The Hengduan Mountains (HDM) biodiversity hotspot of China exhibits exceptional plant diversity (about 12,800 seed plant species are recognized), with many different alpine plants present in the subnival zone.
Carotenoids are yellow to red pigments synthesized by all photosynthetic organisms. Lutein, β-carotene, and zeaxanthin are essential carotenoids for human health, serving as provitamin A or retina pigments. Human and animals have to obtain these carotenoids from their diets.
The genus Cuscuta (common name dodder; Convolvulaceae) consists of about 200 species, which are stem parasites. Cuscuta parasites have no roots or leaves and their stems coil around host shoots to form haustoria.
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region, generally the naturally growing or native plant life, and it is a natural synthesis of family, genus, and species of plant life.
Fungi are one of the five pillars of biodiversity in the ecosystem and occupy a wide range of ecological niches.
There are increasing concerns that global biodiversity loss and species composition changes under the global change (i.e., climatic change, land use change, human disturbance etc.) will have a direct negative impact on ecosystem functioning. However, the mechanisms underpinning the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships remain unresolved.
The grass family (Poaceae) is one of the largest families within angiosperms with about 12,000 species, providing with most of food crops for human and domestic animals as well as other extensive utilities.
As an early responder in the surveillance of malignant cells, natural killer (NK) cells play a significant role in the control of transformed cells at the initiation stage through direct cytolysis, therefore NK cell-based immunotherapy is a potential therapeutic strategy for tumor sufferers.
the online database of International Camellia Register (DICR) is formally open.
