Aims The primary purpose of national park conservation and management is to effectively protect the authenticity and integrity of ecosystems, as well as natural and cultural resources of national importance. In this study, we aim to propose the concept of authenticity and integrity for national park management in China and establish a framework for authenticity and integrity evaluation based on the closed loop of value identification, value authenticity, integrity assessment, authenticity and integrity conservation, and the management strategy of monitoring and feedback.
Methods The primary research method is a review of previous literature on ecosystem integrity, ecosystem authenticity, and conservation management strategies of World Heritage sites, combining them with: practical experience; proposing concepts; systematically analyzing the connotations of the proposed definitions of authenticity and integrity; constructing an evaluation index system; proposing logical relationships among the indicators; and proposing conservation management recommendations based on the concepts and evaluation framework.
Results In this paper, we propose the authenticity and integrity of China's national parks. National park authenticity means that the ecosystems within a national park and the natural and cultural elements that constitute or are closely associated with national park values are maintained in their original state, with emphasis on “unimpaired”. National park integrity refers to the ability of national parks to maintain the structure, functions, and processes of ecosystems as well as the values and characteristics of natural areas with sufficient area and constituent elements, emphasizing “no deficiency”. The significance of the concept of management-oriented national park authenticity and integrity is reflected in three aspects: (1) the distinction between the concepts of authenticity and integrity is helpful for managers to clarify the goals of national park management, (2) using the requirements of authenticity and integrity to comprehensively cover the value system is conducive to the formation of a complete governance and management path of national parks, and (3) specifying the evaluation indexes of the authenticity and integrity of national parks is conducive to judging the effectiveness of national park management more effectively. We propose a framework for evaluating the authenticity and integrity of national parks. To evaluate the authenticity of national parks in five aspects: naturalness, intensity of climate change, authenticity of traditional culture and its carriers, degree of human interference, and authenticity of the harmonious relationship between human beings and nature. The integrity of national parks is evaluated in five dimensions: ecosystem composition integrity, ecosystem structural integrity, ecosystem functional integrity, landscape composition integrity, and cultural landscape integrity. We propose suggestions for the conservation and management of the authenticity and integrity of China's national parks, and those are presented in terms of reshaping objectives, updating concepts and enhancing technologies. The issues of authenticity and integrity of national parks have not yet been discussed in depth, and research on the setting of evaluation indexes, the interrelationship among evaluation indicators, and specific suggestions for conservation and management are yet to be further developed.
Conclusion This paper proposes a management-oriented concept of authenticity and integrity of Chinese national parks and a framework for authenticity and integrity evaluation. This provides a theoretical basis for establishing a complete management closure loop for Chinese national park management practices. The significance of the concept of authenticity and integrity, the index system of evaluation, and the management suggestions based on these are discussed throughout the paper.

Background: Ecosystem integrity is one of the management goals of China's national parks, and ecosystem integrity is also one of the criteria when planning the national park territory. However, the interpretation of the term “ecosystem integrity” as well as a standard assessment framework has not yet reached a consensus.
Aims: This paper aims to put forward a comprehensive interpretation of the term “ecosystem integrity” based on previous literature. We also present a succinct and efficient framework to assess the ecosystem integrity of China's national parks. We suggest that structure and process integrity, functional integrity, and spatial pattern integrity should be considered when assessing the ecosystem integrity of a national park. We then applied the framework to evaluate the ecosystem integrity of the Amur Tiger and Leopard National Park in China.
Results and Discussions: Results indicate that since the establishment of the national park system pilot, there are complete food chains with the Amur tiger and Amur leopard as top carnivores within the national park pilot territory. Also, a great amount of Amur tiger and Amur leopard have returned and resettled back to China from Russia. Population sizes of both Amur tiger and Amur leopard, their habitat quality, and their regional biodiversity have steadily increased over the past years.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the boundary of the Amur Tiger and Leopard National Park is reasonably proposed due to the high regional ecosystem integrity, which lies a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the national park.

