Article impact statementConcurrent effects of different types of human disturbance on wildlife communities need to be considered in conservation planning.

Understanding the species diversity patterns along elevational gradients is critical for biodiversity conservation in mountainous regions. We examined the elevational patterns of species richness and turnover, and evaluated the effects of spatial and environmental factors on nonvolant small mammals (hereafter “small mammal”) predicted a priori by alternative hypotheses (mid‐domain effect [MDE], species–area relationship [SAR], energy, environmental stability, and habitat complexity]) proposed to explain the variation of diversity. We designed a standardized sampling scheme to trap small mammals at ten elevational bands across the entire elevational gradient on Yulong Mountain, southwest China. A total of 1,808 small mammals representing 23 species were trapped. We observed the hump‐shaped distribution pattern of the overall species richness along elevational gradient. Insectivores, rodents, large‐ranged species, and endemic species richness showed the general hump‐shaped pattern but peaked at different elevations, whereas the small‐ranged species and endemic species favored the decreasing richness pattern. The MDE and the energy hypothesis were supported, whereas little support was found for the SAR, the environmental stability hypothesis, and the habitat complexity. However, the primary driver(s) for richness patterns differed among the partitioning groups, with NDVI (the normalized difference vegetation index) and MDE being the most important variables for the total richness pattern. Species turnover for all small mammal groups increased with elevation, and it supported a decrease in community similarity with elevational distance. Our results emphasized for increased conservation efforts in the higher elevation regions of the Yulong Mountain.

The modern pollen assemblages of surface lake sediments and topsoils in northwestern China were studied to understand the relationship of modern pollen data with contemporary vegetation and climate, and the differences between the pollen assemblages of surface lake sediments and topsoils. The results show that Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia are dominant elements in the pollen assemblages of northwestern China. Additionally, Ephedra, Cyperaceae, Asteraceae, Poaceae, Picea, Pinus, and Betula are also important pollen taxa. Both pollen assemblages and principal component analysis indicate that pollen data from surface lake sediments and topsoils can be used to differentiate the main vegetation types of this region (desert, steppe, meadow and forest). However, differences exist between modern pollen assemblages of the two types of sediments due to the different relevant source areas of pollen and degrees of pollen preservation. For example, the larger relevant source area of surface lake sediment results in a higher abundance of Betula in pollen assemblage from surface lake sediment, whereas the tendency to disintegrate thin-walled pollen types in topsoil leads to a higher proportion of resistant pollen, such as Asteraceae. Linear regression analysis indicates that the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratio in pollen assemblages of surface lake sediments can be used to indicate humidity changes in the study area. However, the A/C ratio in topsoils should be used carefully. Our results suggest that pollen data from surface lake sediments would be better references for interpreting the fossil pollen assemblages of lake cores or lacustrine profiles. Pollen data have been used to unravel the vegetation succession and climatic changes of the past since the pioneering work of von Post in 1916(Davis, 2000. The deciphering of fossil pollen data must be performed on the basis of the investigation of modern pollen assemblages. Numerous studies (e.g., Wright et al., 1967;Gaillard et al., 1992;Sugita, 1994;Cour et al., 1999;Davis, 2000;Shen et al., 2006;Ma et al., 2008;Zhao and Herzschuh, 2009;Herzschuh et al., 2010;Lu et al., 2011;Fall, 2012;Zheng et al., 2013;Tian et al., 2014) have been conducted to understand the relationship of modern pollen assemblages with contemporary vegetation and climate. Modern pollen assemblages are mainly collected from airborne pollen collectors (e.g., Cour et al

As a novel type of real-time social networking service, microblogging has already become ubiquitous and an irreplaceable tool. Tracking in the pulse of retweeting propagation is important and meaningful. In this paper, we investigate how information propagation in a specific microblogging platform evolves to identify relevant patterns and understand dynamic attributes of information propagation and the underlying sociological motivations. More specifically, based on the node-link diagram, we propose three efficient strategies to map the multiple attributes of information propagation graph to appropriate visual elements. For revealing the dynamic attributes, we propose two models: the depthvarying and the time-varying parallel data model to illustrate the temporal evolution efficiently. We also present a novel method by combining the traditional scatter plot with Hough transformation to represent the distribution of propagation instances and trace the propagation speeds. We integrate our methods to a visual mining tool and develop several interactive features. We demonstrate how our approaches improve the understanding of the propagation graph from a visual perspective by employing propagation datasets collected from Sina Weibo, the largest microblogging service provider in mainland China. Meanwhile, this visual mining tool has been evaluated by data analysts and successfully used in Sina Corporation as a helpful assistant to them.

The distribution of small mammals in mountainous environments across different elevations can provide important information on the effects of climate change on the dispersal of species. However, few studies conducted on Afromontane ecosystems have compared the altitudinal patterns of small mammal diversity. We investigated the species diversity and abundance of non-volant small mammals (hereafter ‘small mammals’) on Mt. Kenya, the second tallest mountain in Africa, using a standard sampling scheme. Nine sampling transects were established at intervals of 200 m on the eastern (Chogoria) and western (Sirimon) slopes. A total of 1 905 individuals representing 25 species of small mammals were trapped after 12 240 trap-nights. Abundance was highest at mid-elevations on both slopes. However, species richness and their distribution patterns differed between the two slopes. More species were recorded on Chogoria (24) than on Sirimon (17). On Chogoria, species richness was higher at mid-high elevations, with a peak at mid-elevation (2 800 m a.s.l.), whereas species richness showed little variation on the Sirimon slope. These results indicate that patterns of species diversity can differ between slopes on the same mountain. In addition, we extensively reviewed literature on Mt. Kenya’s mammals and compiled a comprehensive checklist of 76 mammalian species. However, additional research is required to improve our understanding of small mammal diversity in mountain habitats in Africa.

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To evaluate the efficiency of DNA barcoding for identifying small mammals, and to enhance current understanding of mammalian diversity in the Lianhuashan Mountains, Gansu, China, standard morphological and DNA barcoding approaches were used to identify 77 small mammal specimens sampled from the Lianhuashan National Nature Reserve, Gansu. Thirteen species identified were assigned to seven families in three orders, among which seven species (Sorex bedfordiae, S. thibetanus, Scapanulus oweni, Apodemus agrarius, Niviventer confucianus, Eospalax smithi and Ochotona curzoniae) are new records for the LianhuashanMountains. Apodemus agrarius collected at 2,800 m above sea level is the highest altitude recorded for this species. We compared the success rate and accuracy of morphological and DNA barcoding approaches for identification. We found that morphological diagnosis requires well-preserved specimens and expert taxonomists, while success rate and accuracy of barcoding-based identification was limited by insufficient sequences in the genetic database. We suggest that morphology should still be the foundation and principal approach used for small mammal identification. Currently, DNA barcoding might be used as a complement for checking and correcting morphological mis-diagnosis