News
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2025-11-13New Study Reveals Microbial Network Restructuring Mitigates Long-Term Soil Carbon Emissions from WarmingA decade-long warming experiment in a subtropical forest reveals that soil microbial communities reorganize into more stable networks, enhancing carbon use efficiency and partially offsetting initial warming-induced carbon losses. Soils release approximately 40–60 petagrams (Pg) of carbon annually into the atmosphere through microbial metabolism. Climate warming is projected to further enhance soil microbial respiration, intensifying positive carbon–climate feedback loops. However, it remains unclear whether this feedback might weaken over several years.To address this ...Read More -
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2025-11-12New Study Identifies Key Anti-Insect Monoterpenes in Sphagneticola trilobata and Reveals Their Biosynthetic Originα-Phellandrene, limonene, and p-cymene are the main volatiles with anti-insect effects in S. trilobata.StTPS3 is localized in the cytoplasm and may use GPP and FPP to synthesize limonene. Planting Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski around airport runways is known to reduce insect density and bird activity, lowering the risk of bird strikes. Yet its insect-repelling mechanism and the biosynthesis of its active compounds have remained unclear.New study published in the Journal of Advanced Research, titled “Inhibitor treatment and...Read More -
2025-11-12Phylogenomics deciphers the mechanisms underlying the rapid radiation of Aspidistra (Asparagaceae)The reported study investigated the evolutionary radiation of the plant genus Aspidistra, revealing it to be one of the fastest known plant radiations in the Old World flora. The study further provides new insights into how abiotic and biotic factors act both independently and synergistically to shape the speciation rate, broadening our understa... Understanding how and why species diversify across time and space is a central question in evolutionary biology, with the key aim of revealing the drivers of rapid radiation. Currently, there are two main perspectives explaining the mechanisms driving evolutionary radiation, focusing on biotic and abiotic factors, respectively. The "Court Jester...Read More -
2025-10-30Researchers discover an untapped allele under high seed protein content from wild soybeansA research team led by Prof. HOU Xingliang from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has employed Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS) to identify a rare allele lost in soybean domestication controlling seed protein content. AbstractA research team led by Prof. HOU Xingliang from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has employed Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS) to identify a rare allele lost in soybean domestication controlling seed protein content.Main TextDomesticating wild plants into crops was a pivotal breakthrough in human ...Read More -
2025-10-28Unraveling the Mechanism of Heavy Metal Biomineralization by Indigenous BacteriaHeavy metal contamination is a critical environmental threat requiring sustainable remediation solutions. This study demonstrates the high efficacy of microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) using Bacillus strains to immobilize cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in aqueous systems. While both metals were removed at high efficiencies (>98%) in s... With the continuous expansion of industrialization and agricultural activities, contamination of water bodies and soils by heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) has evolved into a severe global environmental challenge. These toxic metals are not only persistent in the environment and highly bio-toxic, but also readily bioaccumulate thr...Read More -
2025-10-11Subtropical Forests Soils May Continue to Store Carbon Under Moderate WarmingClimate warming increases both above- and below-ground temperatures, altering plant-soil interactions and reshaping soil organic carbon dynamics. This study found that some subtropical forests could continue to accumulate SOC under future moderate warming, albeit with distinct accumulation patterns of different SOC fractions across soil layers. ... A long-term field experiment has revealed that humid subtropical forests may continue to accumulate soil carbon under moderate warming, challenging the long-held assumption that global warming inevitably turns these ecosystems into carbon sources. This finding has been published in One Earth on October 6, 2025.Led by Prof. LIU Juxiu from the Sou...Read More -
2025-10-11Genomic Diversity Decodes Evolutionary Mystery of "Living Fossil" Tree FernsThe evolutionary mechanisms enabling the "living fossils" Cyatheaceae tree ferns, with conserved morphology since the Jurassic, to exhibit high resilience and diversity remain unclear. Our study reveals that an ancient whole-genome duplication event provided the genetic basis for their adaptation and diversification, while ongoing genomic plasti... Cyatheaceae tree ferns represent a typical ancient relict group within pteridophytes, drawing significant attention due to their archaic origins and distinctive tree-like forms. Their macroscopic morphology has remained highly conserved since the Jurassic period, earning them the reputation as "living fossils" from the age of dinosaurs. Despite ...Read More