Preliminary exploration of herbal tea products based on traditional knowledge and hypotheses concerning herbal tea selection: a case study in Southwest Guizhou, China

Background Herbal tea usually refers to “beverage plants that do not belong to the genus Camellia”, and it holds a significant historical legacy as a traditional beverage among specific regions and ethnic groups. In light of this, our research aims to investigate and analyze the traditional knowledge pertaining to herbal tea plants used by local peo- ple in the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province. We also initiated preliminary efforts to create tea products from herbal tea leaves using various processing techniques. Additionally, we attempted to test hypotheses to elucidate how local people select herbal tea plants. Methods Data related to the use of herbal tea plants in this study were collected through semi-structured interviews and participatory observations in four villages in Qianxinan. Quantitative indicators, including the relative frequency of citation (RFC) and the relative importance (RI) value, were calculated, and the availability of plants was also evalu- ated. General linear model was performed to examine the relationship between the frequency of citation and resource availability, as well as the correlation between the relative frequency of citation and the relative impor- tance, to test both the resource availability hypothesis and the versatility hypothesis. Centella asiatica tea was pro- cessed using techniques from green tea, black tea and white tea, with a preliminary sensory evaluation conducted. Results A total of 114 plant species were documented as being used for herbal teas by local residents, represent- ing 60 families and 104 genera. Of these, 61% of herbal tea plants were found growing in the wild, and 11 species were exotic plants. The family with the highest number of species was Asteraceae (20 species). The study identified 33 major medicinal functions of herbal tea, with clearing heat-toxin and diuresis being the most common func- tions. General linear model revealed a strong correlation (correlation coefficient of 0.72, p < 0.001) between the fre- quency of citation and plant availability, as well as a significant correlation (correlation coefficient of 0.63, p < 0.001) between RFC and RI. Under different processing conditions, the characteristics of Centella asiatica tea exhibited varia- tions and were found to be suitable for consumption

Comparative analyses of Linderniaceae plastomes, with implications for its phylogeny and evolution

IntroductionThe recently established Linderniaceae, separated from the traditionally defined Scrophulariaceae, is a taxonomically complicated family. Although previous phylogenetic studies based on a few short DNA markers have made great contributions to the taxonomy of Linderniaceae, limited sampling and low resolution of the phylogenetic tree have failed to resolve controversies between some generic circumscriptions. The plastid genome exhibits a powerful ability to solve phylogenetic relationships ranging from shallow to deep taxonomic levels. To date, no plastid phylogenomic studies have been carried out in Linderniaceae.MethodsIn this study, we newly sequenced 26 plastid genomes of Linderniaceae, including eight genera and 25 species, to explore the phylogenetic relationships and genome evolution of the family through plastid phylogenomic and comparative genomic analyses.ResultsThe plastid genome size of Linderniaceae ranged from 152,386 bp to 154,402 bp, exhibiting a typical quartile structure. All plastomes encoded 114 unique genes, comprising 80 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. The inverted repeat regions were more conserved compared with the single-copy regions. A total of 1803 microsatellites and 1909 long sequence repeats were identified, and five hypervariable regions (petN-psbM, rps16-trnQ, rpl32-trnL, rpl32, and ycf1) were screened out. Most protein-coding genes were relatively conserved, with only the ycf2 gene found under positive selection in a few species. Phylogenomic analyses confirmed that Linderniaceae was a distinctive lineage and revealed that the presently circumscribed Vandellia and Torenia were non-monophyletic.DiscussionComparative analyses showed the Linderniaceae plastomes were highly conservative in terms of structure, gene order, and gene content. Combining morphological and molecular evidence, we supported the newly established Yamazakia separating from Vandellia and the monotypic Picria as a separate genus. These findings provide further evidence to recognize the phylogenetic relationships among Linderniaceae and new insights into the evolution of the plastid genomes

Author Correction: Automated design of a convolutional neural network with multi-scale filters for cost-efficient seismic data classification

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper

Numerical Simulation of the Effects of Grassland Degradation on the Surface Climate in Overgrazing Area of Northwest China

The climatic effects of LUCC have been a focus of current researches on global climate change. The objective of this study is to investigate climatic effects of grassland degradation in Northwest China. Based on the stimulation of the conversion from grassland to other land use types during the next 30 years, the potential effects of grassland degradation on regional climate in the overgrazing area of Northwest China from 2010 to 2040 have been explored with Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The analysis results show that grassland will mainly convert into barren land, croplands, and urban land, which accounts for 42%, 48%, and 10% of the total converted grassland area, respectively. The simulation results indicate that the WRF model is appropriate for the simulation of the impact of grassland degradation on climate change. The grassland degradation during the next 30 years will result in the decrease of latent heat flux, which will further lead to the increase of temperature in summer, with an increment of 0.4–1.2°C, and the decrease of temperature in winter, with a decrement of 0.2°C. In addition, grassland degradation will cause the decrease of precipitation in both summer and winter, with a decrement of 4–20 mm