Triggering Mechanism of Extreme Wind over the Complex Mountain Area in Dali Region on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China

Wind disasters are responsible for significant physical destruction, injury, loss of life, and economic damage. This study examined the extreme wind triggering mechanism over a typical mountain area with complex terrain, i.e., Dali city in Yunnan Province on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in China. Using the observation data, we first optimized the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model configuration and parametrization schemes for better simulating the wind in this area using a 1-month simulation. Then, the triggering mechanism of extreme wind was investigated by performing a series of sensitive experiments based on a typical extreme wind case. The results indicate that terrain uplift is critical for triggering the local 8–9-scale (the wind velocity between 17.2 and 24.4 m/s) extreme winds over high topography regions. When a large-scale atmospheric circulation is passing, accompanied with regional terrain lifting, the instantaneous wind velocity can reach 9- to 10-scale (the mean wind velocity between 20.8 and 28.4 m/s), causing broken power lines. These results suggest that it is essential to avoid sites where these factors can affect the operation of power transmission lines, or to establish warning systems in the existing systems.

Phylogeography of Myrica nana: the Wumeng Mountains as a natural geographical isolation boundary on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau

The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (YGP) is characterized by the distinctive isolated habitat of limestone Karst Islands and features the Wumeng Mountains (Mts), which divide the YGP into the two Plateaus of Yunnan and Guizhou. This study aims to assess the effects of past geographic and environmental isolation and climate fluctuation on the flora distribution in the YGP. To this effect, we analyzed the phylogeographical pattern and genetic structure for Myrica nana, a vulnerable species endemic to the YGP, based on chloroplast and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence. The results suggest that the genetic and haplotype network structures are divided into at least two groups—cpDNA haplotype H2 (or nrDNA haplotypes h1, h2, and the native haplotype) mainly distributed to the east of the Wumeng Mts, and cpDNA haplotype H1 and haplotypes H3–H10 (or nrDNA haplotype h3) distributed to the west of the Wumeng Mts. A deep genetic split was noted within the two groups to reach 25 steps, especially for the cpDNA fragment variation. The east–west divergence reveals the existence of a natural geographical isolation boundary in the form of the Wumeng Mts, which divides the YGP into the Yunnan and Guizhou Plateaus. Therefore, there existed at least two glacial refugia during the Quaternary glacial period, along with a genetic diversity center, and at least two large geographic protection units for the vulnerable species of M. nana, distributed throughout the eastern and western sides of the Wumeng Mts. This study not only clarifies that the phylogeographical pattern and genetic structure for M. nana can be attributed to geographic and environmental isolation and climate fluctuation, but it also proposes an effective strategy to protect vulnerable species and the important wild flora of the YGP.

Characteristics of Deep Convective Systems and Initiation during Warm Seasons over China and Its Vicinity

The spatiotemporal statistical characteristics of warm-season deep convective systems, particularly deep convective systems initiation (DCSI), over China and its vicinity are investigated using Himawari-8 geostationary satellite measurements collected during April-September from 2016 to 2020. Based on a satellite brightness temperature multiple-threshold convection identification and tracking method, a total of 47593 deep convective systems with lifetimes of at least 3 h were identified in the region. There are three outstanding local maxima in the region, located in the southwestern, central and eastern Tibetan Plateau and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, followed by a region of high convective activities in South China. Most convective systems are developed over the Tibetan Plateau, predominantly eastward-moving, while those developed in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and South China mostly move westward and southwestward. The DSCI occurrences become extremely active after the onset of the summer monsoon and tend to reach a maximum in July and August, with a diurnal peak at 11–13 LST in response to the enhanced solar heating and monsoon flows. Several DCSI hotspots are identified in the regions of inland mountains, tropical islands and coastal mountains during daytime, but in basins, plains and coastal areas during nighttime. DCSI over land and oceans exhibits significantly different sub-seasonal and diurnal variations. Oceanic DCSI has an ambiguous diurnal variation, although its sub-seasonal variation is similar to that over land. It is demonstrated that the high spatiotemporal resolution satellite dataset provides rich information for understanding the convective systems over China and vicinity, particularly the complex terrain and oceans where radar observations are sparse or none, which will help to improve the convective systems and initiation nowcasting.

