Aims: The tagging, positioning, and tracking of animals are crucial approaches to the study of their spatial movements. In China, the application of sensor-based wildlife tracking technologies for free-ranging animals has gained significant traction since the 1980s. These technologies have been widely employed in studies related to wildlife behavior and ecology. To provide a comprehensive overview of the current status of wildlife tracking technologies in China and offer insights into the future, we conducted this review based on comprehensive literature research.

Methods: We systematically searched academic articles on wildlife tracking studies conducted in China from 1970 to 2022. We compiled information of each study, including the type of sensor and tracking technologies used, the taxonomic group of tracked animals, the research field, and the location of study sites.

Results: We collected 519 relevant articles published between 1970 and 2022, encompassing 185 species belonging to 7 classes and 32 orders. The study sites encompassed 34 provinces (including municipalities, autonomous regions, and special administrative regions) in China. We identified four hotspots of tracking studies within the country: the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and surrounding mountainous areas, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the coastal areas from East to South China, and the Northeast China region. Five senor-based tracking technologies were identified in these studies: radio telemetry (RT) (accounting for 47.7% of the total researches), radio frequency identification (RFID) (3.2%), light-level global geolocator sensor (GLS) (0.6%), satellite tracking based on the Argos Satellite System (ASS) (9.3%) or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (39.3%). Among these technologies, VHF radio telemetry has had a longer history and more applications in China; ASS and GNSS technologies have been introduced late but have undergone rapid growth, with GNSS emerging as the most widely applied technology in the past 5 years. Radio telemetry is predominantly employed for large- and medium-sized mammals, small mammals, terrestrial birds, amphibians and reptiles. GNSS technology is mainly applied in tracking swimming and wading birds. ASS technology is primarily used in fish studies, while RFID technology is prevalent in tracking invertebrate. The choice of technology varies across different research fields, with GNSS and ASS satellite tracking being the primary technology used in migration studies.

Conclusions: The application scale of sensor-based wildlife tracking technologies in China is experiencing rapid expansion, resulting in a rapid increase of numbers of tagged animals and accumulated data. In the future, wildlife tracking studies in China should put emphases on: (1) deepening the research to examine the underlying ecological mechanisms and broadening the research scales, (2) facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and fostering technological innovation, (3) advocating for and promoting data sharing and fostering multilateral cooperation, and (4) continuing to advance the development and improvement of domestic tracking equipment and technologies. This will provide reliable scientific supports for wildlife ecology research and resource conservation and management in China.

The plant hormone auxin regulates many processes of plant growth and development, including embryonic development, organogenesis, and tropism, as well as environmental adaptation. To perform these functions, auxin mainly depends on the typical TIR1/AFB-auxin-Aux/IAA-ARF signaling pathway. In this pathway, the canonical Aux/IAA proteins composed of four conserved domains play a key role in auxin signaling as co-receptor with TIR1/AFB. Recently, some non-canonical Aux/IAA proteins lacking conserved domain(s) were also found to be involved in the auxin response. This review focuses on the research advances of non-canonical Aux/IAA proteins on their structure, biological function and roles in auxin signal transduction, and discusses the future research directions of these proteins.

Background: Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) technology has become increasingly significant in wildlife research due to its non-invasive nature and capacity for continuous monitoring. A key taxonomic group for biodiversity and environmental monitoring using PAM are the order Chiroptera, commonly known as bats, with their unique echolocation abilities, nocturnality, and high sensitivity to environmental changes.

Progress: This review aims to comprehensively explore the applications of PAM in Chiropteran research and note the scientific and ecological breakthroughs that this new tool facilitates. We analyze the advantages and limitations of PAM, and summarize methods for effectively collecting and processing acoustic data to estimate and monitor bat diversity, activity patterns, population dynamics, habitat selection, and distribution. The review concludes with case studies from the literature that compare the impact of different environmental factors on bat diversity and activity, and that discuss how these variables affect data collection.

