Calanthe sieboldii is an orchid species with a narrow range of suitable habitats that are typically disjunction between continents and islands. Calanthe sieboldii relies on specific pollinators such as Xylocopa carpenter bees, including X. appendiculata, X. rufipes and X. chinensis. This study built a species distribution model (SDM) using the Biomod2 package of R to predict the distribution patterns of C. sieboldii and Xylocopa spp. in China under three different representative concentration pathways in 2050 and 2070. The results show the distribution of C. sieboldii is better explained by precipitation-related variables than temperature-related variables, 25.4% and 13.9%, respectively. The current suitable habitats for C. sieboldii are mainly in Central China and East China. However, future climate change scenarios may shift these habitats, which will shift to higher altitude area, and may change -59.0% to 34.7% dominated by future climate change scenarios. The range of suitable areas for Xylocopa spp. will decrease by 16.4%-19.7%, moving to Northwest and Northeast China. Consequently, as the co-distribution areas between plant and pollinators account for suitable areas C. sieboldii, the orchid’s distribution will decrease by 0.5%-11.4% from 90.0%, indicating that the distribution of C. sieboldii will suffer from future climate change and declining pollinators. Therefore, the pollinator should be considered carefully in the conservation of C. sieboldii or similar specialized-pollination orchid species.

We conducted a mowing experiment between 2014 and 2018 to test the effects of different mowing intensity on the temporal stability of aboveground biomass in the Stipa grandis typical steppe in Inner Mongolia. Four mowing treatments were tested: enclosure (CK, no mowing), light mowing (stubble 8 cm), moderate mowing (stubble 5 cm) and heavy mowing (stubble 2 cm). We found that mowing had no significant effect on the temporal stability of the community compared with the enclosure, but it had a significant impact on the mean temporal stability of species. Under heavy mowing the mean temporal stability of species significantly decreased, and there was no significant correlation between the mean temporal stability of species and the temporal stability of community, indicating that these fluctuated independently. Compared with the enclosure (CK), species richness under heavy mowing reduced significantly, but had no significant correlation with community temporal stability, indicating that species richness was not the dominant factor in the temporal stability of community. In addition, the community resistance reduced significantly under heavy mowing but it also had no significant correlation with the temporal stability of the community. We found that there was a very significantly positive correlation between asynchrony and community temporal stability, but that mowing had no significant effect on asynchrony, so it did not cause significant changes in community stability. Therefore, asynchrony may be one of the dominant effects on the temporal stability of the community. In the process of grassland management and utilization, the stability of grassland could be evaluated from the perspective of species asynchrony.

To ensure Guangdong orchids and the genetic diversity well conserved, we conducted a comprehensive survey of orchids throughout the Guangdong Province and assessed their endangered species categories between 2017 and 2019. Botanical gardens were also surveyed in addition to nature reserves in the province to evaluate ex situ conservation versus in situ conservation of orchids, respectively. We performed route and plot inventories and identified the endangered species category for each orchid species, and then compared which orchid species were present under in situ conservation ex situ conservation, or both. Our results indicate that: (1) There are 235 orchid species belonging to 80 genera in Guangdong Province, among which 20 species are endemic. (2) 186 orchid species are threatened species, including 11 Critically Endangered species, 114 Endangered species, and 61 Vulnerable species. (3) 111 orchid species are conserved in nature reserves, 156 species in botanical gardens, and 96 species in both nature reserves and botanical gardens, indicating low conservation efficiency. (4) There was not a significant difference among orchid species under in situ conservation, ex situ conservation, or both, suggesting that the conservation work of orchids lacks selectivity. Thus, we suggest that the conservation efforts of orchids in Guangdong Province should focus on basic data collection and continuous field monitoring. Furthermore, future work should aim to increase the number of conserved orchid species, to be more selective when identifying orchid species for ex situ conservation, and to improve the coordination between ex situ conservation and in situ conservation. Successful orchid conservation must also involve legislation, public education, and integration of an orchid conservation network in Guangdong Province.

