Aims: Data-based knowledge of species diversity distribution in natural reserves is fundamental for the adaptive protection and management of natural reserves. However, species diversity patterns have been rarely examined comprehensively across the entire areas of majority of natural reserves. This study aims to explore spatial variation in woody species diversity across the Qianjiangyuan National Park, as well as among subareas based on functional divisions.

Methods: A total of 663 plots, each measuring 20 m × 20 m, were surveyed across the national park. Within these plots, all individuals of DBH (diameter at breast height) ≥ 1 cm were identified to species and measured for DBH. Using this comprehensive dataset, we analyzed and presented the spatial pattern in observed species richness, rarefaction species richness, cross-sectional area at breast height (A_DBH), and the number of tree individual number across the national park. Furthermore, we compared those variables among subareas based on functional divisions, emplying various statistical comparison techniques such as z-test, Max-t test, Siegel-Tukey test, and Fligner-Killeen test. These analytical methods allowed us to explore and understand the difference in the aforementioned variables between different functional divisions within the national park.

Results: The distribution of hotspots for woody species diversity basically matched core protection areas of the national park. Among the subareas, the Gutian subarea (GTs), Changheqi subarea (CHQs), and Gutian-Suzhuang subarea (GSs) showed the highest levels of observed and rarefaction species richness. There were no significant differences in observed species richness among these three subareas, and rarefaction species richness was also statistically similar for GTs and GSs, both of which were higher than CHQs. The variations in species richness indices were the smallest for GTs and GSs. Regarding the A_DBH, the Qixi subarea (QXs), CHQs, and GTs had the largest values, with no significant difference among them. However, GSs had a significantly smaller A_DBH compared to CHQs and GTs. The subareas GTs and GSs had the lowest number of tree individuals. As for the Changhong and Hetian towns, the Changhong-Hetian subarea (CHs) and Gutian-Hongyuan subarea (GHs) exhibited the smallest in both species richness and A_DBH.

Conclusion: In conclusion, our findings support the basic reasonability of the functional divisions within the national park in terms of biodiversity. We have identified important biodiversity hotspots and conservation gaps: the GTs stands out as having the largest trees and the highest woody species richness. Adjacent to GTs, the GSs exhibits similar species richness but with smaller trees. Integrating GSs into the core protection area would be beneficial for safeguarding the overall integrity of the main ecosystem's integrity in the national park; within the CHQs, the part encompassing Changhong and Hetian towns showed poor woody species diversity, with small trees and high human-disturbance. These areas require strengthened protection and restoration efforts to enhance biodiversity; CHs and GHs displayed low species richness, characterized by small trees and strong human-disturbance. In these regions, it is essential to establish synergies between community development and biodiversity protection to promote conservation. By extending knowledge of biodiversity hotspots and conservation gaps, our study provides valuable support for the adaptive protection and management of biodiversity within the national park. Our findings can be used to guide targeted conservation strategies and ensure the sustainable protection of the park's unique ecological treasures.

Aim: Topographic and stand structure are important factors affecting species diversity of understory communities. Our objective was to explore the effects of different topographic factors and forest stand structure on the species diversity of herbaceous plants in a warm temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest.

Methods: Based on the survey data of 450 1 m × 1 m herbaceous plots in the 20 ha Donglingshan forest dynamics plot, Beijing, we used species richness index, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Simpson dominance index and Pielou evenness index as the indicators of herbaceous species diversity to analyze the changes of each diversity index with different factors of topographic and forest stand structure. Meanwhile, we utilized Pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis, redundancy analysis (RDA), and hierarchical partitioning methods to explore the influence of topographic and forest stand structure factors on herbaceous species diversity.

