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Elucidating the driving factors among-population divergence is an important task in evolutionary biology, however the relative contribution from natural selection and neutral genetic differentiation has been less debated. A manipulation experiment was conducted to examine whether the phenotypic divergence of Leymus chinensis depended on climate variations or genetic differentiations at 18 wild sites along a longitudinal gradient from 114 to 124°E in northeast China and at common garden condition of transplantation. Demographical, morphological and physiological phenotypes of 18 L. chinensis populations exhibited significant divergence along the gradient, but these divergent variations narrowed significantly at the transplantation. Moreover, most of the phenotypes were significantly correlated with mean annual precipitation and temperature in wild sites, suggesting that climatic variables played vital roles in phenotypic divergence of the species. Relative greater heterozygosity (HE), genotype evenness (E) and Shannon-Wiener diversity (I) in western group of populations suggested that genetic differentiation also drove phenotypic divergence of the species. However, neutral genetic differentiation (FST = 0.041) was greatly lower than quantitative differentiation (QST = 0.199), indicating that divergent selection/climate variable was the main factor in determining the phenotypic divergence of the species along the large-scale gradient.

Comfortable, efficient, and affordable heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in buildings are highly desirable due to the demands of energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. Traditional vapor-compression air conditioners exhibit a lower coefficient of performance (COP) (typically 2.8–3.8) owing to the cooling-based dehumidification methods that handle both sensible and latent loads together. Temperature- and humidity-independent control or desiccant systems have been proposed to overcome these challenges; however, the COP of current desiccant systems is quite small and additional heat sources are usually needed. Here, we report on a desiccant-enhanced, direct expansion heat pump based on a water-sorbing heat exchanger with a desiccant coating that exhibits an ultrahigh COP value of more than 7 without sacrificing any comfort or compactness. The pump’s efficiency is doubled compared to that of pumps currently used in conventional room air conditioners, which is a revolutionary HVAC breakthrough. Our proposed water-sorbing heat exchanger can independently handle sensible and latent loads at the same time. The desiccants adsorb moisture almost isothermally and can be regenerated by condensation heat. This new approach opens up the possibility of achieving ultrahigh efficiency for a broad range of temperature- and humidity-control applications.

At the species level, plants can respond to climate changes by changing their leaf traits; however, there is scant information regarding the responses of morphological, physiological and anatomical traits of plant functional types (PFTs) to aridity. Herein, the leaf traits of five PFTs representing 17 plant species in temperate grasslands were examined along a large-scale aridity gradient in northeastern China. The results show that leaf thickness in shrubs, perennial grasses and forbs increased with heightened aridity. Trees increased soluble sugar content, but shrubs, perennials and annual grasses enhanced proline accumulation due to increasing aridity. Moreover, vessel diameter and stomatal index in shrubs and perennial grasses decreased with increasing aridity, but stomatal density and vascular diameter of five PFTs were not correlated with water availability. In conclusion, divergences in adaptive strategies to aridity among these PFTs in temperate grasslands were likely caused by differences in their utilization of water resources, which have different temporal and spatial distribution patterns. Leaf traits of shrubs and perennial grasses had the largest responses to variability of aridity through regulation of morphological, physiological and anatomical traits, which was followed by perennial forbs. Trees and annual grasses endured aridity only by adjusting leaf physiological processes.

There have been debates on the driving factors of C4 plant expansion, such as PCO2 decline in the late Micocene and warmer climate and precipitation at large-scale modern ecosystems. These disputes are mainly due to the lack of direct evidence and extensive data analysis. Here we use mass flora data to explore the driving factors of C4 distribution and divergent patterns for different C4 taxa at continental scale in China. The results display that it is mean annual climate variables driving C4 distribution at present-day vegetation. Mean annual temperature is the critical restriction of total C4 plants and the precipitation gradients seem to have much less impact. Grass and sedge C4 plants are largely restricted to mean annual temperature and precipitation respectively, while Chenopod C4 plants are strongly restricted by aridity in China. Separate regression analysis can succeed to detect divergences of climate distribution patterns of C4 taxa at global scale.