AoB Plants最新文献

{"title":"Altered volatile emissions and incomplete photosynthetic recovery after heatwave-associated drought and rewetting in the woolly feather-moss <i>Tomentypnum nitens</i>.","authors":"Annika Engroff, Marta Contreras-Serrano, Jing Tang, Riikka Rinnan","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plag054","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mosses dominate ground cover in many ecosystems and are central to carbon and nutrient cycling, water regulation, and surface energy balance. Their poikilohydric physiology, without stomatal control or vascular transport, couples metabolism closely to moisture. While climate extremes affecting moisture become more frequent, how drought and rewetting affect volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from mosses remains poorly understood. This study examined how a heatwave-associated drought and subsequent rewetting affected VOC emission rates and blend compositions in the moss <i>Tomentypnum nitens</i>. Subarctic heath mesocosms containing <i>T. nitens</i> were maintained in climate chambers during a pre drought period and exposed sequentially to a 3-week heatwave-associated drought, and 1 week rewetting treatment. Moss shoots detached from mesocosms were enclosed in a gas-exchange cuvette to measure VOC emissions analysed by GC-MS, net photosynthesis, and evaporation rates. Tissue water content was also determined. Drought strongly reduced water content and evaporation and shifted net photosynthesis from positive to negative values. Total VOC emissions declined by 90% in response to drought and recovered after rewetting (<i>P</i> = .06). Drought also shifted the VOC blend towards hydrocarbon dominance (nearly 80% of total). After rewetting, the blend contained a greater proportion of oxygenated VOCs and a smaller proportion of sesquiterpenes than before drought. The legacy effects of drought on VOC blend may influence both the ecological roles of moss VOCs and their contribution to biosphere-atmosphere interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag054"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13711661/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149289510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Interspecific variation in nectar and pollen reward among plant species commonly planted to support pollinators.","authors":"Madeline Gregor, Wendy Lei, Adelaide Ergastolo, Sevan Suni","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag049","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plag049","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pollinators facilitate the reproduction of most wild plants. Declines in pollinator populations have led to interest in establishing floral enhancements to support them. However, knowledge about how food rewards vary across plant species planted to support pollinators remains scant. Using a greenhouse common garden, we quantified nectar volume, nectar sucrose, and pollen protein quantity for 11 species commonly planted to support pollinators in Mediterranean climates. We evaluated if variation was explained by life history and the potential for tradeoffs between nectar and pollen quality. There was high variation in nectar and moderate variation in pollen protein across species. The probability of producing nectar was higher for perennial plants. For flowers that contained nectar, there were no differences between annual and perennial plants in nectar traits. The species that produced the highest quality nectar (<i>Scrophularia californica</i>) produced pollen with the lowest protein amounts, and the species that produced the lowest quality nectar (<i>Madia elegans</i>) produced pollen with the highest protein amounts. There was no statistical association between pollen protein amounts and nectar traits across species. The nutrition pollinators obtain from foraging on most species studied here may come primarily in the form of carbohydrates or protein, but not both. However, one species (<i>Epilobium canum</i>) produced both high-quality nectar and pollen, so identifying others that produce similarly broad, high-quality rewards would be worthwhile. Our results also suggest that including perennial plants in pollinator gardens will facilitate pollinator acquisition of carbohydrates.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag049"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13700956/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149276173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"<i>Trichoderma</i> reduces the relative abundance of pathogen-associated fungi while maintaining fungal community stability in <i>Rhododendron</i> soils.","authors":"Abisola Eniola Folorunso, David J Burke, Sarah R Carrino-Kyker, Jean H Burns","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag051","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plag051","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil fungal communities are shaped by host-mediated and environmental filters, yet it remains unclear whether microbial inoculants can override these processes. <i>Trichoderma</i> is widely used as a biocontrol agent, but its effects on fungal community assembly and functional guild structure in woody plant systems are not well understood. We tested whether <i>Trichoderma</i> alters soil fungal communities or acts within host-structured systems to influence functional groups. A factorial greenhouse experiment was conducted using three <i>Rhododendron</i> species, four <i>Trichoderma</i> treatments (control, <i>T. asperellum</i>, <i>T. harzianum</i>, and a combined treatment), and four soil treatments (three live conspecific soils and one sterilized soil). Plant performance traits were measured, and soil fungal communities were characterized using internal transcribed spacer 2 high-throughput sequencing. Community composition, alpha diversity, and functional guild abundances were analysed using multivariate and linear modelling approaches. Fungal community