Prospects: This review concludes its assessment by noting the challenges that PAM faces in practical applications; by exploring the future prospects of the technology and its potential contributions to biodiversity conservation; and by proposing future research directions including technological innovation, citizen science involvement, and monitoring strategy optimization. These suggestions will help further advance the application of PAM technology in bat conservation and management by contributing to the protection of biodiversity.

Organisms have evolved different photoreceptors to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of the external light environment. Phytochromes (phys) are one of the classic plant photoreceptors, mainly perceiving red and far-red light. Phytochromes detect red and far-red light through the light conversion between the dark-adapted Pr state and the light-activated Pfr state. All plant phytochromes have a conserved N-terminal photoreceptor region and a C-terminal regulatory region. The N-terminal includes NTE, PAS, GAF, and PHY subdomains, while C-terminal includes two PAS domains and a histidine kinase-related domain (HKRD). In order to understand how the structure of photochromes controls its function, many function-deficient photochrome derivatives and amino acid point mutants have been obtained and studied. The N-terminal domain plays important roles in the spectral properties, light signal perception and light signal transduction of phyB. The C-terminal domain is essential for dimerization and nuclear localization of photochrome. This paper mainly reviews point mutations of amino acid in various subdomains of phyB in Arabidopsis thaliana and their effects on the function of phyB, in order to have a better understanding of the structure and functional regulation of phyB. It lays a foundation for obtaining crops with desired agronomic characteristics through gene editing.

Background & Aims: Lineage sorting (LS) refers to the process in which multiple populations are descended from a common ancestral population or species and are now reproductively isolated from one another. It provides an approach to gain insights into speciation, and is often classified into the phases of polyphyly, paraphyly, and monophyly. The first two phases are in the state of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) where gene trees do not correctly reflect species trees. The third phase is in the state of complete LS where gene trees are concordant with species trees. Here, we reviewed relevant theories and summarized recent progresses in method for LS detection.

Progress: We first systematically discussed the coalescent theories of how genome sites with distinct evolutionary properties (neutral or selective) in an ancestral population were transmitted to progeny populations. We discussed the potential relationships between gene trees and species trees for neutral and selective genes, respectively. Secondly, we delved into LS analyses based on the neutral DNA sequences, including construction of phylogeny under ILS and the network-based phylogenetic analysis. We then discussed the impacts of selection on LS analysis and methods for detecting both directional and balancing selection based on gene trees and species trees. Finally, we discussed a few open questions about the effects of mating system on LS, the detection of ILS, and the effects of pollen and seed flow on LS.

Prospect: New theories are needed to explore how mating system shapes the LS process for both selective and neutral genes. To appropriately assess ILS for individual genes based on species trees, it is crucial to improve the method estimating species trees and to fully utilize the potential of genome sequence data in future study. Given a high frequency of natural hybridization in plant species, a phylogenetic network method is needed to simultaneously examine pollen and seed flow together with ILS. Answers to these questions could help us to understand in-depth the LS process in plant species.

Background & Aims: The continuous loss of biodiversity has become one of the most serious environmental challenges in the world, the next 7 years will be the key to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. The achievement of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) mechanism has brought new hope for global biodiversity governance, and provided a pathway to halt and reverse biodiversity loss trends. As the core element of the GBF, the 30 by 30 target successfully adopted with the support of extensive actions of the international community and a large number of scientific researches. This paper reviews the origin and development process of the 30 by 30 target based on its global development trends and international policy promotion, and analyzes the change and development of its key elements such as area proportion, spatial extension, protection effectiveness of the protected area (PA) system, and inclusive management methods in PA. Combined with the successful experience of existing international processes, this paper explores the path to achieve the 30 by 30 target through a large number of scientific research as well.
Results: The gradual increase in the 30 by 30 target from 10% to 30% has not yet met the expectations of the scientific community, but has contributed to the efforts of countries and the expansion of the global network of PA. Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), improving the quality of PA, and the involvement of stakeholders, such as indigenous peoples and local communities, can significantly strength the protection of land and sea. The pathway to achieve the 30 by 30 target including strong international policy guidance, firm and effective financial security, in-depth and rigorous scientific research, responsible national action and broad inclusive participation and collaboration of stakeholders. At the same time, we recognize that it has been less than seven years since it was expected to be achieved. To achieve the ambitious 30 by 30 target and truly halt and reverse the biodiversity loss and decline, there are several challenges, including expand the PA system while improving quality; overcome the gap of PA survey data and the limited monitoring measures; the limitations of understanding the marine PA; the exploration of inclusive management methods and the integration of national goals at the global scale. We recommend that the quality of PA should be paid more attention than quantitative targets, strengthen PA monitoring to address data gaps, raise awareness of the importance of marine PA, and explore inclusive management approaches for PA, and strengthen the integration and implementation of the global target at the national scale.
Conclusion & Recommendation: The 30 by 30 target is not only a politically driven goal, but its research, consultation and implementation process also reflect new perspectives on the integration of science, traditional knowledge and international policy systems, reflecting emerging scientific insights, social values and global challenges, prompting a phased change in the relationship between people and nature, and between people, and contributing to a new understanding of PA networks and other protected regions.