Results: (1) The herbaceous Shannon-Wiener diversity index in the forest was negatively correlated with the slope aspect (P < 0.05), and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index decreased with the slope aspect (from sunny to shady slopes). The four diversity indices had no significant correlation with elevation, slope, and concavity. (2) The species richness index and Shannon-Wiener diversity index decreased with the increase in stand density and forest species richness but increased with the rise of mean DBH. The four species diversity indices were not significantly correlated with coefficient of variation of DBH (DBHcv). (3) The hierarchical partitioning method showed that environmental factors explained herbaceous species diversity as follows: stand density > DBH > DBHcv > elevation. Stand density was the main factor affecting the species diversity of herbaceous plants under the forest.

Conclusion: This study revealed the effects of different topographic factors and forest stand structure factors on the diversity of herbaceous plants in the warm temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest, and confirmed that stand density was the key factor. Our findings will contribute to the comprehensive understanding of forest biodiversity in the promotion and protection of forest ecosystem and biodiversity.

Aims: In this study, our objective is to test the hypothesis that species-rich group possess higher net diversification rates. We focus on the subfamily Podophylloideae in Berberidaceae as our study system. Additionally, we aim to investigate the combined effects of biotic and abiotic factors on diversification rates.

Methods: We reconstructed the phylogeny of Podophylloideae by using 77 chloroplast CDS genes and employing both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. To estimate divergence time, we used one second calibration and two fossil calibrations. Net diversification rates through time were estimated using BAMM. Additionally, we employed Hidden State Speciation and Extinction analysis (HiSSE) and Quantitative State Speciation and Extinction analysis (QuaSSE) to estimate the effect of four functional traits on diversification rates.

Results: Molecular dating, based on 77 chloroplast CDS genes, showed that Podophylloideae originated approximately 92.75 Myr (95% HPD, 86.84‒95.84 Myr) with a crown age of 85 Myr (95% HPD, 73.19‒94.94 Myr). The net diversification rate began to increase around 23 Myr ago, and the most significant rate shift accrued approximately 21 Myr along the Epimedium stem branch. The analysis of state-dependent diversification rate indicated that taxa with nectar spur in subtropical East Asia possessed a higher net diversification rate. However, the specific spur length in Epimedium did not have a significant effect on net diversification rate. Furthermore, fruit type, the presence of aril, or the presence of aerial stems did not exert any significant effect on net diversification rate.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that the variation in net diversification rates is driven by the presence of nectar spur and the intensification of the East Asian monsoon since the Miocene, which has shaped the discrepancy in species diversity in Podophylloideae.

Aims: Phytoplankton play a crucial role in biogeochemical cycling of river ecosystems. The ecological environment of the Yarlung Zangbo River, a major representative of high-altitude plateau rivers, is highly complex and more fragile than typical rivers of a lower altitude. Therefore, it features unique geographical characteristics which define the regions biology and ecology. This study aims to elucidate the spatial and temporal distribution patterns and the assembly mechanisms of the phytoplankton community in the middle and upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and to provide important data reference for the follow-up study of phytoplankton and water environment protection in the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibetan Plateau.

Methods: In this study, phytoplankton in the middle and upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River were investigated in summer (August 2019), autumn (November 2019) and spring (May 2020). Phytoplankton samples were collected and identified with strict qualitative and quantitative measures, while the physicochemical water features were measured on site. Simpson diversity index, Pielou evenness index and richness index were used to analyze α-diversity. The spatial and temporal differences of the phytoplankton community structure were analyzed by principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and analysis of similarities (ANOSIM). Neutral models and standardized random rates were used to determine the relative proportions of deterministic and stochastic processes in phytoplankton community assembly. The effects of environmental heterogeneity (environmental distance) and diffusion limitation (geographical distance) on the process of phytoplankton community assembly were investigated through distance-decay patterns. Mantel test (Spearman correlation coefficient) was used to calculate the correlation between phytoplankton abundance and environmental factor distance in each season. Furthermore, network co-occurrence was used to analyze phytoplankton community interactions.

