Species identification is the keystone of biodiversity conservation. For the endangered and economically important IUCN- and CITES- listed taxa, a rapid and accurate species identification system is a critical component of bio-surveillance, conservation management, and potentially policing illegal trades, which in turn will mitigate the extinction risk of biodiversity.
Flowers are one of the key evolutionary innovations that characterize angiosperm diversification, with selection of floral traits by pollinators considered to be an important driver of this diversity.
Herbal teas, defined as water based infusions/decoctions prepared with herbal ingredients other than Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (Theaceae) have long been consumed by Chinese people for preventive and/or therapeutic healthcare.
Early-diverging land plants have relatively simple morphologies and structures, but they have a strong ability to adapt to terrestrial environments. Previous studies have shown that lineage-specific genes played an important role in the adaptation of early-diverging land plants, but how these genes originated and evolved remains elusive.
Woody debris (WD) is a critical but often overlooked component of forest ecosystems. WD represents a globally significant carbon stock, and its decomposition returns nutrients to the soil while providing habitat to microbes, plants and animals. Understanding what drives WD decomposition is therefore vitally important when building models of climate change and nutrient cycles.
It has long been known that when a plant is attacked by herbivores, defense responses are generated, which travels from the wounded organ to other parts of the plant that thwarts further attack by the herbivores. Many parasites, especially the holoparasitic ones, usually have highly altered morphologies, special ecology, and evolutionary histories. How parasites respond to insect herbivory and ...
Polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs), possessing highly oxygenated acylphloroglucinol-derived cores decorated with isoprenyl or geranyl side-chains, are a group of structurally fascinating and synthetically challenging natural products that collectively exhibit a broad range of biological activities.
The fern genus Pteris was published by Linnaeus in 1753. The genus contains ca. 200 to 250 species, distributed throughout the tropical, subtropical, and temperate areas of all continents except Antarctica.
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.
