Diploschistes xinjiangensis from Xinjiang in northwest China is described as new to science. The species is characterized by the thick bluish gray thallus, asci with eight large ellipsoid ascospores, and the presence of diploschistesic and lecanoric acids. It grows on rock in the semiarid region at elevations of ca. 1700 m. ITS rDNA sequence analyses support the taxonomic distinctness of this species.

Diploschistes wui is described as a new species, based on three collections from Xinjiang in Northwestern China. It is characterized by a bluish gray and thin thallus, epruinose discs, small, 8-spored asci, and small ascospores. The new lichen resembles D. rampoddensis but is readily distinguished by the absence of surface crystals and pruinose discs. It grows on rocks at elevations above 1800 m. Our ITS rDNA sequence analyses support this species as independent. Key words—biodiversity, central Asia, Graphidaceae, Ostropales, taxonomy

Background Populus euphratica Olivier is a kind of tree capable of growing in extremely arid desert and semi-desert environments. In this study, a culture-dependent method was used to analyze the bacterial diversity of stem liquid of P. euphratica and resina of P. euphratica, and to further evaluate plant growth promoting (PGP) activity. Results A total of 434 bacteria were isolated from stem fluid and resina of P. euphratica in Ebinur Lake Wetland Nature Reserve and Mulei Primitive forest. The results of taxonomic composition analysis shows that Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria_c are the three dominant groups in all the communities, and the representative genera are Bacillus, Nesterenkonia and Halomonas. The diversity analysis shows that the culturable bacterial community diversity of P. euphratica in Ebinur Lake Wetland Nature Reserve is higher than that in Mulei Primitive forest, and the bacterial community diversity of P. euphratica stem fluid is higher than that of resina. According to PGP activity evaluation, 158 functional bacteria with plant growth promoting potential were screened. Among them, 61 strains havephosphorus solubilizing abilities, 80 strains have potassium solubilizing abilities, 32 strains have nitrogen fixation abilities, and 151 strains have iron ammonia salt utilization abilities. The germination rate, plant height, and dry weight of the maize seedlings treated with strains BB33-1, TC10 and RC6 are significantly higher than those of the control group. Conclusion In this study, a large number of culturable bacteria were isolated from P. euphratica, which provides new functional bacteria sources for promoting plant growth.

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