News

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  Neighbourhood Diversity Effects on Tree Growth Shift Over Time in Subtropical Forests

  A new study published in Ecology Letters reveals that, as forests age, neighbourhood tree diversity increasingly alleviates competitive pressure on tree growth by enhancing niche differentiation among neighbouring trees. Led by Prof. LIU Xiaojuan from the Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS), the researchers integrated 14 years of growth measurements from 15,877 individual trees across 516 plots from a large forest biodiversity experiment in southeast China.

  Jun 17, 2026
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  A Case Study in Tree Grapes (Cyphostemma) Reveals the Genomic and Ecological Drivers of Arid Adaptation

  In the context of global warming and intensifying aridity, understanding how plants adapt to extreme habitats has become a focus in biodiversity and evolutionary biology research. Recently, a new study led by Prof. LU Limin from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, deciphered the genetic basis and ecological mechanisms of adaptation to arid environments in the tree grape genus Cyphostemma (Vitaceae). Their findings were published in Nature Communications.

  Jun 14, 2026
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  Study Reveals a Precipitation Threshold Regulating Ecosystem Nitrogen Retention

  May 25, 2026
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  China Unveils 2026 Biodiversity Catalogue

  On May 22, 2026, coinciding with the 26th International Biodiversity Day, the Biodiversity Committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences (BC-CAS) released the Catalogue of Life China 2026 Annual Checklist. The updated checklist is now freely available for global users to download at http://www.sp2000.org.cn

  May 22, 2026
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  LiDAR Enables Non-destructive Estimation of Tree Above-ground Biomass and Its Components

  A recent study published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution presents a new terrestrial laser scanning-based method for accurately estimating tree above-ground biomass and its allocation among stems, branches, and leaves without destructive harvesting.

  May 17, 2026
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  Chinese Scientists Reveal the Response of Plant Diversity to Climate Change Over the Past 14000 Years in the Hengduan Mountains 　　

  A new study published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, has revealed a complex response of plant diversity to climate warming during the past 14000 years in the Hengduan Mountains of southwestern China, one of the world's foremost biodiversity hotspots.

  May 12, 2026
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  Phosphorus Addition Reshapes Phosphorus Cycling Across Global Terrestrial Ecosystems

  Phosphorus (P) is an important element that limits plant growth and the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems. A recent study published in Global Change Biology reveals that P addition systematically reshapes P cycle in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, shifting ecosystem from P recycling systems toward acquiring and alleviating ecosystem P limitation.

  Apr 16, 2026
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  New Insights into the Enigma of Transposable Element Abundance in Arabidopsis

  A recent comprehensive review summarizes the key factors driving transposable element (TE) abundance enigma in Arabidopsis and offers new insights and new directions for future research in the field.

  Apr 14, 2026
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  Wetland Drainage Triggers Divergent Soil Carbon Responses in Carbon-Poor versus Carbon-Rich Wetlands

  A recent study published in Global Change Biology reveals a transcontinental divergence in soil carbon stock responses to decades of wetland drainage, challenging the widely accepted assumption that drainage generally causes wetland soil organic carbon (SOC) loss.

  Apr 06, 2026
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  How a Simple Genome Led to Phenotypic Complexity: Insights from Genomic and Epigenomic Studies in Aristolochia fimbriata

  A research team led by Prof. JIAO Yuannian from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has created a high-resolution map of the centromeric architecture and three-dimensional (3D) epigenomic landscape of the magnoliid species Aristolochia fimbriata, offering new insights into how regulatory network rewiring drives the evolution of its specialized floral traits. The study was published in Genome Biology.

  Mar 28, 2026