composition was structured primarily by host species identity, with soil origin exerting a secondary influence, while <i>Trichoderma</i> inoculation had no detectable effect on community composition or diversity. Despite this, <i>Trichoderma</i> increased plant relative growth rate and reduced the relative abundance of pathogen-associated fungi in a host-dependent manner, with the strongest reduction observed in <i>R. yedoense</i>, while saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal fungi remained unchanged across treatments. These findings demonstrate that <i>Trichoderma</i> does not restructure fungal communities in host-structured soils but instead acts as a functionally selective agent, reducing pathogen-associated fungi under specific ecological contexts. The effectiveness of microbial inoculants therefore depends on host identity and baseline abundance of pathogen-associated fungi, emphasizing the importance of ecological context in shaping plant-microbe interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag051"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13671402/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149217172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Morphological, anatomical, and mechanical variation in cactus spines across species and stem developmental positions.","authors":"Roman Gebauer, Radomír Řepka, Radim Matula, Daniel Volařík, Jan Tippner, Barbora Vojáčková","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plag050","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cactus spines are highly variable structures that perform multiple ecological functions and have considerable taxonomic importance. However, their anatomical and mechanical properties remain poorly understood. A better understanding of spine structure may provide insights into the ecological function. In this study, we compared morphological, anatomical, and mechanical spine traits in three columnar cacti from Argentina (<i>Cereus hankeanus</i>, <i>Stetsonia coryne,</i> and <i>Trichocereus terscheckii</i>) and evaluated how these traits vary along a developmental gradient extending from the apical meristem. Spines were sampled from a single rib of 10 individuals per species. We measured spine length, fibre dimensions, cell wall thickness, and performed mechanical tests on oven-dried spines to calculate modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, and toughness. Significant differences in spine traits were detected among species. <i>Stetsonia</i> had the longest spines and exhibited the highest toughness, whereas <i>Trichocereus</i> showed lower mechanical resistance despite having thicker cell walls. Anatomical variation was also evident, with <i>Stetsonia</i> having smaller and more elliptical fibres than <i>Trichocereus</i>. In addition to interspecific differences, spine length in <i>Stetsonia</i> and <i>Cereus</i> increased with distance from the apex, indicating developmental changes along the stem. Among mechanical traits, only toughness varied along the stem, decreasing with increasing distance from the apex in all species, while anatomical traits remained unchanged. Together, these findings reveal substantial interspecific, intraspecific, and positional variation in cactus spine traits, highlighting the influence of developmental position along the stem and spine ageing, as well as species-specific differences in spine structure and mechanical performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag050"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13663805/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149197236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Generalized pollination of morphologically specialized <i>Vincetoxicum hirundinaria</i> (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae).","authors":"Wujian Xiong, Jeff Ollerton, Sigrid Liede-Schumann, Ulrich Meve, Herbert C Wagner, Wenhui You, Junpeng Mu, Stefan Dötterl","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag048","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plag048","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Generalized pollination systems with ecologically and/or functionally diverse pollinator assemblages are common in nature. However, the extent to which a plant with specialized floral morphology can exhibit a generalized pollination system remains poorly understood. We investigated this question using <i>Vincetoxicum hirundinaria</i> Medik. (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae) as a model system-a species whose morphologically specialized flowers are described as being visited by flies, bees, and moths. In preliminary observations, we even found various other insects as flower visitors. We hypothesized that <i>V. hirundinaria</i> has a more diverse pollinator spectrum than previously known. To test this hypothesis, we studied the flower biology and pollination ecology of <i>V. hirundinaria</i> at several sites in and around Salzburg. Our findings reveal that the self-incompatible, pale white to ivory-coloured flowers open between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., and attract a diverse community of both diurnal and nocturnal pollinators, including cockroaches, beetles, and ants not previously reported as pollinators of <i>V. hirundinaria</i>. Pollen transfer efficiency and fruit set were low. A high number of non-pollinator species got trapped by the flowers, often fatally. Overall, <i>V. hirundinaria</i> has a more generalized pollination system than previously recognized, showing that a complex floral morphology can coexist with ecological and functional generalization.