The authors of paper “Two new species of Pestalotiopsis from Southern China” regret that the affiliation of Bin Zhang is incorrect. His affiliation is “Plant Protection and Quarantine Station, Guiyang City, 550081, People’s Republic of China”, thus the superscript of his name should be changed from “1” to “3”.

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Dam construction has large negative effects on biodiversity in river and riparian ecosystems worldwide. This study aimed to determine whether reservoir shorelines had lower plant species diversity and functional diversity than unregulated or lightly regulated riparian wetlands and to examine the responses of plant diversity and functional traits to reservoir shoreline environmental gradients. We surveyed 146, 44, and 67 plots on reservoir shorelines and in mainstem and tributary riparian wetlands, respectively, in a subtropical river-reservoir system. Species richness, functional richness, evenness, and divergence were calculated to reflect the species and functional diversity of plant communities. Environmental factors including elevation above water level, slope, landform type, substrate, disturbance, and cover were measured. The results showed that both species and functional richness were significantly lower on reservoir shorelines than in riparian wetlands. The relative species number of clonal plants and relative cover of annual plants were both negatively related to slope and elevation. Structural equation modeling and other statistical analyses indicated that most environmental factors had significant effects on species and functional richness on reservoir shorelines but had no significant effect on functional evenness and divergence. Our findings suggest that reservoir shoreline wetlands formed by damming rivers and inundating pre-existing riparian wetlands can be a biodiversity coldspot in regulated rivers at the plot level. Topographic factors are important in determining the plant diversity and vegetation establishment on reservoir shorelines in the Yangtze River basin.

Urban sustainable development strategies are of great importance to rapidly urbanized countries such as China. One of the most challenging problems is how to coordinate urban spatial development with social efficiency and environmental protection, e.g., highly efficient low-carbon urban traffic. Despite broad research efforts with respect to the influence of urban form on travel patterns, questions persist as to the impact of compact urban form on travel distance and modes. In this study, we adopted urban form metrics to capture key dimensions of urban form with the aid of image processing and spatial analysis based on satellite images and statistical data from the cases of 35 cities. Combined with urban travel survey data, we empirically examined the relationships between urban form and travel patterns of local urban residents. The results showed that urban form and travel patterns have regionalized characteristics, e.g., the eastern cities are characterized by disperse urban development patterns and longer commuting times on average compared with western and central cities. We found that relatively smaller built-up areas, higher degrees of urban spatial agglomeration and more paved road area per person would decrease the commuting time of urban residents. We also found that the public transport choices of urban residents are positively associated with built-up areas and commuting times, which suggests the need for provision and promotion of facilities for a high-quality public transport system. The findings provide helpful suggestions for the planning of sustainable urban form and development of transportation.

The present study aims at exploring whether aspects of urban form (compactness ratio and elongation ratio) are associated with urban smog (particulate matter) in China. Quantitative indicators relating to urban form and urban smog were selected and quantified for 30 Chinese cities, for the reference years 2000, 2007, and 2010, by using a combination of compiled statistical data, remote sensing, and geographical information system data. Panel data analysis was used to evaluate the degree of association between measures of urban form and urban smog, while controlling for urban population, built-up area green coverage rate, power consumption, SO2 emissions, gross value of industrial output, gross industrial output, and buses per capita. The results indicate that urban compactness and urban elongation were positively correlated to urban particulate matter. It is therefore recommended to consider the implication of urban form on smog as part of urban planning and as part of ongoing strategies to mitigate the deleterious consequences of air pollution.