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Abstract Climate change exhibits great variation on different flanks and at different elevations in the same mountain range. To investigate the complexity of the geographic patterns of climate and phenology in the Qinling–Daba mountains (QDM), in the North–South transition zone of China, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of daily air temperature and precipitation data measured at 118 national weather stations (1969–2018). The principal findings were as follows. (1) Overall, a significant trend of warming was detected in all seasons over the past 50 years, with rates of increase of 0.347, 0.125, 0.200 and 0.302 °C/10a, in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. Precipitation did not show significant variation at most stations in different seasons. (2) The rising rate of air temperature varied considerably between different flanks. Generally, air temperature change on northern flanks was greater than on southern flanks in all seasons. The tendency of air temperature change was greater in spring and winter than in summer and autumn on different flanks in the QDM. (3) The rate of increase in high-elevation regions was greater than in low-elevation regions in summer, autumn and winter, e.g., 0.440, 0.390 and 0.456 °C/10a at 3000–4000 m and 0.205, 0.218 and 0.303 °C/10a at 0–1000 m, respectively. However, in spring, the rate of increase in low-elevation regions were higher than in high-elevation regions, e.g., 0.369 °C/10a at 0–1000 m and 0.317 °C/10a at 3000–4000 m.

The article was retracted by the authors based on detected errors in the data processing.

The altitude of alpine timberline elevation has been considered to correlate with certain climatic factors. Many related isotherms (e.g., warmest month 10 °C isotherm) have been proposed to explain the altitudinal distribution of alpine timberline at the global scale. However, any climatic index actually has a wide range at the alpine timberline position worldwide. The altitudinal position of the alpine timberline is related to far more than just one climatic factor. Therefore, we developed a multivariable model for timberline elevation variability by collecting data from 473 timberline sites on the Eurasian continent. We analyzed 12 climatic variables that potentially account for timberline variation. Principal component and regression analyses were used to mine four climatic variables. The mean temperature of the warmest month (MTWM), mean temperature of the coldest month (MTCM), climatic continentality (K), and annual precipitation (AP) explained 95% of the variability of timberline elevation. MTWM, MTCM, K, and AP contributed 18%, 41.28%, 34.9%, and 5.82%, respectively, to the altitudinal distribution of alpine timberline on the whole continent; 20%, 44%, 28.86%, and 7.14% in the eastern continent; and 17.71%, 39.79%, 40.21%, and 2.29% in the western continent. We showed that MTWM, MTCM, K, and AP are deterministic factors for the altitudinal distribution of alpine timberline in the Eurasian continent. MTCM and K contributed to explaining the altitudinal distribution of timberline both in the entire, eastern, and western parts of the Eurasian continent. Our research highlights the significance of MTCM for the altitudinal distribution of timberline.

Salvia species is a member of the Lamiaceae family, and it also possesses medicinal and horticulture values. The genetic diversity was assessed through sequence-related amplified polymorphism. To uncover genetic diversity and species characteristics in Salvia species were studied through a combination of morphological and molecular data. One hundred forty-five individuals related to 30 Salvia were collected in 18 provinces. A total of 157 (Number of total loci) (NTL) DNA bands were produced through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from 30 Salvia species. These bands were produced with the combinations of 10 selective primers. The total number of amplified fragments ranged from 10 to 20. The predicted unbiased heterozygosity (H) varied between 0.11 (Salvia urmiensis) and 0.31 (Salvia limbata). High Shannon’s information index was detected in Salvia limbata. The genetic similarities between 30 species are estimated from 0.46 to 0.91. Clustering results showed two major clusters. According to the SRAP (Sequence-related amplified polymorphism) markers analysis, Salvia hydrangea and Salvia sharifii had the lowest similarity. Salvia bracteata and Salvia suffruticosa were genetically dissimilar to each other. This study also detected a significant signature of isolation by distance. Present results showed that sequence-related amplified polymorphism has the potential to decipher genetic affinity between Salvia species. Current results have implications in biodiversity and conservation programs. Besides this, present results could pave the way for selecting suitable ecotypes for forage and pasture purposes in Iran.

Retraction to: Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed., 58, 2022 (2): 73-82. https://doi.org/10.17221/93/2021-CJGPBThe article was retracted by the authors based on detected errors in the data processing.

Hedera helix L. is an invasive, but medicinally important plant. In Iran, there is no available study on the H. helix population to reveal the genetic diversity and population structure. Fifty-six individual plants belonging to nine geographical populations were collected in four provinces of Iran. High genetic diversity, polymorphisms, and a Shannon diversity index of 0.269 were detected in Mazandaran, Kandovan (Population 3). Analysis of the molecular variance indicated 40% of total genetic variation of the whole population was present in the subpopulation. A high genetic similarity (0.922) between plant Populations 5 (Kermanshah; Islamabad) and 6 (Kermanshah; Paveh) was noted. On the other hand, a low genetic similarity was observed between plant Populations 1 (Tehran; Darband) and 8 (Ardabil; Hur). The Mantel test revealed a correlation between the genetic and geographical distances. Furthermore, it demonstrated the isolation mechanism responsible for the population structure in the H. helix plant populations. The principal component analysis explained the majority of the variation in the morphological characteristics. Three components explained 87% of the variation, and the first component explained 60% of the variation. For instance, the leaf morphology showed a correlation of > 0.7 between leaf morphological and floral characters. The plant leaves and quantitative flower characteristics separated the plant populations according to the differences in length. The current results have implications for plant conservation and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvia species is a member of the Lamiaceae family, and it also possesses medicinal and horticulture values. The genetic diversity was assessed through sequence-related amplified polymorphism. To uncover genetic diversity and species characteristics in Salvia species were studied through a combination of morphological and molecular data. One hundred forty-five individuals related to 30 Salvia were collected in 18 provinces. A total of 157 (Number of total loci) (NTL) DNA bands were produced through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from 30 Salvia species. These bands were produced with the combinations of 10 selective primers. The total number of amplified fragments ranged from 10 to 20. The predicted unbiased heterozygosity (H) varied between 0.11 (Salvia urmiensis) and 0.31 ( Salvia limbata). High Shannon's information index was detected in Salvia limbata. The genetic similarities between 30 species are estimated from 0.46 to 0.91. Clustering results showed two major clusters. According to the SRAP (Sequence-related amplified polymorphism) markers analysis, Salvia hydrangea and Salvia sharifii had the lowest similarity. Salvia bracteata and Salvia suffruticosa were genetically dissimilar to each other. This study also detected a significant signature of isolation by distance. Present results showed that sequence-related amplified polymorphism has the potential to decipher genetic affinity between Salvia species. Current results have implications in biodiversity and conservation programs. Besides this, present results could pave the way for selecting suitable ecotypes for forage and pasture purposes in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]