The destruction of the ecological system caused by urban expansion has led to the environmental deterioration, cities have become increasingly vulnerable. In this study, six districts and counties along the Yellow River in Zhengzhou were selected as the study area. First, green infrastructure elements were extracted by morphological spatial pattern analysis. Then, outside the urban areas, we used connectivity analysis to evaluate the importance of core areas, adopted minimum cumulative resistance model to extract potential corridors, and identified the important corridors by using the gravity model. Finally, in the urban areas, we set up an evaluation system to assess the demands for ecosystem services. The results showed that: (1) Seven landscape types of green infrastructure be identified in study area. (2) There are 17 vital cores, 136 potential corridors, and 24 vital corridors outside the urban areas. (3) The blocks with high demand for ecosystem services are mostly concentrated in the old blocks with dense populations and poor infrastructure, and there are 5 blocks with comprehensive high-demand. Based on identified importance for green infrastructure land space, and high-demand level for ecosystem services areas in this study, a green infrastructure net plan was proposed based on spatial conservation prioritisation.

The low-light environments under urban viaducts significantly hinder plant growth and development. An in-depth study of the plasticity response mechanisms and survival strategies of plants in these conditions is crucial for selecting appropriate species. This study examined how light intensity affects leaf plasticity in four plants (Ophiopogon japonicus, Pittosporum tobira, Euonymus japonicus, and Ligustrum sinense) under two representative urban viaducts and how they respond to changes in light intensity in Zhengzhou City. The leaf morphology, physiological photosynthesis, and chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence parameters were analyzed at three light intensities (one natural full-light and two viaduct-shaded low-light environments.): CK (full light), T1 (21.29%–25.99%), and T2 (5.16%–8.20%). The results showed that (1) with decreasing light intensity, most plants showed reductions in leaf thickness (LT), palisade and spongy tissue thickness (PT, ST), net photosynthetic rate (P_n), stomatal conductance (G_s), and F_v/F_m and F_v′/F_m′, while leaf area, Chl content, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content increase, with antioxidant enzyme activity also rising. The photosynthetic indicators of O. japonicus first increased and then decreased. (2) The overall plasticity of the plants ranked from high to low as follows: O. japonicus > E. japonicus > P. tobira > L. sinense. O. japonicus showed the strongest adaptability through comprehensive photosynthetic physiology and antioxidant mechanisms, with a wide light tolerance range. E. japonicus relied more on adjustments in photosynthetic and anatomical structures, as well as leaf area. P. tobira improved light tolerance by modifying leaf area, epidermal structure, and physiological traits. L. sinense had the lowest adaptability, relying on limited antioxidant enzymes and leaf thickness adjustments. (3) In conclusion, plant plasticity is primarily reflected through photosynthetic and physiological traits. High plasticity in these parameters is key for plants to adapt to thrive in dynamic low-light environments. Therefore, when greening viaduct-shaded areas, it is crucial to consider the light environment and the light adaptability range of different plant species. Plants with high photosynthetic and physiological plasticity should be selected to ensure the optimal growth and development of plants in shaded areas.

During urbanization in developing countries, fragmentation of green infrastructure due to increasing populations and the expansion of construction land leads to an extremely serious imbalance between the supply and demand for urban ecosystem services. In this study, the central city of Zhengzhou, a central city in central China, was selected as the study area and the excessive demand for six ecosystem services, namely, air purification, flood regulation, heat regulation, hydrological regulation, CO₂ sequestration and recreational services, was quantitatively evaluated. The entropy method was used to calculate the weights of various ecosystem services, and spatial overlay analysis was performed to obtain the comprehensive ecosystem service excessive demand. Finally, bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis was used to explore the response of population density to comprehensive excessive demand for ESs. The results of this study indicate that: (1) The most prevalent need is for more CO₂ regulation service throughout the study area. (2) Except for hydrological regulation service, the spatial distribution of the remaining highly excessive ecosystem service demands are mostly concentrated in old neighborhoods. (3) Of the six excessively demanded economic services, rainwater regulation obtained the greatest weight, reflecting the poor urban infrastructure configuration for countering the rapidly increasing threat of flooding caused by climate change in the city. (4) The comprehensive ecosystem service excessive demand results show that there are eight priority green infrastructure implementation blocks in the central city of Zhengzhou. (5) There were three agglomeration types between population density and comprehensive excessive demand for ESs: high-high type, low-high type and low-low type. The spatial distribution characteristics of population density and comprehensive ES demand are positively correlated. The results of this study could help to provide information for decision making when delineating the priority areas and types of green infrastructure implementation in developing cities.

Peonies are significant ornamental plants that are primarily propagated through distant cross-breeding to create new varieties. However, hybrid failure is a critical issue that impedes the advancement of breeding. Numerous studies have demonstrated that endogenous hormones in the seed embryo constitute a significant factor in embryo failure. Nevertheless, it is still unknown how plant hormones control the development of peony embryos at the molecular level. In this study, we characterized the endogenous hormone levels in peony seeds of hybrid-aborted, hybrid-normal, and self-crossing normal after 26 days of pollination (DAP). Our findings show that the hybrid-aborted embryos had significantly higher amounts of ABA, IAA, and GA. In addition, the ratio of GA+IAA/ABA was lower than that of the hybrid-normal seeds and higher than that of the self-crossing normal seeds. To further investigate the mechanism of hormone control on peony embryo development, we conducted a transcriptome sequencing analysis of the three seed types. Results revealed that differentially expressed genes involved in phytohormone metabolism and signal transduction significantly enriched the aborted embryos. Furthermore, we examined the expression levels of six hormones in different seeds and used the Gene Common Expression Trend analysis to analyze genes highly correlated with phytohormone in the KEGG pathway. We used protein interaction networks to explore the interactions between proteins in the hormone pathway in aborted embryos. Then we identified key genes and transcription factors (TFs) such as Abscisic acid-insensitive 5 (ABI5), Auxin Response Factor 5 (ARF5), Gibberellin Insensitive Dwarf 1 (GID1), Arabidopsis Response Regulator4 (ARR4), Jasmonate-zim-domain protein 1 (JAZ1), Brassinazole-resistant 1 (BZR1), etc., whose functions require further investigation. Our findings establish a foundation for the metabolic regulation of peony hybrid embryo abortion via networks regulating phytohormone signaling. However, further research is needed to determine the exact mechanisms by which hormones regulate peony embryo development and to explore new methods for improving the success rate of hybridization.

In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of Acer paihengii, a tree species native to China, was sequenced and assembled through second-generation sequencing. The complete chloroplast genome of A. paihengii is 155,967 bp in length with a typical quadripartite structure, encompassing 130 genes including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis of 22 related species indicated that A. paihengii was more closely related to Acer coriaceifolium and Acer sino-oblongum.