Origin and evolution of green plants in the light of key evolutionary events

Green plants(Viridiplantae)are ancient photosynthetic organisms that thrive both in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems,greatly contributing to the changes in global climates and ecosystems.Significant progress has been made toward understanding the origin and evolution of green plants,and plant biologists have arrived at the consensus that green plants first originated in marine deep-water environments and later colonized fresh water and dry land.The origin of green plants,colonization of land by plants and rapid radiation of angiosperms are three key evolutionary events during the long history of green plants.However,the comprehensive understanding of evolutionary features and molecular innovations that enabled green plants to adapt to complex and changeable environments are still limited.Here,we review current knowledge of phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of green plants,and discuss key morphological innovations and distinct drivers in the evolution of green plants.Ultimately,we highlight fundamental questions to advance our understanding of the phenotypic novelty,environmental adaptation,and domestication of green plants.

Functions, Selection and Collocation of Greening Plants in the Construction of Ecological Roads

From the perspective of ecological construction of roads, the reduction and purifying effects of greening plants on noise, raising dust and automobile exhaust, selection principles of arbors, shrubs, ground cover plants and herbaceous fl owers, and the methods of collocating arbors shrubs and grass in the construction of ecological roads were discussed in this study.

Key Techniques of an Ecological Pattern“Planting Rice in One Season and Breeding Red Swamp Crawfish in Three Seasons” for Green Production in Lixiahe Region of Jiangsu Province

Three big field projects, independent irrigation and drainage facilities, and a blocking net, which are auxiliary projects of a green planting and breeding pattern composed of rice and red swamp crawfish （Procambarus clarkii）, spatial and temporal coupling technology of ＂planting rice in one season and breeding red swamp crawfish in three seasons＂, green fertilization technology, green prevention and control technology, control technology of water level, and throwing technology of bait in Lixiahe region of Jiangsu Province were introduced successively, which can provide technical support for the development of ecological planting and breeding patterns and realization of green production in paddy fields.

Investigation on the Green Planting Situation of Dongchuan Barren Hills in Kunming City

Dongchuan District of Kunming City has undulating terrain with large fluctuations, fragile ecological environment, low rainfall and high evaporation, coupled with frequent debris flow activities, resulting in very low forest coverage rate in Dongchuan. In this study, a comprehensive and systematic investigation was carried out to the green planting of barren hills in Dongchuan District from January to June, 2016. The results showed that the major planting tree species in the region with an altitude of less than 1 600 m were Leucaena leucocephala, Cupressus torulosa, L. leucocephala, C. torulosa, Celtis yunnanensis, Melia azedarach , among which L. leucocephala had become of pioneer tree species of afforestation in the Dongchuan dry-hot valley. The major planting tree species at the altitude of 1 600-2 500 m were C. torulosa, Sabina chinensis, Alnus nepalensis, C. yunnanensis, and Pinus armandi , and at the altitude of over 2 500 m, the major tree species were Sabina chinensis, Abies georgei var. smithii, P.densata. Based on the investigation, suggestions were proposed for the existing problems in the greening and planting of Dongchuan barren hills, in order to provide certain theoretical basis for the sustainable development of forestry in Dongchuan.

Language of plants: Where is the word?

Plants emit biogenic volatile organic compounds（BVOCs） causing transcriptomic, metabolomic and behavioral responses in receiver organisms. Volatiles involved in such responses are often called ＂plant language＂. Arthropods having sensitive chemoreceptors can recognize language released by plants. Insect herbivores, pollinators and natural enemies respond to composition of volatiles from plants with specialized receptors responding to different types of compounds. In contrast, the mechanism of how plants＂hear＂ volatiles has remained obscured. In a plant-plant communication, several individually emitted compounds are known to prime defense response in receiver plants with a specific manner according to the chemical structure of each volatile compound. Further, composition and ratio of volatile compounds in the plant-released plume is important in plantinsect and plant-plant interactions mediated by plant volatiles. Studies on volatile-mediated plant-plant signaling indicate that the signaling distances are rather short, usually not longer than one meter. Volatile communication from plants to insects such as pollinators could be across distances of hundreds of meters. As many of the herbivore induced VOCs have rather short atmospheric life times, we suggest that in long-distant communications with plant volatiles,reaction products in the original emitted compounds may have additional information value of the distance to emission source together with the original plant-emitted compounds.

Priority placed on planting trees to extend green belts

Changsha-The central govern-ment is urging provincial officials toprotect and expand the green belts intheir areas. Local officials were urged to putthe"green drive"on the top of theiragendas by State Councillor ChenJunsheng,addressing a national con-ference on tree planting. Chen said at a conference that anaccountability system monitoringtheir performance would be intro-duced to ensure action on this"veryimportant task." Chen.speaking at the workingconference of National AfforestationCommittee.criticized some officialsfor their"over-enthusiasm in boost-ing the economy"by deforestingsome areas and turning them into"de-velopment zones."

Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Extracts of Allium sativum,Rosmarinus officinalis and Ocimum basilicum

ZnO nanoparticles（ZnO NPs） were synthesized by chemical method（coprecipitation） and biological method using aqueous extracts of garlic（Allium sativum）,rosemary（Rosmarinus officinalis） and basil（Ocimum basilicum）.The influence of plant extract on the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of green synthesized nanoparticles was investigated.The X-ray diffraction studies reveal that all ZnO samples have hexagonal wurtzite structure.The particle size of ZnO NPs estimated by transmission electron microscopy analysis（between 14 and 27 nm） varies depending on the synthesis method of nanoparticles and the type of extracts from the plants used.The functional groups involved in the biosynthetic procedure were evidenced by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.The presence of Mn^（2＋）ions,Zn vacancy complexes and oxygen vacancies in ZnO samples was highlighted by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.The green synthesized ZnO NPs have shown a good bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus,Bacillus subtilis,Listeria monocytogenes,Escherichia coli,Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial strains.ZnO NPs synthesized using extracts of the selected plant species have been found to exhibit more enhanced antibacterial and antioxidant activities as compared to chemical ZnO NPs.