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A distinct greening trend is evident in Asia, especially on the Loess Plateau (LP) of China, which is driven by climate change and large‐scale land‐use‐related ecological projects, especially the 'Grain for Green Program' (GFGP). However, the specific contributions of the GFGP to vegetation greening and the variation of this greening on a large spatiotemporal scale are not yet clear. We used long‐time‐series normalized difference vegetation index datasets and climate datasets based on the double mass curve method to quantify the contributions of ecological projects and climate change to the greening trend on the LP. We found that the interannual fluctuation of vegetation change was likely related to the interannual fluctuation of climate, especially precipitation. The increasing trend of vegetation change after 2005 indicated that the GFGP, as a type of external disturbance, began to improve vegetation growth. The GFGP failed initially to make a positive contribution in the first few years because of the drought conditions in 1999 and 2005. The increased precipitation played a critical role in enhancing the output of the GFGP on the LP after 2005. Then, the contribution of the GFGP increased quickly until 2013, after which it remained stable and reached average values of 58.8% ± 19.34% and 31.7% ± 24.3% in the representative areas that conducted the GFGP and in other regions with a lower implementation intensity of the GFGP, respectively. Our results highlight the contribution the GFGP has made to spatiotemporal variation due to the spatial heterogeneity of the projects, their intensity and the effect of forest stand age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological niche modeling is a tool used to determine current potential species' distribution or habitat suitability models which can then be used to project suitable areas in time. Projections of suitability into past climates can identify locations of climate refugia, or areas with high climatic stability likely to contain the highest levels of genetic diversity and stable populations when climatic conditions are less suitable in other parts of the range. Modeling habitat suitability for closely related species in recent past can also reveal potential periods and regions of contact and possible admixture. In the east palearctic, there are five Dryophytes (Hylid treefrog) clades belonging to two groups: Dryophytes japonicus group: Clades A and B; and Dryophytes immaculatus group: Dryophytes immaculatus, Dryophytes flaviventris, and Dryophytes suweonensis. We used maximum entropy modeling to determine the suitable ranges of these five clades during the present and projected to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Last Interglacial (LIG) periods. We also calculated climatic stability for each clade to identify possible areas of climate refugia. Our models indicated suitable range expansion during the LGM for four clades with the exclusion of D. immaculatus. High climatic stability in our models corresponded to areas with the highest numbers of recorded occurrences in the present. The models produced here can additionally serve as baselines for models of suitability under climate change scenarios and indicate species ecological requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines airline passengers’ willingness to pay for carbon-offsets. Using the contingent valuation method of double-bounded dichotomous choice format and a survey of over 1000 Taiwanese passengers flying to countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania to gauge their willingness-to-pay for airline carbon-offsets. The results suggest that despite the trip characteristics and personal background, air travel passengers’ knowledge and perceptions of the carbon-offset scheme also greatly influence the stated willingness to pay. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents an interview with film director Peter Chan concerning the viability of Asian film industry. He founded Applause Pictures to market films from Hong Kong, China in the greater Asian region. The region can be seen as a single domestic market and the domestic market is critical for any film industry. There have always a market for foreign art films from Japan and Korea in line with more mainstream crossover films.

While comparatively few amphibian species have been described on the North East Asian mainland in the last decades, several species have been the subject of taxonomical debates in relation to the Yellow sea. Here, we sampled Dryophytes sp. treefrogs from the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China to clarify the status of this clade around the Yellow sea and determine the impact of sea level change on treefrogs' phylogenetic relationships. Based on genetics, call properties, adult morphology, tadpole morphology and niche modelling, we determined the segregated status species of D. suweonensis and D. immaculatus. We then proceeded to describe a new treefrog species, D. flaviventris sp. nov., from the central lowlands of the Republic of Korea. The new species is geographically segregated from D. suweonensis by the Chilgap mountain range and known to occur only in the area of Buyeo, Nonsan and Iksan in the Republic of Korea. While the Yellow sea is the principal element to the current isolation of the three clades, the paleorivers of the Yellow sea basin are likely to have been the major factor for the divergences within this clade. We recommend conducting rapid conservation assessments as these species are present on very narrow and declining ranges., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Domestication and subsequent selective pressures have produced a large variety of pig coat colors in different regions and breeds. The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene plays a crucial role in determining coat color of mammals. Here, we investigated genetic diversity and selection at the coding region of the porcine melanocortin receptor 1 (MC1R) in Tibetan pigs and Landrace pigs. By contrast, genetic variability was much lower in Landrace pigs than in Tibetan pigs. Meanwhile, haplotype analysis showed that Tibetan pigs possessed shared haplotypes, suggesting a possibility of recent introgression event by way of crossbreeding with neighboring domestic pigs or shared ancestral polymorphism. Additionally, we detected positive selection at the MC1R in both Tibetan pigs and Landrace pigs through the dN/dS analysis. These findings suggested that novel phenotypic change (dark coat color) caused by novel mutations may help Tibetan pigs against intensive solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation and camouflage in wild environment, whereas white coat color in Landrace were intentionally selected by human after domestication. Furthermore, both the phylogenetic analysis and the network analysis provided clues that MC1R in Asian and European wild boars may have initially experienced different selective pressures, and MC1R alleles diversified in modern domesticated pigs., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)