As a rare species endemic to China, Reeves’s pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii) is facing increasing pressure from human disturbance. To better understand how Reeves’s pheasant responds to human disturbances, we studied the pheasant’s diurnal activity rhythm in three areas in its eastern distribution region: Liankang Mountain National Nature Reserve in Henan (hereafter Liankang Mountain), Zhonghua Mountain Birds Provincial Nature Reserve in Hubei (hereafter Zhonghua Mountain), and Pingjingguan Village and Santan Scenic Area in Hubei (hereafter Pingjingguan). From March 2018 to April 2019, we used camera trapping to monitor both the diurnal activity rhythm of Reeves’s pheasant and the degree of human disturbance. We calculated the overlapping coefficient between anthropogenic and pheasant activity. The results indicated that Liankang Mountain had a more intense degree of human disturbance, while Zhonghua Mountain and Pingjingguan exhibited a similar intensity of human disturbance. Male Reeves’s pheasants’ diurnal activity rhythm was similar in all three experimental areas in both breeding and non-breeding seasons. Females’ diurnal activity rhythm during non-breeding season differed significantly between Zhonghua Mountain and Liankang Mountain, while it differed significantly in both breeding and non-breeding seasons between Pingjingguan and Liankang Mountain. The activity peak of Reeves’s pheasant differed from that of anthropogenic disturbance, implying staggered shifts in the pheasant’s activity pattern. Moreover, the overlap between Reeves’s pheasant and anthropogenic disturbance was lowest at Liankang Mountain. Our results demonstrated that the diurnal activity rhythm of Reeves’s pheasant exhibits a high plasticity in responding to anthropogenic disturbance. This species adjusts its activity rhythm to adapt the anthropogenic disturbance to a certain extent.

Soundscape ecology studies sound patterns across different spatial and temporal scales, which reflects coupled natural-human dynamics in a changing landscape. Here, we synthesized a list of peer-reviewed studies on soundscape ecology to summarize the conceptual framework of the field, the methodology used, and acoustic indices developed from these studies. Studies on soundscape ecology are currently focused on the following aspects: (1) acoustic composition of soundscape; (2) acoustic interactions between soundscape components; (3) temporal patterns and spatial variability in the soundscapes; (4) the development of acoustic indices for biodiversity monitoring. We suggest the following as focuses for future studies in soundscape ecology and biodiversity conservation: (1) establishing a systematic acoustic monitoring network and data management platform; (2) developing new methods for data collection and analysis (e.g., recording matrix and machine learning algorithm); and (3) treating soundscape ecology as an important resource for future research and conservation.

Mast seeding is a natural phenomenon that large seeding perennial plants perform periodic and synchronous reproduction. Mast seeding has been regarded as a strategy to adapt to environmental conditions and improve their reproductive ability, but its underlying mechanism and eco-evolutionary implications remain controversial. In animal dispersed reliant plants, mast seeding is considered as a scatter-hoarding protection strategy to improve dispersal efficiency and ultimately increase reproductive success. However, animal-mediated indirect seed-seed interactions of sympatric tree species may be an evolutionary driver of plant coexistence. Here, we briefly review the various hypotheses that have been suggested to explain the phenomenon of mast seeding, and we propose a conceptual framework integrating climate, resources and interaction between plants and animals to disentangle the mechanism of mast seeding. We also discuss the interaction between mast seeding and animal hoarding behavior and its evolutionary and ecological implications. In the future, long-term ecological monitoring and molecular biology methods should be used to reveal the ecological and evolutionary processes between mast seeding and animal hoarding behaviour.

