Ormosia henryi Prain, belonging to the Fabaceae family, is an endangered tree species with great economic, ornamental, and medicinal potential. The lack of genetic information and high-quality genome assembly hinders in-depth research on this species as well as its conservation and further utilization. Here, we assembled a chromosome-level genome of O. henryi using Pac-Bio HiFi, Hi-C and short read sequencing. The assembled genome size is approximately 2.69 Gb, with a scaffold N50 of 354.08 Mb and a complete BUSCO score of 98.20%. About 99.97% of the assembled sequences could be anchored to eight pseudo-chromosomes, and 69.09% of the assembled genome were repetitive sequences. In total, we predicted 42,260 protein-coding genes, 88.42% of which could be functionally annotated. This genome assembly provides a valuable resource for various applications, including future conservation and utilization, evolutionary studies, and elucidation of pathways involved in key biological traits of O. henryi.

The cultivated Zizania latifolia, an aquatic vegetable prevalent in the Yangtze River Basin, represents a unique plant-fungus complex whose domestication is associated with host-parasite co-evolution. In this study, we present a high-quality, chromosome-scale genome assembly of cultivated Z. latifolia. We employed PacBio long-read sequencing and Hi-C technology to generate ~578.42 Mb genome assembly, which contains 47.59% repeat sequences with a contig N50 of ~33.75 Mb. The contigs were successfully clustered into 17 chromosomal-sized scaffolds with a GC content of 43.26%, showing 98.39% completeness in BUSCO analysis. In total, we predicted 39,934 protein-coding genes, 88.79% of which could be functionally annotated. This genome assembly provides a valuable resource for unraveling Z. latifolia’s domestication process, and advances our understanding of the evolutionary history and agricultural potential of Z. latifolia.

The accurate extraction of individual tree positions is key to forest structure quantification, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) visible light data have become the primary data source for extracting individual tree locations. Compared to deep learning methods, classical detection methods require lower computational resources and have stronger interpretability and applicability. However, in closed-canopy forests, challenges such as crown overlap and uneven light distribution hinder extraction accuracy. To address this, the study improves the existing Revised Local Maxima (RLM) method and proposes a Multi-Source Local Maxima (MSLM) method, based on UAV visible light data, which integrates Canopy Height Models (CHMs) and Digital Orthophoto Mosaics (DOMs). Both the MSLM and RLM methods were used to extract individual tree positions from three different types of closed-canopy stands, and the extraction results of the two methods were compared. The results show that the MSLM method outperforms the RLM in terms of Accuracy Rate (85.59%), Overall Accuracy (99.09%), and F1 score (85.21%), with stable performance across different forest stand types. This demonstrates that the MSLM method can effectively overcome the challenges posed by closed-canopy stands, significantly improving extraction precision. These findings provide a cost-effective and efficient approach for forest resource monitoring and offer valuable insights for forest structure optimization and management.

The genetic diversity and structure of wild crop relatives are crucial for their conservation and utilization in breeding programs. This study presents a comprehensive survey and collection of Zizania latifolia across its natural distribution range in China. Using 12 microsatellite markers, the genetic diversity of 357 wild Z. latifolia accessions from 25 populations was evaluated, revealing a high genetic diversity (H_e = 0.439). The genetic structure analysis indicated significant genetic differentiation among populations, with evidence of isolation by distance. CoreHunter3 and PowerMarker software were employed to design a preliminary core collection, and the final core collection comprised 92 wild accessions. The core collection was found to be representative of the original germplasm, ensuring the effective conservation of Z. latifolia’s genetic resources. This study would provide valuable insights for the development of conservation strategies and the utilization of Z. latifolia.