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The Xiao Jiang River, as a crucial element of ecological restoration in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, plays an indispensable role in agricultural water utilization and water ecology within its watersheds. The water quality status of the Xiao Jiang River not only impacts local water-ecological equilibrium and economic benefits but also holds paramount importance for sustaining ecosystem health in the Yangtze River basin. Plankton surveys and environmental physicochemical detection were conducted in the major channel region of the Xiao Jiang River in dry and wet periods in 2022 to better understand the diversity of eukaryotic plankton and its community structure characteristics. Environmental DNA is an emerging method that combines traditional ecology with second-generation sequencing technology. It can detect species from a single sample that are difficult to find by traditional microscopy, making the results of plankton diversity studies more comprehensive. For the first time, environmental DNA was used to investigate eukaryotic plankton in the Xiao Jiang River . The results showed that a total of 881 species of plankton from 592 genera in 17 phyla were observed. During the dry period, 480 species belonging to 384 genera within17 phyla were detected, while, during the wet period, a total of 805 species belonging to 463 genera within 17 phyla were recorded. The phylum Ciliophora dominated the zooplankton, while the phylum Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta dominated the phytoplankton. The presence of these dominant species indicate that the water quality conditions in the study area are oligotrophic and mesotrophic. Principal coordinate analysis and difference test showed that the number of plankton ASVs, abundance, species richness, dominating species, and diversity indices differed between the dry and wet periods. Spearman correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA) of relative abundance data with environmental physicochemical factors revealed that water temperature (WT), dissolved oxygen (DO), potential of hydrogenacidity (pH), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), total nitrogen (TN), electrical conductivity (EC) and the determination of redox potential (ORP) were the main environmental physicochemical factors impacting the plankton community structure. The results of this study can serve as a provide data reference at the plankton level for water pollution management in the Xiao Jiang River, and they are extremely important for river ecological restoration and biodiversity recovery in the Yangtze River basin.

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is a flagship species of tropical rainforests, and it has generated much concern. In this case, the gut bacterial communities of captive and wild Asian elephants are particularly noteworthy. We aim to compare the differences in bacterial diversity and antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) subtypes in fecal samples of Asian elephants from different habitats, which may affect host health. Analyses reveal that differences in the dominant species of gut bacteria between captive and wild Asian elephants may result in significant differences in ARGs. Network analysis of bacterial communities in captive Asian elephants has identified potentially pathogenic species. Many negative correlations in network analysis suggest that different food sources may lead to differences in bacterial communities and ARGs. Results also indicate that the ARG levels in local captive breeding of Asian elephants are close to those of the wild type. However, we found that local captive elephants carry fewer ARG types than their wild counterparts. This study reveals the profile and relationship between bacterial communities and ARGs in different sources of Asian elephant feces, providing primary data for captive breeding and rescuing wild Asian elephants.

Global warming significantly affects plateau glaciers and surface runoff, and fish are bound to be severely affected. Additionally, an increasing number of human activities (e.g., free captive animals, aquaculture) have led to vulnerable plateau ecosystems being affected by invasive species. To address the above issues, we collected the currently published fish distribution data, and for the first time constructed a richness and fluvial system distribution map of the Yarlung Zangbo River fish (4 orders, 10 families, and 61 species). Based on fish richness and the fluvial system, the native fish in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin were divided into three clusters, and the non-native fish were divided into six clusters by using Ward’s minimum variance clustering and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Environmental factors related to native or non-native fish richness were selected by the random forest model from 21 environmental factors. Then, the relationship between fish richness and environmental factors was explained by the generalized linear model (GLM). Our results showed that the native fish distribution pattern was different from the non-native fish distribution, but their high richness areas were overlapped. Furthermore, native fish richness responds differently than non-native fish richness to environmental factors. The results provided eco-solutions for the conservation and management of fish biodiversity and natural resources in the Yarlung Zangbo River.

Lipoptena grahami Bequaert, 1942 (Diptera, Hippoboscidae) was first described in China almost 80 years ago. Species of Lipoptena were obligate blooding-feeding insects and commonly reported as vectors of wild animals of Cervinae. The complete mitochondrial genome of L. grahami was assembled to 16,953 bp in length. The AT content of L. grahami mitogenome is 80.59%. In total, 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs, and 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) were annotated from L. grahami’s mitogenome. The typical clover-leaf structure of tRNAs was also analyzed and confirmed except the tRNA-Ser (AGN). A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on L. grahami with some other fly species.

A new species of the genus Kurixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) is described from Yunnan, China based on morphological and molecular evidence. The new species, Kurixalus lenquanensis sp. n., is distinguished from other congeneric species by a combination of (1) smaller body size (SVL in males ranges from 25.0 to 28.9 mm), (2) obtusely pointed snout with no prominence on tip, (3) rough and brown dorsum with darker mark, (4) absence of large dark spots on ventral surface, (5) brownish clouded chin, (6) granular throat, chest, and belly, (7) presence of vomerine teeth, (8) serrated dermal fringes along outer edge of limbs, (9) slight nuptial pad, (10) golden brown iris, and (11) single internal vocal sac. The new species is known only from montane scrub vegetation at the type locality (Lenquan Village, Mengzi City, Yunnan Province) and Yangjiatian Village, Gejiu City, Yunnan Province. Genetically, the new species is nested within a clade of Taiwanese Kurixalus and recovered as the sister taxon to Kurixalus idiootocus with strong support values, indicating that the ancestor of this new species might have come from Taiwan Island or the ancestor of this new species may have been widespread in southern China and the descendent species in between Taiwan and Yunnan has become extinct.

We sequenced and annotated the complete mitogenome sequence of Oreolalax omeimontis (17,675 bp long). The mitogenome encoded 13 protein-coding genes (PCG), 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 23 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a control region (GenBank accession number MN803321). The phylogenetic tree conforms the close relationship of O. omeimontis and O. multipunctatus, and a monophyletic clade of genus Oreolalax.

A complete mitogenome sequence of the blue-crested lizard (Calotes mystaceus) was determined in this study. The 16,506 bp genome consists 13 protein-coding genes (PCG), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a control region. The phylogenetic tree reveals that the Calotes mystaceus is closely related to the C. versicolor. This report provides the basic data for further studies of Calotes species classification and phylogeny.