Population Structure Analysis Revealed Water or Ancient Hub-induced Genetic Diversity of Cultivated-type Tea Plants in Guizhou Plateau

Background Tea plants originated from the southwest of China. Guizhou is one of the origin center of tea plants, which is rich in tea plant germplasm resources. However, the distribution characteristics and transmission model of tea plant were still unclear. Results We collected 253 cultivated-type tea plant accessions from Guizhou plateau and analyzed the genetic diversity, PCA, phylogenetic, population structure, LD, and development of core collection using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach. A total of 112,072 high-quality SNPs were identified, which was further used to analyze the genetic diversity and population structure. In this study, we found that the genetic diversity in cultivated-type tea accessions of PR Basin were significantly higher than that in cultivated-type tea accessions of YR Basin. Moreover, four groups, including three pure groups (CG-1, CG-2 and CG-3) and one admixture group (CG-4), were identified based on population structure analysis, which was verified by PAC and phylogenetic analysis. Our results showed that the highest GD and Fst values were found in CG-2 vs CG-3, followed by CG-1 vs CG-2 and CG-1 vs CG-3. The lowest GD and Fst values were detected in CG-4 vs CG-1, CG-4 vs CG-2, and CG-4 vs CG-3. Conclusions This study provided the evidence to confirm the contribution of PR and YR Basins and ancient hub road section to the transmission of cultivated-type tea accessions in Guizhou plateau. The genetic diversity, population structure and core collection revealed by our study will benefit further genetic studies, germplasm protection, and breeding.

Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau: a mycological hotspot

Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces (Yungui Plateau) in Southwestern China are well known as biodiversity hotspots. We introduce two new species in this study viz., Mucispora hydei (in Fuscosporellaceae, Fuscosporellales, Sordariomycetes) and Tolypocladium cucullae (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales, Sordariomycetes) and six new records based on morpho-molecular analyses. Full descriptions, color photographs and phylogenetic trees to indicate the placements of new species are provided.

Zonal Patterns of Meteorological Drought on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China

Drought is a natural phenomenon caused by a shortage of water resources and has a great impact on agriculture, the economy, and the environment. To study the Spatio-temporal distribution and explore the zonal patterns of drought, this paper took the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (YGP) as the research region, selected the air temperature, relative humidity, sunshine duration, wind speed, and precipitation data from 47 meteorological stations on the YGP. First, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was calculated, and then the Spatio-temporal distribution of YGP drought was analyzed with the SPEI, Mann–Kendall test, and principal component analysis (PCA). Finally, the correlations between the average SPEI, drought characteristics extracted from the SPEI, and longitude/elevation/latitude were analyzed with the linear regression method, and then the zonal patterns of the YGP drought were obtained. The results revealed that the annual and seasonal SPEI values mainly decreased. Because the first component of the SPEI (the largest eigenvalue makes it the most important component) in annual and winter had a poor relationship with longitude/elevation, its correlation was weak, while the average SPEI values in other seasons were significantly correlated with longitude/elevation (α = 0.001), and the absolute value of the correlation coefficient was between 0.6879–0.9453. Except for PC1 in annual and winter, PC1 and PC2 were significantly correlated with longitude/elevation (α = 0.001), and the absolute value of the correlation coefficient was between 0.5087–0.9501. The duration, severity, intensity, frequency of drought were significantly correlated with longitude/elevation (α = 0.001) in most situations. The average SPEI values and drought characteristics showed a good multivariate linear correlation with longitude, latitude, and elevation, indicating that drought exhibited strong zonal patterns. This study will provide new ideas for drought research and technical support for regional industrial layouts, planting structure adjustments, and drought and disaster reduction.