Publications by authors named "Xiang-Cheng Mi"

The application of DNA barcoding has been significantly limited by the scarcity of reliable specimens and inadequate coverage and replication across all species. The deficiency of DNA barcode reference coverage is particularly striking for highly biodiverse subtropical and tropical regions. In this study, we present a comprehensive barcode library for woody plants in tropical and subtropical China.

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Global biodiversity decline and its cascading effects through trophic interactions pose a severe threat to human society. Establishing the impacts of biodiversity decline requires a more thorough understanding of multi-trophic interactions and, more specifically, the effects that loss of diversity in primary producers has on multi-trophic community assembly. Within a synthetic conceptual framework for multi-trophic beta-diversity, we tested a series of hypotheses on neutral and niche-based bottom-up processes in assembling herbivore and carnivore communities in a subtropical forest using linear models, hieratical variance partitioning based on linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) and simulation.

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Phylogenetic trees have been extensively used in community ecology. However, how the phylogeny construction affects ecological inferences is poorly understood. In this study, we constructed three different types of phylogenetic trees (a synthetic-tree generated using V.

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Xiaolong Mountain, located in warm temperate subtropical transition zone, is one of the important biodiversity conservation areas in China. We analyzed species composition, community structure, and habitat preferences of all woody plant species with DBH (diameter at breast height)≥1 cm in a 6 hm plot in Xiaolong Mountain, Gansu Province, Northwest China. A total of 29251 individuals (41735 stems) belonging to 33 families, 65 genera, and 124 species were recorded.

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Elucidating symbiotic relationships between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plants contributes to a better understanding of their reciprocally dependent coexistence and community assembly. However, the main drivers of plant and AMF community assembly remain unclear. In this study, we examined AMF communities from 166 root samples of 17 woody plant species from 10 quadrats in a Chinese subtropical forest using 454 pyrosequencing of 18S rRNA gene to describe symbiotic AMF-plant association.

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Elucidating interactions of above-ground and below-ground communities in different habitat types is essential for understanding biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem functioning. Using 454 pyrosequencing of ITS2 sequences we examined the relationship between subtropical mountain forest soil fungal communities, abiotic conditions, and plant communities using correlation and partial models. Ridge and valley habitats with differing fungal communities were delineated.

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Schima superba is an important dominant species in subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests of China, and plays a vital role in community structure and dynamics. However, the survival rate of its seedlings in the field is low, and water shortage could be a factor that limits its regeneration. In order to better understand the response of its seedlings to drought stress on a functional genomics scale, RNA-seq technology was utilized in this study to perform a large-scale transcriptome sequencing of the S.

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Gene flow from genetically modified (GM) crops to wild relatives might affect the evolutionary dynamics of weedy populations and result in the persistence of escaped genes. To examine the effects of this gene flow, the growth of F1 hybrids that were formed by pollinating wild soybean (Glycine soja) with glyphosate-tolerant GM soybean (G. max) or its non-GM counterpart was examined in a greenhouse.

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Microbial diversity is generally far higher than plant diversity, but the relationship between microbial diversity and plant diversity remains enigmatic. To shed light on this problem, we examined the diversity of a key guild of root-associated microbes,that is, ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi along a plant diversity gradient in a Chinese subtropical forest. The results indicated that EM fungal diversity was positively correlated with host plant diversity.

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Exploring the relationships between the biodiversity of groups of interacting organisms yields insight into ecosystem stability and function (Hooper et al. ; Wardle ). We demonstrated positive relationships between host plant richness and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal diversity both in a field study in subtropical China (Gutianshan) and in a meta-analysis of temperate and tropical studies (Gao et al.

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