Results: We identified a total of 452 distinct phytoplankton species in the middle and upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, encompassing 8 phyla, 11 classes, 24 orders, 44 families, and 121 genera. The assembly of phytoplankton communities was found to be influenced by the combined effects of environmental heterogeneity, dispersal limitation, and species interactions. Interestingly, in season (from spring to autumn), we observed a transformation from stochastic to deterministic process, whereas at altitudes (from YJA gradient to YJC gradient), we observed a transition from deterministic to stochastic and then to deterministic. Geographical features along with water quality parameters were identified as pivotal drivers shaping the assembly of phytoplankton communities in the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and exhibited pronounced distance-decay patterns, both spatially and temporally.

Conclusion: The middle and upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River were vastly different in both spatial and temporal features, leading to a significant change in phytoplankton ecology between the two regions. Species interactions, environmental heterogeneity and dispersal limitation all play a role in the assembly of phytoplankton communities. Among them, deterministic process (environmental heterogeneity) dominates its assembly process.

Aims: Floral color (visual) and scents (olfactory) are pivotal signals in plant‒pollinator interaction, serving the purpose of in attracting specific pollinators and ensuring successful pollination. Punica granatum, a commonly cultivated fruit plant exhibiting andromonoecy (i.e. hermaphrodite flower size bigger than that in male flowers), features red flowers and is primarily pollinated by bees in plantation settings. However, the effects of variations in color and scents across distinct floral on pollinator attraction and the subsequent reproductive success of P. granatum has received limited research attention.

Methods: In this study, we examined an investigation to assess the effects of visual signals (color, size), as well as olfactory signals (volatile compounds, relative content) along with rewards, on pollinator visitation, fruit set, and seed set. Four distinct treatments (natural, removal of petal, stamen-petal, and stamen) were analyzed, using P. granatum flowers in Kashi City, South Xinjiang.

Results: The main pollinators observed for P. granatum in Kashi City were Apis mellifera(honey bees) and Syrphidae sp. (a type of wasp).Our results yielded significant findings indicating that yellow stamens possess key visual and olfactory signal characteristics that are more effective in attracting pollinators compared to red petals. Notably, the removing of the petals led to in a significantly higher visiting frequency (P< 0.05) and duration time (P< 0.05) of the main pollinator, A. mellifera, when compared to the other three treatments (natural flowers and flowers removing stamen-petals and stamens). Furthermore, we observed a significantly higher fruit set in flowers with the removal of petals (82.33% ± 4.45%) in comparison to flowers with stamen-petal removal (66.31% ± 3.02%), natural flowers (50.88% ± 0.88%), and flowers with stamen removal (43.60% ± 2.04%).

Conclusion: These results from the study suggest that yellow stamens play a crucial role in attracting insect pollinators, whereas red petals may a negatively impact on pollination success in P. granatum. Consequently, the contrasting colors exhibited by different floral structures likely facilitate the attraction of diverse range of pollinators in this important fruit plant, ultimately promoting reproductive success.

Aim: Moderate/high-severity fire is highly likely to induce changes in forest structure, function, and forest succession, which further threaten bird composition and diversity. Greater Khingan Mountains is a fire-prone region, however, little is known about how forest fires influence bird diversity, particularly its functional diversity.

Methods We used the point counts approach to survey birds and quantified changes in bird community structure and functional diversity after several fires had occurred at both forest interiors and edges in the Heilongjiang Nanwenghe National Nature Reserve from July to August 2021. Furthermore, a systematic literature review was conducted to investigate the relationship between forest composition and bird functional diversity in the Greater Khingan Mountains.

Results: The results showed (1) the difference in bird community composition was small in the forest interiors, but was great at forest edges, with different fire severity histories; (2) the functional richness and evenness of birds in the forest interiors gradually increased with the increased recovery time since the fire, and bird functional richness was greatest at the forest edges in the early stages of the post-fire disturbance; (3) over time since the post-fire recovery, the proportion of resident birds increased, but the proportion of summer migratory birds decreased at the forest edges; (4) bird functional richness was significantly higher in the mixed coniferous forests compared to the larch dominant forests in the Greater Khingan Mountains region.

