Chronic alcohol consumption causes hippocampal neuronal impairment, which is associated with oxidative stress and apoptosis. Carvacrol is a major monoterpenic phenol found in essential oils from the family Labiatae and has antioxidative stress and antiapoptosis actions. However, the protective effects of carvacrol in ethanol‐induced hippocampal neuronal impairment have not been fully understood. We explored the neuroprotective effects of carvacrol in vivo and in vitro. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 35% ethanol for 4 weeks to establish ethanol model in vivo, and hippocampal neuron injury was simulated by 200 mM ethanol in vitro. Morris water maze test was performed to evaluate the cognitive dysfunction. The oxidative stress injury of hippocampal neurons was evaluated by measuring the levels of oxidative stress biomarkers. Histopathological examinations and western blot were performed to evaluate the apoptosis of neurons. The results showed that carvacrol attenuates the cognitive dysfunction, oxidative stress, and apoptosis of the mice treated with ethanol and decreases hippocampal neurons apoptosis induced by ethanol in vitro. In addition, western blot analysis revealed that carvacrol modulates the protein expression of Bcl‐2, Bax, caspase‐3, and p‐ERK, without influence of p‐JNK and p‐p38. Our results suggest that carvacrol alleviates ethanol‐mediated hippocampal neuronal impairment by antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects.

The first occurrence of Marasmiellomycena and Pulverulina in the Chinese mycobiota are reported, M. tomentosa and P. flavoalba, two new species and M. albodescendens, a new combination, revealed by phylogenetic analyses and morphological study. These newly-recorded genera, Marasmiellomycena, which can be distinguished by their agaricoid basidiomata, dark-coloured stipe, sarcodimitic tramal structure, stipitipellis with yellow to yellowish-brown pigments and yellow-pigmented thick-walled caulocystidia and Pulverulina, which differs from other genera of Porotheleaceae by its pruinose stipe, decurrent lamellae, inamyloid basidiospores and absence of hymenial cystidia. We also formally describe three other new species of Porotheleaceae collected from Chinese temperate to subtropical zones of Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces: Clitocybula fuscostriata, Gerronema brunneosquamulosum and Leucoinocybe subglobispora. Furthermore, we include the results of a phylogenetic analysis of Porotheleaceae, based on a multi-locus (ITS, nrLSU and rpb2) dataset. According to this analysis, Chrysomycena, Clitocybula, Delicatula, Hydropodia, Hydropus, Leucoinocybe, Marasmiellomycena, Megacollybia, Pulverulina, Trogia and Vizzinia are monophyletic. However, Gerronema is identified as polyphyletic and, additionally, Porotheleum does not form a monophyletic group either because Porotheleum parvulum and Porotheleum albidum are “unassigned” in phylogenetic analysis. The results of our phylogenetic analyses, coupled with morphological observations, confirm recognition of these new taxa. Morphological descriptions, photographs, line drawings and comparisons with closely-related taxa are presented for the new species. A key to the 22 species belonging to nine genera of Porotheleaceae in China is also provided.

Leaf shape and size can vary between hybrids and their parents. However, this has seldom been quantitatively tested. Photinia × fraseri is an important landscaping plant in East Asia as a hybrid between evergreen shrubs P. glabra and P. serratifolia. Its leaf shape looks like that of P. serratifolia. To investigate leaf shape, we used a general equation for calculating the leaf area (A) of broad-leaved plants, which assumes a proportional relationship between A and product of lamina length (L) and width (W). The proportionality coefficient (which is referred to as the Montgomery parameter) serves as a quantitative indicator of leaf shape, because it reflects the proportion of leaf area A to the area of a rectangle with L and W as its side lengths. The ratio of L to W, and the ellipticalness index were also used to quantify the complexity of leaf shape for elliptical leaves. A total of >4000 leaves from P. × fraseri and P. serratifolia (with >2000 leaves for each taxon) collected on a monthly basis was used to examine: (i) whether there is a significant difference in leaf shape between the two taxa, and (ii) whether there is a monotonic or parabolic trend in leaf shape across leaf ages. There was a significant difference in leaf shape between the two taxa (p < 0.05). Although there were significant differences in leaf shape on a monthly basis, the variation in leaf shape over time was not large, i.e., leaf shape was relatively stable over time for both taxa. However, the leaf shape of the hybrid was significantly different from its parent P. serratifolia, which has wider and more elliptical leaves than the hybrid. This work demonstrates that variations in leaf shape resulting from hybridization can be rigorously quantified and compared among species and their hybrids. In addition, this work shows that leaf shape does not changes as a function of age either before or after the full expansion of the lamina.

Studying community assembly has always been a central issue in ecological research and is necessary for understanding mechanisms of species coexistence and biodiversity. Environmental heterogeneity is a driver of biodiversity, but much remains to be learned about how evolutionary processes are affected by environmental factors. We aimed to clarify the evolutionary processes in different vegetation communities in the Huangshan Scenic Area, Anhui Province, China. We constructed a phylogenetic tree of these communities based on a constraint tree and three DNA barcode regions. Community I was characterized by a weakly overdispersed phylogenetic structure for all three plant groups. The structure of Community II showed clustered for total plants and shrubs, overdispersed for trees. However, the phylogenetic structure was clustered for total plants, overdispersed for trees and shrubs in Community III. The main drivers of these patterns were spatial and climatic factors. Phylogenetic α-diversity had a significant positive relationship with species richness. The values of phylogenetic β-diversity reached their maximum at intermediate elevations among three vegetation communities for total plants. The main factors that affected diversity patterns were spatial variables, not climatic factors, indicating that environmental heterogeneity determined the mechanisms of biodiversity and species coexistence in the community. Our results showed that deterministic processes may control community assembly in three different vegetation regions.

Quercus sessilifolia Blume is one of the dominant tree species in East Asian evergreen broadleaved forests. In this study, we assembled and characterized the plastome of Q. sessilifolia using Illumina paired-end data. The circular genome is 160,813 bp in size, consisting of two copies of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 25,862 bp, one large single-copy (LSC) region of 90,218 bp, and one small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,871 bp. It encodes a total of 113 unique genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on 28 chloroplast genome sequences indicated that Q. sessilifolia was most closely related to Q. myrsinifolia with 90% bootstrap support.

Understanding the biodiversity–productivity relationship (BPR) is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. While it is known that diversity enhances forest productivity, the underlying mechanisms at the local neighborhood level remain poorly understood. We established a 9.6 ha dynamic forest plot to study how neighborhood diversity, intraspecific competition, and interspecific competition influence tree growth across spatial scales using linear mixed-effects models. Our analysis reveals a significant positive correlation between neighborhood species richness (NSR) and relative growth rate (RGR). Notably, intraspecific competition, measured by conspecific neighborhood density and resource competition, negatively impacts RGR at finer scales, indicating intense competition among conspecifics for limited resources. In contrast, interspecific competition, measured by heterospecific density and resource competition, has a negligible impact on RGR. The relative importance of diversity and intra/interspecific competition in influencing tree growth varies with scale. At fine scales, intraspecific competition dominates negatively, while at larger scales, the positive effect of NSR on RGR increases, contributing to a positive BPR. These findings highlight the intricate interplay between local interactions and spatial scale in modulating tree growth, emphasizing the importance of considering biotic interactions and spatial variability in studying BPR.