The increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, caused by fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, plays an important role in plant growth and development. Wheat, as a major staple crop, adapts to climate change by tuning its inherent molecular mechanism, which is not well understood. The present study employed the RNA-Seq method to generate transcriptome profiles of the wheat Norin 10 in response to elevated CO_2 in comparison with ambient CO_2. The 10 895 787 high-quality clean reads of Norin 10 were assembled de novo using Trinity（without a reference genome） resulting in a total of 18 206 candidate transcripts with significant BLAST matches. GO enrichment analysis of Norin 10 at different CO_2 concentrations showed that some functional genes related to plastids, precursor metabolites, and energy, thylakoid and photosynthesis were apparently enriched at elevated CO_2（550 μmol mol^–1） in contrast to that at ambient CO_2（400 μmol mol^–1）; these findings were further confirmed by RT-PCR analysis. The findings demonstrated the specific effects of elevated CO_2 during long-term period in free air CO_2 enrichment（FACE） on transcriptome response of the high yielding wheat variety, Norin 10, which has a large spike.
LIN Yue-bingSHEN Cheng-guoLIN Er-daHAO Xing-yuHAN Xue
Understanding the potential drought characteristics under climate change is essential to reduce vulnerability and establish adaptation strategies, especially in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain （3H Plain）, which is a major grain production area in China. In this paper, we investigated the variations in drought characteristics （drought event frequency, duration, severity, and intensity） for the past 50 years （1961-2010） and under future scenarios （2010-2099）, based on the observed meteorological data and the Representative Concentration Pathway （RCP） 8.5 scenario, respectively. First, we compared the applicability of three climatic drought indices： the standardized precipitation index （SPI）, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index based on the Penman-Monteith equation （SPEI-PM） and the same index based on the Thornthwaite equation （SPEI-TH） to correlate the recorded agricultural drought areas. Then, we analyzed the drought characteristics using ＇run theory＇ for both historical and the future RCP 8.5 scenario based on the best performing index. Correlation analyses between drought indices and agricultural drought areas showed that SPEI-PM performed better than SPI and SPEI-TH in the 3H Plain. Based on the results of SPEI-PM, drought risks including duration, severity and intensity during 1961-2010 showed an decreasing trend. However, under the RCP 8.5 scenario, drought is expected to rise in frequency, duration, severity, and intensity from 2010-2099, although drought components during the 2010-2039 are predicted to be milder compared with historical conditions. This study highlights that the estimations for atmospheric evaporative demand would create differences in the prediction of long-term drought trends by different drought indices. The results of this study can help inform researchers and local policy makers to establish drought management strategies.
LI Xiang-xiangJU HuiSarah GarréYAN Chang-rongWilliam D.BatchelorLIU Qin
This paper uses the Global Trade Analysis Project(version 7)database to calculate embodied CO2emissions in bilateral trade between China and other countries(regions)based on input-output methods.The sources and flows of embodied CO2emissions in import and export trade of China are analyzed.Results show that the flows of embodied CO2emissions in export trade are highly concentrated.The main flows to the United States(US)and Japan account for 1/4 and 1/7 of the total CO2emissions in export trade,respectively.Concentrated flows of total exports and small differences in export structure are the main reasons for the highly concentrated export trade.The sources of embodied CO2emissions in import trade have relatively low concentration.Taiwan Province of China,Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China,US,Russia,Republic of Korea,and Japan account for around 7.72%–12.67%of the total embodied CO2emissions in import trade.The relative dispersion of import sources,the impact of the import structure,and the level of production technology in importing countries caused low concentration of CO2emissions in import trade.Overall,the embodied CO2emissions in the export trade of China are higher than those in import trade.As a result,production-based CO2emissions are higher than consumption-based CO2emissions.The difference of 8.96×108t of CO2,which comes mainly from the US,Japan,Germany,and the United Kingdom,accounts for 58.70%of the total difference.Some suggestions,such as improving energy efficiency,alerting high carbon-intensive industries transfer,expanding the market for sharing risks,and prompting the accounting system of consumption-based CO2emissions,are proposed based on the results.
