UNASSIGNED: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are pivotal in plant resource acquisition, mediating plant interactions, and influencing soil carbon dynamics. However, their biogeographical distribution in Tibetan alpine grasslands remains understudied.
UNASSIGNED: In this research, we examined the distribution pattern of AMF communities and their key determinants along a 2000-km transect across the Tibetan plateau, encompassing 7 alpine meadows and 8 alpine steppes.
UNASSIGNED: Our findings indicate that AMF community diversity and composition exhibit similarities between alpine meadows and alpine steppes, primarily influenced by latitude and evapotranspiration. At the genus level, Glomus predominated in both alpine meadow (36.49%±2.67%) and alpine steppe (41.87%±2.36%) soils, followed by Paraglomus (27.14%±3.69%, 32.34%±3.28%). Furthermore, a significant decay relationship of AMF community was observed over geographical distance. Null model analyses revealed that random processes predominantly (>50%) drove the assembly of AMF communities.
UNASSIGNED: In summary, our study elucidates the spatial distribution pattern of AMF in Tibetan plateau grasslands and underscores the significant influence of geographical and climatic factors on AMF community dynamics.

As relics of ancient ocean lithosphere, ophiolites are the most important petrological evidence for marking the sutures and also play a key role in reconstructing plate configuration. They also provide valuable windows for studying crustal accretion and mantle processes occurring at modern ocean ridges. Abundant ophiolites are distributed along the Yarlung-Tsangpo suture and represent the relics of ocean lithosphere of the Neo-Tethys. They are characterized by an incomplete litho-stratigraphy, of which the mantle section is much thicker than the crustal section. Ocean crustal rocks outcropped in the Yarlung-Tsangpo ophiolites are much thinner than normal ocean crusts (~ 7 km) or even absent. Tectonic settings from which the Yarlung-Tsangpo ophiolites originated remain highly controversial, although an origin of the supra-subduction zone is prevailing. Moreover, their incomplete litho-stratigraphy has been commonly attributed to tectonic dismemberment during the late-stage emplacement after their formation. Nevertheless, such an incompleteness resembles the ocean lithosphere generated at modern ultraslow spreading ridges, such as the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). In this paper, we present several lines of evidence that support the formation of the Yarlung-Tsangpo ophiolites at ultraslow spreading ridges, during which detachment faults were developed. This suggests that the Yarlung-Tsangpo ophiolites might represent the ocean core complexes (OCC) in the Neo-Tethys Ocean. The OCC with high topography in the seafloor were clogged in the trench and preserved as ophiolites through Indo-Eurasia collision. The clogging resulted in the demise of an old subduction and a new subduction was re-initiated beneath the clogged OCC.

Coccinella transversoguttata is an important predatory beetle in Asia and America. Currently, few studies have investigated C. transversoguttata in China especially in the Tibetan plateau. In this study, full-length 16 s rRNA sequencing and qPCR experiment were performed on eight C. transversoguttata populations collected from Tibet to analyze their bacterial communities and bacteria abundance. In summary, our results revealed the microbial compositions, diversities and bacterial titers in the bacterial communities in C. transversoguttata populations in the Tibetan plateau. In future, there is a need to explore the differences in microbiota among various C. transversoguttata populations collected from different locations. These results add to our understanding of the complex bacterial communities of C. transversoguttata and their utilization as potential biocontrol factors.

UNASSIGNED: Although the robotic surgical system has accumulated rich experience in the development of thoracic surgery, its application in Tibet area is relatively late. We report our experience concerning da Vinci Xi system in thoracic surgery and observe its practicability and surgical effect.
UNASSIGNED: We retrospectively analyzed 26 patients who underwent robotic thoracic surgery including: twelve lung resection, two esophagectomies, ten mediastinal surgeries and two rib mass resection. The data of patient characteristics, operative time, perioperative complications were collected.
UNASSIGNED: Of the 26 patients, 22 cases were completed with da Vinci system successfully, including 7 segmentectomies, 4 lobectomies, 1 subsegmentectomy, 2 esophagectomies, 10 mediastinal surgeries (6 thymic resections, 3 posterior mediastinal tumor resection, 1 mediastinal cyst resection) and 2 rib mass resection. In which, 3 cases of lung resection begun with robotic technique were converted to thoracoscopic surgery (due to calcification of hilar lymph node), 1 case of bilobectomy was converted to thoracotomy due to thoracic adhesion. All the operations went well and no patients need blood transfusion. All patients had satisfactory postoperative recovery.
UNASSIGNED: It is safe, reliable and effective to carry out robotic thoracic surgery on the plateau. On the premise of carefully and seriously discussing the indications of surgery, we should actively carry out the application of da Vinci robotic surgery system in Tibet Plateau.