Background & Aims: Rapid urbanization has proved the importance of effectively monitoring and evaluating urban bird diversity, making it a crucial area of technique inquiry within urban ecology and biodiversity conservation. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), a technique that utilizes the environment to assess biodiversity, provides long-term and continuous data on urban avian population dynamics. This approach offers valuable insights into the influence of human activities on natural habitats. Although PAM technology has been adopted globally for urban biodiversity monitoring and has resulted in extensive acoustic datasets, variations in monitoring and assessment methodologies show significant challenges in effectively evaluating urban avian diversity.

Review Results: We synthesize representative cases of urban avian diversity research conducted using PAM technology, focusing on aspects such as spatio-temporal experimental design, recording device parameters, and quantification techniques of acoustic signals. The results indicate that current case studies exhibit general routines in experimental frameworks, parameter selection, and quantification methods. However, variability in monitoring and evaluation technologies, along with their effects on factors such as signal-to-noise ratio and representativeness of sound signals, remains a significant challenge that hinders the application of PAM in urban bird diversity research, yet this issue has not received adequate attention. Therefore, this paper advocates for a comprehensive examination of passive acoustic monitoring and evaluation techniques for urban bird sounds, which would facilitate the creation of eco-acoustic big data and address broader ecological questions.

Perspectives: Given the increasing prevalence of PAM applications, there is an urgent need for the development of technical standards for passive acoustic monitoring and evaluation of urban birdsong. Establishing these standards would promote the standardization of sound data collection and analysis, leading to the creation of a comprehensive urban bird sound database. Such advancements would enable the utilization of big data to elucidate the impacts of urbanization on birdsong diversity and response mechanisms, thereby enriching urban avian studies and supporting biodiversity conservation efforts in urban environments. This paper summarizes current monitoring schemes and technological applications, providing a foundation for future theoretical frameworks. Methodological approaches and technological implementations are proposed for future passive acoustic monitoring and evaluation of urban bird diversity in China.

Flowering time is a critical point in the life cycle of angiosperm plants. Arabidopsis thaliana of the Brassicaceae is widely distributed around the world, and the natural populations of this species have been found at altitude 4 000 m in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The cold/short summer plateau climate has shaped their flowering time to be moderately early compared with those living in low altitude areas. In this study, we constructed an F₂ mapping population and utilized whole-genome sequencing-based QTL-seq analysis to locate the major effect QTLs in Lhasa population of A. thaliana, and identified a haplotype-specific deletion of 2 307 bp within the first intron of FLC, which is unique to Tibetan A. thaliana. Lhasa population flc^-/- mutant was constructed by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique. The mutant exhibited significantly earlier flowering time than Lhasa. The above findings suggested that the deletion in the first intron of FLC in Tibetan A. thaliana was most likely the major cause for the early flowering phenotype, although it did not cause complete function loss of the FLC. This variation may have facilitated the adaptation of Tibetan A. thaliana to the unique climatic environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Background & Aim: Urbanization has caused widespread changes in species habitats, leading to changes in community composition and species traits. This process has notably transformed the interspecific interactions involving birds, but current research has limited knowledge about this change. In this paper, the modification patterns of predator-prey interactions, host-parasite interactions, competitive interactions, and mutualistic interactions involving birds in urban environments are reviewed, to provide suggestions for future research and conservation efforts on birds in urban environments.

