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Cadmium (Cd) is a major environmental pollutant that adversely affects plant growth and productivity, creating a need for effective mitigation strategies. This study aims to evaluate the impact of salicylic acid (SA) priming on the physio-biochemical characteristics of three mung bean varieties (Vigna radiata L.), namely NM-2006, NM-92, and Mash-88, under Cd stress. To achieve this, the mung bean varieties were subjected to Cd stress with and without SA priming, and their growth, chlorophyll content, protein levels, and oxidative stress markers were analyzed. Results showed significant reductions in growth, chlorophyll, and protein contents, alongside increased oxidative stress markers such as hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde under Cd stress. Moreover, Cd exposure also led to higher levels of proline, glycine betaine, and total soluble sugars. However, SA priming alleviated these adverse effects by enhancing growth, chlorophyll fluorescence, and protein content while reducing oxidative damage by upregulating the enzymatic antioxidant mechanism. Additionally, SA priming also modulated phytohormone levels, specifically increasing abscisic acid and jasmonic acid while decreasing ethylene. Comparative analysis revealed that NM-2006 suffered the most from Cd stress, NM-92 showed a better response to SA priming, and Mash-88 exhibited the least damage and greatest benefit from SA priming. These findings suggest that SA is an effective protective agent that enhances stress tolerance in mung bean varieties, offering valuable insights for improving crop resilience in contaminated environments., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Soil salinity and alkalinity severely suppress plant growth and crop yields. This study compared the effects of neutral and alkaline salt exposure, both individually and mixed, on metal content and morphophysiological responses in halophyte Haloxylon ammodendron. Our results showed that alkaline salt exposure more considerably inhibited the growth and photosynthesis of H. ammodendron than neutral salt exposure. Under neutral salt conditions, Na accumulated significantly, while K and Fe absorption was hindered. In contrast, under alkaline salt stress, Na accumulation was more pronounced, leading to a greater inhibition of K absorption. Additionally, Ca accumulation was promoted, while the transport of Fe, Mg, and Cu from root to shoot was suppressed. Alkaline salt stress also induced more severe osmotic stress, triggering a stronger accumulation of soluble sugars to counteract it. Furthermore, seedlings under alkaline stress showed higher levels of REL, H 2 O 2 , and MDA, but lower activities of SOD, POD, CAT, and APX, indicating increased oxidative damage. These findings suggest that H. ammodendron can adapt well to neutral salt stress through efficient antioxidant enzyme systems and osmotic stress regulation. In contrast, alkaline stress severely inhibits the absorption and transport of mineral elements and disrupts the balance of antioxidant enzymes. Besides, the deleterious effects of neutral-alkaline salt mixed stress were significantly less than those of alkaline stress alone, indicating a reciprocal enhancement between neutral and alkaline salt stress was occurred., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The rhizosphere microbiota, often referred to as the plant's "second genome" plays a critical role in modulating root system architecture (RSA). Despite this, existing methods to analyze root phenotypes in the context of root-microbe interactions remain limited, and the precise mechanisms affecting RSA by microbes are still not fully understood. This review comprehensively evaluates current root phenotyping techniques relevant to plant-microbe interactions, discusses their limitations, and explores future directions for integrating advanced technologies to elucidate microbial roles in altering RSA. Here, we summarized that microbial metabolite, primarily through auxin signaling pathways, drive root development changes. By harnessing advanced phenotyping tools, we aim to uncover more detailed mechanisms by which microbes modify RSA, providing valuable insights into strategies for optimizing nutrient uptake, bolstering food security, and enhancing resilience against climate-induced environmental stresses., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Background: Verticillium wilt is a critical disease affecting cotton in the Xinjiang province, a region producing 90% cotton in China. Defining the specific temperature thresholds for disease prevalence is essential but has remained unclear., Results: This study aimed to establish a model to quantify the relationship between temperature and cotton verticillium wilt disease risk. Through a controlled temperature experiment, we identified a nonlinear temperature relationship, with an optimal temperature of 26.5 °C. Then a beta model, parameterized from these findings, was validated against historical regional disease data, confirming its ability to accurately reflect interannual variations in disease occurrence and its direct applicability from laboratory to regional scales. We then utilized the model to project future disease risks under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) climate scenarios. The projections estimate a 4.8% to 10.1% increase in disease risks in Xinjiang by the 2080s under SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively., Conclusion: This research offers a valuable predictive tool for cotton verticillium wilt risks, informing strategic decisions for cotton production in the face of climate change. The successful application of a laboratory-derived model at a regional scale marks a significant advancement in plant disease risk assessment, underscoring temperature as a dominate factor in cotton disease dynamics. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.)

