Climate change over southern Qinghai Plateau in the past 500 years recorded in Sabina tibetica tree rings

Two tree ring-width chronologies of Sabina tibetica were developed based on cores sampled in Qumalal and Zhiduo, southern Qinghai Plateau. The response function analysis showed that the chronologies were sensitive to temperature and precipitation from April to June in the plateau. Moisture index (MI) was defined, reconstructed and extended back to AD 1550. The cross-validation method was used to check the stability of the calibration equation, and the result indicated that the equation was stable. Six severe dry periods were found in this region in the past 453-year reconstruction, which were 1592 to 1610, 1649 to 1665, 1687 to 1697, 1740 to 1750, 1818 to 1829 and 1918 to 1933. Five severe wetting periods were 1669 to 1682, 1700 to 1709, 1800 to 1814, 1898 to 1909 and 1935 to 1950. Spectrum analysis indicated that there existed long-term cycles of 60.4 and 53.4 a, solar cycle of 11 a and short-term cycles of 8, 6 and 4 a in the reconstructed series.     

Tree-ring based PDSI reconstruction since AD 1842 in the Ortindag Sand Land, east Inner Mongolia

epartment of Wood Science, University of Hamburg, Hamburg D-21031, GermanyBased on three Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) and one Meyer spruce (Picea meyeri Rehd. et Wils.) ring-width chronologies, a 163-year drought history was reconstructed in the eastern Ortindag Sand Land. All tree-ring chronologies show large inter-annual variations and strong common signals and fairly consistent variation between different chronologies, indicating that they are excellent proxy of regional climate. A regional chronology (RC) was established by averaging the four standard chronologies and further employed for the analysis and climatic reconstruction. The analysis revealed that tree growth is primarily limited by low precipitation in February-March and June-July and high temperature in May-July. In addition, RC has high correlations with the monthly Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) prior to and during the growing season because the PDSI considers the accumulation of the droughts. Response function analysis revealed that RC only exhibits significant correlations with the PDSI in June and July (close to the 95% significance level in May). Because May―July is a critical period for tree growth, the average May-July PDSI (PDSI5-7) was reconstructed back to 1842 using RC in the Ortindag Sand Land. The reconstruction can explain 52% of the PDSI variance and the equation was rather stable over time. It agrees well with the variation of the average dryness/wetness indices in North China,and captures the decline process of the East Asian summer monsoon since the mid-1960s. It is worth noting that the Ortindag Sand Land has experienced the most severe drought in the recent 40 years based on the 163-year drought reconstruction. Like summer precipitation in North China the reconstructed PDSI5-7 also displays a 20-year oscillation.     

Reconstructing mean maximum temperature of growing season from the maximum density of the Schrenk Spruce in Yili, Xinjiang, China

To study the historical temperature variation in Yili of Xinjiang, the tree-ring chronologies of maximum density （MXD） and tree-ring width （TRW） were established with the Schrenk Spruce （Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey） collected from six sites to analyze the characteristics and ability of response to climate change. The results suggest that the MXD chronology of the Schrenk Spruce from different sampling sites responded to climate change well and were positively correlated with the mean maximum temperature and the mean temperature from April to August in the study area. The mean maximum temperature anomaly from April to August, spanning the years from 1848 to 2000, was reconstructed by three MXD chronologies which were selected by stepwise regression. The reconstructed function was stable and explained 56.2% of the variance. The reconstructed results indicated a cold span of 153 years in spring and summer from the beginning of the 1950s to the beginning of the 1970s in the Yili valley. No strongly increasing tendency was detected in the mean maximum temperature anomaly from April to August during this reconstructed period.     

Temperature variability since A.D. 1837 inferred from tree-ring maximum density of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Abies fabri</Emphasis> on Gongga Mountain,China

Two tree-ring MXD (maximum latewood density) chronologies of Abies fabri were developed from the eastern slopes of Gongga Mountain, and a regional chronology (RC) was established based on the two MXD chronologies. There were significant positive correlations between the three MXD chronologies and August–September temperature, and the RC had the highest correlation (r=0.733, n=48, P<0.001) with mean August–September temperature. Based on growth-climate analyses, we reconstructed mean August–September temperature during the past 171 years for the study area. The reconstruction explained 53.5% of the instrumental temperature variance during the period 1960–2007 (F=52.8, R²_adj =52.4%). In the past 171 years, there were 22 very warm years and 23 very cold years, four cold periods (1837–1842, 1884–1891, 1899–1905 and 1984–1989) and three warm periods (1966–1973, 1916–1924 and 1876–1881). Our reconstruction was validated by other tree ring-based temperature reconstructions from the surrounding area and documented climate disaster events.     

