five grazing in the whole growing season). After five-year treatments, the number of reproductive branches, plant height, stem quality, specific leaf area and total leaf area were significantly reduced. Such reduction was significantly increased with the increases of grazing intensity. Under the treatments of grazing in May and July, the declines of each index were 61.7%, 21.5%, 33.3%, 21.6% and 26.7%, respectively; and the declines in the treatment of whole growing season grazing were 75.7%, 24.7%, 46.7%, 28.5% and 43.7%, respectively. The number of vegetative branches, number of leaf, total leaf area, stem quality, total leaf quality and clump width of the C. squarrosa had a synergistic relationship with aboveground biomass of the whole clump under different grazing intensities. The number of vegetative branches was significantly positively correlated with stem quality and total leaf quality. C. squarrosa had a dwarf-dense branching strategy to avoid grazing. The reduction of grazing intensity would be conducive to maintaining the stability of functional traits.Large-scale terrestrial ecosystem science research becomes an important research field with the promotion of meeting the scientific demand of biodiversity conservation, global climate change mitigation, regional eco-environment governance, and social sustainable development. It is developing rapidly under the guidance of China’s ecological civilization construction strategy. Here, we systematically discussed the missions, theoretical foundation and methodology of large-scale terrestrial ecosystem science research and proposed a new theoretical foundation, conceptual system and logical framework for macroecosystem science research on the basis of macrosystem ecology theory. It elaborated the discipline connotation and application of the macroecosystem science to 1) deve-lop the conceptual network of ecosystem science based on the systematic characteristics of ecosystems; 2) develop the theoretical system of ecosystem state change analysis based on the ecosystem integrity and emergence characteristics; 3) develop the theoretical system of integrated research for ecosystem structure-process-function-service cascade relationship based on the attributes and state of ecosystems. We also discussed the methodology and technical system of regional and continental macroecosystem science research, and highlighted the urgency to construct a new generation of continental ecosystem observation and research network, and to develop the network observation-network experiment-numerical simulation-knowledge fusion four-in-one infrastructures.Raising concerns over another nurse’s clinical practice and capability presents significant challenges, particularly in specialist clinical nursing roles. However, the support provided to nurses who raise such concerns is not always optimal. While compassionate leadership in healthcare has been stated as a priority to develop safer workplaces for staff, it must be balanced against the need to manage staff undergoing capability management processes. This article discusses how enhanced training and support for both line managers and staff can improve the capability management processes.The fifth edition of the Japan Society of Gynecologic Oncology guidelines for the treatment of ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer was published in 2020. The guidelines contain 6 chapters-namely, (1) overview of the guidelines; (2) epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer; (3) recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer; (4) borderline epithelial tumors of the ovary; (5) malignant germ cell tumors of the ovary; and (6) malignant sex cord-stromal tumors. Furthermore, the guidelines comprise 5 algorithms-namely, (1) initial treatment for ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer; (2) treatment for recurrent ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer; (3) initial treatment for borderline epithelial ovarian tumor; (4) treatment for malignant germ cell tumor; and (5) treatment for sex cord-stromal tumor. Major changes in the new edition include the following (1) revision of the title to “guidelines for the treatment of ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer”; (2) involvement of patients and general (male/female) participants in addition to physicians, pharmacists, and nurses; (3) clinical questions (CQs) in the PICO format; (4) change in the expression of grades of recommendation and level of evidence in accordance with the GRADE system; (5) introduction of the idea of a body of evidence; (6) categorization of references according to research design; (7) performance of systematic reviews and meta-analysis for three CQs; and (8) voting for each CQ/recommendation and description of the consensus.