Aims: National parks have recently been listed as protected areas in China's official documents to protect the authenticity and integrity of natural ecosystems. However, it is unclear how ecosystem authenticity is defined, let alone how to protect it. In this paper, we tried to define the concept of ecosystem authenticity, discuss its significance to conservation, and explore the assessment method to provide a scientific guide for the management and planning of protected areas.
Method: The study area is located in the center of Changbai Mountains where the most typical and well-preserved temperate mountain forest develops in Eastern Eurasia. We evaluated the forest ecosystems authenticity from the perspective of vegetation using forest inventory data of Jilin Province. Four indicators—forest origin, dominant tree, age of stand, unit stock volume—were selected to construct the authenticity assessment index system for forest ecosystems. At the same time, we established the weight coefficient, authenticity value calculation formula and grading standard.
Results: The forest ecosystem authenticity value of the whole study area was 0.69. The ecosystem authenticity values for Helong City, Antu County, Fusong County, Linjiang City and Korean Autonomous County of Changbai were 0.70, 0.71, 0.67, 0.60 and 0.63, respectively. Ecosystem authenticity is divided into five levels with an area ratio of 9 : 44 : 33 : 11 : 3 in order of authenticity from highest to lowest, indicating 53% are in very high and high levels. In general, the highest level of authenticity for the forest was in the main peak of Changbai Mountains, and gradually decreased going north, west, and south.
Conclusion: Ecosystem authenticity refers to the degree that an ecosystem from a particular region maintains its native state after various natural and human disturbances. It is convenient and generalizable to evaluate the authenticity of the forest ecosystem by using forest inventory data from the perspective of vegetation. Further research should give attention to the authenticity index system and the assessment method of different scales and components based on a comprehensive understanding of the primitive status of the ecosystem.

Aims: The purpose of establishing national parks in China is to protect the integrity and authenticity of natural ecosystems and to promote biodiversity conservation. Evaluation of the integrity and authenticity of national parks is a prerequisite for studies such as layout planning, boundary range determination, and functional zoning of national parks. To assess the integrity and authenticity status of natural ecosystems in national parks, this study provided a method in which data are easily accessible, assessment methods are simpler, and assessment results are clearly understood by decision-makers, managers, and the public.
Methods: Based on the structure and function of terrestrial natural ecosystems, this study constructed an evaluation index system of terrestrial natural ecosystem integrity and authenticity and its quantitative evaluation method through index screening, expert consultation, index quantification, and the establishment of a comprehensive evaluation model. The evaluation method contained five indicators of natural ecosystem integrity, five indicators of natural ecosystem authenticity, and two comprehensive evaluation indicators. Taking Qianjiangyuan National Park system pilot in Zhejiang Province as an example, this study initially assessed its ecosystem integrity and authenticity status, and graded the assessment results.
Results: According to the assessment method of this study, the evaluation result of natural ecosystem integrity of Qianjiangyuan National Park system pilot was 52.83%, with a less good evaluation grade; while the evaluation result of natural ecosystem authenticity was 87.06%, with a good evaluation grade. The indicators that deserve attention and improvement in Qianjiangyuan National Park system pilot include the integrity index of the conservation area (27.00%) and the integrity index of the flagship species suitable habitat (53.04%).
Conclusion: This study constructed an evaluation method for the integrity and authenticity of terrestrial natural ecosystems in national parks with comprehensive evaluation index coverage, easy data acquisition, and easy evaluation results to be understood by decision makers and managers.

