New research shows that modern agriculture is impacting biodiversity inside protected areas in Europe, while some traditional agricultural practices may help preserve it. The Natura 2000 is the largest network of protected areas in the world, established to conserve the most valuables habitats and species in the European Union (EU). Researchers conducted a large-scale survey among Natura 2000 protected area managers across all Europe focusing on management practices, funding and threats to biodiversity facing the Natura 2000 network.

Salicylic acid (SA) plays a pivotal role in plant defense, yet its genetic regulation in tea remains largely unexplored. By analyzing 299 tea accessions through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), researchers uncovered a key gene—CsNCED1—that negatively regulates SA-mediated immune responses. Overexpression of this gene increased abscisic acid (ABA) levels and weakened pest resistance by suppressing SA biosynthesis and its receptor signaling pathway. The findings reveal the antagonistic interplay between ABA and SA in determining tea plants’ susceptibility to biotic stress, offering crucial genetic resources for marker-assisted breeding of insect-resistant cultivars.

Grapevine berries possess remarkable metabolic flexibility that enables them to sustain growth even when photosynthetic carbon input is restricted. By integrating analyses of 42 metabolites, 21 enzyme activities, and transcriptomic data, researchers revealed how Vitis vinifera berries adjust central carbon metabolism under carbon limitation. The study found that glycolytic intermediates and amino acids accumulated to maintain osmotic and energy balance, while tricarboxylic acid (TCA) intermediates remained stable. Despite these metabolic changes, most enzyme activities showed minimal response, indicating tight regulatory coordination at the post-transcriptional level. These findings highlight the adaptive mechanisms of grape berries to carbon stress, providing insights into managing fruit quality under climate change.

Land use is at the heart of the many emergencies facing our world today: climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice and food insecurity. These – exacerbated by unsustainable practices such as industrial agriculture – combine to create simultaneous and interconnected crises. To overcome these challenges, large parts of the Earth's surface must meet several demands at the same time – from species conservation and food production to human well-being. This is where multifunctional landscapes come in, because they can meet many ecological, social and economic goals at once. Researchers at the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel have evaluated how using land in such ways can support nature conservation and ecosystem restoration. Their review article shows ways to redesign land use and nature conservation using integrated approaches. This was published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity.

In recent years, digital agricultural technology extension services (DATES), leveraging Internet platforms such as WeChat official accounts and mobile applications, have gained popularity, providing a new pathway for agricultural technology dissemination. This service overcomes the temporal and spatial limitations of traditional agricultural technology extension, enabling farmers to conveniently access planting knowledge. Then, can DATES effectively encourage farmers to adopt OMF and contribute to the green transformation of agriculture? Professor Minjuan Zhao from the College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, and her team addressed this question through a survey of farmers in major apple - producing areas in China. The related research has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2024590).

A research team led by Professor Yumei Zhang from the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University, in collaboration with Dr. Issa Ouedraogo from the Alliance of Biodiversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), has conducted a study that reveals the structural characteristics and emission reduction potential of agrifood system carbon emissions in China and Africa. The related article has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2025609).