The alpine sandy dune ecosystem is highly vulnerable to global climate change. Ecological stoichiometry in plants and soils plays a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles, energy flow and functioning in ecosystems. The alpine sandy dune ecosystem is highly vulnerable to global climate change. However, the stoichiometric changes and correlations of plants and soils among different types of sandy dunes have not been fully explored. Three sandy dune types (moving dune, MD; semifixed dune, SFD; and fixed dune, FD) of the Sophora moorcroftiana shrub in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River were used as the subjects in the current study. Plant community characteristics, soil physicochemical properties, carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents of leaves, understorey herbs, litter, and soil microbes were evaluated to explore the C:N:P stoichiometry and its driving factors. Sandy dune type significant affected on the C:N:P stoichiometry in plants and soils. High soil N:P ratio was observed in FD and high plant C:P and N:P ratios in SFD and MD. The C:N ratio decreased with sand dune stabilization compared with other stoichiometric ratios of soil resources. Leaf C:P and N:P ratios in S. moorcroftiana were higher than those in the understorey herb biomass, because of the low P concentrations in leaves. C, N and P contents and stoichiometry of leaves, understorey herbs, litter and microbe were significantly correlated with the soil C, N and P contents and stoichiometry, with a higher correlation for soil N:P ratio. P was the mainly limiting factor for the growth of S. moorcroftiana population in the study area and its demand became increasingly critical with the increase in shrub age. The variation in the C:N:P stoichiometry in plants and soils was mainly modulated by the soil physicochemical properties, mainly for soil moisture, pH, available P and dissolved organic C. These findings provide key information on the nutrient stoichiometry patterns, element distribution and utilization strategies of C, N and P and as well as scrubland restoration and management in alpine valley sand ecosystems.

Clematis nannophylla is a perennial shrub of Clematis with ecological, ornamental, and medicinal value, distributed in the arid and semi-arid areas of northwest China. This study successfully determined the chloroplast (cp) genome of C. nannophylla, reconstructing a phylogenetic tree of Clematis. This cp genome is 159,801 bp in length and has a typical tetrad structure, including a large single-copy, a small single-copy, and a pair of reverse repeats (IRa and IRb). It contains 133 unique genes, including 89 protein-coding, 36 tRNA, and 8 rRNA genes. Additionally, 66 simple repeat sequences, 50 dispersed repeats, and 24 tandem repeats were found; many of the dispersed and tandem repeats were between 20–30 bp and 10–20 bp, respectively, and the abundant repeats were located in the large single copy region. The cp genome was relatively conserved, especially in the IR region, where no inversion or rearrangement was observed, further revealing that the coding regions were more conserved than the noncoding regions. Phylogenetic analysis showed that C. nannophylla is more closely related to C. fruticosa and C. songorica. Our analysis provides reference data for molecular marker development, phylogenetic analysis, population studies, and cp genome processes to better utilise C. nannophylla.

Introduction: Soil properties and extracellular enzyme activities are the key factors affecting microbial communities at different altitudes. It is very important to understand their distribution patterns along the elevation gradient for predicting the function of alpine ecosystems in response to climate change, especially in alpine shrub ecosystems, which are rarely studied.Methods: In eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Set up four sample plots with different altitudes (3400,3700,4000,4300 and 4300 m), Illumina I6S gene sequencing was used to analyze the changing law of soil bacterial community, and its diversity and influencing factors were discussed by combining correlation and redundancy analysis.Results: The results showed that the contents of soil total carbon, total nitrogen, water content, microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase were the highest, but the bacterial diversity was the lowest (Shannon and Pielou index); Dominant bacteria are different at different altitude gradients. Acidobacteriota is the most abundant at 3700, 4000 and 4300 m above sea level, while Verrucomicrobiota is the most abundant at 3700m above sea level; In addition, PCoA analysis showed that the community structure of soil bacteria changed significantly, with similar structures at 3700 , 4000 and 4300 m above sea level; Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil properties (TC and BD) and enzyme activities (AG, BG and CBH) were the main factors affecting the bacterial community, while soil properties (TN), microbial biomass (MBC and MBN) and enzyme activities (AG and BG) all had significant effects on the functional groups of soil bacteria.Conclusion: To sum up, these results show that soil physical and chemical properties, microbial biomass, enzyme activities and bacterial communities have different responses to different altitude gradients.These studies provide a new perspective for us to deeply understand the driving factors of soil bacterial community variation along the elevation gradient. It is helpful to strengthen our awareness of the protection of Potentilla fruticosa shrub, and also provide basic information for the study of alpine ecosystem in this area.

Aster (Asteraceae) species as one of the traditional Tibetan medicinal plants in China have high useful medicinal and unique ornamental value; the market demand has been gradually increasing. In this study, seven species of Aster were selected from the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, and the MaxEnt model was used to investigate their potential distribution in China and the changes in their suitable habitat under future climate conditions based on the current survey and distribution data of specimens on the site and six to eight environmental variables. The results showed that temperature and precipitation were important limiting factors affecting the distribution of Aster , and Bio2, Bio3, and Bio10 were common environmental factors influencing the factors of Aster species. Under the current climate, the mainly potential distributed region of the seven Aster species in the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau exists. Under projected future climate scenarios, the suitable habitats of A. asteroides and A. diplostephioides will shrink significantly, while those of A. farreri , A. poliothamnus , A. souliei , A. tongolensis , and A. yunnanensis var. labrangensis will expand accordingly. Environmental factors provide a large gain in predicting the distribution of Aster species. Among the environmental variables, isothermality (Bio3) induced the largest impact on SDM and contained the most useful information for A. diplostephioides (55.9%), A. souliei (41.5%) and A. yunnanensis var. labrangensis (27.1%), while A. tongolensis (27.9%) and A. poliothamnus (26.8%) were more significantly affected by the temperature seasonality (Bio4); A. asteroides (66.3%) and A. farreri (21%) were more significantly affected by the mean temperature of the warmest quarter (Bio10). The study findings suggest that the distribution range of seven species of Aster will be greatly impacted by climate change. This research helps identify the limiting factors affecting the natural distribution and potential suitable areas for Aster species, which can inform conservation efforts, plant introduction, acclimatization, domestication, and cultivation of Aster .