This review underscores the importance of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), fostering sustainability to address various environmental and biological issues. PGPR helps crops withstand salinity, nutrient deficiencies, and drought stress while tackling agricultural threats. Sustainable agriculture has emerged as a response to the social and economic problems farming practices face. Plants encounter obstacles from biotic stressors such as bacteria, viruses, nematodes, arachnids, and weeds that impede their growth. Furthermore, PGPR enhances plant growth through improved nutrient absorption and defense against pests. Bacillus subtilis utilizes indirect methods to combat diseases and protect plants from various diseases and pests. Additionally, PGPR acts as a bio-fertilizer that mitigates drought stress effects on crops in various regions worldwide. This review proposes strategies to boost productivity and improve bio-inoculant efficiency under real-world conditions. PGPR demonstrates its role in combating threats by influencing plant defense mechanisms, initiating systemic resistance responses, and regulating gene expression related to pathogen detection and defense signaling pathways. It maintains a balanced root microbiome by suppressing harmful microbial proliferation while promoting beneficial microbial interactions. Despite the challenges posed by technology and ethical considerations surrounding their modification, integrating PGPR into farming methods holds promise for sustainable agriculture. Given the increasing impact of climate change, PGPR plays a crucial role in improving crop resilience, enhancing soil quality, and reducing dependence on synthetic agricultural inputs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Shrub encroachment in grasslands has a major impact on soil carbon storage (SOC S ) and soil total nitrogen (STN S ), which affects nutrient cycling and ecosystem processes. We explored the effects of shrub encroachment on SOC S and STN S in five grassland types in the Altai Mountains: mountain meadows, temperate meadow steppe, temperate steppe, temperate steppe desert, and temperate desert steppe. Shrub encroachment considerably improved SOC S and STN S , with the greatest increases occurring in locations with high encroachment. The interaction between grassland type and encroachment extent also significantly influenced soil properties, including bulk density, soil water content, and microbial carbon and nitrogen. Specifically, SOC S increased by 16%, 77%, and 129%, and STN S increased by 43%, 94%, and 127% under low, medium, and high shrub encroachment, respectively. The soil stoichiometry shifted, with C/N ratios decreasing and C/P and N/P ratios increasing with shrub encroachment. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that shrub encroachment indirectly affected SOC S and STN S through changes in soil nutrients and climate. Our findings suggest that shrub encroachment promotes soil C sequestration and alters soil nutrient cycling, with implications for grassland management and ecological restoration in the face of global climate change.

The contamination of water resources by organic pollutants is a significant factor contributing to the scarcity of water resources. Furthermore, the various forms and quantities of organic pollutants present a considerable challenge to their management and remediation. Antibiotics and oil are two typical organic pollutants in water, which have a serious impact on the environment and biological health. It is thus imperative to eradicate these two principal pollutants from the aquatic environment. The remediation of polluted water by adsorption represents an effective approach, with the adsorbent's performance determining the process's efficacy. In this study, Pedicularis Kansuensis/graphene aerogel (PKGA) was prepared, and its adsorption performance of sulfadiazine (SDZ) with low concentration and oil with high concentration was investigated. The results demonstrated that PKGA has good adsorption and removal ability for both SDZ and oil in water. The porous structure, hydrophobicity, and oleophilicity of PKGA facilitate the effective elimination of organic contaminants from aqueous media. The adsorption of SDZ by PKGA is an endothermic spontaneous process. The equilibrium adsorption of SDZ by PKGA increased with increasing temperature and the theoretical maximum equilibrium adsorption at 35 °C was 70.67 mg/g. Additionally, the adsorption capacity of PKGA for oil ranged from 51.27 to 120.71 g/g, indicating its potential for oil-water separation. Notably, PKGA, a representative carbon-based material, exhibits a photothermal effect that enhances its adsorption capabilities for removing SDZ and viscous oil from water. This study offers a novel perspective on organic pollutant adsorption and removal in water., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Experimental studies have shown that symbiotic relationships between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and host plants can regulate soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Although the impacts of mycorrhiza are highly context-dependent, it remains unclear how these effects vary across broad spatial scales. Based on data from 2296 field sites across grassland ecosystems of China, here we show that mycorrhizal fungi symbiosis enhances SOC storage in the topsoil and subsoil through increasing plant diversity and elevating biomass allocation to belowground. SOC storage is significantly higher in both the topsoil and subsoil in systems dominated by obligate mycorrhizal (OM) and facultative mycorrhizal (FM) plants than those dominated by nonmycorrhizal (NM) plants. Also, the relative abundance of OM plants increases at the expense of FM plants as temperature and precipitation increase. