Osmanthus fragrans is an evergreen shrub or tree of the Oleaceae family with a long history of cultivation in Asian countries and is one of the ten traditionally famous flowers in China, with important cultural and economic value. The unique floral color and fragrance of O. fragrans are formed by a variety of endogenous metabolites that distinguish it from other flowers and exhibit extraordinary ornamental value. However, many studies on the flower color and fragrance of this plant have been mainly based on bioactive extracts and physiological characteristics, leading to a notable lack of molecular machinery and systematic research. In this review, recent advances in bioactive ingredients associated with the underlying regulatory mechanisms, as well as the prospect for industrial utilization, are comprehensively presented and critically evaluated. In particular, the isolated components and essential genes required for flower color and fragrance are also well summarized, which will provide a scientific basis for molecular breeding for ornamental applications and facilitate the discovery of novel natural products for the future industrial development of O. fragrans. In prospect, we plan to use genetic research and high-throughput omics to analyze the genes related to the flower color and fragrance of O. fragrans, and at the same time, we will hybridize and breed excellent O. fragrans varieties that are resistant to low temperature.

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.

Understanding the population dynamics and interspecific interactions in subtropical forests is crucial for uncovering the underlying mechanisms of species coexistence and community stability. Two censuses were conducted between 2018 and 2023 in a 9.6 ha subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest dynamics plot situated in Mount Wuyi, southeastern China. Utilizing co-occurrence networks and long-term data, we examined the relationship between species interactions and their contributions to community assembly. Our findings reveal that high mortality rates among small-diameter individuals have created ecological niches, facilitating the establishment of 12 new species between 2018 and 2023. A generalized linear mixed-effects model showed positive relationships between sapling abundance and conspecific neighbor density. Co-occurrence networks demonstrated a shift toward higher positive interactions but reduced modularity, indicating a more integrated yet less stable community structure. Despite their low abundance, rare species demonstrated significant roles in network connectivity and stability, underscoring their status as keystone species. Additionally, the significant correlations between topographic factors and species richness highlighted the role of environmental filtering in shaping community composition. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of subtropical forest community dynamics, emphasizing the importance of long-term monitoring to unravel the complex interactions between populations and their environmental conditions. This study represents the first long-term observational experiment conducted in a subtropical secondary forest, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of forest community assembly in this region.