Aims As a constructive shrub species widely distributed across the temperate deserts of arid Central Asia, Reaumuria soongarica (Tamaricaceae) had undergone divergence and hybridization during its evolutionary history, which make it an ideal model for understanding the molecular basis of biodiversity of desert ecosystems and plant hybrid speciation. However, the ploidy level of different populations of R. soongarica is still unclear, which confines the further study on its speciation mechanism.
Methods To clarify the ploidy level and variation patterns of genome size of different R. soongarica lineages, we investigated the DNA 1C-value of eight R. soongarica populations from the northern lineage (distributed in northern Xinjiang) and its putative parental lineages (the eastern and western lineages) by flow cytometry. The young roots of R. soongarica were selected as the experimental material, and Solanum pimpinellifolium was used as an internal standard species.
Results Our data showed that the DNA 1C-value of the eastern lineage (1.149 ± 0.012 pg) was slightly smaller than that of the western lineage (1.195 ± 0.031 pg), and the DNA 1C-value of the Fukang (FW) and Shawan (SW) populations in the northern lineage was intermediate between that of its parental lineages. However, the DNA 1C-values of the Huoshaoshan (HSS) and Wucaicheng (WCC) populations from the northern lineage were closely twice as those from the eastern and western populations.
Conclusion Considering to the previous results of molecular markers, we infer that the FW and SW populations belong to the homoploid hybrid populations from the eastern and western lineages, while the HSS and WCC populations are allopolyploid hybrid populations. The populations with different ploidy levels in the northern lineage could originate from different hybrid events, which could be classified into different species.

Aims The sexual system characteristics of flowering plant is a reproductive strategy gradually formed during the process of long-term adaptation and evolution, which affect the population structure of plant and its distribution pattern to a certain extent. Therefore, sexual system characteristics have always been a hot topic in the field of plant evolution and ecology.
Methods In this study, a survey was conducted to determine the sexual system characteristics and the proportion, density and spatial distribution pattern of Lilium concolorvar. megalanthum with different sexual phenotypes, and to explore the relationship between individual plant size and sexual expression in Jinchuan peatland of Jilin Province in 2012 and 2020. We compared the actual pollen fertility with different sexual phenotypes and the seed viability after pollination treatment with different pollination sources.
Results The results showed that at the plant level L. concolor var. megalanthum has three sexual phenotypes: male flower, hermaphrodite flower, and andromonoecy. At the population level, the plants with male flower act as male parents and transmit genes to the next generation through pollens, while the plants with hermaphrodite flower mainly act as female parents and transmit genes through ovules. The plant with male flower accounted for 39.14% of flowering plants in the population in 2020, which increased by 22.80% compared with the proportion in 2012. The population density of L. concolor var. megalanthum was 0.06 plants/m²in 2020, which was 0.09 plants/m²lower than that in 2012. Compared with 2012, the population density decreased and the relative proportion of plants with male flowers increased in 2020. Hermaphroditic and male flower plants mainly showed aggregated distribution in small scale, and tended to random distribution with the increase of scale. The plants with male flower are significantly smaller than plants with hermaphrodite flower, but the resource allocation of bulb is significantly higher than that of the plant with hermaphrodite flower. The sexual expression of L. concolor var. megalanthumfollowed the hypothesis of size- dependent sexual allocation. The smaller plant produces only one male flower, while the larger plant produces hermaphroditic flower or are andromonoecious. The results of seed set and germination of different pollination treatments showed that the seed set and fruit set of self-pollination are significantly lower than those of cross-pollination. There was no significant difference in pollen fertility between male and hermaphroditic flower plant. There was also no significant difference in seed viability pollinated by pollen from male and hermaphroditic flower plant.
Conclusion The appearance of male flower may be the result of L. concolor var. megalanthum adaptation to limited environmental resources, and it reflects the trade-off strategy between growth and reproduction of this plant under the stressful condition in peatland. The emergence of this sexual system has a certain adaptive significance for L. concolor var. megalanthum with the long-term peatland succession.

