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Drought has been approved to affect the process of terrestrial ecosystems from different organizational levels, including individual, community, and ecosystem levels; however, which traits play the dominant role in the resistance of plant to drought is still unclear. The experiment was conducted in semi-arid temperate grassland and included six paired control and drought experimental plots. The drought treatment was completely removed from precipitation treatments from 20 June to 30 August 2013. At the end of the growing season in 2013, we removed the rain cover for ecosystem recovery in 2014. The results demonstrated that drought treatment increased the coverage of and abundance Heteropappus altaicus, Potentilla bifurca, and Artemisia scoparia by 126.2–170.0% and 63.4–98.9%, but decreased that of Artemisia frigida, Dontostemon dentatus, and Melissilus ruthenicu by 46.2–60.2% and 49.6–60.1%. No differences in coverage and abundance of Agropyron cristatum, Stipa kiylovii, and Cleistogenes squarrosa were found between control and drought treatment. The coverage and abundance of Stipa kiylovii have exceeded the original level before the drought stress, but Heteropappus altaicus still had not recovered in the first year after the disturbance. Our findings indicate that plant functional traits are important for the understanding of the resistance and resilience of plants to drought stress, which can provide data support for grassland management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore the association between work–family conflict and overall well‐being among Chinese nurse leaders. Background: Nurse leaders are constantly busy at the clinical frontline, mostly experience high stress levels at work and have little time to spend with the family. There is little evidence to know about the association between work‐family conflict and overall well‐being, which is essential for high‐quality medical care. Methods: A cluster sampling method was used to recruit 42 nurse leaders. Data were collected using the Chinese versions of the Multidimensional Work–Family Conflict Scale and the General Well‐Being Schedule. Descriptive analyses, independent t tests, ANOVAs and Pearson's correlation were used for the statistical analysis. Results: The mean scores (SD) of work–family conflict and well‐being were 2.17 (0.57) and 4.51 (0.61), respectively. Negative correlations were observed with strain‐based and behaviour‐based work–family conflict and overall well‐being. Conclusion: Stress from work–family conflict is positively correlated with the overall well‐being of Chinese nurse leaders. Implications for Nursing Management: Hospital administrators should be aware of specific risk factors and implement accordingly the interventional strategies to decrease the stress levels and improve the overall well‐being of nurse leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How precipitation mediates the responses of soil respiration (Rs) and its components, i.e., heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and autotrophic respiration (Ra), to N addition remains uncertain. In an 11-year-old temperate larch plantation in northern China, we investigated the responses of Rs, Rh, and Ra to three N-addition rates (i.e., control: no N addition; low N addition: 20 kg N ha−1 year−1; and high N addition: 50 kg N ha−1 year−1) over a 6-year period that experienced high variability in precipitation. In the control plot, Rs and Rh during wet years were significantly higher than values in both normal (by 37% and 62%, respectively) and dry years (by 19% and 39%, respectively). These results indicated that increased precipitation may stimulate soil microbial biomass and activity which in turn increase Rh and thus Rs. Interestingly, Rs was not affected by N addition in normal or dry years, whereas it was negatively affected by N addition in wet years, primarily due to the decrease in Rh during the summer following N addition. Furthermore, N addition significantly increased Ra in the spring of wet years, because the N limitation was largely alleviated after N addition, and thus, roots might be more active due to higher soil water and N availability. Overall, our findings emphasize the importance of incorporating the mediating role of increased precipitation on soil C loss via respiratory processes and corresponding responses to N addition into models, with the goal of reducing uncertainty in the predictions of carbon–climate feedbacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Spring warming advanced budburst and leaf unfolding by 7 and 2 days, respectively. • One day later in leaf senescence lead to 0.3 day later in leaf unfolding. • Budburst was more responsive to temperature than that of leaf unfolding. • Warming treatments extended the duration of budburst. • Only spring warming shortened the duration of leaf unfolding. Plant phenology is a highly sensitive indicator of climate change. The advancement in time of spring phenology due to climate warming is well documented. However, although