No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

SUMMARYPhyllosphere‐associated microbes play a crucial role in plant–pathogen interactions while their composition and diversity are strongly influenced by drought stress. As dioecious plant species exhibited secondary dimorphism between the two sexes in response to drought stress, whether such difference will lead to sex‐specific differences in phyllosphere microbiome and associated pathogen resistance between male and female conspecifics is still unknown. In this study, we subjected female and male full siblings of a dioecious poplar species to a short period of drought treatment followed by artificial infection of a leaf pathogenic fungus. Our results showed that male plants grew better than females with or without drought stress. Female control plants had more leaf lesion area than males after pathogen infection, whereas drought stress reversed such a difference. Further correlation and in vitro toxicity tests suggested that drought‐mediated sexual differences in pathogen resistance between the two plant sexes could be attributed to the shifts in structure and function of phyllosphere‐associated microbiome rather than the amount of leaf main defensive chemicals contained in plant leaves. Supportively, the microbiome analysis through high‐throughput sequencing indicated that female phyllosphere enriched a higher abundance of ecologically beneficial microbes that serve as biological plant protectants, while males harbored abundant phytopathogens under drought‐stressed conditions. The results could provide potential implications for the selection of suitable poplar sex to plants in drought or semi‐drought habitats.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for us to rethink the relationship between humans and the environment. However, few studies have examined the association between environmental attitudes, motivations, wellbeing, and quality of life in the context of urban green areas before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. This paper investigated the interrelationships among these variables based on data collected in 2019 (before COVID-19) and 2021 (after COVID-19). The results show that the 2021 sample differed significantly from the 2019 sample in environmental attitudes. Respondents after the outbreak with the belief in “humans with nature” were more likely to use urban green areas for being “close to nature” than pre-pandemic respondents. In addition, stronger belief in “humans over nature” led to stronger desire for “social interactions” in 2021 than in 2019, implying a close relationship between people’s perception of humankind’s ability to control nature during the pandemic and their desire to interact with people in urban green areas. The study also found that there may be a pent-up satisfaction among urban dwellers after the COVID-19 outbreak.