Aims: The Haihe River Basin is one of the seven main river basins in China. It also receives water from the central route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Due to the combined effect of human activity and climate change, river degradation became the primary problem of Haihe River Basin over several decades. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project can improve the environment in this river basin, but it can also bring the risk of fish invasion. Therefore, this research was conducted to assess the risk of fish invasion in Haihe River Basin caused by this project.
Methods: Based on a field investigation and an analysis of the relevant research, differences in the fish species between the water diversion area and the water receiving area (Haihe River Basin) of South-to-North Water Diversion Project were evaluated. A risk assessment system for invasion of alien fishes and an aquatic species invasiveness screening kit V2.3 were used to assess the invasion risk of fish species which are not naturally distributed in Haihe River Basin. MaxEnt model was used to predict the potential distribution of fish species with invasion risk in Haihe River Basin.
Results: The scoring results of the risk assessment system and the aquatic species invasiveness screening kit showed that Tinca tinca, Neosalanx tangkahkeii and Silurus meridionalis have a high invasion risk, and that Odontobutis sinensis, Pelteobagrus nitidus and Siniperca knerii have a medium invasion risk. According to the prediction of potential geographic distribution areas conducted by MaxEnt, the Tuhaimajiahe River system, Zhangwei south Canal, and coastal rivers around the Bohai Sea are prone to fish invasion.
Conclusions: Aquatic organisms in the water-receiving area of Haihe River Basin should be continuously monitored, especially in areas most prone to fish invasion, for fish species with high invasion risk. A specific early screening system should be established. In addition, the fish resource investigation and invasion risk assessment for the Eastern Route Project should be carried out as soon as possible.

Aims: Climate change is poised to increase the frequency and severity of extreme climate events like drought. In China, drought in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River is increasing. Zanthoxylum bungeanum is an important tree species in the region because of its prominent role in local economic and social development. Therefore, it is urgent to investigate whether Z. bungeanum mixed with legume plants can mitigate the effects of drought in agroforestry systems.
Method: We conducted an agroforestry experiment under simulated drought conditions that involved three planting systems: monocultures of the focal species Z. bungeanum, mixed cultures of Z. bungeanum and Medicago sativa, and mixed cultures of Z. bungeanum and Glycine max. We collected soil samples after 30 days of simulated drought in August, and after 15, 30, and 45 days of restoration to assess whether Z. bungeanum agroforestry systems can alleviate the residual effect of drought on soil chemical properties and soil biology.
Results: Repeated measure ANOVA showed that in the monoculture of Z. bungeanum, soil nitrate nitrogen content was significantly higher than that of the control after 45 days of drought recovery. Furthermore, microbial biomass and the fungal-to-bacteria ratio was not significantly different from the control. While nematode density was not significantly different from the control, nematode functional groups did not recover to the control level. In the mixed cultures of Z. bungeanum and M. sativa, there were no significant differences in soil water content, NO₃^--N content, NH₄⁺-N content, dissolved organic carbon content and dissolved organic nitrogen content, microbial biomass, fungal-to-bacteria ratio, nematode density, or nematode functional groups, but the relative abundance of nematode genus Boleodorus was significantly higher than that of the control. In the mixed cultures of Z. bungeanum and G. max, there were no significant differences in soil water content, NO₃^--N content, NH₄⁺-N content, dissolved organic carbon content and dissolved organic nitrogen content, microbial biomass, or fungal-to-bacteria ratio between the two groups after 45 days of drought recovery, but there were significant differences in nematode density, functional groups, and community structure. Among these three planting patterns of Z. bungeanum, the residual effect of drought had minimal effects on soil nutrients and organisms under the intercropping pattern of Z. bungeanum and M. sativa.
Conclusion: Our study revealed that the differing functional traits of potential neighbors in agroforestry systems can have additive effects and lead to a marked divergence of soil food-web resistance and resilience. The presence of certain neighbor species can indirectly alleviate the impacts of drought on focal species via increasing the stability of the soil food web under future climate change.

