East Asian forest-steppe outpost in the Khanka Lowland (Russia) and its conservation.

The Khanka Lowland forest-steppe is the most eastern outpost of the Eurasian steppe biome. It includes unique grassland plant communities with rare steppe species. These coenosis have changed under the influence of anthropogenic activity, especially during the last 100 years and included both typical steppe species and nemoral mesophytic species.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of L. (Papaveraceae).

L., a widespread species in northern Eurasia, is a valuable medicinal plant, but its chloroplast genome has not previously been reported. We determined its complete chloroplast genome using a high-throughput sequencing technique.

Confusing boundaries of the Labrador tea species: dispersal history explains the lack of clear species structure.

Background And Aims: The Labrador teas (genus Rhododendron, subsection Ledum) are a complex of species widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. They occupy cold-resistant plant communities from highlands to forest understorey and wetland habitats almost circumboreally and they are especially abundant in Northeast Asia and northern North America, yet there are no clear species boundaries in this group. The genetic structure of species of subsect.

Chloroplast genome-based genetic resources via genome skimming for the subalpine forests of Japan and adjacent regions.

The Japanese subalpine zone is dominated by an ecologically important forest biome, subalpine coniferous forest, constituting a distinct assemblage of cold-tolerant angiosperm and conifer species. While being relatively intact compared to other forest biomes in Japan, subalpine coniferous forests are under significant threat from deer browsing, global warming and small population size effects. However, there is a severe lack of genetic resources available for this biome's major constituent plant species.

Merger of (Betulaceae) from northern Japan with northeast Asian based on ploidy level.

It has been controversial whether , a dwarf birch distributed in Hokkaido of northern Japan, is an endemic species or a synonym of broadly distributed in northeast Asia. The endemic hypothesis is based on the idea that is diploid while is tetraploid and that they are separated based on the ploidy level; however, no chromosome data have actually been published before. Resolving the taxonomic problem is crucial also in judging the conservation priority of in a global perspective.