<p id="p00005">Comprehensively understanding the mechanisms underlying the formation of ecosystem services is a prerequisite for maintaining the sustainable supply of ecosystem services. Plant functional traits directly participate in a variety of ecosystem processes, which in turn affect the supply of ecosystem services. Revealing the relationship between plant functional traits and ecosystem services is an important way to understand the formation mechanism of ecosystem services. Based on a systematic literature review, 86 papers on plant functional properties and ecosystem services were retrieved in the Web of Science database, and data for 466 pairs of plant functional traits and ecosystem services and 83 plant functional traits were collected. The current status of research on the relationship between plant functional traits and ecosystem services was revealed. Moreover, the main plant functional traits that affect different ecosystem services and their mechanisms underlying their impacts were also demonstrated. The results show that the research on the relationship between plant functional traits and ecosystem services mostly focuses on natural ecosystems such as grasslands and forests. Most of these studies focus on ecosystem products providing and supporting services, including biomass, net primary productivity, and soil fertility. Based on the impacts of plant functional traits on different ecosystem services, the plant functional traits can be clustered into five categories: soil-conservation-related traits, water-cycle-related traits, ecosystem- multifunction- related traits, product-providing-related traits, and pollination-biocontrol-related traits. The impacts of climate change, human activities, and variations in spatial and temporal scales on the relationship between plant functional traits and ecosystem services need to be further explored.</p>

Predicting spatial patterns in thermal tolerance and vulnerability of species under climate warming remains a challenge. Current knowledge is mainly from experiment-based thermal physiology of limited numbers of ectotherms, yet large-scale evaluations on plants remain elusive. Here, using distribution maps with spatial resolutions of 20 × 20 km for 5628 woody species in China, we propose a novel approach, i.e. thermal distribution curves, to describe species' realized thermal niches and then estimate their thermal tolerance and warming risks under projected climate warming in 2050s and 2070s. We find that species' vulnerability and potential local extinction risks within grid cells decrease with latitude and increase with aridity due to narrow thermal tolerance of species located at low latitudes and arid regions. Over 90% of species could still tolerate future warming in most areas, indicating relatively optimistic expectation of potential local extinctions. Our study presents a new framework to quantify climate warming impacts on a large number of species without sufficient physiological information and provides fundamental references for conservation planning under climate change.

Abstract Aim Invertebrate-mediated dispersal has previously been proposed to promote angiosperm diversification and distribution. However, little is known about the specific impact of invertebrate-mediated dispersal on the biogeography and current distribution of plants. We aim to infer the influence of vespicochorous (hornet) and myrmecochorous (ant) dispersal on the historical biogeography of herbaceous monocot species. Location Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia, North America. Taxon Family Stemonaceae. Method We sampled ca. 75% of the species diversity in Stemonaceae (28 out of 37 species), covering the entire distribution range of the family, to reconstruct the biogeographic history of this family. Using phylogenetic logistic regression analyses, we then tested the relationship between dispersal modes and geographic distributions. Results Stemonaceae originated on the Asian mainland during the late Cretaceous and then dispersed to North America, the western Malay Archipelago and eastern Malay Archipelago and Australia between the late Cretaceous and Pliocene. Geographical ranges of ant- versus hornet-dispersed Stemonaceae species are significantly different, with vespicochorous species having broader distribution ranges than myrmecochorous species. Main conclusions Invertebrate-mediated dispersal in Stemonaceae may promote narrow endemism and play an important role in shaping the current distribution of species. Most lineages dispersed by ants failed to cross biogeographic barriers and exhibit limited range expansion overland. Vespicochorous lineages were able to cross oceanic barriers and occupy larger continental areas and/or occur on oceanic islands.

Plant species richness (PSR) is known to affect soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. However, due to the complex origin and composition of SOC, mechanisms driving the PSR-SOC relationship are not yet fully revealed, hampering an accurate prediction of SOC dynamics under changing plant diversity. Here we investigate the effect of PSR on SOC accumulation along a natural PSR and stand age gradient in a subtropical forest with plot, litter and soil properties being considered. Biomarkers and soil fractionation are used to delineate plant and microbial components of SOC and their influences on the PSR-SOC relationship in the topsoil (0–10 cm) versus subsoil (30–40 cm). We show that PSR does positively affect SOC concentrations at both depths even after considering the effects of substrate, edaphic properties and stand age. However, the PSR-SOC relationship is driven by different pathways in the topsoil versus subsoil. In the topsoil, PSR exerts a strong additive effect on SOC accumulation after the positive influence of substrate, edaphic properties and stand age, mainly regulated by plant-derived components (represented by lignin phenols, light fraction and particulate organic matter), followed by microbial residues. By contrast, PSR has a positive effect on the accrual of microbial-derived components (represented by amino sugars and mineral-associated organic matter) but not plant residues likely via affecting dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nitrogen availability in the subsoil (i.e., DOM-microbial pathway). As a result, microbial-derived components dominate SOC variations in the subsoil, while plant-derived components play a more important role in the topsoil. These findings provide novel information on the mechanistic links between PSR and SOC accumulation at different depths and highlight the role of PSR on long-term carbon sink potentials of soils, which may aid in predicting soil carbon dynamics with plant diversity changes in Earth's system model.

BACKGROUND: We describe a dataset providing information on the geographic distribution of northern Asian endemic alpine plants. It was obtained by digitising maps from the atlas "Endemic alpine plants of Northern Asia". Northern Asia includes numerous mountain ranges which may have served as refugia during the Pleistocene ice ages, but there have been no studies that analysed this question. We suggest that this dataset can be applied for better understanding of the alpine endemism in northern Asia. NEW INFORMATION: The dataset includes 13709 species distribution records, representing 211 species from 31 families and 106 genera. Each record provides data regarding the distribution of an individual species. These data provide a foundation for studying northern Asia's endemic alpine species and conducting research on the factors concerning their distribution.