Conclusions: This study suggests that maintaining the structural stability in forest interiors and enhancing plant diversity at the forest edges in the early stages of the post-fire are beneficial for maintaining high bird functional richness and evenness in the boreal forests.

Aims: Aviceda leuphotes is a second-class protected animal in China and a flagship species for birdwatching in many places. However, at present, the ecological research on A. leuphotes is very scarce, which significantly hinders our ability to implement targeted protection measures for this species. To address this issue, we conducted the study to analyze the characteristics of suitable habitats for the A. leuphotes and to predict potential suitable habitats in Mingxi County, Fujian Province, in order to provide a theoretical foundation for the conservation of the species.

Methods: In this study, 32 sample plots were selected for field survey by combining the initial records provided by the Mingxi Forestry Bureau, Fujian Province. Aviceda leuphotes were recorded in 16 sample plots. Using geographic information system (GIS), maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model, and generalized linear model (GLM), we analyzed the habitat suitability of A. leuphotes in Mingxi County, taking into account the climatic and geographic characteristics of each site.

Results: The results of the MaxEnt modeling showed that: (1) Land-use type was the most significant environmental factor restricting the distribution of the species, with cultivated land and wetland serving as the species' preferred habitats. (2) In addition, the distribution of A. leuphotes was influenced by the distance from road, as well as the normalized difference vegetation index. The results of the GLM also showed that the distance from road has a significant effect on the distribution of A. leuphotes.

Conclusion: Aviceda leuphotes preferred the habitat with cultivated land or wetland, far away from the road and low normalized difference vegetation index.

Aims: DNA barcoding using the short, highly conserved regions of the genome to make species-level identifications, is widely used in the species identification and diversity assessment of plants and animals in biodiversity conservation research. Wanglang National Nature Reserve is a global biodiversity hot spot located in the eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with high level of biodiversity and has a leading role in the wildlife conservation in China. Although a lot of survey data of species diversity have been collected, genetic resource of terrestrial vertebrates in the reserve remains largely unclear. To address this, our study aims to establish a DNA barcoding database for terrestrial vertebrate species for the reserve.

Methods: We collected genetic samples mainly using non-invasive sampling along the line transects in Wanglang National Nature Reserve and from museum specimens. We extracted DNA from the samples to obtain the barcode sequences by PCR. Each DNA barcode sequences were blasted against NCBI database for species identification. For those sequences that we could not directly get the matches in the reference database, we constructed phylogenetic trees using MEGA 11.0 with the aim to identify the species based on the sequences of its relative species from the public database.

Results: The total of 314 samples including tissues from carcasses, feathers, feces and eggshells were collected and 74 species were identified using 16 pairs DNA barcoding primers. The sequences of mitochondrial COI, Cytb, 12S-16S, 16S genes and sequences of nuclear RAG1 gene of Scutiger wanglangensis were firstly reported. Compared with other wildlife monitoring techniques such as camera traps, drift fences and pitfall traps in the same time interval, DNA barcoding is more efficient in all taxon groups and has better performance in bird monitoring. Finally, A terrestrial vertebrate genetic resource bank contains 314 substantial samples and 216 DNA barcodes has been established.

Conclusion: Our study established an elementary DNA barcoding database of 74 terrestrial vertebrate species in the reserve, highlights the utility of DNA barcoding technique in wild animal diversity surveys, and provides a basic catalog for assessing local species diversity to improve conservation research and management in the reserve.

Aims: Hydrological connectivity is essential for maintaining biodiversity in coastal wetlands, and it is important to understand the response of fish diversity, as a major component of biodiversity, to different hydrological connectivity intensities. This study aimed to investigate the response of fish diversity to hydrological connectivity in the typical tidal creek system and verify the applicability of eDNA metabarcoding for monitoring and conserving fish diversity in the Yellow River Delta.

