Ecological Research最新文献

{"title":"Urbanization Effects on the Community Structure of Saproxylic Arthropods in Warm-Temperate Japan","authors":"Satoshi Miyazaki,&nbsp;Fumito Koike","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70115","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Saproxylic arthropods play a key role in forests by decomposing wood and cycling nutrients within detritus food chains. While urbanization generally causes declines in biodiversity and abundance, its effects on saproxylic arthropods remain poorly understood. We examined saproxylic arthropod communities across various forests, ranging from fragmented urban forests to large forests in woodland areas and from secondary deciduous coppice forests to evergreen broadleaf old-growth forests. Diversity and abundance were analyzed for the entire community, functional types, and individual species. The results indicated that urbanization was an important factor, whereas local factors such as evergreen tree dominance and deadwood accumulation were not. The responses of diversity and abundance to urbanization varied depending on the metrics used, such as ground area, deadwood volume, or cumulative number of individuals. Overall, when analyzed by ground area (i.e., plots), urban communities were characterized by a high number of individuals concentrated in a few species, mainly facultatively saproxylic species. Rarefaction curves based on the cumulative number of individuals revealed that forests in woodland landscapes supported significantly higher species richness than those in urban landscapes. However, surprisingly, when analyzed per unit of deadwood volume, urbanization generally increased both the abundance and species richness of saproxylic arthropods.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70115","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148784499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Guild-Specific Frog Responses to Natural Habitat Structure Gradients in an Atlantic Forest Mosaic","authors":"Juliane Pereira-Ribeiro,&nbsp;Atilla Colombo Ferreguetti,&nbsp;Helena Godoy Bergallo,&nbsp;Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70114","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Habitat heterogeneity is widely considered a key driver of biodiversity, yet empirical evidence remains uneven across taxonomic groups and ecological contexts. Here, we evaluate how habitat structure gradients are associated with frog species richness and occupancy in a heterogeneous mosaic of the Atlantic Forest. Using data collected over 3 years and applying a multi-species, multi-season occupancy modeling framework, we tested whether habitat structure gradients were associated with richness and occupancy patterns across ecological guilds. Overall, we observed a negative trend in community-level occupancy with increasing values of the habitat structure gradient. When responses were analyzed by ecological guild, arboreal species showed neutral or positive associations, while cryptic and terrestrial species exhibited more negative associations. Estimated species richness was highest in sites associated with lower values of the habitat structure gradient, with richness decreasing toward higher gradient values. These simpler habitats, however, were not ecologically degraded but contained key resources such as bromeliads and temporary ponds, which are important for reproduction for many frog species. Because the habitat gradient incorporated both vegetation structure and habitat resources, the observed patterns likely reflect the combined influence of habitat structure and resource distribution. Our results indicate that habitat gradients may differentially favor distinct ecological strategies across frog guilds. These findings highlight that relationships between habitat structure and biodiversity can be context-dependent and underscore the need for more nuanced conservation planning. Managing habitat mosaics that support diverse ecological requirements may be more effective than maximizing vegetation complexity alone in tropical forest ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70114","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148753294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scavenging Attraction of a Cyclopoid Copepod to Zooplankton Carcasses","authors":"Hiromichi Suzuki,&nbsp;Jotaro Urabe","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70116","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The detrital food chain plays a critical role in shaping community structure and sustaining ecosystem functioning. It is initiated by the consumption of dead organic matter through scavenging. However, scavengers in freshwater ecosystems remain poorly understood. In this study, we experimentally investigated whether <i>Thermocyclops taihokuensis</i>, a cyclopoid copepod widely distributed across East and Central Asia that has recently expanded its range into Europe, exhibits scavenging behavior and whether it uses chemical cues to locate and utilize carcasses of other organisms. Our results showed that <i>T. taihokuensis</i> approached and attacked experimentally presented cladoceran carcasses, suggesting that it recognized the carcasses as food. Indeed, <i>T. taihokuensis</i> was attracted to artificial baits infused with the odor of cladoceran carcasses but ignored identical baits lacking odor, suggesting that chemical cues serve as a primary mechanism for detecting them. These findings highlight that, although cyclopoid copepods are generally considered to be omnivorous, grazing on algae and preying on other organisms, <i>T. taihokuensis</i> appears to be a more versatile consumer than previously recognized and may also contribute to the detrital food chain by potentially scavenging.