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential mechanisms by which mycorrhizal fungi may influence grassland plant diversity and SOC storage in the context of global change., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Nano-plastics (NPs), defined as particles smaller than 1 µm, have emerged as a significant environmental contaminant due to their potential ecological impacts. This study explores the size-dependent dynamics and tissue-specific distribution of polystyrene nano-plastics (PS-NPs) in Danio rerio exposed to PS-NPs at an environmentally relevant concentration of 1 μg/mL for 28 days, followed by a 17-day depuration period. PS-NPs of 20, 100, 200, and 500 nm were assessed in the intestine, liver, gills, muscle, and brain using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Smaller PS-NPs (20 nm) showed the highest accumulation in the intestine, followed by the liver, and gills, due to their greater surface area and cellular penetration. In contrast, larger PS-NPs (500 nm) exhibited lower accumulation and clearance rates, especially in the brain, suggesting restricted passage through biological barriers. The intestine consistently had the highest concentrations in both accumulation and depuration, while the brain maintained the lowest across all nanoparticle sizes. During depuration, smaller particles cleared more quickly, whereas larger particles persisted. This study highlights the tissue-specific distribution and retention patterns of PS-NPs in D. rerio, providing insights into nanoparticle behavior in aquatic organisms and the need for long-term size-specific environmental risk assessments., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper provides a comprehensive review and an in-depth analysis of the multifaceted issues surrounding food security in China, exploring historical trends, current challenges, and future strategies. Drawing upon a wide range of sources including government reports, the academic literature, and expert analyses, it examines the complex interplay of factors influencing food production, distribution, and consumption in China. The paper highlights the importance of addressing environmental sustainability, technological innovation, and social equity in shaping China's food security agenda. By synthesizing key findings and proposing actionable recommendations, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on food security in China and offers insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners alike. These findings underscore the need for integrated policies that promote sustainable agricultural practices, technological innovation, and infrastructure development while supporting smallholder farmers, ensuring that China's food security remains resilient in the face of climate change and evolving global food dynamics.

The urbanization process is complex and lengthy, typically resulting in dual changes in the socioeconomic structure and ecological environment. However, in the context of arid environments and initial urbanization, emerging towns undergo evolutionary processes different from those of traditional cities. This study focuses on a typical town, analyzing its growth under the combined effects of arid conditions and incipient urbanization. The results reveal a unique urbanization trajectory in the hinterland of southern Xinjiang: transitioning from refined agricultural planting to shrubland and bare land dominated by natural factors and then to impervious surfaces. While the pattern was complex, the direction of transition was clear. Using the town's establishment in 2014 as a critical node for urbanization initiation, shrubland emerged as the most sensitive land type, with a proportional increase by a factor of 2.6 from 2010 to 2015. This was driven by the abandonment of cultivated land, which decreased by 11.3% during the study period, with 78% of the newly added shrubland area converted from cropland. By applying the Markov model together with the InVEST model, the study predicted urban land-use transition patterns over the next 5 years and revealed that urbanization primarily exacerbates the instability of water yield in the surrounding region. This study uniquely addresses the gap in understanding the impacts of the urbanization process of emerging towns in arid regions and its associated ecological processes. A detailed investigation of such urbanization is crucial to mitigating issues like disorderly land use and promoting the sustainable development of small and medium-sized towns., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: All the authors have read, understood, and complied as applicable with the statement on “Ethical responsibilities of Authors.” Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In complex and diverse environments, plants face constant challenges from various pathogens, including fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which can severely impact their growth, development, and survival. Mosses, representing early divergent lineages of land plants, lack traditional vascular systems yet demonstrate remarkable adaptability across diverse habitats. While sharing the fundamental innate immune systems common to all land plants, mosses have evolved distinct chemical and physical defense mechanisms. Notably, they exhibit resistance to many pathogens that typically affect vascular plants. Their evolutionary significance, relatively simple morphology, and well-conserved defense mechanisms make mosses excellent model organisms for studying plant-pathogen interactions. This article reviews current research on moss-pathogen interactions, examining host-pathogen specificity, characterizing infection phenotypes and physiological responses, and comparing pathogen susceptibility and defense mechanisms between mosses and angiosperms. Through this analysis, we aim to deepen our understanding of plant immune system evolution and potentially inform innovative approaches to enhancing crop disease resistance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2025 Zhang, Yang, Wang, Liu, Zhang, Duan and Li.)

