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Serious soil degradation due to human intervention in subtropical China has resulted in a series of ecological problems. Soil fauna is an important part of forest soil ecosystems and plays a vital role in the maintenance of soil quality and can sensitively reflect the soil disturbances caused by human activities. This study assessed the long-term effects of reforestation on the soil fauna community and underground food web. Soil fauna was sampled from plots in a 30-year reforestation positioning test site. Six reforestation models (the pure Schima superba (Ss) forest, pure Liquidambar formosana (Lf) forest, pure Pinus massoniana (Pm) forest, mixed forest of Lf & Ss, mixed forest of Pm & Ss, and the mixed forest of Lf & Pm) were chosen in Taihe County, southern China. The results found that the mixed vegetation restoration of Lf & Pm significantly improved the soil fauna abundance and biomass when compared with other reforestation models in the degraded red soil region. Acari and Collembola accounted for 65.8% and 23.3%, respectively, of the total soil fauna abundance in the region. The mixed forest of Lf & Pm had a positive effect on the abundance of secondary decomposers and micro predators in Acari. Moreover, a significant increase in the abundance of Collembola was found in the Lf & Pm stand type. The stand type with the highest soil faunal population also had a higher soil fauna biomass. Therefore, reforestation in a degraded red soil area had positive effects on the soil fauna community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urtica angustifolia Fisch. ex Hornem. is an important Chinese medicine. Here, the complete chloroplast genome of U. angustifolia was assembled and characterized. The length of the chloroplast genome was 146,679 bp with the typical quadripartite structure, containing two inverted repeats (IRs) of 24,595 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) region of 79,820 bp and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 17,669 bp. The whole chloroplast genome of U. angustifolia contains 111 genes, including 77 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. Nucleotide variability analysis identified three hotspot regions (trnK-rps16, ndhF-rps32, and ycf1b) for genomic divergence and 52 simple sequence repeats. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete chloroplast genomes exhibited that U. angustifolia formed a clade with Urtica lobatifolia and Hesperocnide tenella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root nutrients are required for the growth and development of roots and shoots, which are closely related to soil quality and fruit productivity. In this study, trees of contrasting stand ages, including young, middle-aged, and old trees, were selected in field sites with common management practices in the navel orange (Citrus sinensis) orchards of Southern China. The fine root N decreased with soil depth and the fine root P was higher of old trees (1.82 g kg-1) than young (1.57 g.kg-1) and middle-aged trees (1.37 g. kg-1). Soil organic C, total N, and P generally increased with plant age in the rhizosphere and bulk soils, while reverse trend was found for sucrase and urease activities. Interestingly, acid phosphatase activity was much higher at a lower depth (202 and 82 g.kg-1 OC d-1 for rhizosphere and bulk soils, respectively) than at an upper depth (46 and 43 g.kg-1 OC d-1 for rhizosphere and bulk soils, respectively). In conclusion, root and soil nutrients generally increased with plant growth. Fine root N decreased while fine root P remained unchanged with soil depth due to the content and rhizosphere effect of index at different soil layers related to N and P, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban park is one of the few green spaces that retain natural traces and are easy for the elderly to reach, and it has become the main place for the elderly to carry out leisure, entertainment, physical fitness and interpersonal activities. The reasonable layout of urban parks is of great significance to improve the quality of life of the elderly in old age. In this article, using the network analysis method in ArcGIS software, the accessibility of urban parks in Xihu District of Nanchang City based on elderly walking was evaluated and analyzed, and three strategies for optimizing the layout of the urban parks were proposed, including increasing the number of urban parks, improving the urban traffic network, and strengthening urban greenway planning and construction. The research results can provide reference for the optimal layout of urban parks in Xihu District, Nanchang City, so that the urban parks can better meet the outdoor leisure needs of the elderly, and the elderly's sense of well-being and gain is enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban-rural integration and beautiful rural construction have become an important way to improve the ecological environment of urban and rural areas, improve the quality of people's lives and seek spiritual civilization. Rural landscape has become the research focus of scholars and elites in colleges and universities. In order to better clarify the context and hot spots of domestic rural landscape research, the study took the Chinese journal full-text database (CNKI) as the data source, took 2,079 rural landscape research papers published in the 20 years from 1998 to 2018 as a sample, and used CiteSpace software to carry out a literature econometric analysis of the study samples. According to the analysis results, the main research hotspots of rural landscape were combed and summarized, and the future trend of rural landscape research were predicted, in order to provide reference for researchers to carry out relevant research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chloroplast genome sequences have been used in phylogenetic and population genetics studies. Here, we assembled the chloroplast genome of Piper hancei Maxim. that is a traditional Chinese medicine. The genome length was 161,476 bp and included a pair of inverted repeats of 27,058 bp, a large single-copy region of 89,144 bp and a small single-copy region of 18,216 bp. It contained 113 different genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNA (tRNA), and four ribosomal RNA genes. Moreover, we also identified 82 SSRs. The phylogenetic inference based on the whole chloroplast genome of 20 taxa showed P. hancei was sister to P. kadsura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we successfully assembled and analyzed the chloroplast genome of Engelhardtia fenzlii. The chloroplast genome of E. fenzlii was very similar to those of other Juglandaceae species. The E. fenzlii chloroplast genome is 161,713 bp in length and displays the typical quadripartite structure, which consists of a pair of IR regions (26,016 bp) separated by an LSC region (90,478 bp) and an SSC region (19,203 bp). The chloroplast genome of E. fenzlii contained a total of 112 unique genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNAs, and 4 rRNAs. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete chloroplast genomes showed that Engelhardtia formed a monophyletic clade and E. fenzlii was sister to E. roxburghiana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]