Reconstruction of precipitation in the last 140 years from tree ring at south margin of the Tengger Desert, China

Based on the tree ring width index of Pinus tabulaeformis, precipitation in the last 140 years was reconstructed at south margin of the Tengger Desert. The results indicated that there were obvious fluctuations of dry-wet changes in precipitation： two wet periods occurred during 1868-1876 and 1932-1939, and two dry periods during 1877-1894 and 1924-1932, however, the years 1887 and 1888 were a little wet. There were small changes in precipitation during 1895-1923 and 1940-2000. As compared to the average, the maximum increasing range of precipitation amounted to 56% during the wet periods, and 42% during the dry periods. And the range of variability of precipitation exceeded 30% in 19 years. There was no obvious consistent drying or wetting trend in the last 140 years. But since 1940 fluctuating scope of precipitation tended to be smaller, while the frequency of the fluctuation tended to be larger. Power spectrum analyses suggested that precipitation of south margin of the Tengger Desert had significant periodicities of 2.46-2.64 a and quasi periodicity of 11.67 a.     

May–June mean maximum temperature change during 1360–2005 as reconstructed by tree rings of Sabina Tibetica in Zaduo,Qinghai Province

Based on tree-ring samples collected from Zaduo area in southern Qinghai Province, a 646-year ring-width series was established. Using response function, correlation function and partial correlation analysis we found that the ring-width series is sensitive most to May and June mean maximum air temperature at Zaduo meteorological stations and the correlation is significantly negative. Therefore, May–June mean maximum air temperature in Zaduo area since 1360 is reconstructed using this ring-width series. The regression equation was cross-validated in the calibration period of 1961–2005. The calibration equation can explain 59.8% of the total variance. Since high temperature could reinforce evapotranspiration and result in water stress, the high values are more reliable than the low values in the reconstructed series. By further analyzing upon the reconstructed series, it shows that on the inter-annual scale there are 6 periods with higher temperature: 1438–1455, 1572–1612, 1684–1700, 1730–1754, 1812–1829 and 1853–1886; while there are 5 periods with lower temperature: 1547–1571, 1701–1729, 1755–1777, 1830–1852 and 1887–1910. There is no significant rising of temperature in recent 50 years. By comparison with the rings-width series nearby which are also sensitive to the mean maximum air temperature and the mean maximum temperature reconstruction by ring-widths, it is found that the variation of inter-annual scale is fairly common in the region.     

祁连山东部地区高分辨率气候记录研究

利用采自祁连山东部的祁连圆柏树芯样本 ,建立标准化年表 ,并将标准年表的树轮指数与采样点附近的天祝乌鞘岭气象站的温度和降水进行响应函数和相关函数分析 .结果表明 ,树轮标准年表序列与当地 3～ 4月份降水成显著正相关 ,相关系数达 0 .5 2 5 ,不同检验分析方法均说明 ,祁连圆柏树轮宽度年表可以用来重建这一地区近 2 80年来的春季降水变化 .重建的近 2 80年来研究区少雨春季与毗邻的河西走廊干旱区旱灾的历史记录相吻合 ;研究还发现 ,祁连山东部地区春季降水对近 10 0年来全球变暖出现明显的相反响应 ,春季降水有明显的减少趋势 .奇异谱和功率谱分析表明 ,近 30 0年来研究区春季降水主要有准 19a和 15 a两个显著周期     

Ancient Egyptian chronology and the astronomical orientation of pyramids

The ancient Egyptian pyramids at Giza have never been accurately dated, although we know that they were built approximately around the middle of the third millennium BC. The chronologies of this period have been reconstructed from surviving lists of kings and the lengths of their reigns, but the lists are rare, seldom complete and contain known inconsistencies and errors. As a result, the existing chronologies for that period (the Old Kingdom) can be considered accurate only to about +/-100 years, a figure that radiocarbon dating cannot at present improve. Here I use trends in the orientation of Old Kingdom pyramids to demonstrate that the Egyptians aligned them to north by using the simultaneous transit of two circumpolar stars. Modelling the precession of these stars yields a date for the start of construction of the Great Pyramid that is accurate to +/-5 yr, thereby providing an anchor for the Old Kingdom chronologies.     

