Plant Diversity

Patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity and their relationships with environmental correlates can help reveal the origin and evolutionary history of regional biota. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) harbors an exceptionally diverse flora, however, a phylogenetic perspective has rarely been used to investigate its beta diversity and floristic regions. In this study, we used a phylogenetic approach to identify patterns of beta diversity and quantitatively delimit floristic regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau...

Data gaps and biases are two important issues that affect the quality of biodiversity information and downstream results. Understanding how best to fill existing gaps and account for biases is necessary to improve our current information most effectively. Two current main approaches for obtaining and improving data include (1) curation of biological collections, and (2) fieldwork. However, the comparative effectiveness of these approaches in improving biodiversity data remains little explored. We used the Flora de Bogotá project to study the magnitude of change in species richness, spatial coverage, and sample coverage of plant records based on curation versus fieldwork...

Parasitic plants and their hosts communicate through haustorial connections. Nutrient deficiency is a common stress for plants, yet little is known about whether and how host plants and parasites communicate during adaptation to such nutrient stresses. In this study, we used transcriptomics and proteomics to analyze how soybean ( Glycine max ) and its parasitizing dodder ( Cuscuta australis ) respond to nitrate and phosphate deficiency (-N and -P). After -N and -P treatment, the soybean and dodder plants exhibited substantial changes of transcriptome and proteome, although soybean plants showed very few transcriptional responses to -P and dodder did not show any transcriptional changes to either -N or -P...

Lipids may play an important role in preventing gas embolisms by coating nanobubbles in xylem sap. Few studies on xylem sap lipids have been reported for temperate plants, and it remain unclear whether sap lipids have adaptational significance in tropical plants. In this study, we quantify the lipid composition of xylem sap for angiosperm species from a tropical savanna (seven species) and a seasonal rainforest (five species) using mass spectrometry. We found that all twelve species studied contained lipids in their xylem sap, including galactolipids, phospholipids and triacylglycerol, with a total lipid concentration ranging from 0...

Understanding the paleoenvironment and phytogeographical history of the Tibetan Plateau, China relies on discovering new plant fossils. The Qaidam Basin has long been regarded as an ideal 'field laboratory' to investigate the paleoclimate and paleobiological evolution of the northern Tibetan Plateau. However, fossil angiosperms from the Qaidam Basin are rare, and our knowledge of its paleovegetation is poor. Here, we report fossil leaves and fruits of Betulaceae found from the Oligocene Shangganchaigou Formation of northwestern Qaidam Basin (Huatugou area)...

Beta-diversity reflects the spatial changes in community species composition which helps to understand how communities are assembled and biodiversity is formed and maintained. Larch ( Larix ) forests, which are coniferous forests widely distributed in the mountainous and plateau areas in North and Southwest China, are critical for maintaining the environmental conditions and species diversity. Few studies of larch forests have examined the beta-diversity and its constituent components (species turnover and nestedness-resultant components)...

Salinity is among the most critical factors limiting the growth and species distribution of coastal plants. Water salinity in estuarine ecosystems varies temporally and spatially, but the variation patterns across different time scales and salinity fluctuation have rarely been quantified. The effects of salinity on floristic diversity in mangroves are not fully understood due to the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of salinity. In this study, we monitored water salinity at an interval of 10-min over one year in three mangrove catchment areas representing the outer part, middle part, and inner part respectively of Dongzhai Bay, Hainan, China...

Here, we characterize the temporal and spatial dynamics of forest community structure and species diversity in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China. We found that community structure in this forest changed over a 15-year period. Specifically, renewal and death of common species was large, with the renewal of individuals mainly concentrated within a few populations, especially those of Aidia canthioides and Cryptocarya concinna . The numbers of individual deaths for common species were concentrated in the small and mid-diameter level...

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Endangered species generally have small populations with low genetic diversity and a high genetic load. Thuja sutchuenensis is an endangered conifer endemic to southwestern China. It was once considered extinct in the wild, but in 1999 was rediscovered. However, little is known about its genetic load. We collected 67 individuals from five wild, isolated T. sutchuenensis populations, and used 636,151 SNPs to analyze the level of genetic diversity and genetic load in T. sutchuenensis to delineate the conservation units of T...