Methods: Water samples were collected from six sites in a typical tidal creek system in the Yellow River Delta in September 2022. Fish diversity was analyzed by using eDNA metabarcoding, in which, eDNA extracted from the water samples source were amplified by PCR using the 12S rRNA classical fish primers MiFish-E and high-throughput sequencing was performed by Illumina Miseq. The OTU representative sequences were aligned to the NCBI nucleotide sequence database to obtain species taxonomic annotation information. Thirteen environmental physicochemical indicators were measured in the water column. The relationship between fish communities and environmental factors was explored based on redundancy analysis.

Results: A total of 55 fish species were detected, including 27 native and 28 non-native fish species, and Perciformes dominated the fish composition. The fishes with high sequence abundance at each sample site included Acanthogobius hasta, Planiliza haematocheilu, Acanthogobius elongatus, etc. Fish diversity of the tidal creeks with different hydrological connectivity was different. Significantly higher community diversity and richness index, the highest number of species and a more even distribution of the number of individual species were found in the secondary tidal creek than in the other two tidal creeks. SiO₃^2--Si, NO₃^--N, pH, salinity, NH₄⁺-N, and dissolved oxygen were significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with fish community structure shown by RDA analysis. Acanthogobius hasta with higher sequence abundance was positively correlated with silicate, and the sequence abundance of Planiliza haematocheilus was negatively correlated with salinity.

Conclusion: This study confirmed the feasibility of using environmental DNA metabarcoding to monitor fish diversity of typical tidal water bodies in the Yellow River estuary by comparing it with previous traditional sampling data and indicated that hydrological connectivity of tidal creek systems has a significant impact on fish community structure and diversity. The results of this study are helpful to further understand the influence mechanism of coastal wetland hydrological connectivity on biological communities.

Aim: Nekton surveys in coastal waters can enrich our understanding of species diversity, assess the status of local fishery resources and variations in their trends, and provide the fundamental data that needed for effective management. The aim of this study was to understand nekton species composition, density, and community structure in coastal waters of eastern Fujian Province.

Methods: Bottom trawl surveys were conducted at eight stations in coastal waters of eastern Fujian Province to collect nekton samples in spring (April) and autumn (October) of 2021. Fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods were identified to species level if possible. The index of relative importance (IRI), Shannon-Wiener diversity index based on number (H'_N) and weight (H'_BW), taxonomic diversity indices (taxonomic diversity, Δ; taxonomic distinctness, Δ^*; average taxonomic distinctness, Δ⁺; variation in taxonomic distinctness, Λ⁺) and densities (i.e. abundance and biomass) were calculated. The proportions of the number of juvenile fishes were estimated based on length measurements and the lengths at fish sexual maturation were obtained from Fishbase (www.fishbase.org). Abundance biomass comparison curve (ABC curve) of nekton and different taxonomic groups (fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods) were also evaluated. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER), and biota-environment matching (BIOENV) were used to describe the characteristics of the nekton community structure and the relationships with five environmental factors (temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH and water depth). The differences in the nekton community between spring and autumn were also tested statistically.

Results: A total of 147 nekton species, including 82 fishes, 57 crustaceans, and 8 cephalopods, were collected. Eleven dominant species (IRI ≥ 500) were identified, including Harpadon nehereus, which had the highest IRI values (IRI > 4,000) in both spring and autumn, and was the only species that dominated in both seasons. The dominant species were generally small-sized and low-valued in spring, and large-sized and high-valued in autumn. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index based on weight (H'_BW) in spring was significantly lower than that of autumn (P < 0.05). The low average taxonomic distinctness (Δ⁺) in spring indicated that the taxonomic relationship of nekton species was closely associated. The average densities of nekton were 16.9 × 10³ ± 14.5 × 10³ ind./km² and 474.0 ± 362.0 kg/km² in spring, which were significantly lower than those in autumn (240.8 × 10³ ± 178.6 × 10³ ind./km² and 2,587.5 ± 1,495.5 kg/km²) (P < 0.01). The number of nekton species, the H'_BW and the proportions of the number of juvenile fishes in spring were significantly lower than those in autumn (P < 0.05). ABC curves suggested that the nekton communities in coastal waters of eastern Fujian Province were under a disturbed-even stressed-condition, especially in autumn. The nekton community structure was significantly distinct between spring and autumn (P < 0.01). The community structure was closely related to the combination of temperature and dissolved oxygen factors according to the BIOENV results (r = 0.548, P < 0.01).