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70116","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148753036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Serpentine Biocrust Microbes Maintain Nitrogen Cycling Under Drought and Heavy Metal Stress","authors":"Sandra Barnard,&nbsp;Oluwatobi Barachiah,&nbsp;Stefan J. Siebert,&nbsp;Danielle Botha,&nbsp;Sarina Claassens","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70113","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biocrusts play an important role in nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about how environmental and climatic factors influence microbial community composition and the functional genetic potential. We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to compare species diversity and genetic potential for nitrogen cycling in biocrust microbiomes under wetter and drier moisture regimes in serpentine and nonserpentine soils in South Africa's Barberton Greenstone Belt. Microbial community structure, composition, and gene profiles varied in response to both soil type and moisture regime. Although no statistically significant differences were detected among sites, site-specific trends showed that Actinobacteria had higher mean relative abundances in drier serpentine crusts. Proteobacteria and Nitrospirae showed higher mean relative abundances in drier nonserpentine crusts, and Cyanobacteria were more abundant in wetter nonserpentine crusts. Similarly, variation in mean relative abundance across sites showed that the <i>ure</i>C gene was the most abundant gene involved in nitrogen cycling, although it was less abundant in serpentine samples, which may reflect constraints associated with higher metal concentrations in serpentine soils. Cyanobacteria associated with nitrogen fixation showed higher mean relative abundances in wetter nonserpentine samples. In contrast, nitrifying archaea had higher relative abundances in the drier samples. Overall, our results suggest that nitrogen-cycling microbial communities in biocrusts may respond to both soil geochemistry and moisture regime, although many of the observed differences were not statistically significant. This highlights the ecological importance of biocrusts in regulating nitrogen availability in serpentine and nonserpentine ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70113","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transfer of Potentially Toxic Metal(loid)s From Ultramafic Soils in a Tri-Trophic Food Chain Experiment","authors":"João Marcelo-Silva,&nbsp;Tean Francois Joubert,&nbsp;Stefan John Siebert,&nbsp;Bianca Greyvenstein","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70112","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70112","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Potentially toxic metal(loid)s (PTMs) occur in both natural and anthropic soils; however, studies on PTMs from natural sources remain limited, particularly scarce in Africa. This study investigated PTM transfer across a tri-trophic food chain using ultramafic (komatiite) and organic rural control soils (<i>n</i> = 20) collected from South Africa. Under greenhouse conditions, the wild plant <i>Berkheya radula</i> (rasp African thistle, <i>n</i> = 40) and the crop plant <i>Brassica oleracea var. acephala</i> (commercial kale; <i>n</i> = 40) served as primary producers. The house cricket <i>Acheta domesticus</i> acted as the primary consumer (<i>n</i> = 150), and the African twig mantis <i>Popa spurca</i> served as the secondary consumer (<i>n</i> = 680). PTM concentrations at each trophic level, including total and extractable soil fractions, were determined. The effects of PTMs on cricket feeding behavior were assessed using olfaction tests, while mantid development was evaluated based on life cycle duration. Although PTM concentrations were substantially higher in the komatiite soil, these differences were not consistently reflected along the trophic chain. Thistle and kale bioaccumulated distinct PTMs irrespective of soil concentration, and crickets accumulated similar PTMs from both plant species. Female crickets showed a preference for plant leaves with higher PTM concentrations. Mantids exhibited differing PTM concentrations among body parts depending on their diet and accumulated PTMs that differed from those detected in their cricket prey. Overall, PTM concentrations in biota did not mirror soil levels, suggesting that bioaccumulation and trophic transfer from unspiked natural soils are governed more by organismal traits than by soil PTM concentrations.