Urban development leads to frequent changes in land use, which leads to temporal and spatial variation of carbon emissions. In this study, land use change data, economic and social data, and energy consumption data of Nanchang City from 2000 to 2020 were used to estimate the spatio-temporal evolution of carbon emissions in Nanchang City, and the LMDI model was used to identify the main driving factors affecting the change of carbon emissions in Nanchang City. It is found that from 2000 to 2020, the carbon emission of Nanchang City has a great change, showing a "parabolic" change law, that is, rising first and then decreasing. Comparing the carbon emissions of various districts and counties, the central city is higher than the surrounding districts and counties. Economic development, land use activities and population status have a positive effect on the increase of carbon emissions, and carbon emission intensity per unit of land and land intensity per unit of GDP have a positive effect on the reduction of carbon emissions. The adjustment and optimization of energy consumption structure and the improvement of human-land policies in Nanchang from the perspectives of optimizing land use layout and structure, rationally controlling population size, and advocating low-carbon lifestyle are conducive to the construction of ecological civilization and sustainable development of Nanchang., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Mercury (Hg) contamination of soil poses a significant threat to ecological and human health. Integrating risk assessment with a comprehensive analysis of the physical and chemical properties of soil enables macroscopic understanding of the potential risks associated with Hg. The integrated risk assessment framework was achieved by applying a projection pursuit clustering (PPC) model that considered ecological and human health risks, soil environmental factors derived from the SHapley Additive Explanation-eXtreme Gradient Boosting (SHAP-XGBoost) model, and exposure risk vulnerability. It was found that the concentrations of Hg in the soils of the Syr Darya River Basin ranged from 3.70 to 40.10 ng/g and Fe 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3, and soil organic carbon (SOC) were important factors in the variation in Hg concentrations. Regions with a high risk of soil Hg were identified using the proposed integrated risk assessment framework, with the geographical distribution concentrated near the cities of Kyzylorda and Kazalinsk. From the perspective of different land use types, shrub soil sampling sites had the largest percentage of high Hg risk values, followed by cropland, bare land, and grassland. These findings confirm that the combined risk values depend not only on Hg concentrations, but also on environmental variables and socioeconomic conditions. Integrated risk assessment of soil Hg is based on machine learning and projection pursuit clustering models, which can provide a novel perspective for potential toxic element pollution evaluation, prevention, and treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Soil minerals and glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), as key soil binding agents, play a crucial role in enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, the key driving mechanisms of SOC accumulation process mediated by soil minerals and GRSP remain poorly understood in the arid elevation gradients. This study aimed to evaluate how soil minerals and GRSP affect SOC accumulation across an elevation gradient ranging from 1707 to 3548 m a.s.l on the northern slope of the Central Kunlun Mountains. We collected soil samples from two depths (0-10 cm and 10-30 cm) across the elevation gradient. Bulk soil organic carbon (OC), aggregate-associated OC content, Al/Fe oxides, Ca 2+ , and GRSP all increased along the elevational gradient at both soil depths of 0-10 cm and 10-30 cm. Specifically, microaggregate OC constituted the larger proportion and played a crucial role in promoting SOC accumulation. Random forest analysis revealed that soil minerals (41.63-60.75%) were the dominant factors driving SOC accumulation. Partial least squares path modelling revealed that SOC accumulation was directly influenced by GRSP, climate, and elevation; indirectly influenced by soil minerals and physiochemical factors. Soil minerals regulated SOC accumulation primarily through GRSP. Overall, the contribution of soil minerals to SOC accumulation processes in mountain ecosystems was considerably greater than that of climate and vegetation. These findings highlight the critical of soil minerals and GRSP factors in regulating SOC accumulation in arid mountain ecosystem, providing valuable insights for climate change mitigation strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Determining the effects of different scales on the geographical distribution of ecosystem services and validating the underlying driving mechanisms have been considered to be the keys to the sustainable management of ecosystem services. Our goal was to look at the Tarim River Basin's sub-watershed and county level trade-offs, synergistic linkages, and driving forces among habitat quality, soil conservation, and