The EU and the Catalan Crisis

List of all differentially expressed proteins (n = 45) identified in the study. (XLSX 11 kb

Seasonal dynamics and mean (inset mean ± SE) of soil temperature (a, b, c), soil gravimetric water content (d, e, f), and soil respiration (g, h, i) for 2010–2012.

<p>G: grazing, C: clipping, E: enclosure.</p

Path analysis on the impacts of land management changes on soil respiration through affecting abiotic and biotic factors.

<p>Solid and dashed arrows represent significant (<i>P</i>< 0.05, marked *; <i>P</i>< 0.01, marked **; <i>P</i> < 0.001, marked *** in the figure) and non-significant (<i>P</i>> 0.05) paths. Values associated with arrows represent standardized path coefficients. T_air: soil temperature; W_soil: soil water content; ANPP: aboveground net primary production; BNPP: belowground net primary production; R_s: soil respiration.</p

Spatial dependence of seasonal mean soil respiration on soil temperature (a), soil water content (b), ANPP (c), and BNPP (d), across nine plots for 2010–2012.

<p>Spatial dependence of seasonal mean soil respiration on soil temperature (a), soil water content (b), ANPP (c), and BNPP (d), across nine plots for 2010–2012.</p

Effects of grazing, clipping, and enclosure on aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and belowground net primary productivity (BNPP) 2010–2012 (inset mean ± SE).

<p>Effects of grazing, clipping, and enclosure on aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and belowground net primary productivity (BNPP) 2010–2012 (inset mean ± SE).</p

Spatial dependence of seasonal mean soil respiration of grazing, clipping, and enclosure on 10-cm soil temperature (a), 0–10-cm soil water content (b), ANPP (c), and BNPP (d), across nine plots.

<p>Spatial dependence of seasonal mean soil respiration of grazing, clipping, and enclosure on 10-cm soil temperature (a), 0–10-cm soil water content (b), ANPP (c), and BNPP (d), across nine plots.</p

Monthly precipitation (bars) and monthly mean air temperature (line) for 2010–2012.

<p>Monthly precipitation (bars) and monthly mean air temperature (line) for 2010–2012.</p

Temporal dependence of soil respiration on soil temperature (a), soil water content (b), ANPP (c) and BNPP (d) across the three growing seasons.

<p>Temporal dependence of soil respiration on soil temperature (a), soil water content (b), ANPP (c) and BNPP (d) across the three growing seasons.</p

<i>De novo</i> Assembly and Transcriptomic Profiling of the Grazing Response in <i>Stipa grandis</i>

<div><p>Background</p><p><i>Stipa grandis</i> (Poaceae) is one of the dominant species in a typical steppe of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. However, primarily due to heavy grazing, the grasslands have become seriously degraded, and <i>S</i>. <i>grandis</i> has developed a special growth-inhibition phenotype against the stressful habitat. Because of the lack of transcriptomic and genomic information, the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the grazing response of <i>S</i>. <i>grandis</i> has been prohibited.</p><p>Results</p><p>Using the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform, two libraries prepared from non-grazing (FS) and overgrazing samples (OS) were sequenced. <i>De novo</i> assembly produced 94,674 unigenes, of which 65,047 unigenes had BLAST hits in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) non-redundant (nr) database (E-value < 10^-5). In total, 47,747, 26,156 and 40,842 unigenes were assigned to the Gene Ontology (GO), Clusters of Orthologous Group (COG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases, respectively. A total of 13,221 unigenes showed significant differences in expression under the overgrazing condition, with a threshold false discovery rate ≤ 0.001 and an absolute value of log₂Ratio ≥ 1. These differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were assigned to 43,257 GO terms and were significantly enriched in 32 KEGG pathways (q-value ≤ 0.05). The alterations in the wound-, drought- and defense-related genes indicate that stressors have an additive effect on the growth inhibition of this species.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>This first large-scale transcriptome study will provide important information for further gene expression and functional genomics studies, and it facilitated our investigation of the molecular mechanisms of the <i>S</i>. <i>grandis</i> grazing response and the associated morphological and physiological characteristics.</p></div

Effects of temperature and grazing on soil organic carbon storage in grasslands along the Eurasian steppe eastern transect

<div><p>Soil represents the largest terrestrial organic carbon pool. To address global climate change, it is essential to explore the soil organic carbon storage patterns and their controlling factors. We investigated the soil organic carbon density (SOCD) in 48 grassland sites along the Eurasian steppe eastern transect (ESET) region, which covers the Inner Mongolia grassland subregion and Mongolia grasslands subregion. Specifically, we analyzed the SOCD in the top 30 cm soil layer and its relationships with climatic variables, soil texture, grazing intensity and community biomass productivity. The results showed that the average SOCD of the ESET was 4.74 kg/m², and the SOCD of the Inner Mongolia grassland subregion (4.11 kg/m²) was significantly lower than that of the Mongolia grassland subregion (5.79 kg/m²). Significant negative relationships were found between the SOCD and the mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grazing intensity in the ESET region. The MAT and grazing intensity were identified as the major factors influencing the SOCD in the ESET region; the MAP and MAT were the major factors influencing the SOCD in the Inner Mongolia grassland subregion; and the MAT and soil pH were the major factors influencing the SOCD in the Mongolia grassland subregion.</p></div