Aim The government of China has been attaching great importance to wildlife conservation, actively performing international obligations of global wildlife protection and vigorously promoting public participation to expand public foundation of the conservation. Although the public intention to defend domestic wild species has been presented in literatures, their willingness to conserve global wildlife remains uncommon in the relevant literatures, which provide little decision-making references to promote public participation in global wildlife conservation. We therefore studied Chinese public willingness of nondomestic species conservation and its influencing factors.
Method The global flagship species African elephant (Loxodonta Africana) was selected as an invested subject and relevant studies and practices of their conservation were reviewed to construct the extended framework of the theory of planned behavior. Data were collected on- or off-line for analyses with structural equation modeling.
Results The results indicated that 68.5% of the public responded their positive willingness of African elephant conservation. The factors of individual norm [coefficient (hereinafter coef.) 0.422], past experience (coef. 0.253), perceived behavioral control (coef. 0.160), and attitude (coef. 0.156) illustrated positive impacts on the public willingness of African elephant conservation with a successively increasing impacting degree. The results also showed that male respondents (coef. ‒0.054) had lower conservation willingness, while the interviewees living in the western regions (coef. 0.066) possessed a higher willingness. The model passed the statistical fitting testification, confirming the reliability of the results.
Suggestion We therefore suggests that it is necessary to explicitly stipulate the role of policy guidance and enhance the senses of moral obligation and social responsibility among the public. It also proposes to strengthen publicity and education in the public to enrich their knowledge and experience and to cultivate their positive attitude towards conservation, and to broaden the channels of public conservation participation and improve their perception and behavior control. The recommendation finally includes to formulate reasonable programs and elevate the effectiveness of practical activities such as conservation publicity and education.

Background: Polypores are an important group of wood-decaying fungi and have important ecological functions and economic values. The unique geographical structure and complex vegetation types in China provide abundant substrates for the growth of polypores. Although the taxonomy of polypores has been well studied in China, few comparative studies on the diversity and flora of polypores among different climatic zones has been performed. This study is intended to compare the florae and populations of polypores in multiple forest zones with different climates and vegetations, and will provide the basis for the protection of species diversity and the development of application potential of polypores.
Methods: In this study, we comparatively analyzed the polypore species, ecological habits and floral characteristics in the Altai Mountains, the Qinling Mountains and the Nanling Mountains which are respectively located in boreal, temperate and subtropical zones in China.
Results: A total of 287 poroid wood-decaying fungal species belonging to 107 genera, 29 families, and 8 orders were obtained from the three mountain ranges. Of these species, 84, 132 and 160 were found in the Altai Mountains, the Qinling Mountains and the Nanling Mountains, respectively, and the community was dominated by families Polyporaceae and Hymenochaetaceae. In the generic and species levels, 25 genera and 14 species were common in the three mountain ranges. Floristic analysis found that polypores in the Altai Mountains and the Qinling Mountains were dominated by the cosmopolitan and the northern temperate elements, while polypores in the Nanling Mountains were dominated by the cosmopolitan and the pantropical taxa. In terms of host preference, polypores in the Altai Mountains preferentially grow on gymnosperms over angiosperms, while the opposite was true in the Qinling Mountains and Nanling Mountains. In the two rotting types caused by polypores, the species number of white rot polypores increased, but that of the brown rot decreased, gradually from boreal to subtropical zones.
Conclusion: Climate and vegetation types are the major influencing factors on the flora composition of polypores, based on the analysis of species diversity, host preference and decaying type of polypores in the three mountains.