In the context of global warming, the thermal conditions of the Tibetan Plateau have changed significantly in recent decades. In the present study, we analysed the spatiotemporal variation in T ≥ 0 °C accumulated temperature (AT0) on the Tibetan Plateau from 1980 to 2018 and its effect on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) changes by fusing climate model outputs and ground observations using the High Accuracy Surface Modeling (HASM). Cross-validation revealed that the root mean square error (RMSE) and R2 of the fused data from HASM were 1.593 °C and 0.719, respectively, which were greater than the 5.864 °C and 0.385, respectively, before fusion, indicating that HASM fusion improved the accuracy and that a more accurate AT0 could be obtained. Over the past 39 years, AT0 on the Tibetan Plateau had increased at a rate of 7.53 °C/year. The growth period was extended by 0.46 days/year, while the start and end of the growth period were 0.27 days/year earlier and 0.18 days/year later, respectively. Analysis of the decadal change in AT0 revealed that the areas with AT0 < 500 °C decreased by 5 % and that the areas with AT0 > 2000 °C increased by 6.2 %. However, a slower warming trend appeared after 2010 because of the decreasing rate of the daily mean temperature increase during the growth period. Increasing AT0 also promoted vegetation growth, especially in parts of the southern and eastern plateau regions, with a Pearson\'s correlation coefficient of 0.46 on the entire plateau between AT0 and the average NDVI during the growth periods. However, there was a significant negative correlation with a coefficient lower than -0.4 in the Qaidam Basin, and partial correlation analysis showed that the extension of the growth period was the main factor influencing the decrease in the NDVI in the Qaidam Basin.

Variations in functional traits serve as measures of plants\' ability to adapt to environment. Exploring the patterns of functional traits of desert plants along elevational gradients is helpful to understand the responses and adaptation strategies of species to changing environments. However, it is unknown whether the relationship between functional traits and elevation is affected by differences in the species\' elevational distributions (elevation preference and species\' range). Importantly, most researches have concerned with differences in mean trait values and ignored intraspecific trait variation. Here, we measured functional traits of desert plants along a wide elevational gradient in the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas and explored functional trait patterns over elevation in species with different elevational distributions. We decomposed trait variation and further investigated characterizations of intraspecific variation. Ultimately, the main drivers of trait variation were identified using redundancy analysis. We found that species\' elevational distributions significantly influenced the relationship of functional traits such as plant height, leaf dry matter content, leaf thickness, leaf nitrogen and carbon content with elevation. Species with a lower elevational preference showed greater trait variation than species with a higher elevational preference, suggesting that species that prefer high elevation are more conservative facing environmental changes. We provide evidence that interspecific trait variation in leaf thickness and leaf carbon content decreased with increasing species\' range, indicating that increased variations in resistance traits within species make greater responsiveness to environmental changes, enabling species a wider range. Elevation, temperature and precipitation were the main drivers of trait variation in species with a low elevational preference, while the effect of precipitation on trait variation in species with a high elevational preference was not significant. This study sheds new insights on how plants with different elevational distributions regulate their ecological strategies to cope with changing environments.

Despite extensive research on the impact of warming and nitrogen deposition on soil organic carbon components, the response mechanisms of microbial community composition and enzyme activity to soil organic carbon remain poorly understood. This study investigated the effects of warming and nitrogen deposition on soil organic carbon components in the Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow and elucidated the regulatory mechanisms of microbial characteristics, including soil microbial community, enzyme activity, and stoichiometry, on organic carbon components. Results indicated that both warming and nitrogen deposition significantly increased soil organic carbon, readily oxidizable carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and microbial biomass carbon. The interaction between warming and nitrogen deposition influenced soil carbon components, with soil organic carbon, readily oxidizable carbon, and dissolved organic carbon reaching maximum values in the W0N32 treatment, while microbial biomass carbon peaked in the W3N32 treatment. Warming and nitrogen deposition also significantly increased soil Cellobiohydrolase, β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase, leucine aminopeptidase, and alkaline phosphatase. Warming decreased the soil enzyme C: N ratio and C:P ratio but increased the soil enzyme N:P ratio, while nitrogen deposition had the opposite effect. The bacterial Chao1 index and Shannon index increased significantly under warming conditions, particularly in the N32 treatment, whereas there were no significant changes in the fungal Chao1 index and Shannon index with warming and nitrogen addition. Structural equation modeling revealed that soil organic carbon components were directly influenced by the negative impact of warming and the positive impact of nitrogen deposition. Furthermore, warming and nitrogen deposition altered soil bacterial community composition, specifically Gemmatimonadota and Nitrospirota, resulting in a positive impact on soil enzyme activity, particularly soil alkaline phosphatase and β-xylosidase, and enzyme stoichiometry, including N:P and C:P ratios. In summary, changes in soil organic carbon components under warming and nitrogen deposition in the alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau primarily depend on the composition of soil bacterial communities, soil enzyme activity, and stoichiometric characteristics.