Conclusion: This study revealed that the number of nekton species in coastal waters of eastern Fujian Province was relatively high, irrespective of only two seasonal surveys, compared to other coastal areas in Fujian. Based on comparisons of the average density and the average body weight of nekton in 2007-2021 in the same area or other waters of Fujian, the fishery resources in coastal waters of eastern Fujian Province showed a positive trend. As these surveys were conducted before and after the national summer fishing moratorium, long-term monitoring can be applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the fishing moratorium regulation in the future.

Aims: There is a close relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services. This study seeks to clarify the complex relationships and feedback mechanisms experienced between biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Method: Based on the spatial distribution pattern of species, this study utilized the MaxEnt model and Zonation software to evaluate the biodiversity of the Wujiang River Basin and applied the InVEST (integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs) model to account for various ecosystem services. The study also used the random forest and partial dependence plot (PDP) machine learning models to analyze the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Wujiang River Basin.

Results: The results showed that the biodiversity in the northeast of the Wujiang River Basin exhibited a distribution pattern of high, while in the southwest, the distribution pattern was low, with the downstream > midstream > upstream. In 2020, the Wujiang River Basin water supply was 810.57 mm/m²; the food supply was 735.08 kg/ha; carbon fixation was 134.00 Mg/ha; water conservation capacity was 227.98 mm/m²; soil conservation capacity was 401.30 t/ha, and the habitat quality was 0.68. Water supply, accounting for 66.24%, and water conservation, accounting for 44.72%, had relatively high contributions to biodiversity. Except for food supply, an ecosystem service that relies on human activities, all other ecosystem services positively correlated with biodiversity.

Conclusion: The study indicate that ecosystem services influenced strongly by climate and human activities drive changes in biodiversity, but biodiversity is a regulatory factor of some importance for ecosystem services that depend on biological functions.

Background: Bird sound recognition is a crucial tool for ecological monitoring. However, current research still faces the challenges of achieving low recognition rates in complex datasets and a lack of robustness. Moreover, there is a noticeable absence of interpretability analysis for deep learning model in the existing research.

Methods: Firstly, we utilized a deep feature extraction network to extract features from the logarithmic Mel-spectrogram of bird sound and the deep features of the supplementary feature set. These two types of deep features were then fused and fed into a light gradient boosting machine (lightGBM) classifier for classification. Class activation maps were applied to perform interpretability analysis on deep learning models to understand how the models recognize bird sound.

Results: The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method in this paper achieved state-of-the-art results on the Beijing Bird Dataset, with an average accuracy of 98.70% and an average F₁ score of 98.84%. Compared to traditional methods, the deep fusion features show a significant improvement in accuracy for bird sound recognition, with an increase of at least 5.62%. Additionally, the introduction of the lightGBM classifier contributed to a 3.02% improvement in classification accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed method exhibited outstanding performance on the CLO-43SD and BirdCLEF2022 competition datasets, achieving average accuracies of 98.32% and 91.12%, respectively. The result of the class activation maps revealed that the disparities in attentional regions within the neural network for each specific bird sound type.

Conclusion: The method proposed in this paper effectively improves the accuracy of bird sound recognition and demonstrates excellent performance on three datasets, offering strong technical support for ecological monitoring based on bird sound recognition. This analysis serves as a theoretical foundation for subsequent endeavors in feature selection and model optimization.

