Camptotheca acuminata Decne. is an endemic and valuable tree species in China that is renowned for its medicinal and economic value due to secondary metabolites like camptothecin, a potent anti-cancer compound. With wild resources dwindling, it is a key protected species. Predicting and analyzing its suitable habitats under different future environmental scenarios is essential for conservation, introduction, development, and planting strategies. This study used 1008 distribution points and 32 environmental factors, applying the MaxEnt v3.4.4 model and ArcGIS v10.7 software to predict C. acuminata’s potential distribution under four greenhouse gas emission scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5) for the present, 2050, and 2070. This study identifies the key environmental factors influencing its distribution and analyzes habitat trends under various ecological scenarios. The dominant environmental factors are Bio6 (contribution 23%; importance 59.8%), human activity factor (contribution 18.6%; importance 15.7%), Slope2 (contribution 1%; importance 7%), Slope3 (contribution 5.1%; importance 3.4%), elevation (contribution 0.9%; importance 1.7%), and Bio14 (contribution 41.2%; importance 1%). The total potential suitable habitat area for C. acuminata is 1.5796 × 10⁴ km². Except under RCP8.5, where the habitat area continuously increases, the habitat area shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. When human activity is considered, the total potential suitable habitat area is 1.8495 × 10⁴ km², with a consistent decrease under all scenarios except RCP8.5. Centroid migration analysis shows that, driven by global warming, the suitable habitats for C. acuminata are shifting toward higher latitudes. This study provides theoretical support for the conservation, resource management, and germplasm protection of C. acuminata under future ecological and environmental changes.

Selenium-Binding Protein 1 (SBP1), involved in selenium metabolism, contributes to plant stress response. However, it is currently unknown whether the SBP1 protein from Liriodendron hybrid (LhSBP1) plays a role in response to cold stress. In this study, transgenic overexpression lines of LhSBP1 in Arabidopsis thaliana and Populus deltoides × P. euramericana cv. ‘Nanlin 895’, were used as materials to conduct phenotypic observations and physiological and biochemical determinations under cold stress. The results showed that the full-length CDS sequence of LhSBP1 gene was cloned, with a length of 1467 bp, encoding 488 amino acids. Under cold stress, physiological and biochemical indexes showed that the contents of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in transgenic Arabidopsis were lower, with the contents of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and superoxide anion (O₂⁻) being 0.72 and 0.71 times those of the wild type, respectively, and the MDA content was 0.53 times that of the wild type. Compared with the wild type, the activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) increased by 1.2, 1.75, and 1.48 times respectively, and the soluble protein content increased by 1.41 times, which significantly improved the cold tolerance of Arabidopsis. The contents of H₂O₂, O₂⁻, and MDA in LhSBP1 transgenic ‘Nanlin 895’ poplar were 0.63 and 0.67 times and 0.6 times those of wild type, respectively. The activities of SOD, POD and CAT were increased by 1.37, 1.48, and 1.44 times, and the soluble protein was increased by 1.28 times, which significantly improved the cold tolerance of ‘Nanlin 895’ poplar. Taken together, this study utilized two model plant systems to demonstrate the positive and conserved functions of LhSBP1 in plant cold tolerance defense response, which provided valuable genetic resources for the breeding of cold-tolerance woody plants.