SWMM-Based Assessment of Urban Mountain Stormwater Management Effects under Different LID Scenarios

The types of urban mountains are diverse, and the surrounding environment is complex. The conditions of runoff generation and convergence in different regions of the same mountain vary. Using the Lijia Mountain in China’s Nanjing City as a case study, this study investigates the effects of such mountain-region-based LID (Low Impact Development) systems. Based on the hydrological analysis of this mountain region, SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) software is used to model and compare the runoff control effects of two LID systems schemes, namely segmental detention and retention and terminal detention and retention. The study’s findings demonstrate that the terminal detention and retention scheme can effectively delay the time of peak flooding and partly reduce peak discharge. In contrast, the segmental detention and retention scheme has a limited delay effect on flood peaks but significantly reduces the peak discharge. This research breaks through the limitations of the previous construction of a single LID scheme for mountainous regions in built-up urban areas. It serves as a theoretical model and technical reference for selecting LID scenarios in response to different mountain conditions.

Estimating Forest Aboveground Biomass Using Gaofen-1 Images, Sentinel-1 Images, and Machine Learning Algorithms: A Case Study of the Dabie Mountain Region, China

Quantitatively mapping forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is of great significance for the study of terrestrial carbon storage and global carbon cycles, and remote sensing-based data are a valuable source of estimating forest AGB. In this study, we evaluated the potential of machine learning algorithms (MLAs) by integrating Gaofen-1 (GF1) images, Sentinel-1 (S1) images, and topographic data for AGB estimation in the Dabie Mountain region, China. Variables extracted from GF1 and S1 images and digital elevation model data from sample plots were used to explain the field AGB value variations. The prediction capability of stepwise multiple regression and three MLAs, i.e., support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and backpropagation neural network were compared. The results showed that the RF model achieved the highest prediction accuracy (R2 = 0.70, RMSE = 16.26 t/ha), followed by the SVM model (R2 = 0.66, RMSE = 18.03 t/ha) for the testing datasets. Some variables extracted from the GF1 images (e.g., normalized differential vegetation index, band 1-blue, the mean texture feature of band 3-red with windows of 3 × 3), S1 images (e.g., vertical transmit-horizontal receive and vertical transmit-vertical receive backscatter coefficient), and altitude had strong correlations with field AGB values (p < 0.01). Among the explanatory variables in MLAs, variables extracted from GF1 made a greater contribution to estimating forest AGB than those derived from S1 images. These results indicate the potential of the RF model for evaluating forest AGB by combining GF1 and S1, and that it could provide a reference for biomass estimation using multi-source images.

Variation of amphibian and reptile composition in forest fragments of Veracruz highlands, Mexico

The central mountain region of Veracruz is one of the richest areas of herpetofauna in Mexico. The steep topographic gradient of this region is associated with climatic gradients that enable the occurrence of highly diverse herpetofauna communities. We tested differences among habitats to herpetofauna in an urban area, pine forest, oak forest, and riparian forest of municipality Camerino Z. Mendoza, Veracruz, Mexico. We conducted two-day monthly surveys between 2015 and 2017 in 69 sites from fragments of an urban area, riparian forest, Quercus forest, and Quercus-Pinus forest and tested for differences in herpetofauna species among these fragments. We found a total of 11 amphibian and 33 reptile species, and a high composition dissimilarity and species replacement among the sites. Our results amplified significantly the species-records within Camerino Z. Mendoza, and showed a great variation of amphibian and reptile composition among sites, highlighting the current role of these forests as a reservoir for herpetofauna and their importance for future conservation strategies in the region.

Cambarus ectopistes sp. nov., a new stream-dwelling crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the French Broad, Pigeon, and Nolichucky River watersheds in the Appalachian Mountain region of North Carolina and Tennessee, USA

The Cataloochee Crayfish, Cambarus ectopistes sp. nov., is a large, stream-dwelling crayfish that occupies a narrow noncontiguous distribution within the Appalachian Mountain region running through the Upper Tennessee River basin, in the French Broad, Pigeon, and Nolichucky watersheds along the Tennessee and North Carolina border. It is split from the southernmost extent of the C. robustus species complex, and is morphologically and genetically most similar to a second undescribed member of the group endemic to the upper Nolichucky River watershed in North Carolina. Cambarus ectopistes sp. nov. can be distinguished from other members of the C. robustus complex and co-distributed congeners by a combination of characters, including body size, coloration, and morphology of the chela and rostrum. The new species is typically found in channel and edge habitats of moderate to large perennial streams with large cobbles and boulders.