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag048"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13675644/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149217185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reproductive isolation emerges from coordinated barriers during mating system divergence in plants.","authors":"Ana García-Muñoz, Camilo Ferrón, Enrica Olivieri, Esther Funes-Ligero, Mohamed Abdelaziz, A Jesús Muñoz-Pajares","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag052","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plag052","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding how reproductive barriers combine to restrict gene flow remains a central challenge in speciation research. Although reproductive isolation is inherently a composite process, most empirical studies have focused on individual barriers in isolation, limiting our ability to capture their joint effects, particularly in systems undergoing evolutionary transitions such as shifts in mating system. Here, we provide a comprehensive, life-cycle-wide quantification of reproductive isolation between two closely related species of the <i>Erysimum incanum</i> complex that differ markedly in mating system: the predominantly selfing <i>E. incanum</i> and the outcrossing <i>E. wilczekianum</i>. By integrating ecological, phenological, behavioural, and post-pollination components, we show that total reproductive isolation is nearly complete (<i>T</i> = 0.999) but largely driven by pre-pollination barriers. Ecogeographical differentiation and, most prominently, pollinator-mediated isolation dominates, with pollinators showing a strong bias towards <i>E. wilczekianum</i>. Floral traits associated with mating system divergence, particularly flower size, emerge as key drivers of assortative mating, supporting their role as 'magic traits' linking ecological divergence and reproductive isolation. In contrast, post-pollination barriers are weaker but strongly asymmetric. Hybrid seed formation is largely prevented when <i>E. wilczekianum</i> acts as the maternal parent, whereas reciprocal crosses are relatively successful. Despite reduced germination, hybrids show enhanced growth and no evidence of hybrid breakdown, suggesting that intrinsic incompatibilities remain incomplete. Overall, our results indicate that mating system divergence reshapes the entire architecture of reproductive isolation, highlighting the importance of integrative approaches to understand how multiple barriers interact during early stages of speciation.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag052"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13675643/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149217237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rhizobia bacteroid transcription helps to coordinate the soybean nodule drought response.","authors":"Anna M Locke, Anna C Ortiz, Tiffany R Sikes, Natalie L Gold, Martha E Ramirez","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag044","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plag044","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soybean (<i>Glycine max</i> L. [Merr.]) nitrogen fixation is sensitive to soil drying and is an important target for improving soybean drought resilience. Transcriptional regulation of the nodule drought response and the influence of symbiotic rhizobia are not well understood. We measured whole-plant responses to mild and moderate soil moisture deficit (41% and 20% of field capacity) alongside the nodule transcriptome, including soybean and <i>Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens</i> transcripts, in two soybean genotypes ('Benning' and PI 471938) that were previously found to have diverging nitrogen fixation drought responses. The transcriptomes of the two genotypes responded very similarly to soil moisture deficit, with only eight genes responding to soil moisture deficit differently between genotypes. Mild soil moisture deficit reduced stomatal conductance and increased stem and petiole ureide while altering transcript abundance of genes involved in nitrogen assimilation-related pathways in both plant genotypes and in the bacteroid. Gene regulatory network inference identified two <i>B. diazoefficiens</i> loci, BAC49768 and BAC47090, as major regulators in the whole-nodule transcriptome during soil moisture deficit. Several soybean network nodes were located within quantitative trait loci previously associated with relevant drought responses. This work revealed new soybean and rhizobia candidate genes with important roles in the soybean nodule drought response.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag044"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13643488/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149138866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated phenotyping reveals coordinated physiological responses to cold, freezing, and recovery in <i>Ramonda</i> resurrection plants.","authors":"Fitim Kastrati, Bekim Gashi, Boris Lazarević","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plag046","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Resurrection plants provide insights into the physiological responses that enable survival under extreme dehydration and low-temperature stress. This study presents an integrated phenotyping analysis of cold and freezing responses and subsequent recovery in <i>Ramonda serbica</i> and <i>Ramonda nathaliae</i>. Using chlorophyll fluorescence, multispectral reflectance and gas-exchange analysis, combined with regression modelling, we characterized changes in photosynthetic and water-related traits during sequential cooling, freezing-induced dehydration and rehydration. Both species underwent pronounced dehydration during freezing and showed recovery of water status and photosynthetic function following rehydration. Cooling and freezing were accompanied by declines in PSII efficiency and nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ), while gas-exchange measurements during cooling showed reductions in CO₂ assimilation and stomatal conductance. During recovery, PSII efficiency increased towards pre-stress levels, whereas NPQ was rapidly reactivated, consistent with the restoration of regulated photoprotective energy dissipation. The two species showed similar responses in relative water content, PSII efficiency