Response of tree-ring width to rainfall gradient along the Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China

By comparing the long-term tree-ring growths at various geographic scales, we can make clear the effects of environmental variations on tree growth, and get an understanding of the responses of forest ecosystems to the possible changes in global and regional climate. Radial tree-ring growth of Picea schrenkiana and its relationship to air temperature and precipitation were investigated across longi- tude transects on the north slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in northwestern China. Tree-ring samples were collected and residual chronologies were developed for three different regions along a gradient of decreasing precipitation from west to east. Response-function analysis was conducted to quantify the relationships between tree-ring chronologies and climate variables, such as monthly mean temperature and monthly precipitation from 1961 to 1998, using the PRECON software program. The statistical characteristics of the chronologies showed that the three chronologies constructed in this study con- tained significant environmental signals and were well suitable to reveal the impacts of climatic change on tree growth and forest productivity. Annual ring-width variations were similar among the three sites, but the variability was greatest in the east. This research showed that the growth trends of Picea schrenkiana in the Tianshan Mountains have not followed a uniform pattern. Response-function analy- sis indicated that there were significant correlations between tree growth and climatic factors in all the three regions, among which precipitation was the principal. With decreasing precipitation, the response of tree-ring widths to increasing temperature changed from a positive to a negative correlation. As for precipitation, the positive relationship to tree-ring width always dominates. It could be expected that with increased temperature and decreased precipitation, the importance of precipitation to tree growth would increase, and the response of tree growth to environmental changes would also increase. This study emphasizes the importance of regional-scale investigations into the biosphere-climate interac- tions. The results of this research indicated a substantial increment of tree-ring radial growth as a re- sult of warmer and wetter climate in the eastern regions. However, climate change will have less effect on forest growth and primary production in the western regions.     

Tree ring based streamflow reconstruction for the Upper Yellow River over the past 1234 years

We established a Juniperus przewalski tree ring width chronology, based on tree ring cores collected from the A’nyêmaqên Mountains. Statistical analysis showed that the chronology was highly correlated with instrumental streamflow records from previous August to current July from the Tangnaihai Station in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, with a correlation coefficient of 0.656. Streamflow for the upper reaches of the Yellow River was reconstructed for the past 1234 years. Low flow periods for the 11-year averaged streamflow reconstruction were definite as lower than mean plus 1 standard deviation, and high flow periods were higher than mean minus 1 standard deviation. Over the past 1234 years, high flows occurred 18 times, and low flows occurred 12 times. The main low flow periods were identified as AD 1140–1156, AD 1295–1309, AD 1473–1500, and AD 1820–1847, and the main high flow periods were identified as AD 846–873, and AD 1375–1400. Extremely low streamflow over the reconstruction period was seen during the late 15th century, coinciding with a widespread drought phenomenon, which took place in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau over the same period. Reconstructed streamflow shows significant low-frequency variability, which is in line with drought variability of neighboring regions, as inferred from tree rings and other proxies. Multi-taper spectral analysis suggests the existence of significant periods of 2–5, 22, 35–38, 55–62, and 114–227 years, particularly significant for cyclic variations of years 159 and 36.     

Variations of the spring precipitation day numbers reconstructed from tree rings in the Urumqi River drainage,Tianshan Mts. over the last 370 years