Review Results: With increasing urbanization, the identity of species involved in various forms of interspecific interactions is directly affected by changes in species composition, leading to changes in the process, intensity, and outcomes of interspecific interactions. In predator-prey interactions, anthropogenic disturbances, enhanced resource availability, and habitat changes modify the community composition of both predators and prey. These changes affect the predation behavior of predators and the antipredator behavior of prey. In host-parasite interactions, pollution and zoonotic disease transmission change parasite taxa, while the spatial concentration and diminished diversity of urban bird communities heighten disease transmission risks. Additionally, factors such as dietary quality and environmental disturbances influence host immunophysiology. In competitive interactions, adaptation of birds to urban environment leads to intensification of competitive behavior, and stabilization of the environment and resource availability may increase competitive intensity and promote competitive exclusion. In mutualistic interactions between birds and plants, the loss of native species and the introduction of exotic species reduce the uniqueness of interactions. Landscape features such as habitat fragmentation affect spatial patterns of pollination and seed dispersal. Changes in the participants and processes of interspecific interactions can modify the nodes and edges in interaction networks and the structural characteristics of such networks, decrease in species diversity simplifies the network structure, while the loss of specialist species and rise of generalist species enhance evenness and reduce the specialization of the interactive networks.

Prospect: There are three important directions for future research on interspecific interactions in urban birds: (1) Development of methods for identifying and quantifying interspecific interactions; (2) Development of ecological network theories, including multilayer networks, in the study of interspecific interactions in urban birds; (3) Utilization of interspecific interactions to increase the effectiveness of conservation in urban bird conservation.

Located in the northeast of the Qingzang Plateau, the Qaidam Basin is a huge plateau-type closed basin. The vegetation is dominated by desert, including swamp wetlands, halophytic meadows and montane grasslands. In order to show the species composition, community characteristics and distribution pattern of vegetation on the Qaidam Basin in more details, this study used the field data of the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research of 2022 and the Comprehensive Scientific Investigation of the Data-scarce Area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of 2014, including 157 sample plots and 458 sample plots, which are integrated into the sample data set of plant communities in Qaidam Basin. Through the collation and compilation of data, a total of 185 species information was obtained, among which the families with the largest number of species were Asteraceae (39 species), Poaceae (33 species), Fabaceae (17 species), Amaranthaceae (16 species) and Brassicaceae (10 species), and the genera with the largest number of species were Stipa, Artemisia, Astragalus, Oxytropis and Saussurea. The composition of plant life forms is dominated by herbs, accounting for 78.37%. The species of middle Asia account for 41.62% of the geographical composition of the flora. Based on the phytocoenological-ecological principles, 157 sample plots can be classified into 4 Vegetation Formation Groups, 7 Vegetation Formations, 11 Vegetation Subformations and 40 Alliances. This data set can provide the most original basic data for the in-depth exploration of vegetation characteristics in the Qaidam Basin, the compilation and research of the Vegegraphy of China, and the mapping of the Qingzang Plateau and the national vegetation map.

Aim: Species inventory is a fundamental task in biodiversity research and conservation practices, and detailed species catalogue is of great significance for biodiversity research and conservation. This study aims to update the list of reptiles in Guizhou Province to promote scientific research and protection efforts.

Method: Based on the reptile checklist of Reptilian Fauna of Guizhou, combining with bibliographies on reptile taxonomy in Guizhou Province published in the past 38 years since the publication of the above monograph, this paper revise and update the list of reptiles in Guizhou Province.