and multispectral traits, while species-dependent differences were most evident in NPQ and in the temporal dynamics of several gas-exchange traits. NDVI recovered to near pre-stress values, whereas specific green reflectance remained below initial levels at the end of the recovery period, indicating asynchronous recovery among spectral traits. Overall, the results indicate that <i>R. serbica</i> and <i>R. nathaliae</i> share reversible physiological responses to freezing-induced dehydration, with differences between species primarily in the timing and magnitude of particular recovery processes rather than fundamentally different tolerance strategies. Integrating phenotyping with temporal modelling provides a framework for identifying coordinated and asynchronous components of stress and recovery responses in resurrection plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag046"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13659235/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149185254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant size differences between quartz islands and their surroundings in a South African desert ecosystem.","authors":"Severin D H Irl, Pia M Eibes, Alexander M Bürger, Katharina Meyer, Mareike Thier, Ute Schmiedel, Gianluigi Ottaviani","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plag047","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Islands constitute excellent models to disentangle the effect of different biotic and abiotic factors generating plant size variation. However, plant size variation in terrestrial habitat islands remains unexplored. This is a meaningful gap as these insular systems are expected to have both similarities (e.g. isolation defined by habitat contrast and permeability against the surrounding matrix) as well as differences (e.g. large herbivores' presence). Here, we address this gap by examining size-related plant trait differences between specialist species of terrestrial habitat islands (quartz islands) and species not restricted to the islands. We collected size-related traits (plant height, leaf length, area and volume) for 67 species belonging to the three most representative families (Aizoaceae, Asteraceae, Crassulaceae) in the Richtersveld desert, South Africa. Species were categorized as quartz specialists (restricted to the islands), generalists (occurring on islands and matrix) and matrix species (found only in the matrix). We ran univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis to examine whether quartz specialists differ in trait values and coordination compared to generalists and matrix species. Quartz specialists are consistently more variable in their plant size traits, are shorter, yet are characterized by similar leaf size (and succulence) compared to generalists and matrix species. The variation of whole-plant stature is decoupled from that of leaf traits. Our findings suggest that environmental filtering associated with quartz islands' harsh conditions (low resource availability and solar radiation) and related ecological specialization may operate as the main eco-evolutionary driver shaping size-related traits, selecting for compact (dwarf) succulent growth forms.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag047"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13650701/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149170480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genomic evidence for genetic erosion and strong population subdivision in <i>Amomum hainanense</i> (Zingiberaceae), an endangered island endemic plant from Hainan, China.","authors":"Liang Tang, Xu Wu, Yi-Ting Xu, Lang-Xing Yuan, Lian Zhou, Shou-Bai Liu","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plag045","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aobpla/plag045","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Amomum hainanense</i> is an endangered understorey herb narrowly distributed in tropical montane forests of Hainan Island, China, but its evolutionary history and conservation status remain poorly understood because genomic information is scarce. Here, we used double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing to assess genetic diversity, population structure and demographic history in <i>Amomum hainanense</i>, and assembled complete chloroplast genomes from low-coverage whole-genome sequencing reads to clarify its phylogenetic placement. Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms revealed exceptionally low nucleotide diversity (<i>π</i> = 0.7-1.7 × 10^-4 among the five well-sampled populations; mean = 1.2 × 10^-4), substantially lower than values reported for cultivated source taxa of Amomi Fructus (4.1-10.4 × 10^-4). Pronounced population structure and high, statistically significant pairwise genetic differentiation (<i>F</i> _ST = 0.280-0.621) were consistent with restricted connectivity among populations. Stairway Plot 2 based on both pooled and principal component analysis-defined group-level folded site frequency spectra recovered a broadly consistent long-term decline in effective population size over the last ca. 10 000 years. Chloroplast genomes showed very low intraspecific diversity (<i>π</i> ≈ 0.2 × 10^-4) and recovered <i>A. hainanense</i> as a strongly supported monophyletic lineage. Phylogenetic analysis of three plastid loci further identified <i>A. repoeense</i> as the closest sampled relative. Together, these results indicate severe genetic erosion coupled with strong population subdivision in <i>A. hainanense</i>. We recommend prioritizing <i>in situ</i> protection of the highest-diversity populations (XL and MLD) and establishing population-stratified <i>ex situ</i> germplasm collections that represent all major genetic groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"18 5","pages":"plag045"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13643486/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149138860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}