carbon storage. Variations in ecosystem services in the scenarios of natural land use and farmland preservation in 2030 under the influence of precipitation. The findings indicate the following: (1) The northern mountainous region has the majority of the high-value ecosystem service areas. Woodland contains highly valuable carbon reserves. (2) Correlations between different ecosystem services can vary across scale. The strength of synergistic relationship in sub-basins is higher than the county scale. Ecosystem services exhibit both synergistic and trade-off relationships in space on the two scales, with low-low agglomeration being the primary type of synergistic association. (3) Precipitation is the driver that affects ecosystem services the most. At the sub-basin level, precipitation and habitat quality are traded off with carbon storage. (4) By 2030, agricultural conservation scenarios and ecosystem services in natural scenarios will work in concert. Furthermore, synergistic are ecosystem services and precipitation., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Travel time estimation (TTE) is a critical function in intelligent driving systems. Current research and applications related to TTE primarily focus on urban environments. The objective of this study is to develop TTE methods that are applicable to wilderness areas characterized by plateau and mountainous topography. We selected Transformer, which has greater robustness in capturing long-distance dependencies than LSTM, to develop a Transformer-based model. The model simultaneously integrates positional encoding and multi-head self-attention mechanisms with the objective of enhancing the accuracy of travel time predictions based on a substantial number of trajectory points in wilderness settings. A meta-learning strategy was employed to improve the model's generalization ability, thereby ensuring its applicability for accurate travel time estimation across a range of challenging environments. Two datasets were constructed based on measurements from two selected areas in eligible plateau and mountainous regions of western China. For each dataset, two categories of features were defined: terrain-weather features and spatio-temporal features. These categories were established in accordance with the influence of seven specific features on traffic conditions in both urban and wilderness areas. Experiments were conducted on both datasets utilizing terrain-weather features. When evaluated alongside the five models that are most commonly utilized in urban settings, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of our model exhibited a 14.89% improvement in plateau environments and a 12.20% improvement in mountainous environments in comparison with the most effective model, namely MetaTTE-GRU. These findings substantiate the assertion that the proposed model is an effective means of estimating travel times in complex environments, and that it exhibits superior accuracy compared to existing LSTM-based estimation models., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Nuts are famous and popular for their ability to nourish the brain. The effects of nuts differ depending on their phospholipid compositions, but unfortunately, studies on phospholipids in nuts are lacking. Therefore, the phospholipid compositions of pecan, hickory, and walnut, which are all from the Juglandaceae family, were analyzed and compared for the first time in this study. A total of 91 phospholipids from 10 classes were identified, while phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidic acid are the major classes of phospholipids in these nuts. The substituted fatty acid chains were mainly polyunsaturated fatty acids, followed by saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids in PCs, PEs, and all the phospholipids in the three types of nuts. Given that pecans have the highest total phospholipid content, PC content, PE content, and phosphatidylserine (PS) content of among the three nuts, and considering that PC, PE, and PS have been reported to enhance memory, pecans were chosen for further pharmacological analysis. Relatively high-purity (56.1%) pecan phospholipid extract (51.6 g) was obtained from pecan kernels (70 kg) to obtain more accurate biological activity results. The biological activity of pecan phospholipids was evaluated by behavioral tests, including the step-through test, the step-down test, and the Morris water maze test. A total of 210 mice were divided into seven groups and intragastrically administered pecan phospholipids (120, 60, and 30 mg kg -1 ), while soy phospholipids (400 and 200 mg kg -1 ) were used as positive controls. The results indicated that pecan phospholipids possess learning- and memory-enhancing abilities comparable to those of soy phospholipids. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The phospholipid compositions of pecan, hickory, and walnut were analyzed and compared for the first time in this study, providing guidance for the future utilization of the valuable oils from these nuts. The findings of this study lay the groundwork for the future utilization of phospholipids from these types of nuts., (© 2025 Institute of Food Technologists.)

