Inverted Algorithm of Terrestrial Water-Storage Anomalies Based on Machine Learning Combined with Load Model and Its Application in Southwest China

Dense Global Position System (GPS) arrays can be used to invert the terrestrial water-storage anomaly (TWSA) with higher accuracy. However, the uneven distribution of GPS stations greatly limits the application of GPS to derive the TWSA. Aiming to solve this problem, we grid the GPS array using regression to raise the reliability of TWSA inversion. First, the study uses the random forest (RF) model to simulate crustal deformation in unobserved grids. Meanwhile, the new Machine-Learning Loading-Inverted Method (MLLIM) is constructed based on the traditional GPS derived method to raise the truthfulness of TWSA inversion. Second, this research selects southwest China as the study region, the MLLIM and traditional GPS inversion methods are used to derive the TWSA, and the inverted results are contrasted with datasets of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Mascon and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model. The comparison shows that values of Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) between the MLLIM and GRACE and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) are equal to 0.91 and 0.88, respectively; and the values of R-squared (R2) are equal to 0.76 and 0.65, respectively; the values of PCC and R2 between MLLIM and GLDAS solutions are equal to 0.79 and 0.65. Compared with the traditional GPS inversion, the MLLIM improves PCC and R2 by 8.85% and 7.99% on average, which indicates that the MLLIM can improve the accuracy of TWSA inversion more than the traditional GPS method. Third, this study applies the MLLIM to invert the TWSA in each province of southwest China and combines the precipitation to analyze the change of TWSA in each province. The results are as follows: (1) The spatial distribution of TWSA and precipitation is coincident, which is highlighted in southwest Yunnan and southeast Guangxi; (2) this study compares TWSA of MLLIM with GRACE and GLDAS solutions in each province, which indicates that the maximum value of PCC is as high as 0.86 and 0.94, respectively, which indicates the MLLIM can be used to invert the TWSA in the regions with sparse GPS stations. The TWSA based on the MLLIM can be used to fill the vacancy between GRACE and GRACE-FO.

Four new species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae) in Yunnan province, China

Four new species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae) are described and illustrated. These new species grow in pairs in montane forests in Yunnan province, China. One pair grows in Wenshan county, Southeast Yunnan, viz. Oreocharis eriocarpa W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and O. wenshanensis W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and another pair grows in Yongde county, Southwest Yunnan, viz. O. fulva W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and O. lacerata W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui. Their morphological and geographical relationship with similar species is discussed and the IUCN endangered status is provided, based on the available data.

Firmiana daweishanensis sp. nov. (Malvaceae) from Southeast Yunnan, China

A new species of Malvaceae, Firmiana daweishanensis Gui L.Zhang & J.Y.Xiang from Southwest Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated here. It is similar to F. hainanensis in its bark and leaf shape, while its flower is quite similar to F. major. However, it is obviously different from both species by its character of proteranthus (flowering before the leaves), which is the critical character of Erythropsis distinguishing from Firmiana with hysteranthus (flowering after the leaves) character. Moreover, the androecium of F. daweishanensis is consisting of more than 30 sessile 2-celled anthers while that of the other two species only 10–15 anthers. The discovery of this species supports the idea that Firmiana and Erythropsis may be indistinct. This new species is only found in Daweishan area in Southeast Yunnan, China.

Clarification of the taxonomic confusion between Ilex formosana and I. tetramera (Aquifoliaceae), with the description of a new species I. shukunii

Ilex formosana and I. tetramera, both occurring in subtropical forests of China, are easily confused in morphology and distribution. To unravel their identities, phylogenetic analyses of multiple accessions of the two species and their possible relatives using two nuclear DNA loci (ITS and ETS) are conducted in present study. Our results show that I. formosana (sampled from type locality) is closest to I. matanoana and I. mertensii, and I. tetramera (sampled from type locality) is sister to I. nuculicava, while the remaining samples, which were originally identified as I. formosana or I. tetramera, form a strongly supported clade sister to I. cinerea, representing a cryptic new species, which is named here as I. shukunii. Despite the homogeneity in morphology, the divergence in the distribution of I. formosana, I. shukunii, and I. tetramera also supports our phylogenetic results. Insulated by the Taiwan Strait, the re-defined I. formosana is restricted to Taiwan Island. Separated by the Tanaka-Kaiyong Line, a major phytogeographic boundary of Sino-Himalayan and Sino-Japanese Floras, I. shukunii occurs from southeast Yunnan to southeast mainland of China, whereas the re-defined I. tetramera is endemic to southwest Yunnan.

Tea, Gift-giving and Social Relationships’ Production of De’ang people in southwest China

De’ang 德昂people are an ethnic minority officially-recognized in China who are tea planters and tea drinkers mainly living in the upland areas of southwest Yunnan on the border between China and Myanmar. This paper demonstrates that how De’ang use tea as a gift in gift giving with outsiders and insiders to produce their social relationships in their lives, and from the viewpoint of anthropology argues that tea giving among the De’ang not only can reflect the basic principle of reciprocity in gift exchange, but also can reveal their identity both inside and outside their own community through different social relationships.