Reseach News:
9. Biodiversity managements are always hot topics in China that harbors so much hyper-biodiversity. However, biodiversity loss is continuing as economic growth is accelerating during recent decades. Questions that need to be addressed with regard to the conflict between biodiversity conservation and economic growth are: how much conservation effort is required and what measures are necessary to reconcile conflicts. A commentary has been published in Biodiversity and Conservation for this.
8. It is not difficult to be impressed by the grandeur of the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains (HHM) and the rich biodiversity it hosts, but it is difficult to reconstruct how its biodiversity and elevation evolved. Thus, we clarify the biodiversity and elevation in the HHM via Quercus sect. Heterobalanus, and the paper was published in Molecular Ecology. In this research, "Warm-Cold colonization" was proposed to explain the response of Quercus sect. Heterobalanus to the HHM uplift, whereas the response of the oaks to the uplift, colonizing from the warm region to cold plateau, imprinted the geological evolution of the HHM. Therefore, to a certain extent, the evolutionary history of these oaks illuminates the geological uplift of the HHM.
7. One paper has been selected as one of 4 JSE Outstanding Papers Award for 2014 and 2015. Winners of the JSE Outstanding Paper Award have received a notification, a certificate and awarded with $800.
6. Research on fossil fruits of Palaeocarya (Juglandaceae) from late Miocene sediments of southeast Yunnan is published in Journal of Systematics and Evolution. According to the global fossils records (ages and regions) and modern distribution of the close relatives, e.g., Engelhardia, Alfaropsis and Oreomunnea, we propose that the wide distribution of Palaeocarya and relatively narrow distributions of close relatives might be associated with a stepwise cooling and a major ice-sheet expansion in the Antarctic and Arctic from the late middle Miocene to early Pliocene. In particular, the climatic oscillations during the Quaternary, such as the last glacial maximum, might have led to decrease in the geographic distribution of Engelhardieae.
5. The Figure of Bauhinia leaves fossils, that we have published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, has been chosen as "12 months, 12 pictures: the best images from 2014 in BMC Evolutionary Biology."—— A picture can catch our eyes over the last 12 months in 2014. Additionally, this work was selected and commented in "Research Advances on Plant Science in China in 2014".
4. Biogeography of Bauhinia s.l. hsa been revealed from the fossil records and molecular analyses. The paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology was published on 10th Aug, 2014. In this study, we suggest that Bauhinia originated in the middle Paleocene in Laurasia, probably in Asia, implying a possible Tethys Seaway origin or an “Out of Tropical Asia”, and dispersal of legumes. Its present pantropical disjunction resulted from disruption of the boreotropical flora by climatic cooling after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). North Atlantic land bridges (NALB) seem the most plausible route for migration of Bauhinia from Asia to America; and long distance dispersal (LDD) from Eurasia to the African and American continents.
3. A review about plant phylogeography in arid Northwest China is published in Journal of Systematics and Evolution. The phylogeographical studies are very usual in other sections of China, however, phylogeographical application for arid Northwest China has begun to blossom. So it is necessary to adress the retropectives and perspectives of plant phylogeography in arid Northwest China. The authors reviewed the relative papers and studied the most advance research in plant phylogeography, emphasizing notable gaps in our knowledge and outlining future research perspectives for disentangling the evolutionary history of arid region’s flora.
2. A paper of phylogeography of Lagochilus was published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, which revealed the diversification mechanism of desert plants in arid Northwest China. Comparing with alpine plants, the response of desert plants to the climatic oscillations in Quaternary might not be synchronous with the expansion and contraction of high latitude ice sheets, but rather, expansion of species range mainly depended on the temperature and moisture requirements,especially on drought enduring ability. Desert, as a dynamic ecosystem, along with interactions between vicariance, dispersal and habitat shift, often plays a significant role in genetic diversity and geographic distribution pattern of desert plants.
1. The paper published in Biochemical Systematics and Ecology on 9th Aug, 2011, is the first research about desert plant phylogeography in arid Northwest China. It revealed that aridification might be the main factor influenced the genetic structure of desert plants; the Helan Mountains may be the center of diversification for the species, whereas the Loess Plateau as a dispersal corridor for postglacial re-colonization northward. Climatic oscillation, aridification, and desert expansion within these regions have molded current distribution and biodiversity of Lagochilus ilicifolius.