Results: As of June 30, 2023, a total of 120 species distributed across 2 orders, 21 families, and 57 genera were recorded in Guizhou Province. It comprised 5 species in 5 genera and 3 families of Testudines, and 115 species in 52 genera and 18 families of Squamata (including 27 species in 12 genera and 6 families of Lacertilia, and 88 species in 40 genera and 12 families of Serpentes). The resulting reptilian diversity was the same as Sichuan Province, which were both ranked at the fifth in China, only following Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian Province. For species listed in the Reptilian Fauna of Guizhou, the taxonomy or Chinese common names of 78 taxa were updated or revised accordingly. Furthermore, the provincial records of 3 species were removed, while 23 species were added to the previous checklist (including 5 new species and 18 new provincial records of Guizhou). The composition of the reptile fauna in Guizhou Province was mainly composed of the Oriental Realm (105 species), the remaining 15 species were considered to have a widespread distribution, with no species represented from the Palaearctic Realm. Of the recorded diversity, 11 species were listed as Class II nationally protected, 29 species were considered as threatened based on China’s Red List of Biodersity∙Vertebrates, 27 species were endemic to China, and the type localities of 5 species were in Guizhou, including Gekko liboensis, Hemiphyllodactylus dushanensis, H. huishuiensis, Protobothrops maolanensis, and Goniurosaurus liboensis.

Conclusion: This article and its data can be used for understanding the changes and distributions of reptile species in Guizhou Province, providing basic data support for the protection of reptile resources in Guizhou Province. It is recommended to increase the research on the classification and distribution of reptiles in Guizhou Province, which will further clarify the reptile resources in Guizhou Province.

Background: China boasts abundant biodiversity, positioning it among the world’s most biologically diverse nations. Despite notable strides in biodiversity conservation at both national and international levels, evidenced by China’s leadership in advancing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, domestic biodiversity legislation has conspicuously lagged behind these advancements over the past decade.

Review results: The State has issued a series of laws and regulations, including the Forest Law, the Wild Animal Protection Law, and the Seed Law, addressing various aspects of biodiversity, encompassing ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity. These laws primarily aim at conservation while considering the rational utilization of resources, thereby laying the groundwork for a preliminary legal framework for biodiversity management. However, despite these efforts, the existing biodiversity-related legislation remains significantly inadequate in meeting the requirements of modernization for fostering harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. This inadequacy is attributed to outdated legislative concepts, insufficient systematic legislation, and the incomplete composition of key legal systems.

Recommendations: In light of the forthcoming Ecological Environment Code, the State should endeavor to establish a comprehensive legal framework for biodiversity in this forthcoming Code that encompasses all three levels of biodiversity: ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity. This legal system should fully ensure the achievement of all the objectives of biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of its components, and equitable benefit-sharing in a balanced manner. To achieve this, a scientifically grounded and logically structured legislative framework with comprehensive and systematic institutional components is imperative. Embracing the concept of the earth’s life community and the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, China must strive to lead global biodiversity governance.

Aims: Pollination plays a crucial role within ecosystems. Accurate identification and analysis of the pollen loads carried by pollinators are essential for understanding the plant‒pollinator interactions and assessing pollination activity. Traditional pollen identification methods, which are often reliant on microscopic observation, are time-consuming and require specialized expertise, limiting their utility in large-scale applications and in the assessment of pollination efficiency and rare plant‒pollinator interactions. To address this issue, we developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) pollen identification model using a public platform.
Method: The AI model was based on pollen from 14 co-flowering plant species from Tianchi Mountain National Forest Park in Luoyang, China. We identified the pollen composition of 142 pollinators using both the traditional microscopic observation method and the AI model to explore and compare for the first time the structural differences in the plant‒pollinator interaction networks constructed by the two identification methods.
Results: The results demonstrated that the AI model achieved an overall accuracy rate of 96%. While there were differences between human recognition and the AI model in the number of identified links, quantity of pollen, and consistency rate of photo identification, both methods showed a high degree of consistency. The AI model slightly outperformed human methods in link identification (6.5%) and pollen quantity (0.8%). Moreover, in third-party consistency checks, the majority of the cases favored the results from the AI model. Despite some differences regarding unique links, the quantitative networks constructed by human recognition and the AI model showed a high degree of structural similarity.
Conclusion: This study reveals the potential of AI image recognition technology to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of pollen analysis, and its relevance to plant‒pollinator interaction research. This advancement could facilitate a more efficient advancement of large-scale studies of pollination networks, providing new tools and perspectives for pollination ecology research.