Pastoral subsistence and mounted fighting in the Eastern Tianshan Mountain region: New insights from the Shirenzigou worked bone assemblage

Situated at a geographic crossroads, the eastern Tianshan Mountain region in northwest China is crucial to understanding various economic, social, and cultural developments on the Eurasian Steppes. One promising way to gain a better knowledge of ancient subsistence economy, craft production, and social change in the eastern Tianshan Mountain region is to study the artifact assemblages from archaeological contexts. Here, we present an analysis of 488 worked animal bones from the large site of Shirenzigou (ca. 1300–1 BCE), to date the largest assemblage of this kind uncovered in the eastern Tianshan Mountain region. We classified these worked bones into six categories, including “ritual objects”, “ornaments”, “tools”, “worked astragali”, “warfare and mobility”, and “indeterminate”. The identification of animal species and skeletal elements indicates that worked bones from Shirenzigou are characterized by a predominance of caprine products, particularly worked astragali, which is consistent with the large proportion of caprine fragments found in animal remains associated with food consumption. This demonstrates the contribution of caprine pastoralism to bone working activities at Shirenzigou. The making of most worked bones does not appear to have required advanced or specialized skills. Considering the absence of dedicated bone working space, alongside the variability in raw material selection and in dimensions of certain types of artifacts, we infer that worked bone production at Shirenzigou was not standardized. In terms of raw material selection and mode of production, Shirenzigou differed from their settled, farming counterparts in the Yellow River valley of northern China. In addition, along with the evidence for violence and horseback riding, the increasing use of bone artifacts associated with warfare and mobility during the late occupation phase of Shirenzigou reflects growing social instability and implies the likely emergence of single mounted horsemen, equipped with light armors, in the region during the late first millennium BCE. Our results provide new insights into animal resource exploitation and changing lifeways of early pastoral societies in the eastern Tianshan Mountain region, expanding our knowledge of the economic, social, and political milieu of late Bronze Age and early Iron Age eastern Eurasia.

Vicia mingyueshanensis (Fabeae, Papilionoideae, Fabaceae), a new species from western Jiangxi, China

Vicia mingyueshanensis, a new species from the Mingyue Mountain Region of western Jiangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It is a perennial climbing liana that always links to riparian woods. A morphological comparison indicated that the new species is closely similar to Vicia taipaica K. T. Fu and Vicia dichroantha Diels; however, it differs from the other two species by several salient characters, such as plant indumentum, stipule shape, corolla colour, bractlet shape and calyx shape. Photographs, a preliminary conservation assessment, table of morphological characters and distribution map comparing this new species to two morphologically-similar species are also provided.

Hidden tribe: A new species of Stream Toad of the genus Ansonia Stoliczka, 1870 (Anura: Bufonidae) from the poorly explored mountainous borderlands of western Thailand

The integrated results of morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses confirmed the new species status of a recently discovered population of Ansonia from Suan Phueng District, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. Ansonia karensp. nov. is separated from all other species of Ansonia by a unique combination of mensural, discrete morphological, and color pattern characteristics and is the sister species of A. thinthinae from Tanintharyi Division, Myanmar. This discovery fills a geographic hiatus of 350 km between it and A. kraensis from Ranong Province, Thailand. Ansonia karensp. nov. is the newest member of a long list of range-restricted endemics having been recently discovered in the northern Tenasserim Mountain region of western Thailand and continues to underscore the unexplored nature of this region and its need for conservation.

To the hoverflies fauna (Diptera: Syrphidae) of the high mountains of Eastern Sayan in Siberia

A list of 101 species of hoverflies recorded from three high altitudinal belts in the Eastern Sayan mountain region is given. Most species belong to the subfamilies Syrphinae (60 species) and Eristalinae (38 species), while Pipizinae and Microdontinae are presented by two and one species, respectively. Totally, 96 species were found in the forest zone, 37 species were found in the mountain tundra and only Platycheirus chilosia has been caught in the golsty belt. New synonymy is established: Melangyna arctica (Zetterstedt, 1838) = Melangyna soszynskii Mielczarek, 2013 syn. n., = Melangyna tsherepanovi (Violovitsh, 1965) syn. n.