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Magnetotelluric (MT) survey has been carried out in the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and its neighboring Shimian-Leshan area, Sichuan Province. Analysis of this MT data reveals that the electric structure of the Tibetan Plateau differ much from that of the Sichuan block. In general, the electric resistivity of crust beneath the Sichuan block in the east is larger than that of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in the west. The crust of the plateau is divided into upper, middle, and lower layers. The middle crust is a low resistivity layer with minimum down to 3-10 Ωm about 10-15 Ωm thick. It presumably contains partial melt and/or salt-bearing fluids with low viscosity, prone to deform and flow, producing a "channel flow" under the southeastward squeeze of the eastern Tibetan Plateau. This low-resistivity layer makes the upper crust decoupled mechanically from the lower crust. In the brittle upper crust, faults are dominated by left-lateral strike-slip and thrust motions, leading to surface rising and shallow earthquakes. The low-resistivity layer also cut the Xianshuihe-Anninghe fault zone into two sections vertically. In this region, the thicknesses of upper, middle, and lower crust vary laterally, producing a transitional zone in the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau characterized by thicker crust and higher elevation in the west and thinner crust and lower elevation in the east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghost moths (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) are cold-adapted stenothermal species inhabiting alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau. They have an optimal developmental temperature of 12–16 °C but can maintain feeding and growth at 0 °C. Their survival strategies have received little attention, but these insects are a promising model for environmental adaptation. Here, biochemical adaptations and energy metabolism in response to cold were investigated in larvae of the ghost moth Hepialus xiaojinensis . Metabolic rate and respiratory quotient decreased dramatically with decreasing temperature (15–4 °C), suggesting that the energy metabolism of ghost moths, especially glycometabolism, was sensitive to cold. However, the metabolic rate at 4 °C increased with the duration of cold exposure, indicating thermal compensation to sustain energy budgets under cold conditions. Underlying regulation strategies were studied by analyzing metabolic differences between cold-acclimated (4 °C for 48 h) and control larvae (15 °C). In cold-acclimated larvae, the energy generating pathways of carbohydrates, instead of the overall consumption of carbohydrates, was compensated in the fat body by improving the transcription of related enzymes. The mobilization of lipids was also promoted, with higher diacylglycerol, monoacylglycerol and free fatty acid content in hemolymph. These results indicated that cold acclimation induced a reorganization on metabolic structure to prioritise energy metabolism. Within the aerobic process, flux throughout the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was encouraged in the fat body, and the activity of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase was the likely compensation target. Increased mitochondrial cristae density was observed in the midgut of cold-acclimated larvae. The thermal compensation strategies in this ghost moth span the entire process of energy metabolism, including degration of metabolic substrate, TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, and from an energy budget perspective explains how ghost moths sustain physiological activity in cold environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]