Background & Aim: There are more than 140 species of bats in China, accounting for about 10 percent of the world’s bat species. China is one of the countries with the richest bat species diversity in the world. With the development of urbanization, the species diversity of bats in China has been seriously threatened. This paper aims to discuss the current state of research on bats in China under the background of urbanization, and then, based on the threats of urbanization factors faced by bats in China, to propose targeted conservation recommendations.

Progresses: The review preliminarily defines urban bats as those whose life history is not directly controlled by humans, but whose stages such as foraging, roosting, and migration are completed in urban and surrounding areas affected by urbanization. Thus, their morphological, physiological, behavioral, and genetic adaptive characteristics are influenced by the urbanization In the process of urbanization, bats face a range of threats, including human hunting, human buildings, roads, light pollution, noise pollution, and chemical pollution; this is mainly manifested in three aspects in China: loss of habitat, utilization of biological resources, and disturbance of habitat. Despite this, preliminary bibliometric analysis indicates that research on the impacts of urbanization on bats in China is relatively lacking, and this field needs more attention.

Conservation Measures: In view of the significant impact of urbanization threats on the existence of bats in China and the scarcity of related research, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of bats in the process of urbanization in China. We suggest that research in the fields of taxonomy and conservation genomics should be intensified, special surveys for urban bats should be conducted, and the protection of bat habitats should be valued. As a result, the management of light and noise pollution should be strengthened, legislative protection should be carried out for bats that are unique to China and have a higher level of threat, and science popularization education related to bats should be carried out for the public, i to better protect bats in the process of urbanization.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important carbon (C) pool in terrestrial ecosystems. Pant diversity can enhance SOC content in forests, grasslands, and agricultural ecosystems, and its potential effects on the composition and stability of SOC have aroused increasing interest. However, there is no systematic review of their underlying mechanisms. The present study therefore summarizes advances in research on the effects of plant diversity on the content, composition and stability of SOC and the underlying mechanism with the aim of providing a scientific basis for maximizing soil carbon and nitrogen (N) sequestration and mitigating global climate change through the promotion of plant diversity. Increasing plant diversity can increase the inputs of plant litter biomass into soils, enhance the quality of mixed litter (e.g., lower C:N), and promote the turnover and accumulation of SOC. It can also increase plant-derived C via root and litter inputs to soils, or increase microbe-derived C via enhanced microbial turnover. These processes can also increase soil particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral associated organic carbon (MAOC) contents. In addition, increasing plant diversity can increase the stability of soil organic carbon by enhancing aggregate protection, changing mineral ion concentrations, and changing microbial community structure. Future studies are needed to investigate (1) how soil organic carbon content may be increased through integrated plant diversity and management options; (2) how the effects of plant diversity on soil organic carbon content and composition can be explored through long-term plant diversity field experiments in different ecosystems; (3) how the effects of plant diversity on soil organic carbon composition and stability can be examined using new experimental methods(e.g., isotope labeling); and (4) how the mechanisms underlying plant diversity effects on soil carbon content, composition and stability can be studied at different soil depths.

Aims: The classification and identification of grassland plants is an essential part of grassland resource surveillance and biodiversity monitoring. Rapid advancements in computer vision and deep learning have created opportunities for automating this process, however, there is currently a shortage of datasets and models specifically tailored for the identification of grassland plants.

Methods: This study established a dataset comprising images of 831 species of native grassland plants in northern China. Employing state-of-the-art image classification architectures based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and vision transformers (ViT), we trained models for the recognition of grassland plant images. Four models (Eva-02, ResNet_RS, MobileNetV3, and MobileViTv2) were evaluated for accuracy, recognition speed, and size.