9. Biodiversity managements are always hot topics in China that harbors so much hyper-biodiversity. However, biodiversity loss is continuing as economic growth is accelerating during recent decades. Questions that need to be addressed with regard to the conflict between biodiversity conservation and economic growth are: how much conservation effort is required and what measures are necessary to reconcile conflicts. A commentary has been published in Biodiversity and Conservation for this.
8. It is not difficult to be impressed by the grandeur of the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains (HHM) and the rich biodiversity it hosts, but it is difficult to reconstruct how its biodiversity and elevation evolved. Thus, we clarify the biodiversity and elevation in the HHM via Quercus sect. Heterobalanus, and the paper was published in Molecular Ecology. In this research, "Warm-Cold colonization" was proposed to explain the response of Quercus sect. Heterobalanus to the HHM uplift, whereas the response of the oaks to the uplift, colonizing from the warm region to cold plateau, imprinted the geological evolution of the HHM. Therefore, to a certain extent, the evolutionary history of these oaks illuminates the geological uplift of the HHM.
7. One paper has been selected as one of 4 JSE Outstanding Papers Award for 2014 and 2015. Winners of the JSE Outstanding Paper Award have received a notification, a certificate and awarded with $800.
6. Research on fossil fruits of Palaeocarya (Juglandaceae) from late Miocene sediments of southeast Yunnan is published in Journal of Systematics and Evolution. According to the global fossils records (ages and regions) and modern distribution of the close relatives, e.g., Engelhardia, Alfaropsis and Oreomunnea, we propose that the wide distribution of Palaeocarya and relatively narrow distributions of close relatives might be associated with a stepwise cooling and a major ice-sheet expansion in the Antarctic and Arctic from the late middle Miocene to early Pliocene. In particular, the climatic oscillations during the Quaternary, such as the last glacial maximum, might have led to decrease in the geographic distribution of Engelhardieae.
5. The Figure of Bauhinia leaves fossils, that we have published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, has been chosen as "12 months, 12 pictures: the best images from 2014 in BMC Evolutionary Biology."—— A picture can catch our eyes over the last 12 months in 2014. Additionally, this work was selected and commented in "Research Advances on Plant Science in China in 2014".
4. Biogeography of Bauhinia s.l. hsa been revealed from the fossil records and molecular analyses. The paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology was published on 10th Aug, 2014. In this study, we suggest that Bauhinia originated in the middle Paleocene in Laurasia, probably in Asia, implying a possible Tethys Seaway origin or an “Out of Tropical Asia”, and dispersal of legumes. Its present pantropical disjunction resulted from disruption of the boreotropical flora by climatic cooling after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). North Atlantic land bridges (NALB) seem the most plausible route for migration of Bauhinia from Asia to America; and long distance dispersal (LDD) from Eurasia to the African and American continents.
3. A review about plant phylogeography in arid Northwest China is published in Journal of Systematics and Evolution. The phylogeographical studies are very usual in other sections of China, however, phylogeographical application for arid Northwest China has begun to blossom. So it is necessary to adress the retropectives and perspectives of plant phylogeography in arid Northwest China. The authors reviewed the relative papers and studied the most advance research in plant phylogeography, emphasizing notable gaps in our knowledge and outlining future research perspectives for disentangling the evolutionary history of arid region’s flora.
2. A paper of phylogeography of Lagochilus was published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, which revealed the diversification mechanism of desert plants in arid Northwest China. Comparing with alpine plants, the response of desert plants to the climatic oscillations in Quaternary might not be synchronous with the expansion and contraction of high latitude ice sheets, but rather, expansion of species range mainly depended on the temperature and moisture requirements,especially on drought enduring ability. Desert, as a dynamic ecosystem, along with interactions between vicariance, dispersal and habitat shift, often plays a significant role in genetic diversity and geographic distribution pattern of desert plants.
1. The paper published in Biochemical Systematics and Ecology on 9th Aug, 2011, is the first research about desert plant phylogeography in arid Northwest China. It revealed that aridification might be the main factor influenced the genetic structure of desert plants; the Helan Mountains may be the center of diversification for the species, whereas the Loess Plateau as a dispersal corridor for postglacial re-colonization northward. Climatic oscillation, aridification, and desert expansion within these regions have molded current distribution and biodiversity of Lagochilus ilicifolius.