Mistletoes are a polyphyletic group of hemi-parasitic shrubs that can conduct photosynthesis. As keystone resources, they provide important food resources and nest sites for many birds and other fauna in forests and woodlands, mediating local biodiversity. This group is comprised of 5 families, 88 genera and about 1,600 species within the Santalales and is broadly distributed across terrestrial ecosystems, absent only in some alpine, desert and polar areas. Research into the reproductive phenology of mistletoes is important for understanding the maintenance of species interaction networks in “host-mistletoe-pollinator/seed disperser” systems and the stability of ecosystem structure. We review the reproductive phenology of mistletoes at landscape, community, and population scales. We begin by describing different forms of mistletoe reproductive phenology, and continue by exploring the evolutionary and developmental drivers of host species, pollinator/seed disperser, and mistletoe biological characteristics. These studies indicate that long-lasting mutualisms between pollinators/seed dispersers and mistletoes are maintained mainly by asynchronous phenology of mistletoes in order to ensure their reproductive success. Previous studies found that the reproductive phenology of mistletoes had important adaptive significance to interacting species in “host-mistletoe-pollinator/seed disperser” systems. Future efforts should first prioritize basic biological research on mistletoes to fill important data gaps, and then couple experimental verification with comprehensive multi-factor analysis to strengthen our understanding of the ecological significance of mistletoe reproductive phenology.

This paper studied the flora of seed plants in the Luoxiao Mountains and revealed the transitional characteristics of five moderate mountains flora from north to south. The results indicated that 4,314 wild seed plants belonging to 1,107 genera and 179 families are distributed in the Luoxiao Mountains. (1) The Luoxiao Mountains flora consists of 25 families and 465 genera which distribute only one species, 61 oligotypic families and 432 oligotypic genera, presenting the relict of flora and intimate exchange between local floristic components and typical tropical and temperate components. (2) The families geographical areal-types were classified into 10 types, included 83 tropical families and 40 temperate families, accounting for 67.48% and 32.52%, respectively of the non-widespread families. The genus areal-types were classified into 15 types, including 484 tropical genera and 534 temperate genera accounting for 52.46% and 47.54%, respectively of the non-widespread genera. The distribution patterns of genera are abundant with pantropic areal-type, tropical areal-type, North temperate areal-type, and East Asia areal-type, which reflect that the flora of the Luoxiao Mountains, the paleo-tropical flora and temperate tertiary flora are strongly interrelated. (3) The floristic compositions amongst five mountains in the Luoxiao Mountains have marked spatial heterogeneity from north to south, which the R/T value, i.e ratio of tropical genera to temperate genera, increases gradually. The Mufu Mountains experienced stronger temperate elements, which are related to Central China flora, while the Wanyang Mountains and the Zhuguang Mountains contain stronger tropical elements. Climate fluctuations may be the main reason for the formation of the modern floristic distribution pattern in the region.

The Luoxiao Mountains with a bundant spermatophyte flora, which is an important channel connecting the flora of East, South and Centre of China, and was characterized by an prominent antiquity and relict property. This study focuses on endemic and relict genera or species in the Luoxiao Mountains by analyzing their composition, geographical structure and formation. (1) The results show that 3 families, 55 genera and 1,624 species are endemic to China within the Luoxiao Mountains; and 43 species and 7 varieties are endemic to the Luoxiao Mountains. Among the endemic genera, the palaeoendemic and relict genera account for a large proportion, which was dominated by temperate elements (account for 55.91% of total of endemic genera). (2) There are 165 relict genera in the Luoxiao Mountains, including 132 woody genera, and they mainly dominated by a tropics Asia dirtribution genera, East Asian-North American disjuncted distribution genera, East Asian endemic genera and Chinese endemic genera. (3) Additionally, due to climate fluctuations after the Miocene Epoch and during the Quaternary glacial period, the Luoxiao Mountains appears to have inherited a abundant evergreen northern tropical flora and deciduous Arctic or Northern-Tertiary flora. The analysis of endemic and relict characteristic implies that the Luoxiao Mountains is an important biological refuge, which is important to preserve and rediffusion of the flora of eastern China.