Understanding the intricate interplay between plant and soil microbiomes and their effects on plant growth and productivity is vital in a rapidly changing climate. This review explores the interconnected impacts of climate change on plant-soil microbiomes and their profound effects on agricultural productivity. The ongoing rise in global temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns and extreme weather events significantly affect the composition and function of microbial communities in the rhizosphere. Changes in microbial diversity and activity due to rising temperatures impact nutrient cycling, microbial enzyme synthesis, soil health and pest and disease management. These changes also influence the dynamics of soil microbe communities and their capability to promote plant health. As the climate changes, plants' adaptive capacity and microbial partners become increasingly crucial for sustaining agriculture. Mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on plant growth and agricultural productivity requires a comprehensive understanding of the interconnected mechanisms driving these processes. It highlights various strategies for mitigating and adapting to environmental challenges, including soil management, stress-tolerant crops, cover cropping, sustainable land and water management, crop rotation, organic amendments and the development of climate-resilient crop varieties. It emphasises the need for further exploration of plant-soil microbiomes within the broader context of climate change. Promising mitigation strategies, including precision agriculture and targeted microbiome modifications, offer valuable pathways for future research and practical implementation of global food security and climate change., (© 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Human-driven vegetation management practices (VMPs) employed in agricultural activities and livelihoods pose potential threats to native plant communities. However, there remains a significant gap in comprehensive understanding regarding the long-term effects of VMPs on the ecological multifunctionality of plant-soil systems within desert ecosystems. Therefore, it is essential to conduct thorough studies and analyses examining the implications of these practices on plant-soil interactions to enable informed decision-making regarding the effective management of desert ecosystems. The Taklamakan Desert in China, which is recognized as one of the largest and driest deserts globally, serves as a valuable model for investigating the impact of human activities on desert environments. This study assessed the long-term (16 years) effects of four distinct VMPs-control (no disturbance), burning, spring cutting, and autumn cutting, as well as irrigation-on Alhagi sparsifolia and its associated soil layers (0-50 cm and 50-100 cm) under realistic field conditions. The irrigation treatment increased aboveground biomass, reduced electrical conductivity and sodium concentration, and decreased soil organic carbon pools across both soil layers. Conversely, spring and autumn cutting led to diminished plant biomass and nutritional value. While autumn cutting increased soil cation levels and effectively lowered salinity compared to control plots, spring cutting did not yield significant effects on these functions. Burning, on the other hand, significantly reduced plant biomass and increased soil salinity but unexpectedly enhanced certain soil functions, likely attributable to the low intensity of the fire and the sparse plant coverage typical of desert ecosystems. All VMPs exhibited dual effects, promoting specific ecological functions while compromising others. The harvesting of vegetation, particularly during the spring, along with burning practices, may considerably disrupt the fragile equilibrium of the plant-soil system and associated ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment to evaluate the overall balance of benefits and drawbacks of VMPs is crucial. To foster the sustainable management and utilization of desert plant communities to combat desertification, it is imperative to implement key actions, including providing alternative fuel sources, assessment of annual biomass consumption, and capacity-building initiatives for farmers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The ecological security of lakes in arid areas is crucial for the sustainable development of regional society and the economy. The threat of dry lake-bottom dust and degradation of vegetation around lakes has become increasingly significant. This study proposes the maintenance of an optimal water surface area to ensure the ecological safety goals of Ebinur Lake. The study also conducts a scenario analysis of the amount of water entering the lake. Utilizing a Systeme Hydrologique Europeen (MIKE SHE) watershed model with four different inflow scenarios, the study simulated the Ebinur Lake's area changes under various water replenishment scenarios. Replenishment scenarios that meet the ecological security goals were selected for this study. The results indicate that maintaining a lake surface area of 710 km 2 or more during warm season can prevent wind and sand fixation, while a lake surface area of no less than 500 km 2 during dry season may help maintain ecological security. To ensure ecological security during dry years, the Kuitun River should annually replenish the Ebinur Lake with 1.75 × 10 8  m 3 . These findings provide valuable insights a practical tool for the ecological restoration and management of lakes in arid areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Vegetation restoration potential (VRP) assessment is an important aspect and foundation of ecological restoration projects. Neglecting the carrying capacity of the natural environment in the formulation and implementation of ecological restoration projects often leads to diminished effectiveness or even environmental damage. Existing models for VRP either overly rely on empirical knowledge, resulting in low efficiency and reproducibility, or fail to consider the nonlinear relationship between the natural environment and vegetation cover, leading to low accuracy in assessment results. Building upon existing models, this study proposes a new Vegetation Restoration Potential Mapping (VRPM) model based on a dual-variable discretization method for habitat similarity division and machine learning. Focused on Central Asia as the research area, the study evaluates the vegetation restoration potential of the region and validates the model. The results demonstrate that this model efficiently produces high-resolution and high-precision vegetation restoration potential maps. The average VRP in Central Asia is relatively low, around 36%, with most areas already having vegetation cover close to or reaching their restoration potential The regions with a higher degree of unrealized vegetation restoration potential (VRPU) are mainly