As of January 2023, China has a total of 312 snake species, establishing itself as one of the most diverse countries in terms of snake biodiversity worldwide. The characteristics exhibited by snakes hold significant sway over their survival within their respective environments, making them an important role in the study of their evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation biology. However, a comprehensive dataset encompassing the morphological, life-history, and ecological traits of Chinese snakes has yet to be established. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive dataset comprising the various traits exhibited by Chinese snakes. To accomplish this goal, we conducted a systematic collection of data from a range of sources, including published snake books, the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literatures, as well as the Reptile Database (https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/). Our data compilation encompasses 41 distinctive traits, which were classified into three main types: morphological traits (25 traits such as scales and teeth), life-history traits (11 traits such as body length, diet, foraging mode, reproductive modes, clutch size, egg size, activity time, and venomousness), and ecological traits (5 traits such as Chinese/island endemism, adult habitat, geographical and elevational distributions). Among all these 41 traits, apart from geographical distribution, mental and rostral scales, which are 100% complete, the data on other traits were incomplete to varying degrees, ranging from 7.72% to 99.70%. This dataset is the most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of Chinese snake traits available to date. It provides a unique and invaluable resource for exploring the evolution, biogeography, ecology, and conservation biology of Chinese snakes.

Here is a dataset offers the biodiversity information of beetles in the Ma On Shan region of Hong Kong, China. We collected beetles from various areas using three passive collection methods (flight interception trap, Malaise trap and pitfall trap) in different areas. The dataset includes beetles collected at Ma On Shan (Hong Kong) sample site from 27th May to 17th June, 2017. The sample site contains 13 sample points, each with one flight interception trap, one Malaise trap, and ten pitfall traps. In total, we collected 3,011 beetles from 45 families and 325 species. This dataset consists of five parts: (1) the original photos of collected beetles (photographed in 198 images); (2) photographs of beetles with identification results; (3) a statistical table showing the number of beetle specimens collected; (4) a morphological species identification chart; (5) an information table with latitude, longitude, temperature, precipitation and altitude of sample points. By using three passive collection methods, this study provides an effective and feasible approach for collecting insects. This dataset can be used to quantitatively assess the diversity of beetles and contribute to the diversity study of beetles in Hong Kong.

Background & Aims: In the face of a series of challenges such as climate change, population growth and agricultural intensification, how to promote sustainable agricultural development and ensure food security, agroecosystem diversity with its unique genetic, ecological and traditional socio-cultural values become an important way to solve this challenge. A comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of agroecosystem diversity, the main influencing factors, conservation and utilization measures and research tools will be an important reference for the developing of agrobiodiversity conservation strategies.

Method: This paper only focused on agrobiodiversity on farming system not broad agriculture. We systematically analyzed the impact of various influencing factors and management measures on agroecosystem diversity, introduced the current situation and changing dynamics of typical ecological regions of agrobiodiversity in China, systematically described the assessment methods of agroecosystem diversity, analyzed the conservation and management of agroecosystem diversity, and accordingly pointed out the main problems of current agrobiodiversity research in China and future prospects.

Results: The analysis shows that agroecosystem diversity plays an important role in maintaining agroecological services, improving the resilience of agroecosystems, reducing chemical fertilizer and pesticide and developing green agriculture.

Prospect: There is a need to improve agroecosystem diversity assessment indicators, strengthen agroecosystem diversity management policies and coordination mechanisms, and intensify agroecosystem diversity conservation and use, so that agrobiodiversity conservation and utilization can be mainstreamed in sustainable agriculture development.

Aims: The survival of wild plants is under threat and an objective assessment of the current status of plant species is an important scientific issue. To protect rare and endangered plants, China has compiled red lists and protection lists of plants. List of National Key Protected Wild Plants defines the range of national key protected wild plants and is the legal basis for the legal protection of wild plant resources. Thus, supplementing and improving the list has important practical significance. This paper presents an objective evaluation of the current lists and provides important suggestions for updating and improving the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants.

Method: We synthesized the existing plant protection lists in China, created a unified table, and conducted a comparative analysis of each list. By studying the red list of representative wild plants in China, it is compared with the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants, including the changes before and after the update of the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants. Further, the similarities, differences and completeness among the lists were analyzed and evaluated.