Aims: To quickly and accurately obtain field survey data on invasive species diffusion, we integrated the global navigation satellite system, geographic information system, and mobile internet to design a customizable mobile terminal for the collection of survey data for invasive species. This is important because traditional methods are cumbersome, slow, and error-prone. Additionally, previously designed computational survey methods are designed to address specific survey tasks. Here, we developed a customizable software program, the Yuncaiji data acquisitor, to address these issues.
Method: This system was designed using the C# and Java languages. It uses navigation satellite positioning technology to help acquire precise location data more rapidly. This method tries to combine navigation satellite positioning with the Android mobile terminal to help acquire precise location data.
Results: This method defines 9 kinds of data and 4 auxiliary attributes, such as default value of column value (indicator), image shooting, voice input, column sorting, establishing the association between data types and user interface, and realized customizable data entry interface.
Conclusion: The Yuncaiji data acquisitor has been successfully tested in several large-scale projects, including key national (Chinese) research and development projects, major science and technology projects for the Fujian Province, and for Solenopsis invicta epidemic census. Results show that the Yuncaiji data acquisitor efficiently supports field survey data collection, data synchronization, data exporting, and data management. This system is superior to traditional survey methods involving pen and paper, because the data recoding is easily performed on a smartphone, simplifying data entry and reducing user error. The quality of the invasive species diffusion field data recorded by the Yuncaiji data acquisitor is high, indicating that our system provides suitable computational support for large-scale surveys of the diffusion of invasive species.

Aims: The standardization of acquisition methods to collect insect specimens is a major component of insect diversity research. In light of the high species diversity, complex behavior, and wide distribution of insects, numerous active and passive acquisition methods have been developed to achieve different research goals. However, the use of active search acquisition methods is constrained by the presence of many interfering factors and poor reproducibility. Passive acquisition methods, such as flight interception trap (FIT), Malaise trap (MT) and pitfall trap (PT), have been widely adopted in different scenarios and have gradually become the most common methods for conducting insect diversity research due to their unique advantages. Despite their popularity, however, there is a lack of systematic research on the features and collecting effectiveness of these passive acquisition methods.
Methods: In this study, 13 sampling points in Shing Mun from Hong Kong, China were monitored in a one-month field survey (sampling frequency of about 2-3 days) using the three passive acquisition methods above (156 sets of equipment in total). These surveys were evaluated to determine each method's effectiveness for the beetle collection.
Results: A total of 6,380 beetle specimens of 197 species from 40 families were collected. The results of the study showed that: (1) There is a difference in the effectiveness of beetle collection by each acquisition method. Overall, FIT (36 families, 149 species) was more effective than MT (24 families, 79 species) and PT (17 families, 60 species). Ten families were collected by all the three methods. (2) The analysis of biodiversity indices and species-abundance distribution indicate the following: The richness index was the highest for FIT, followed by MT and PT. The dominance index was the highest for FIT, followed by PT and MT. The diversity index was the highest for MT, followed by FIT and PT. The evenness index was the highest for MT, followed by PT and FIT. The number of species with at least one individual collected by the three acquisition methods was very high. The species with more than one individual collected were widely distributed in time and space. There were fewer species from dominant families, though the total of individuals from these species accounted for a high proportion of all the collected beetles. (3) In terms of feeding habits, both FIT and PT enabled the collection of beetles from six dietary types. Among these, the algae-feeding family Ptiliidae was only collected by these two methods. (4) The plotted species accumulation curve demonstrated increased species discovery in a step-wise manner with gradually deceleration, which reflects the effectiveness of the three methods.
Conclusions: Each of the three acquisition methods have unique characteristics, but the comprehensive collection efficiency of FIT was markedly higher than MT and PT. Compared with PT, one of the most used acquisition methods, FIT and MT could enhance the coverage of species-richness, feeding habit, and body size of the beetles collected. This combination of collection methods would be conducive to better understand baseline beetle diversity and to conduct in-depth studies on the ecological functions and interactions of different groups. Furthermore, the beetles collected by each of the three methods were different to some extent, and thus a study's acquisition method should be selected according to the research goal and scientific problem to be addressed.