The tree-ring cores of Tianshan spruces col-lected from nine sites in the Urumqi River drainage of the middle Tianshan Mountains were used to establish three types of the tree-ring width chronologies over the last 370 years, using the international standard method of dendro-chronology. Our study demonstrates that dendrochronologycan be better used to reconstruct the number of the precipi-tation day than to reconstruct the precipitation amount in middle Tianshan Mountains. It is found that the residual chronology among the three tree-ring width chronologies has the best relationship with number of spring precipitation days from May 20 to June 8. The chronologies at Haxiong-gou B site and Zaierdegou site in the Urumiqi drainage have the highest correlation with the observed number of spring precipitation days at Daxigou meteorological station, and are used to reconstruct the spring precipitation days over the last 370 years in the drainage. The main significant decreasing trend of the number of the spring precipitation days oc-curred during 1665--1717, while the significant increasing trends happened during 1805--1841 and 1914--1943. The reconstructed series of the number of spring precipitation days has quasi-periodic variations of 3.3, 2.1, 2.5, 12.3 and 32.0 years with the dominated short periodical changes. The long cycle of 32 years is shown quite clearly in the 10-year smoothed sequence. The maximum spring precipitation days occurred mainly in the 1630s, 1840s and 1940s, while the lowest number of spring precipitation days for the 10-year average occurred in the 1710s.     

利用树木年轮重建马鞍山地区7～9月降水量序列

利用采自马鞍山地区兴安落叶松(Dahurian Larch)树轮样芯,建立了树轮标准化年表.根据建立的年表,对马鞍山地区树木生长与月降水量进行了响应分析,重建了该地区1942年以来7~9月降水量序列.检验表明,重建方程稳定,重建序列可信.重建结果显示:马鞍山地区7~9月降水量有较小的逐年减小趋势;1942~1957年马鞍山地区降水量处在枯水期;1957~1989年马鞍山地区降水量处在丰水期;1989年往后马鞍山地区降水量又出现一个枯水期的变化过程.     

广西北海凡纳滨对虾养殖池塘中微型藻类组成调查

于2007年4月至8月间,不定期到北海市侨港镇和大墩海的12口凡纳滨对虾(Litopenaeus vannei)养殖池塘采样调查微型藻类组成。结果表明,处于养殖前期的4口池塘,微型藻类种类数量相对较多,藻细胞密度相对较低,优势种类主要是硅藻和绿藻,两者的密度占到微型藻类总密度的80%～90%。处于养殖后期的8口池塘,微型藻类种类数量相对较少,藻细胞密度相对较高,优势种类主要是颤藻和裸藻。一味降低盐度促使对虾快速生长的养殖方法,不利于维持水体中有益藻类的生长和保持水质稳定。     

Green fluorescent protein （GFP） transsenic pig produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer

Transgenic somatic cell nuclear transfer is a very promising route for producing transgenic farm animals. Research on GFP transgenic pigs can provide useful information for breeding transgenic pigs, human disease models and human organ xenotransplantation. In this study, a liposomal transfecUon system was screened and transgenic embryos were reconstructed by nuclear transfer of GFP positive cells into enucleated in vitro matured oocytes. The development of reconstructed embryos both in vitro and in vivo was observed, and GFP expression was determined. The results showed that porcine fe- tal-derived fibroblast cells cultured with 4.0 μL/mL liposome and 1.6 μg/mL plasmid DNA for 6 h resulted in the highest transfecUon rate （3.6%）. The percentage of GFP reconstructed embryos that de- veloped in vitro to the blastocyst stage was 10%. Of those the GFP positive percentage was 48%. Reconstructed transgenic embryos were transferred to 10 recipients. 5 of them were pregnant, and 3 delivered 6 cloned piglets in which 4 piglets were transgenic for the GFP as verified by both GFP protein expression and GFP DNA sequence analysis. The percentage of reconstructed embryos that resulted in cloned piglets was 1.0%; while the percentage of piglets that were transgenic was 0.7%. This is the first group of transgenic cloned pigs born in China, marking a great progress in Chinese transgenic cloned pig research.     

南堡凹陷北部始新世米兰科维奇记录及其对沉积响应的指示意义

古近纪时期的板块运动造就了渤海湾盆地洼隆相间的构造格局,需要从地质年代学角度研究单一湖盆的层序地层格架及其内部的沉积响应。以南堡凹陷高柳地区始新统为例,利用标准井预处理的自然伽马曲线,利用频谱分析、连续小波变换和滑动频谱分析等方法识别蕴藏的米兰科维奇旋回,基于绝对地质年代锚点,建立天文年代标尺,估算沉积速率,重建古湖平面变化和古沉积物供给能力,从区域沉积体系演化的角度讨论米兰科维奇记录对沉积响应的指示意义。结果表明：(1)始新统沉积序列受控于长偏心率、短偏心率、斜率和岁差周期,共识别出20个长偏心率周期,85个短偏心率周期,累计约8.1 Ma;(2)Es₃¹、Es₂、Es₁^x和Es₁^z亚段顶界面绝对地质年代分别为33.3、31.9、30.5、29.5 Ma,平均沉积速率约124.2 m/Ma;(3)湖平面于36.6～33.3 Ma大规模上升,于33.3～30.5 Ma持续下降,于30.5～28.5 Ma再次小幅回升,而36.6～28....     