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70112","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dominance of Picea glehnii in the Serpentine Forests of Hokkaido: Perspectives for an Ecological Understanding","authors":"Florian Delerue,&nbsp;Kobayashi Makoto,&nbsp;Kohmei Kadowaki","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70111","url":null,"abstract":"<p><i>Picea glehnii</i> dominates serpentine forests in Hokkaido, whereas <i>Abies sachalinensis</i> dominates forests on brown soils. The main corresponding hypothesis in the literature is that <i>P. glehnii</i> is better adapted to harsh serpentine soils, but this has only been partly investigated. Here, we report preliminary results on aboveground and fine-root functional traits related to adaptation to harsh substrates, measured for both species on both kinds of sites, together with observations of regeneration microsites. First, we tested the hypothesis that <i>P. glehnii</i> is better adapted to serpentine soils based on comparisons of functional trait values. <i>P. glehnii</i> showed more conservative leaf traits than <i>A. sachalinensis</i>, consistent with adaptation to infertile serpentine soils. However, its greater height does not match the expected size reduction on serpentine and may instead indicate efficient growth on this substrate. Second, we consider other nonexclusive hypotheses from the literature. Both <i>P. glehnii</i> functional traits and observations of its regeneration on fallen logs support adaptation to soil disturbance, which is expected to be more frequent in serpentine areas. In addition, its benefit from disturbance may be related to release from negative biotic interactions, including plant–soil pathogens and competition with the abundant dwarf bamboo found on serpentine. Finally, three priorities for future research are proposed: (i) large-scale characterization of <i>P. glehnii</i> distribution, focusing on climatic and edaphic factors and regeneration microsites; (ii) identification of the plant–soil feedbacks controlling regeneration in both species; and (iii) analysis of the interaction between dwarf bamboo competition and tree canopy cover in controlling seedling development.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70111","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148617007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimization of Ecological Network in the Yellow River Basin: A Framework of Complex Network Theory","authors":"Xingrong Fu,&nbsp;Wei Wei,&nbsp;Xiaoxu Wei,&nbsp;Binbin Xie,&nbsp;Junju Zhou,&nbsp;Rongping Liang,&nbsp;Wei Shi","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70109","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Rapid urbanization increasingly threatens the sustainable development of ecological environments. As a comprehensive landscape conservation strategy, the ecological network (EN) is fundamental for safeguarding regional ecological security and supporting high-quality socio-economic development. This study integrated ecosystem services (ESs) assessment, Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA), and circuit theory to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of the EN in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 2005 to 2023. Complex network theory was further applied to optimize the network structure. The results show that: (1) From 2005 to 2023, the area of ecological sources increased by 1523 km², mainly distributed in southeastern Qinghai, northwestern Sichuan, and southern Gansu, with grassland and woodland as the dominant land cover types. (2) The total length of ecological corridors increased by 37.09 km, showing an overall trend of initial decrease followed by expansion. The number of barriers and pinch points exhibited noticeable fluctuations. Pinch points were primarily located in the south-central and northern corridors, whereas barrier points were concentrated in corridors within densely populated areas of the north-central region. (3) Based on the strategy of low-betweenness first (LBF), 10 new corridors were added in 2023, which significantly enhanced the overall stability and connectivity of the EN. This study provides important guidance for optimizing the EN in the YRB, and the proposed complex network optimization framework also offers new perspectives and methodologies for ecological conservation and sustainable management in other large-scale river basins.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148615692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geospatial Data Layer of Semi-Natural Grasslands With Century-Old or Longer Temporal Continuity","authors":"Shogo Ikari,&nbsp;Mahoro Tomitaka,&nbsp;Yasuhiro Kubota,&nbsp;Tanaka Kenta","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70108","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Grasslands in Japan, once covering over 10% of the national land area, have rapidly declined due to land-use change and the abandonment of traditional management, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Because the ecological value of grasslands is closely tied to their temporal continuity, identifying long-persisting sites is crucial for effective conservation and restoration planning. However, such assessments have so far been limited to local or regional scales due to the lack of comprehensive historical datasets. This study presents a national-scale geospatial dataset of century-old semi-natural grasslands in Japan, constructed by integrating multiple sources of historical and contemporary spatial data. We combined long-term land-use and vegetation data to trace changes in grassland distribution over more than a century, linking modern high-resolution datasets with historical land-use maps and expert knowledge of long-maintained grasslands. By assessing the overlap between historical and recent grassland distributions, we identified areas that have persisted for over 100 years and are maintained as semi-natural systems through human management. The resulting dataset comprises 2654 polygons representing semi-natural grasslands with over a century of continuity across Japan. This dataset provides the first nationwide distribution records of grasslands with long-term temporal continuity, supporting conservation prioritization, biodiversity monitoring, and landscape-scale restoration efforts. The data layer is available under a non-commercial license in GIS-compatible formats to facilitate broad research and policy applications. The metadata for this abstract is available in MetaCat in JaLTER at https://doi.org/10.20783/DIAS.JLE.99, and the complete dataset is available at https://zenodo.org/records/18131104.