Search Results (3)

The Clematis tangutica (Maxim.) Korsh. is a wild flowering plant that is most widely distributed on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, with beautiful, brightly colored flowers and good ornamental properties and adaptability. In diverse natural environments, the blossom color of C. tangutica (Maxim.) Korsh. varies greatly, although it is unclear what causes this diversity. It was examined using UPLC-MS/MS and transcriptome sequencing for the investigation of various compounds, differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and flavonoid biosynthesis-related pathways in two flowers in two ecological settings. The results showed that a total of 992 metabolites were detected, of which 425 were differential metabolites, mainly flavonoid metabolites associated with its floral color. The most abundant flavonoids, flavonols and anthocyanin metabolites in the G type were cynaroside, isoquercitrin and peonidin-3-O-glucoside, respectively. Flavonoids that differed in multiplicity in G type and N type were rhoifolin, naringin, delphinidin-3-O-rutinoside, chrysoeriol and catechin. Rhoifolin and chrysoeriol, produced in flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, two flavonoid compounds of C. tangutica (Maxim.) Korsh. with the largest difference in floral composition in two ecological environments. In two ecological environments of flower color components, combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses revealed that BZ1-1 and FG3-1 are key genes for delphinidin-3-O-rutinoside in anthocyanin biosynthesis, and HCT-5 and FG3-3 are key genes for rhoifolin and naringin in flavonoid biosynthesis and flavone and flavonol. Key genes for chlorogenic acid in flavonoid biosynthesis include HCT-6, CHS-1 and IF7MAT-1. In summary, differences in flavonoids and their content are the main factors responsible for the differences in the floral color composition of C. tangutica (Maxim.) Korsh. in the two ecological environments, and are associated with differential expression of genes related to flavonoid synthesis. Full article

The unique high-frigid environment and poor natural conditions of Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) have limited sustainable economic and social development. The construction of the beautiful QTP is a concrete implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, identifying the progress and system coupling relationships of beautiful QTP construction entails some barriers due to data and methodological issues. To evaluate beautiful QTP construction and achieve a coordinated development regime, this paper employs an analytic hierarchy process and coupling model to quantify the comprehensive index and the coupling relationships of five subsystems (i.e., ecological environment, cultural inheritance, social harmony, industrial development, and institutional perfection) based on point of interest (POI) data, which are highly accurate, containing quantity and location information. Meanwhile, spatial autocorrelation analysis is conducted on the comprehensive index and coupling coordination degree for identifying the spatial clustering characteristics of the two. Results show that the progress of the beautiful QTP construction in most counties are under a very low or low level. For the system coupling perspective, 86% of counties are under the coupling stage indicating a strong interaction among the subsystems. However, coordination is out of harmony in most counties. For the spatial clustering characteristics, the comprehensive index and the system coupling relationships of beautiful QTP construction show a positive spatial correlation, indicating an aggregation effect. The aggregation is mostly “low–low” and “high–high” aggregation indicating the spatial differences and regional imbalances. The government should adopt measures to make the five subsystems of beautiful QTP construction more synergistic to achieve the sustainable development of the QTP. Our study formed a sample case of special areas where statistical data are scarce while constructing a technical framework of Beautiful China construction that is applicable to these areas. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for improving the beautiful QTP or other similar areas of construction. Full article

Place descriptions record qualitative information related to places and their spatial relationships; thus, the geospatial semantics of a place can be extracted from place descriptions. In this study, geotagged microblog short texts recorded in 2017 from the Tibetan Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province were used to extract the place semantics of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP). ERNIE, a language representation model enhanced by knowledge, was employed to extract thematic topics from the microblog short texts, which were then geolocated and used to analyze the place semantics of the QTP. Considering the large number of microblogs published by tourists in both Qinghai and Tibet, we separated the texts into four datasets according to the user, i.e., local users in Tibet, tourists in Tibet, local users in Qinghai, and tourists in Qinghai, to explore the place semantics of the QTP from different perspectives. The results revealed clear spatial variability in the thematic topics. Tibet is characterized by travel- and scenery-related language, whereas Qinghai is characterized by emotion, work, and beauty salon-related language. The human cognition of place semantics differs between local residents and tourists, and with a greater difference between the two in Tibet than in Qinghai. Weibo texts also indicate that local residents and tourists are concerned with different aspects of the same thematic topics. The cities on the QTP can be classified into three groups according to their geospatial semantic components, i.e., tourism-focused, life-focused, and religion-focused cities. Full article