Results: The existing lists in China have problems such as large differences in the number of species evaluated in each list, controversial names for species, incompleteness, and large discrepencies between the domestic lists and international lists.

Conclusion: Finally, we propose that 193 species of wild plants should be included in the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants, of which 44 species are protected at National Level I and 149 species are protected at National Level II. Furthermore, focus should be placed on the 1,313 species of wild plants, which should be considered for inclusion in the provincial nature conservation list, to improve the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants.

Background & Aims: Protecting urban biodiversity and creating biodiversity habitats in cities is an important challenge for urban sustainable development. The accelerating urbanization process has caused serious impact on biodiversity, and the protection of urban biodiversity is becoming increasingly urgent in the new urbanization and ecological construction. As a mode of urban biodiversity conservation, it is of great significance to clarify its mechanism and effect of biodiversity conservation in high-density cities and explore its scientific construction and management mode of habitat gardens.

Methods: This study conducted case analysis, investigated the status quo of biodiversity, residents' participation in construction and use and management mode of habitat gardens in Changning District, sorted out and analyzed the distribution status quo of green patches, habitat conditions before and after the construction of habitat gardens, and the promotion effect and completion effect of the policy in Changning District, Shanghai. The model of community scale biodiversity conservation under the background of community renewal in high-density cities was discussed, and the corresponding biodiversity conservation strategies were proposed.

Results: We found that a habitat garden is a natural succession ecosystem with low maintenance management. As the basic unit of urban green space, it not only fills the gap of urban small-scale biodiversity conservation, but also has spatial heterogeneity, which plays an important role in improving urban green ecological network and optimizing biodiversity conservation patterns. However, there are still some problems in habitat garden such as difficult entry into knowledge and technology and large capital input. There are four main modes of construction and management for biodiversity conservation in a habitat garden: (1) Process management includes four main stages: the early site selection, determination of biodiversity protection objects, construction and maintenance management; (2) Pluralistic cooperation: multi-subjects of government, society, enterprises, and individual residents form a task-oriented cooperation mode; (3) Promotion mode with expanding influence; (4) Take countermeasures against potential problems in habitat gardens.

Suggestions & Perspectives: We suggest that in future urban construction and urban renewal planning, habitat construction and biodiversity conservation should be included, and the basic ecological unit of urban community habitat garden should be built. According to the four construction and management modes, habitat garden should gradually become the solution of biodiversity conservation at the scale of urban community.

Background & Aims: Abnormal climate change significantly affects biodiversity, while biodiversity loss also affects the climate system. Addressing the issues of climate change and biodiversity in isolation is insufficient, as there exists a strong coupling relationship between them. Despite their interconnectedness, achieving synergistic governance between biodiversity and climate change encounters several challenges. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) primarily regulates climate change, focusing on a greenhouse gas emissions reduction and climate adaptation. Simultaneously, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) oversees organisms and strives to maintain biodiversity sustainability. Since their inception, UNFCCC and CBD have been interlinked, with complementary objectives that necessitate a collaborative approach for their successful implementation. However, to effectively address these global concerns, it is crucial to enhance the synergy between UNFCCC and CBD. This paper examines the existing synergy between the two conventions from the perspective of international law aiming to support the resolution of the interwined challenges presented by climate change and biodiversity loss.

Review Results: From the current status of synergy between UNFCCC and CBD, we can find problems of synergy between UNFCCC and CBD as follows, insufficient response, one-way response and notable fragmentation in compliance mechanisms during their collaborative efforts.

Recommendations: Based on this, this paper takes a holistic systems approach as its theoretical framework. It puts forth recommendations for enhancing synergistic governance of biodiversity and climate change, taking into account both theoretical and practical considerations. It suggests fostering coordination between the two conventions, promoting the implementation of nature-based solutions, exploring diversified financing mechanisms, and developing long-term strategies.