distributed near human settlements, while VRPU is negative in some areas around the desert-oasis boundaries and artificial structures in the desert. The findings of this research demonstrate that the model can provide a basis for planning and implementing ecological restoration projects, thereby aiding in the health and sustainable development of ecosystems in arid regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The present research work was done to evaluate the anatomical differences among selected species of the family Bignoniaceae, as limited anatomical data is available for this family in Pakistan. Bignoniaceae is a remarkable family for its various medicinal properties and anatomical characterization is an important feature for the identification and classification of plants., Methodology: In this study, several anatomical structures were examined, including stomata type and shape, leaf epidermis shape, epidermal cell size, and the presence or absence of trichomes and crystals (e.g., prisms, raphides, and druses). Three statistical tools-heat map analysis, correlation analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA)-were used to highlight distinctions and similarities among the species., Results: On both the upper and lower leaf surfaces, polygonal, irregular, and hexagonal epidermal cells with thick cell walls were observed. Three patterns of anticlinal cell walls were detected: curved, straight, and sinuous. Distinct stomatal types were also identified across the different species. For instance, sunken stomata were observed in Kigelia africana and Jacaranda mimosaefolia, while anomocytic stomata were found in Oroxylum indicum, Pyrostegia venusta, Tecoma stans, Tecomella undulata, Mansoa alliacea, Heterophragma adenophylla, Handroanthus impetiginosus, Campsis radicans, and Anemopaegma chamberlaynii. Paracytic stomata were examined in B. callistegioides and Dolichandra unguis-cati. Tabebuia aurea was the only species with Tetracytic stomata. A contiguous type of stomata was only observed in Millingtonia hortensis. This family contained three types of trichomes. Glandular peltate trichomes contained a basal epidermal cell, a very small monocellular stalk and a circular or round multicellular head containing 12 cells arranged in a single circle. Non-glandular trichomes had a thin apex without a head and a pointed end. Branched trichomes contained several arms arising from a common base., Conclusion: This anatomical examination, using advanced microscopic techniques, is the first to classify several species that are not listed in the e-flora of Pakistan. Leaf anatomical research has proven valuable in resolving challenging taxonomic issues., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable—this manuscript has no personal data from the authors. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Competing of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Under the influence of global climate change and human activities, forest expansion has become increasingly significant in shaping ecosystems. However, its effects on soil microbial communities remain poorly understood. This study investigates the impacts of forest expansion on soil bacteria, fungi, and protists within mountaintop forest ecosystems. Soil samples were collected from three forest habitats: non-forest expansion mountaintops (NFE-Top), forest expansion mountaintops (FE-Top) and mountain bottoms (FE-Bottom). This study revealed that forest expansion promoted microbial sharing between mountaintop and bottom forests, resulting in greater community similarity between FE-Top and FE-Bottom compared to NFE-Top and FE-Bottom. Notably, forest expansion significantly reduced microbial diversity and altered community composition, particularly within bacterial communities. Microbial network analyses indicated that forest expansion mountaintops were more stable, with higher robustness, and lower vulnerability than non-forest expansion mountaintops. Stochastic assembly processes dominated the microbial communities across all forest habitats, with their relative importance increasing after forest expansion. Furthermore, forest expansion decreased the community-level habitat niche breadth of microbial communities. Distinct environmental factors were the primary indicators of microbial community dissimilarities across different habitats, with TP, pH, and moisture acting as key indicators of these differences in NFE-Top, FE-Top, and FE-Bottom, respectively. These findings highlight the important role of forest expansion in shaping microbial community dynamics and emphasize the potential of microbial communities as indicators of ecosystem changes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Bassia scoparia is a widespread weedy species in the temperate regions of the world and is valued as a medicinal and ornamental plant. To date, the taxonomic concept of B. scoparia remains insufficiently studied due to a limited number of samples used in the previous phylogenetic analyses. To solve the taxonomy of the B. scoparia complex, we constructed a new phylogeny based on the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), plastid intergenic spacer atpB-rbcL, and plastid region rpL16 intron sequences for numerous samples with diverse morphology. Our analysis revealed a close proximity and intermixed positions of the samples of the B. scoparia group with various morphology. Because of this polyphyly, we prefer to broadly delimit the species. An updated nomenclature of B. scoparia is provided including four new synonyms: Bassia angustifolia , B. littorea , Kochia albovillosa, and K. scoparia subsp. hirsutissima . In its new circumscription, B. scoparia encompasses populations with glabrous or variously hairy leaves and perianths. The original material of Kochia sieversiana , previously considered a species with hairy leaves and inflorescences, has the same diagnostic characters as in B. scoparia s.str. The correct name for more hairy-leaved plants is B. scoparia var. subvillosa. Plants with hairy perianths known as Kochia albovillosa and K. scoparia subsp. hirsutissima have a restricted distribution in Central Asia and South Siberia and have never been recorded as alien in other regions; they can be classified as a separate variety, B. scoparia var. hirsutissima . The ornamental variant of oblong or pyramidal shape may be called B. scoparia var. trichophila . Bassia scoparia is often confused with a similarly looking relative, B. indica , especially in North Africa, a region where secondary ranges of both species overlap. Phylogenetically, these species are sister groups; they share some morphological characters but have different primary distribution ranges. We traced a recent expansion of B. indica in the Mediterranean with the first record reported from the European continent (Spain) and uncovered various introduction pathways of the species in this region.