the progressive warming process is asymmetrical across seasons in temperate and boreal regions, the consistency of spring phenological response to non-uniform seasonal warming has not been well studied. Furthermore, the different responses of budburst and leaf unfolding to seasonally uneven warming have not been fully explored. We investigated the responses of budburst and leaf unfolding in two-year-old larch (Larix principis-rupprechtii) seedlings to seasonally asymmetric warming treatments (with passive warming applied in open-top chambers) in northern China. We found that spring warming significantly advanced budburst and leaf unfolding by 7 and 2 days, respectively; year-round warming advanced budburst by 4 days but had no impact on the timing of leaf unfolding. Summer and winter warming had no effects on the timing and duration of spring phenophases. Notably, spring leaf unfolding was significantly delayed, by 2 days, following an autumnal warming, i.e., there was a carry-over effect (a 1-day delay in leaf senescence delayed leaf unfolding by 0.3 day in the next spring). The temperature sensitivities of budburst and leaf unfolding in the spring warming treatment (9.56 days/°C and 2.66 days/°C, respectively) were significantly greater than those in the year-round warming treatment (6.43 days/°C and 0.66 days/°C, respectively). We also found a trade-off relationship between the durations of budburst and leaf unfolding in the spring and year-round warming treatments. Our demonstration of (i) differences in the magnitude of responses between budburst and leaf unfolding, and (ii) the carry-over effect under non-uniform seasonal warming, should be incorporated into modeling simulations of spring phenological responses to future warming scenarios. Overall, our findings would have some critical implications for resistance and performance (e.g., frost damage risk and carbon uptake) in the seedling stage of plantation establishment under ongoing climate warming scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 15N:14N ratio (δ15N) is often used as an integrated indicator of nitrogen (N) status in natural terrestrial ecosystems. However, the mechanisms by which long-term N addition affects N cycling and status in temperate plantations with different ages remain poorly understood. Here, we used an approach of leaf–soil continuum of δ15N with the combination of incubation experiments to evaluate the effects of three rates of decadal N addition (urea) on N status in young, intermediate, and mature larch (Larix principis-rupprechtii) plantations in northern China. We found that leaf δ15N decreased significantly from 1.6‰ in young trees to −0.5‰ and −1.0‰ in intermediate and mature trees, respectively, due to increases in the use of NO– 3-N relative to NH+ 4-N with stand age, and probably a shift in N acquisition from mineral soil in the young plantation to organic and/or surface mineral soil layers in the intermediate and mature plantations. Decadal N addition decreased leaf δ15N, which was likely to be due to the direct imprints of 15N-depleted urea input, the inhibition of soil net mineralization, and nitrification, and greater dependence on N absorption by ectomycorrhizal fungi after N addition. Soil δ15N decreased with stand age, which was likely to be due to reduced soil N transformation (e.g., mineralization) and/or relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi along the chronosequence; however, soil δ15N was not affected by long-term N inputs. Combined with the decreased enrichment factor (ε = δ15N leaf – δ15N soil), these results suggest a shift from more open N cycling (potentially greater ecosystem N losses) in young plantation to more closed N cycling (facilitation of ecosystem N retention) in mature plantation, which showed negative response to decadal N addition. These findings provide new insights into N acquisition strategies and cycling in the typically N-limited temperate plantations under heightened atmospheric N deposition. • δ15N with soil incubation were used in three larch plantations under decadal N input. • With the growth of larch individuals, they increasingly prefer to absorb NO– 3-N. • Soil N transformations were negatively affected by decadal N addition. • N cycling shifted from open in young to closed in intermediate and mature plantation. • Decedal N addition elicited negative impacts on N cycling of larch plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3) was initially reported in 2016 in the United States of America. Since then, the virus has been detected on swine farms in Poland, South Korea, and China using PCR. However, a serological survey of PCV3 in pig populations has never been conducted. In this study, for the first time, we established an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay and performed a national retrospective serological survey for PCV3. Our results showed that the PCV3-postive rate increased from 22.35% to 51.88% between 2015 and 2017. The above results suggest PCV3 has spread widely in China with increased positive rates since 2015.