In order to strengthen the protection and management of rare and endangered plants in the Luoxiao Mountains, we made extensive investigations on the species composition, population size, and survival status of the rare and endangered plants based on vegetation and floristic surveys. The results are as follows: (1) A total of 279 rare and endangered plant species from 142 genera and 59 families were recorded in the Luoxiao Mountains. Among them, 17 species were included in the IUCN Red List, i.e. 2 critical species (CR), 3 endangered species (EN), and 12 vulnerable species (VU); and 105 species were included in the China Biodiversity Red List: Higher Plants, i.e. 9 critical species, 33 endangered species, 63 vulnerable species; 257 species in the National Key Protected Wild Plants List, i.e. Grade I 8 species, i.e. Ginkgo biloba, Abies beshanensis var. ziyuanensis, Taxus wallichiana var. mairei, Brasenia schreberi, Bretschneidera sinensis, Dendrobium hancockii, D. officinale, and D. moniliforme, and Grade II 249 species; 71 species were listed in Appendix II of CITES. (2) The Luoxiao Mountains are composed of five medium-sized mountains, and across these mountains, the number of rare and endangered plants changed from north to south, indicating that their survival status was closely related to the species richness and the preservation of vegetation and flora in the areas. Mt. Mufu had 147 species, Mt. Jiuling 138 species, Mt. Wugong 133 species, Mt. Wanyang 227 species, and Mt. Zhuguang 192 species. (3) According to the species composition of rare and endangered plants, there were a large number of ancient, relict and endemic taxa, which are affected by climate and geographical environment, including 19 monotypic genera and 129 species endemic to China. According to the survival status, and distribution of rare and endangered species, this paper puts forward some protection measures, such as community monitoring or appropriate artificial intervention, etc.

The Luoxiao Mountains are a main chain of north-south mountains in southeast China, covering approximately 67,600 km². It is considered a biodiversity hot spot that served as glacial refuge during the Tertiary period for eastern Eurasia. Starting in 2013, we investigated chiropteran diversity in the Luoxiao Mountains by conducting five-year surveys using mist nets, hand nets and harp traps. We identified 40 chiropteran species belonging to 4 families, 14 genera through morphological examination, phylogenetic inference, comparing to species identification from the literatures. Of the species we identified, 25 are primarily found in the region, and 9 belong to new provincial records. Current and potential future distribution area for bats was predicted based on all occurrence coordinates using the online platform “the Biodiversity & Climate Change Virtual Laboratory”. The random forest algorithm performed better than all other methods, and further indicates that precipitation seasonality and annual mean temperature contribute the most in models. Additionally, we found that the central and southern region (about 30% of the Luoxiao Mountains area) are hot spots for bats. The future distribution prediction for 2050 illustrates a trend of range expansion under the lowest greenhouse gas emissions conditions (RCP 2.6). Nevertheless, suitable habitats for bats will dramatically contract and transfer to higher regions under RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5. We hope this study benefits future research, conservation and management for chiropteran in the Luoxiao Mountains.

The Luoxiao Mountains is a key area of biodiversity conservation in China, and is also watershed of the Ganjiang River and Xiuhe River basins and Xiangjiang River basin. However, there is little research on fish diversity in the Luoxiao Mountains, and species composition, distribution and threat factors are unclear. Here, fish specimens were collected in eleven streams of the Luoxiao Mountains between 2014 and 2018. The fish specimens collected from the Luoxiao Mountains belonged to 113 species, 64 genera, 17 families and 5 orders. A total of 108 fish species were found in the eastern slope of the Louxiao Mountains, which were more than those from the western slope (72 species). The ecological types of fish was mainly settlement, demersal and carnivorous, and fauna was mainly the endemic fishes of the river plain in East Asia. From the perspective of species diversity, the Suichuan River, Yuanshui River, Shushui River and Xiuhe River had a high diversity in fish species, and a low diversity occurred in the Jinjiang River and Fushui River. The analysis of beta diversity showed that some differentiation in fish species was found between the Suichuan River and Jinjiang River, Heshui River, Fushui River.

