The near-surface lapse rate reflects the atmospheric stability above the surface. Lapse rates calculated from land surface temperature (γTs) and near-surface air temperature (γTa) have been widely used. However, γTs and γTa have different sensitivity to local surface energy balance and large-scale energy transport and therefore they may have diverse spatial and temporal variability, which has not been clearly illustrated in existing studies. In this study, we calculated and compared γTa and γTs at ~ 2200 stations over China from 1961 to 2014. This study finds that γTa and γTs have a similar multiyear national average (0.53 °C/100 m) and seasonal cycle. Nevertheless, γTs shows steeper multiyear average than γTa at high latitudes, and γTs in summer is steeper than γTa, especially in Northwest China. The North China shows the shallowest γTa and γTs, then inhibiting the vertical diffusion of air pollutants and further reducing the lapse rates due to accumulation of pollutants. Moreover, the long-term trend signs for γTa and γTs are opposite in northern China. However, the trends in γTa and γTs are both negative in Southwest China and positive in Southeast China. Surface incident solar radiation, surface downward longwave radiation and precipitant frequency jointly can account for 80% and 75% of the long-term trends in γTa and γTs in China, respectively, which provides an explanation of trends of γTa and γTs from perspective of surface energy balance.

Tall shrubs and trees are advancing into many tundra and wetland ecosystems but at a rate that often falls short of that predicted due to climate change. For forest, tall shrub, and tundra ecosystems in two pristine mountain ranges of Alaska, we apply a Bayesian, error-propagated calculation of expected elevational rise (climate velocity), observed rise (biotic velocity), and their difference (biotic inertia). We show a sensitive dependence of climate velocity on lapse rate and derive biotic velocity as a rigid elevational shift. Ecosystem presence identified from recent and historic orthophotos ~50 years apart was regressed on elevation. Biotic velocity was estimated as the difference between critical point elevations of recent and historic logistic fits divided by time between imagery. For both mountain ranges, the 95% highest posterior density of climate velocity enclosed the posterior distributions of all biotic velocities. In the Kenai Mountains, mean tall shrub and climate velocities were both 2.8 m y(-1). In the better sampled Chugach Mountains, mean tundra retreat was 1.2 m y(-1) and climate velocity 1.3 m y(-1). In each mountain range, the posterior mode of tall woody vegetation velocity (the complement of tundra) matched climate velocity better than either forest or tall shrub alone, suggesting competitive compensation can be important. Forest velocity was consistently low at 0.1-1.1 m y(-1), indicating treeline is advancing slowly. We hypothesize that the high biotic inertia of forest ecosystems in south-central Alaska may be due to competition with tall shrubs and/or more complex climate controls on the elevational limits of trees than tall shrubs. Among tall shrubs, those that disperse farthest had lowest inertia. Finally, the rapid upward advance of woody vegetation may be contributing to regional declines in Dall\'s sheep (Ovis dalli), a poorly dispersing alpine specialist herbivore with substantial biotic inertia due to dispersal reluctance.