De novo organogenesis from somatic cells to the entire plant represents a remarkable biological phenomenon, but the underlying regulatory mechanism, particularly at the epigenetic level, remains obscure. In this work, we demonstrate the important role of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in shoot organogenesis. HDAC inhibition by trichostatin A (an HDAC inhibitor) at the callus induction stage promotes shoot formation in wounded roots and circumvents tissue wounding to initiate shoot regeneration in unwounded roots. This HDAC inhibition-mediated promotion of shoot organogenesis in wounded roots is associated with the concomitant upregulation of the wound signaling pathway ( WOUND INDUCED DEDIFFERENTIATION 4, ENHANCER OF SHOOT REGENERATION1, ISOPENTENYLTRANSFERASE 5 , CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON 2 etc.) and the ARF-LBD pathway ( AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR 19, LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES-DOMAIN 29 , etc.) and the downregulation of auxin biosynthesis and reduced auxin content. Furthermore, inhibiting HDACs enhances the local enrichment of histone 3 lysine 9/lysine 14 acetylation at ISOPENTENYLTRANSFERASE 5 , supporting the role of histone acetylation in its transcriptional regulation. On the other hand, the HDAC inhibition-associated activation of shoot organogenesis from unwounded roots is coupled with increased expression of the ARF-LBD pathway gene LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES-DOMAIN 29 while bypassing the wound signaling or auxin biosynthetic genes. These findings provide novel insights into the regulatory mechanisms underlying de novo shoot organogenesis and lay a foundation for the improvement of plant transformation technologies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2025 Pan, Huang, Xiao, Wu, Jian, Xiang, Gan, Liu, Li, Gu and Liu.)

In the past decades, dozens of invasion hypotheses have been proposed to elucidate the invasion mechanisms of exotic species. Among them, the accumulation of local pathogens hypothesis (ALPH) posits that invasive plants can accumulate local generalist pathogens that have more negative effect on native species than on themselves; as a result, invasive plants might gain competitive advantages that eventually lead to their invasion success. However, research on this topic is still quite insufficient. In this context, we performed a comprehensive literature survey in order to provide a detailed description of the origin and theoretical framework of ALPH; in addition, challenges in contemporary research such as limitations in technical methods and the complexity of interactions between plants and soil microorganisms, as well as future directions of ALPH research, are also discussed in this review. So far, there are less than ten case studies supporting ALPH; therefore, more work is needed to demonstrate whether ALPH is a suitable hypothesis to elucidate the invasion success of certain plant species., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics Approval: Not applicable Consent to Participate: Not applicable Consent to Publish: Not applicable Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Asian monsoon systems influence billions of people and understanding past monsoon variability and dynamics is instructive in predicting future trajectories. Recent studies have demonstrated that insolation, plus interrelated changes in ice-sheet extent and volume, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), have controlled the magnitude of millennial-scale East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) variability during the Quaternary. However, it is unclear how the EASM varied at both orbital and millennial timescales, and whether orbital-scale variations impacted millennial-scale variations, during intervals lacking large permanent NH ice sheets at times when CO 2 levels were close to the present-day value of approximately 400 ppm. Here, we present high-resolution (∼1-kyr) dry-wet variation records from late Miocene eolian sediments in the Jianzha Basin of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, spanning an interval when CO 2 levels were persistently close to the modern level and the NH lacked large permanent ice sheets. Our results reveal orbital-scale forcing interwoven with millennial cycles. In contrast to dominant precession and eccentricity forcing of the EASM at orbital scales, the amplitude variations of millennial-scale EASM cycles exhibit strong obliquity (and its modulating cycle) forcing and weak precession forcing. This pattern is different from the pattern observed in either the Quaternary or early Miocene, which we attribute to the effects of different boundary conditions., (Copyright © 2025 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)