Results: Regarding model recognition accuracy, the Top1 accuracy of the Eva-02, MobileViTv2, ResNet_RS, and MobileNetV3 models on the test set were 96.78%, 94.29%, 95.57%, and 91.53%, respectively. The Top5 accuracy on the test set were 99.17%, 98.93%, 98.79%, and 97.56%, respectively. In terms of model size and recognition speed, the MobileNetV3 model exhibited the smallest parameter size and fastest recognition speed, followed by MobileViTv2, making these models suitable for deployment on mobile devices. Conversely, the Eva-02 model had the largest parameter size and the slowest detection speed. Comparing with Pl@ntNet, HuaBanLv, and Baidu-Shitu, all four models developed in this study outperform these three recognition systems.

Conclusion: The plant recognition models trained in this study can recognize the largest number of natural grassland plant species with the highest accuracy compared to other popular recognition systems. The four models strike a balance between model recognition accuracy and performance that is suitable for deployment on both desktop and mobile platforms. They also fulfill the requirements for indoor and outdoor application scenarios.

Aims: Leaf functional traits, as essential indicators of plant photosynthesis, effectively reflect the species’ strategies for survival, growth, and reproduction in response to environmental changes. However, whether tradeoff strategies for leaf functional traits vary significantly with temporal scale is still lacking sufficient evidence. This study aims to clarify the characteristics of leaf functional traits in subtropical mixed plantations and their response patterns to forest succession, enhancing our understanding of community assembly processes.

Method: This study was conducted in the subtropical mixed plantations formed after the renovation of pure forest of Cunninghamia lanceolata in Yunyong Forest Farm, Foshan City, from 2003 to 2010. In 2018, data were collected from twenty-seven 20 m × 20 m fixed plots from nine sites, and sampling data of six leaf functional traits. The adaptive characteristics and response rules of different leaf functional traits to forest succession were analyzed. First, we calculated the mean, coefficient of variation, intraspecific and interspecific variation of leaf functional traits. Second, we used regression and correlation analyses to determine the changes and trade-offs of different leaf functional traits throughout forest succession. Finally, multiple stepwise regression analysis and hierarchical partitioning methods were employed to explore the influencing factors of leaf functional trait patterns.

Results: The results revealed that: (1) The leaf functional traits had strong plasticity during succession of subtropical mixed plantations. The coefficient of variation of different leaf functional traits ranged from 5.63% to 70.98%, and the interspecific variation was greater than intraspecific variation. (2) The ecological strategy of co-existing species changed from conservative to acquisitive along the forest succession of subtropical mixed plantations. (3) Forest succession significantly affected the correlations between different leaf functional traits. Notably, the correlations between specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf organic carbon content (LC), leaf total nitrogen content (LN), and leaf total phosphorus content (LP) strengthened as succession progressed. This indicates that the environmental context’s impact on plant functional trait trade-offs cannot be overlooked, even on a local spatial scale. (4) Recovery time, the changes of species composition and alterations in leaf functional traits collectively influenced the patterns of leaf functional traits across different succession stages. However, the relative contribution of each factor varied depending on the specific functional trait studied.

Conclusion: The results reveal the response patterns and influencing factors of leaf functional traits during forest succession in subtropical mixed plantations. These findings provide a theoretical basis for future species election in afforestation efforts based on plant functional traits in the future.

Single-cell transcriptomics has improved the spatiotemporal resolution from multi-cell to single-cell levels, and notable progress in this technique has facilitated the identification of new rare cell types, exploration of intercellular heterogeneity, and mapping of cell developmental trajectories. Single-cell transcriptomics is currently being widely used in various research fields such as plant growth and development, stress response, and environmental adaptability, which helps to more thoroughly and precisely uncover the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying plant life processes. However, there are numerous challenges associated with the study and analysis of different plant species. In this review, we compare and evaluate various single-cell transcription techniques and processes, summarize plant single-cell studies in recent years, and explore new single-cell analysis tools to support researchers studying plant biology with high precision and dynamics. In addition, we propose future directions in using single-cell transcriptomics technologies to address some of the key challenges in plant research and breeding. Furthermore, some important methods for addressing plant research and breeding with single-cell transcriptomics are discussed, along with their difficulties and potential applications.