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70108","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148615498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional Stability and the Limits of 16S-Based Inference in Serpentine Biocrusts","authors":"Danielle Botha,&nbsp;Sandra Barnard,&nbsp;Sarina Claassens,&nbsp;Stefan J. Siebert","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70110","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) shape surface ecosystem processes, but how serpentinite geochemistry and moisture structure their microbial communities remains unclear. We collected biocrust samples from serpentine and nonserpentine areas under frequent and erratic moisture regimes from the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Bacterial communities were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and shotgun metagenomics. Coarse bacterial diversity measures (alpha diversity and phylum-level composition) did not differ significantly between soil types or moisture regimes. However, amplicon sequence variant (ASV)-level analyses combining differential abundance testing, indicator-species analysis, and Spearman's correlations (<i>ρ</i> ≥ 0.75, <i>p</i> ≤ 0.05) identified taxa linked to soil chemistry and moisture. Three hundred sixty ASVs differed between soil types (199 enriched in serpentine) and 240 differed by moisture regime within serpentine soils (220 enriched under erratic moisture). Many serpentine-associated microbes (e.g., Solirubrobacterales, <i>Blastocatella</i>, <i>Mycobacterium</i>, Chloroflexi clades) were linked to elevated nickel, cobalt, chromium, manganese, and iron, and sometimes to low-calcium environments, reflecting tolerance to metal toxicity and characteristic serpentine geochemistry. In contrast, metabolic pathways were comparatively constrained across soils and moisture. Few pathways differed significantly, and no combined effect of soil type and moisture was detected on overall functional composition. In serpentine biocrusts, the moisture regime shaped the distribution of microbial functions without altering overall pathway composition. Erratic moisture was associated with enrichment of pathways linked to stress tolerance and detoxification. Frequent moisture was associated with greater representation of fermentation-related pathways and cell-envelope biosynthesis. Benchmarking showed that PICRUSt2 recovered broad sample-level patterns but poorly captured pathway-specific quantitative variation relative to HUMAnN3.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70110","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148615386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Distribution and Seasonal Dynamics of Manganese and Associated Elements in Leaves of Manganese-Hyperaccumulating Ilex Species","authors":"Uta Kamemura,&nbsp;Shin-ichi Nakamura,&nbsp;Takafumi Mizuno","doi":"10.1111/1440-1703.70107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.70107","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study aimed to investigate seasonal variations in leaf concentrations of manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K) in two evergreen Japanese <i>Ilex</i> species (<i>I. pedunculosa</i> and <i>I. crenata</i> var. <i>radicans</i>) and to evaluate associations among these elements using linear mixed-effects models (LMMs). In addition, leaf elemental distribution patterns were assessed using a benchtop micro–X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) approach. LMM analyses revealed significant positive relationships between Mn and Ca concentrations in both <i>Ilex</i> species, whereas a significant positive relationship between Mn and Zn concentrations was detected only in <i>I. crenata</i> var. <i>radicans</i>, indicating interspecific differences in elemental accumulation patterns within the genus <i>Ilex</i>. Moreover, μ-XRF analyses revealed that Mn was concentrated in interveinal regions and along leaf margins on the leaf surface. Mn was primarily distributed in the palisade mesophyll, whereas Ca was preferentially localized in the spongy mesophyll and around vascular bundles in leaf cross-sections. Both Mn and Zn were predominantly distributed in the palisade mesophyll in <i>I. crenata</i> var. <i>radicans</i>, which exhibited higher Zn concentrations; however, Zn also showed a tendency to accumulate in epidermal tissues. These results reveal that Mn hyperaccumulation in <i>Ilex</i> species occurs without a concomitant reduction in Ca concentrations and indicate that Mn, Zn, and Ca exhibit distinct spatial distribution patterns within leaves. This study provides new insights into the diversity of Mn hyperaccumulation mechanisms in <i>Ilex</i> trees.</p>","PeriodicalId":11434,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Research","volume":"41 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1440-1703.70107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148467463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}