Fig. 2.

Lower Yangtze basin, 1930–2006: normalized regulating service proxy records biodiversity, sediment regulation, soil stability, sediment quality, water quality, air quality, and RS index. Vertical bars show major 20th–21st century political events (from left to right): People's Republic of China founded by Mao Zedong, 1949; Great Leap Forward, 1958–1961; Cultural Revolution, 1966–1976; Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms from late 1970s to early 1980s; leadership of Jiang Zemin from 1989; and leadership of Hu Jintao from 2003.