Temporal and spatial variations in the Palmer Drought Severity Index over the past four centuries in arid, semiarid, and semihumid East Asia

Based on a database of 106 annually resolved tree-ring chronologies and 244 Palmer Drought Severity Index(PDSI)grid data,we attempted to reconstruct gridded spatial drought patterns in each year over the past four centuries in the arid,semiarid,and semihumid East Asia.The results showed that these regions mainly experienced drought events during the periods from AD 1601 to AD 1652,AD 1680 to AD 1718,AD 1779 to AD 1791,AD 1807 to AD 1824,AD 1846 to AD 1885,and AD 1961 to AD 1999.In the middle of the 16th century,severe droughts occurred mainly in North China;during the period from AD 1876 to AD 1878,droughts occurred in most parts of northern China;and from the 1920s to 1940s,catastrophic drought events spread across almost all of northern China and Mongolia.These historical drought events caused severe ecological and environmental problems and substantially affected the development of human society.In these regions,temperature and summer monsoon precipitation are the main factors influencing drought events.In western areas,PDSI and temperature exhibit a close relationship,whereas in eastern areas,summer monsoon rainfall is the dominant factor influencing variations in PDSI.     

A tree-ring-based reconstruction of the Yimin River annual runoff in the Hulun Buir region, Inner Mongolia, for the past 135 years

Based on the relationships between the regional tree-ring chronology(RC) of moisture-sensitive Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica and the monthly mean maximum temperature,annual precipitation and annual runoff,a reconstruction of the runoff of the Yimin River was performed for the period 1868-2002.The model was stable and could explain 52.2% of the variance for the calibration period of 1956-2002.During the past 135 years,21 extremely dry years and 19 extremely wet years occurred.These years represented 15.6% and 14.1% of the total study period,respectively.Six severe drought events lasting two years or more occurred in 1950-1951,1986-1987,1905-1909,1926-1928,1968-1969 and 1919-1920.Four wetter events occurred during 1954-1959,1932-1934,1939-1940 and 1990-1991.Comparisons with other tree-ring-based streamflow reconstructions or chronologies for surrounding areas supplied a high degree of confidence in our reconstruction.Power spectrum and wavelet analyses suggested that the reconstructed annual runoff variation in the Hulun Buir region and surrounding area could be associated with large-scale atmospheric-oceanic variability,such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO) and El Ni o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO),and sunspot activity.     

长序榆一年生播种苗的年生长规律

以长离榆种子育苗的对象，研究苗木年生长规律，采用有序样本聚类分析法划分苗木的生长时期，拟合了高，径生长的Logisti方程，找出苗高，地径及主根生长之间的最优回归方程，了解苗木各部分生长的相关关系，多元回归分析表明，气温是影响木生长的主导因子。     

Changes in sea surface temperature in western South China Sea over the past 450 ka

Sea surface temperature over the past 450 ka was obtained by the unsaturation of molecular fossil-long chain alkenone with a resolution of about 1 ka from the western South China Sea. This is the longest temperature profile in the South China Sea at such high resolution. The U37^κ-SST results revealed similar glacial-interglacial cycles as the δ^18O profile of planktonic foraminifera, with SST variability of 23-25.5℃ for glacial and 25-28℃ for interglacial periods. The highest SST （28.4℃） was recorded at MIS5.5 and lowest SST （22.6℃） during MIS2. The SST record preceded the planktonic foraminiferal δ^18O on five glacial-interglacial transitions. Comparison of temperature records from the Southern and Northern Hemispheres indicated a more Southern Hemisphere-like pattern for the temperature variation in the SCS. Strong precession and semiprecession signals in the spectra of our SST record manifest the tropical phenomena.