The resources of macrofungi in the Luoxiao Mountains have been investigated for 5 years, and more than 5,100 specimens were collected. A total of 672 species of macrofungi, belonging to 20 orders, 72 families and 218 genera, have been identified based on morphological and molecular analyses. Among them, there were 115 species in the Mufu Mountains, 168 species in the Jiuling Mountains, 77 species in the Wugong Mountains, 220 species in the Wanyang Mountains and 193 species in the Zhuguang Mountains. There were 37 newly recorded genera and 514 newly recorded species in the Luoxiao Mountains. The species composition of macrofungi in the Luoxiao Mountains showed that there were 18 dominant families with more than 10 species, accounting for 73.36% of the total species, including Polyporaceae, Agaricaceae, Entolomataceae, and so on. There were 34 dominant genera with more than 5 species, accounting for 55.36% of the total species, such as Entoloma, Amanita, Marasmius, and so on. There were 2 genera and 46 species endemic to China in this mountain range. The assessment of utilization value of the macrofungi showed that there were133 edible species, 136 medicinal species and 87 poisonous species in the Luoxiao Mountains, indicating the resources have good application prospects. This study provides important scientific basis for the protection, utilization and management of macrofungal resources in this area.

Camera-tapping is one of the most efficient tools for surveying terrestrial mammals and birds. Between October 2017 and October 2018, we placed 167 infrared-triggered cameras to investigate the biodiversity of wild mammals and birds in Daxiangling Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province. A total of 3,317 independent wildlife photographs were collected with an extensive survey effort of 6,738 camera-days. These included 2,673 photographs of 23 mammal species belonging to 5 orders and 14 families, and 644 photographs of 33 bird species from 5 orders and 11 families. Among these, 3 species including Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Budorcas tibetanus, Moschus berezovskii are listed as national first-class protected wild animals, and 10 species including Macaca thibetana, Ursus thibetanus, Ailurus fulgens, Martes flavigula, Capricornis milneedwardsi, Cervus equinus, Ithaginis cruentus, Chrysolophus amherstiae, Lophura nycthemera, Tragopan temminckii are listed as national second-class protected wild animals in China. Of the species identified, Moschus berezovskii is Critically Endangered (CR), 9 species are Vulnerable (VU), and 10 species are Near Threatened (NT) in the Red List of China’s Vertebrates. Among the recorded species, 2 species are listed as Endangered (EN), 5 species are listed as Vulnerable (VU), 3 species are listed as Threatened (NT) by the IUCN Red List. Four species are also listed in Appendix I and six other species are in Appendix II of the CITES regulations. Petaurista xanthotis, Cervus equinus, Dendrocopos darjellensis, Nucifraga caryocatactes, Turdus obscurus, Brachypteryx montana and Trochalopteron formosum are new record species in Daxiangling Nature Reserve. We found that Elaphodus cephalophus (RAI = 125.26) had the highest relative abundance, followed by Macaca thibetana (RAI = 64.71) and Tragopan temminckii (RAI = 43.34). This study provides basic information on the species composition and relative abundance of large and mid-sized mammals and terrestrial birds in Daxiangling Nature Reserve; it will also provide information and references to wildlife management and protection.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services have laid important foundations for human livelihoods that impact quality of life. However, recent studies have shown a continuous decline globally, thereby reducing human interaction with nature. Multi-scale assessments can explain the current status of biodiversity at different scales which can help formulate decision-making recommendations for regional and national agencies. In December 2013, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) adopted the first work programme and decided to undertake “regional/sub-regional assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services” (regional assessment). Biodiversity and ecosystem services in the four geographic regions of Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Africa and Europe-Central Asia were assessed. The four regional assessment reports and their summary for policymakers were adopted at the 6th Session of the IPBES Plenary (held March 2018 in Medellin, Colombia). This paper summarizes the importance of biodiversity in each of the four geographic regions and the progress made in biodiversity conservation, the major crises and opportunities, and explores the impact of the assessment on other international processes. This research analyzes the characteristics of biodiversity and ecosystem services in each region and the differences between regions, along with a summary of the policy experience of the assessment to provide important scientific reference for China’s biodiversity conservation.