Aim: We aim to investigate the biological inventory of large and medium-sized mammals and ground-dwelling birds along the Sichuan-Tibet Railway (Kangding-Batang section) using camera-trapping techniques.
Methods: Eighty-five camera-traps were placed between 3,100 m and 4,400 m a.s.l. from March 2019 to March 2020. The relative abundance index (RAI) was used to evaluate the population sizes of different species.
Results: During 20,440 camera-days, 3,656 independent photographs were recorded including 2,571 of mammals and 565 of birds. Twenty-six wild mammal species (5 orders and 12 families) and 31 bird species (4 orders and 14 families) were identified. Five of these species are listed as first-class National Protected Wildlife (Panthera pardus, Moschus chrysogaster, Felis bieti, Grus nigricollis and Tetraophasis szechenyii), and 18 species are listed as second-class National Protected Wildlife (Ursus arctos, Macaca mulatta, Capricornis milneedwardsii, and others). Two species (Moschus chrysogaster and Pseudois schaeferi) were listed as Endangered, Seven as Vulnerable and five as Near Threatened according to the IUCN Red List. Seven species were listed as Appendix I, eight as Appendix II and four as Appendix III according to the CITES. The most detected species of mammal was the tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus, RAI = 8.366), and the most detected species of bird was the blood pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus, RAI = 0.861).
Conclusions: These findings indicate the Sichuan-Tibet Railway (Kangding-Batang section) has a high species diversity that include rare and endangered species. This study provides an important foundation for further biodiversity investigations.

Aims: Marine, benthic, shell-bearing mollusks are one of the most important groups of marine benthic invertebrates. Pingtan Island is an island in the northwestern part of the Taiwan Strait. The marine, benthic, shelled fauna in this area are important for revealing the ecological environment and biogeographical pattern of the Taiwan Strait and its adjacent waters. Here, we report the species diversity and distribution patterns of shelled-mollusks found in Pingtan Island and its adjacent waters.
Methods: We conducted a checklist of known marine, benthic, shells found near Pingtan Island and its adjacent waters based on previous studies and 3,346 specimens collected by the Department of Physical Geography, Resources and Environment, Sun Yat-sen University from 2015-2018. We then investigated distribution patterns of each listed species in the coast waters of China.
Results: We identified a total of 161 species from 122 genera and 58 families. Of these 161 species, 47 species were new to the study area. In total, 395 species of mollusks belonging to 244 genera and 98 families are reported to inhabit Pingtan Island and its adjacent waters. Of them, 93.7% of the species are also distributed in the South China Sea, 82.0% in the East China Sea, 31.1% in the Yellow and Bohai Seas, and 42.3% in the waters east of Taiwan Island. The distribution pattern between the South China Sea and the East China Sea accounted for 49.9% of the total species. The distribution pattern between the South China Sea and the Yellow and Bohai Seas accounted for 27.6% of the total species. The distrubition pattern between the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait accounted for 16.2% of the total species. Only 6.3% of the species were confined to be limited to the Taiwan Strait and the region to the north of it.
Conclusions: The marine, benthic, shell-bearing mollusks in Pingtan Island have typical subtropical characteristics, among which warm and eurythermic species are dominant. The shelled-mollusks in Pingtan Island has a close relationship with that of the continental shelves of the South China Sea (northern part) and East China Sea. In contrast, the relationship between shelled-mollusks in Pingtan Island and that of the waters around the Taiwan Island is relatively weak.