Allium is a complicated genus that includes approximately 1000 species. Although its morphology is well studied, the taxonomic importance of many morphological traits, including floral traits, are poorly understood. Here, we examined and measured the floral characteristics of 87 accessions of 74 Allium taxa (belonging to 30 sections and nine subgenera) from Central to Eastern Asian countries. We then examined the taxonomic relationships between select flower characteristics and a phylogenetic tree based on ITS sequences...

Climate change poses a serious long-term threat to biodiversity. To effectively reduce biodiversity loss, conservationists need to have a thorough understanding of the preferred habitats of species and the variables that affect their distribution. Therefore, predicting the impact of climate change on species-appropriate habitats may help mitigate the potential threats to biodiversity distribution. Xerophyta , a monocotyledonous genus of the family Velloziaceae is native to mainland Africa, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula...

•The first reported mitochondrial genome ( Cinnamomum chekiangense ) of the Lauraceae family.•The mitogenome of C. chekiangense retains almost all of the ancestral protein-coding genes and has the highest RNA editing number in angiosperms.•Both of the plastid and mitochondrial phylogenetic trees support the magnoliids as a sister group of monocots and eudicots.

The transition of traits between genetically related lineages is a fascinating topic that provides clues to understanding the drivers of speciation and diversification. Much can be learned about this process from phylogeny-based trait evolution. However, such inference is often plagued by genome-wide gene-tree discordance (GTD), mostly due to incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and/or introgressive hybridization, especially when the genes underlying the traits appear discordant. Here, by collecting transcriptomes, whole chloroplast genomes (cpDNA), and population genetic datasets, we used the coalescent model to turn GTD into a source of information for ILS and employed hemiplasy to explain specific cases of apparent "phylogenetic discordance" between different morphological traits and probable species phylogeny in the Allium subg...

Mistletoes are ecologically important parasitic plants, with > 1600 species from five lineages worldwide. Mistletoe lineages exhibit distinct patterns of species diversification and host specificity, however, the mechanisms underlying these differences are poorly understood. In this study, we analysed a comprehensive parasite-host network, including 280 host species from 60 families and 22 mistletoe species from two lineages (Santalaceae and Loranthaceae) in Xishuangbanna, located in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia...

The cortex (i.e., absorptive tissue) and stele (transportive vascular tissue) are fundamental to the function of plant roots. Unraveling how these anatomical structures are assembled in absorptive roots is essential for our understanding of plant ecology, physiology, and plant responses to global environmental changes. In this review, we first compile a large data set on anatomical traits in absorptive roots, including cortex thickness and stele radius, across 698 observations and 512 species. Using this data set, we reveal a common root allometry in absorptive root structures, i...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2023.01.008.].

The variation and correlation of leaf economics and vein traits are crucial for predicting plant ecological strategies under different environmental changes. However, correlations between these two suites of traits and abiotic factors such as soil water and nitrogen content remain ambiguous. We measured leaf economics and vein traits as well as soil water and nitrogen content for two different shade-tolerant species ( Betula platyphylla and Acer mono ) in four mixed broadleaved-Korean pine ( Pinus koraiensis ) forests along a latitudinal gradient in Northeast China...

Akebia species, belonging to Lardizabalaceae, are widespread from subtropical to temperate environments of China, Japan, and Korea. All known Akebia species have medicinal and dietary value and have been widely cultivated as a new fruit crop in many areas of China. However, compared with other crop species, the breeding improvement and commercial cultivation of Akebia remain in their infancy. This review systematically introduces the present germplasm resources, geographical distribution, biological characteristics, interspecific and intraspecific cross compatibility, molecular biology, and breeding progress in Akebia species...

Selaginella is the largest and most taxonomically complex genus in lycophytes. The fact that over 750 species are currently treated in a single genus makes Selaginellales/Selaginellaceae unique in pteridophytes. Here we assembled a dataset of six existing and newly sampled plastid and nuclear loci with a total of 684 accessions (74% increase of the earlier largest sampling) representing ca . 300 species to infer a new phylogeny. The evolution of 10 morphological characters is studied in the new phylogenetic context...