Aims: Understanding the origins and domestication processes of cultivated crops, is crucial for understanding human civilization. Trapa, commonly known as water caltrop, belongs to the family Lythraceae and is an annual floating-leaf aquatic herb. As a traditional aquatic vegetable crop, the fruit of Trapa has long been a significant food source in early Chinese agricultural societies. However, in recent years, rapid urbanization in China has resulted in habitat destruction, posing a serious threat to its genetic diversity. Moreover, ‘Nanhuling’, a major cultivar of Trapa, holds high economic and cultural value, yet its origin and domestication history are not fully understood.
Methods: In this study, we employed population genomics to investigate the genetic diversity of cultivated water caltrop and the domestication history of ‘Nanhuling’. The dataset for this study was generated by whole-genome resequencing of 31 diploid cultivated T. natans and 23 diploid wild T. natans samples.
Results: Population genetic structure and differentiation indicated that wild and cultivated T. natans belonged to distinct gene pools. Cultivated T. natans originated from the diploid wild T. natans in the Yangtze River Basin. The overall genetic diversity level of cultivated T. natans is lower than that of wild T. natans (0.68 × 10⁻³ vs. 1.35 × 10⁻³), and the effective population size is significantly reduced compared to wild T. natans (~4,000 vs. ~7,700), suggesting that cultivated T. natans experienced a genetic bottleneck during domestication. Among cultivated T. natans, ‘Nanhuling’ exhibited the lowest level of genetic diversity and the slowest decay rate of linkage disequilibrium, which may be related to its high degree of domestication and strong selection pressure. Based on the population dynamic history inferred from the FASTSIMCOAL2 ancestral simulation model, we found that there had been gene flow events among ‘Nanhuling’, ‘Wuling’, and other cultivated T. natans. The domestication of ‘Nanhuling’ occurred approximately 669 years ago, consistent with literary records from the Ming Dynasty.
Conclusions: This study is significant as it deepens our understanding of the domestication and genetic evolution of cultivated T. natans. Insights gained from this work may help improve agriculturally valuable characteristics of T. natans, such as crop yields and nutrient content.

Aims: Baotianman National Nature Reserve is located in the southern Funiu Mountain range in the eastern Qinling Mountains. It is one of the hotspots of biodiversity research. However, the current understanding of earthworm diversity is limited in the literature. Our study aims to investigate the earthworm diversity and their geographical distribution in Baotianman National Nature Reserve, and to discuss the potential factors impacting the formation of earthworm diversity at a local scale.

Method: Earthworm specimens were collected from nine sampling sites at different altitudes in Baotianman National Nature Reserve during the rainy season using digging and hand-sorting method. Subsequently, five mitochondrial genes (COI, COII, ND1, 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) were extracted from the tail of the earthworms, and then sequenced. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the Bayesian method based on the five mitochondrial genes. The standardized effect size-phylogenetic diversity (SES-PD), net relatedness index (NRI), net nearest taxa index (NTI) and α diversity index were calculated using R. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the potential environmental factors influencing the formation of earthworm diversity. The combination of morphological and molecular methods facilitated the identification of the collected earthworms.

Results: A total of 14 earthworm species belonging to 5 genera and 3 families. The majority of these species were widely distributed across China with Megascolecidae as the dominant family. Earthworm species richness in the Baotianman National Nature Reserve increased with the altitude. However, the species diversity of earthworm at the altitude of 500-1,000 m was particularly abundant with a more uniform species distribution, which was consistent with the middle height expansion pattern. At the local scale, altitude exerted the greatest influence on both the species and phylogenetic diversity of earthworms, followed by soil properties and litter quality.

Conclusions: Baotianman National Nature Reserve stands out as a significant hotspot for earthworm diversity. The α diversity at the altitude of 500-1,000 m conforms to the middle height expansion pattern. The altitude, soil properties and litter quality play important roles in the formation of species diversity and phylogenetic diversity of earthworms, respectively. The study of earthworm species composition and diversity in Baotianman National Nature Reserve has enriched the species and gene bank of earthworms in China.