Invasive plants commonly occupy diverse habitats and thus must adapt to changing environmental pressures through altering their traits and economics spectra, and addressing these patterns and their drivers has an importantly ecological and/or evolutionary significance. However, few studies have considered the role of multiple biotic and abiotic factors in shaping trait variation and spectra. In this study, we determined seven leaf traits of 66 Solidago canadensis populations, and quantified the relative contributions of climate, soil properties, native plant diversity, and S. canadensis–community interactions (in total 16 factors) to leaf trait variation and spectrum with multimodel inference. Overall, the seven leaf traits had high phenotypic variation, and this variation was highest for leaf dry matter content and lowest for leaf carbon concentration. The per capita contribution of climate to the mean leaf trait variation was highest (7.5%), followed by soil properties (6.2%), S. canadensis–community interactions (6.1%), and native plant diversity (5.4%); the dominant factors underlying trait variation varied with leaf traits. Leaf production potential was negatively associated with leaf stress-tolerance potential, and the relative contributions to this trade-off followed in order: native plant diversity (7.7%), climate (6.9%), S. canadensis–community interactions (6.2%), and soil properties (5.6%). Climate, diversity, soil, and interactions had positive, neutral or negative effects. Climate, soil, diversity, and interactions contribute differentially to the leaf trait variation and economics spectrum of S. canadensis, and their relative importance and directions depend on plant functional traits.

Invasive plants may alter soil fungal communities in a way that improves their growth. Nitrogen (N) content of soil affects the symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), further determining plant growth. Yet, it is unclear whether altered AMF communities change the dependence of invasive and native species on N-form, and whether N forms alter the invasive plant–AMF interaction (PSI_M). Two synthetic plant communities, including four Solidago canadensis individuals and four native plant species, were inoculated with AMF spores from S. canadensis-invaded soils and adjacent non-invaded soils, and were provided with nitrate, ammonia or glutamate. After their growth, the performance of the two plant communities in treatments of AMF origin and N forms, and the pathways of the N forms affecting S. canadensis growth and PSI_M were evaluated. Solidago canadensis had no obvious N-form dependence in any of the AMF inoculations. Native plant species showed weak N-form dependence, but invasive AMF could remove their N-form dependence. In the absence of N, AMF did not affect growth of S. canadensis and the native plants. In contrast, with N addition, invasive AMF significantly increased belowground and total biomass of the invasive plants but not those of the native plants. Positive PSI_M of S. canadensis was also evidently greater than that of native plant species and was realized through directly or indirectly regulating phenotypic traits including plant height, leaf number and number of rhizomes. Our findings emphasize the importance of plant–AMF interactions and a unique N-acquisition strategy during plant invasions.

Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis, the dominant species of lactic acid bacteria in sourdoughs, impacts the microstructure and flavor of steamed bread through exopolysaccharide production, acidification, proteolysis, and volatile compound generation. The aim of this study is to investigate the phenotypic diversity and technological traits of 28 F. sanfranciscensis strains of different genotypes isolated from Chinese traditional sourdoughs. The results showed that F. sanfranciscensis strains exhibited substantial variation in proteinase and peptidase activities and the amount of acidification and volatiles in fermented sourdoughs. However, we observed no significant differences in exopolysaccharide production among the strains. The strains Sx14 and Ts1 were further chosen for transcriptomics to gain a deep insight into their intraspecies diversity in sourdough fermentation. Significant transcriptome differentiations between these two strains after 12 h fermentation in sourdoughs were revealed. According to the results, the strain Sx14 possessed higher dipeptidase and aminopeptidase activities, galactose utilization, and lactic and acetic acid production abilities, whereas Ts1 showed higher transmembrane transport of substrates and fructose utilization.

Background: As a common accompanying dispersal structure, specialized seed appendages play a critical role in the successful germination and dispersal of many plants, and are regarded as an adaptation character for plants survival in diverse environments. However, little is known about how the appendages modulate the linkage between germination and environmental factors. Here, we tested the responses of germination to seasonal environmental signals (temperature and humidity) via seed appendages using Atriplex centralasiatica, which is widely distributed in salt marshlands with dry-cold winter in northern China. Three types of heteromorphic diaspores that differ in morphology of persistent bracteole and dormancy levels are produced in an individual plant of A. centralasiatica. Results: Except for the nondormant diaspore (type A, with a brown seed enclosed in a persistent bracteole), bracteoles regulated inner seed dormancy of the other two dormant diaspore types, i.e., type B (flat diaspore with a black inner seed) and type C (globular diaspore with a black inner seed). For types B and C, germination of bracteole-free seeds was higher than that of intact diaspores, and was limited severely when incubated in the bracteole-soaking solution. Dormancy was released at a low temperature (< 10 °C) and suitable humidity (5–15%) condition. Oppositely, high temperature and unfit humidity induced secondary dormancy via inhibitors released by bracteoles. Type C with deeper dormancy needed more stringent conditions for dormancy release and was easier for dormancy inducement than type B. The germination windows were broadened and the time needed for dormancy release decreased after the bracteole flushing for the two dormant types in the field condition. Conclusions: Bracteoles determine the germination adaptation by bridging seeds and environmental signals and promising seedlings establishment only in proper seasons, which may also restrict species geographical distribution and shift species distributing ranges under the global climate change scenarios.