The Tibetan Plateau is located in southwestern China. It has many important ecological functions, such as biodiversity protection, and is an important grassland agroecosystem in China. With the development of modern agriculture and animal husbandry, antibiotics are widely used to treat humans and livestock, and antibiotics cannot be fully metabolised by both. Antibiotics eventually find their way into the environment, affecting other parts of grassland agroecosystems. Triticale (Triticosecale wittmack) is an artificial hybrid forage that can be used for both grain and forage. This study revealed the diversity of seedborne bacteria in triticale on the Tibetan Plateau and the resistance of the bacteria to nine antibiotics. It identified 37 representative strains and successfully obtained the spliced sequences of 36 strains of the bacteria, which were clustered into 5 phyla and 16 genera. Among them, 18 strains showed resistance to at least one of the 9 antibiotics, and the colony-forming unit (CFU) abundance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) accounted for 45.38% of the total samples. Finally, the bacterial motility and biofilm formation ability were measured, and their correlation with bacterial resistance was analysed. The results showed that the bacterial resistance did not have an absolute positive correlation with the motility or biofilm formation ability.

Climate change inevitably affects vegetation growth in the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Understanding the dynamics of vegetation phenology and the responses of vegetation phenology to climate change are crucial for evaluating the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. Despite many relevant studies conducted in the past, there still remain research gaps concerning the dominant factors that induce changes in the start date of the vegetation growing season (SOS). In this study, the spatial and temporal variations of the SOS were investigated by using a long-term series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) spanning from 2001 to 2020, and the response of the SOS to climate change and the predominant climatic factors (air temperature, LST or precipitation) affecting the SOS were explored. The main findings were as follows: the annual mean SOS concentrated on 100 DOY-170 DOY (day of a year), with a delay from east to west. Although the SOS across the entire region exhibited an advancing trend at a rate of 0.261 days/year, there were notable differences in the advancement trends of SOS among different vegetation types. In contrast to the current advancing SOS, the trend of future SOS changes shows a delayed trend. For the impacts of climate change on the SOS, winter Tmax (maximum temperature) played the dominant role in the temporal shifting of spring phenology across the TP, and its effect on SOS was negative, meaning that an increase in winter Tmax led to an earlier SOS. Considering the different conditions required for the growth of various types of vegetation, the leading factor was different for the four vegetation types. This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanism of SOS variation in the TP.

Herbal Gentiana straminea Maxim. (Family Gentianaceae), \"Ma Hua Jiao\" in Chinese, is a commonly used Chinese medicine. Secoiridoids and flavonoids have been identified as the major active components of herbal medicines used in the treatment of hepatitis, rheumatism and many other diseases. It is the overharvesting of the roots of this plant for medicinal purposes that has led to a drastic decline in its population. In the present study, the above and below ground parts of Gentian Bitter Glycine were quantitatively compared and evaluated for the determination of the major active constituents. Five major compounds, loganic acid, swertiamarin, gentiopicroside, sweorside and isoorientin, were extracted by solvent extraction technique and analyzed by Reversed-phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). By analysing the principal components and calculating the composite scores, the results show that the aboveground component in different areas ranked higher compared to the underground component, with the former being able to substitute to some extent for the latter\'s underground component. Finally, based on hierarchical cluster analysis, we identified the ideal natural growing region for aerial parts of G. straminea distributed on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The significance of this work is that we can balance the demand for herbs with environmental preservation by selectively picking the aerial parts, which can regrow next year, instead of removing the whole plant. It protects the fragile ecological environment of the Tibetan Plateau and is important for sustainable development.