Background & Aims: Rural landscapes provide support for a high degree of biodiversity due to the symbiotic relationship between humanity and nature in these complex ecosystems. Currently, the maintenance of biodiversity in traditional Chinese rural areas is facing complex and diverse threats, and there is an urgent need for relevant, in-depth research. Here, we conduct an in-depth review on domestic and foreign research progress of biodiversity in rural areas. We provide a theoretical framework with methodological references on best practices for the protection and maintenance of biodiversity in rural areas and support for subsequent ecological landscape planning.
Progress: In an effort to straighten biodiversity characteristics in rural landscapes, we summarizes the four current research directions for international biodiversity in rural landscape through a literature analysis: biodiversity management under agricultural intensification, the synergistic relationship between rural landscape and biodiversity at a regional scale, the species diversity of different types of rural landscapes at the local scale, and research on the biocultural aspects of rural landscapes. Research focused on biodiversity management under agricultural intensification mostly uses various farmland biodiversity indicators as dependent variables, and environmental variables such as agricultural habitat diversity, cover diversity, and land use intensity as independent variables. Among them, land use intensity is mostly replaced by semi-natural habitat ratio indicators. Current in this area is mostly focused on agricultural ecosystems, and rarely involves dynamic analyses at spatial and temporal scales. Research focused on the synergistic relationship between rural landscape and biodiversity at the regional scale is mainly focused on the impact of land cover and land use changes on biodiversity and ecosystem services, the change of vegetation diversity along the urban-rural gradient, and the optimization of urban and rural spatial patterns combined with species distribution models. Research on the species diversity of different types of rural landscapes at the local scale is mainly focused on the analysis of the maintenance mechanism for species diversity in different landscape elements (farms, gardens, settlements, woodlands, waters) at the local scale or different patch types on a plot scale. Research focused on the biocultural aspects of rural landscapes is mainly focused on changes in biocultural diversity and ecosystem cultural services at a regional scale, the impact of traditional ecological wisdom on species diversity at a landscape scale, the species composition of various rural “cultural landscapes” and “cultural forests” at the local scale, and the analysis of cultural keystone species with the background of ethnobotany. This paper further summarizes the main progress in related research directions for China.
Prospects: We recommend the following as future research directions for studying the biodiversity of rural landscapes in China: highlighting the characteristics of biocultural diversity in rural landscapes, strengthening analysis of multiple temporal and spatial scales, deepening research on the dynamic maintenance mechanism of biodiversity in rural areas, and promoting the application of biodiversity in the full-process of landscape planning.

Background & Aims: To better protect global biodiversity, humans need to correctly understand the nature and laws of biodiversity and to develop plans for biodiversity protection that are situational. Doing so will stimulate the social value and economic benefits of biodiversity protection. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that biobank has placed in promoting biodiversity research and protection with a goal of solving the following three problems: serious homogenization of biobank resource pool function, difficult maintenance of biobank, and an urgent need to evolve to a higher level.
Progresses: We systematically reviewed the origins and current situation of biobank at home and abroad by conducting a literature survey on the basic characteristics, operation mode and practical experiences from the Human Genome Bank (HGB), the Animal and Plant Germplasm Bank, the Ecological Bank, and the Biodiversity Bank. The main feature of the HGB is the data-driven model that is not limited by time and space. The essence of HGB is the common technology platform useful for technology outsourcing. The main way the HGB profits is by collecting and storing human biological samples, and organizing them into medical data important for medical research institutions, pharmaceutical enterprises, and government medical departments. The main feature of the Animal and Plant Germplasm Bank is the introverted demand-driven mode with limitations in time and space. The Animal and Plant Germplasm Bank focuses more on the census and sequencing of representative animals, plant and microbial information samples, and advocates early small-scale practical activities in the pilot platform. The development mode of combining natural capital and financial capital is the biggest feature for the Ecological Bank. As a scattered and fragmented ecological resource and an intermediary platform between industrial investors and operators, the Ecological Bank rapidly reorganizes talents, technology and capital in areas where environmental resources are not destroyed but lack of driving mechanism. The biggest feature of the Biodiversity Bank is that they are bound to real financial institutions and scientific research institutions. The Biodiversity Bank appears as a third-party professional credit and rating agency. The goal of the Biodiversity Bank is to obtain a high value-added fixed income and value-added income from environmental damage and environmental governance.
Prospects: In order to become an important carrier of biodiversity research and protection, we recommend biobank make the following five actions: to strengthen the top-level design at the construction level, to clarify the ownership of intellectual property at the research level, to prevent the decline of science and technology ethics at the application level, to establish common standards at the management level, and to integrate the design of derivatives at the industrial level.