Physiological Characteristics and Cold Resistance of Five Woody Plants in Treeline Ecotone of Sygera Mountains
, Fangwei Fu 1,2,3,4, Yueyao Li 1,2,3,4 and Siying Xiao 1,2,3,4Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript ‘Physiological characteristics and cold resistance of five woody plants in treeline ecotone of Sygera Mountains’ by Ding et al. describes the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of resistance of woody alpine treeline to cold stress. The manuscript is well-planned, well-executed, and well-written. I have a few observations on the manuscript which may be useful for further improvement;
Type of paper may be ‘Article’ only
Line 17-18: Collected in the non-growing season (November)….Please mention the year.
Line 19: hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)…Please write the chemical formula ‘H2O2’
Line 22: The results may be presented without numbering (1), (2), (3). Please describe key quantitative data followed by the conclusive remark and future thrust.
Line 27: Please delete ‘In conjunction with the full-text analysis’
Please restructure the abstract with a short introduction of the problem and the selected species in the study, key findings with Quantitative data along with a conclusive remark, and future thrust.
Line 46: Please delete the word ‘obviously’
Line 68-70: Please re-write the sentence.
Please write the main objective of the work clearly in the introduction section.
Line 113: ‘were collected as samples, and then combined to create a sample of a woody plants’…Please clarify the sampling process.
Whether the observations were taken from the leaves, stems, and roots separately or from the combined sample? Please clarify.
Line 135: Please mention the EC number for the enzymes CAT, POD, and SOD.
Line 147: Please re-write the sentence with the correct version/citation of Origin Pro Lab 2021, ‘OriginLab, version 2021, MA, USA’.
Line148-153: Please write the formula properly. Please mention the design and replication used for the statistical analysis.
Line 162 and 164: Please use the same symbol ‘＜’ throughout the text. Is it ‘≤’ or ‘<’? please check throughout the text.
Table 2: Total soluble sugar may be denoted as ‘TSS’, total soluble protein as ‘TSP’ instead of ‘Pro’. Please write the correct form of H2O2..as ‘H2O2’.
What is Type IIISS? Is it the ‘sum of square’? Please denote this as ‘SS’ and mean sum of square as ‘MSS’.
Line 169: the more important this factor is. .Please complete the sentence.
Line 175: Please write ‘In contrast’ in place of ‘By contrast’
Figure 1: Please check the unit of MDA….Please write the unit of sugar/starch (Fig. 1h). Please revise the units mmol/g as ‘mmol g-1’, µg/g as µg g-1, U/g as U g-1, and g/kg as g kg-1.
Section 4.3: Please write the result with correlation coefficients (r2 value) instead of P values.
Line 231-233: May cite a reference, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62317-z
Please discuss the possible mechanisms of cold-tolerant genes and their association with antioxidant enzyme activities.
Please cross-check the referencing patterns as per the journal standard.
Overall, this is a well-written manuscript that contains valuable information and may be considered for publication with minor revision.
Good luck with the revision.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
At present, it is commonly used to study cold resistance of plants by using physiological and biochemical characteristics of plants, but (1) the innovative contribution of this paper cannot be found from the introduction and discussion; (2) There was no specific index describing cold resistance, and the positive or negative correlations between each physiological index and cold resistance was not clear. (3) The results of significance analysis need to be further checked and clarified. (4) One year's data was not representative.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This paper is a good case study for evaluating physiological characteristics and cold resistance of five woody plants in treeline ecotone of Sygera Mountains. However, some important questions have not been well addressed. Thus, my suggestion is minor revision at this stage.
1. Authors should add more information in the Section of Discussion when compared with other studies.
2. The type of the reference should be revised according the rule of journal.
3. Some grammatical errors and irregular English writing can be found in the full text. I suggested that authors seek a native speaker to improve them.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
The manuscript “Physiological characteristics and cold resistance of five woody plants in treeline ecotone of Sygera Mountains” used the leaves, branches, and roots of 19 woody plants in the non-growing season (November) and their non-structural carbohydrate content (soluble sugar and starch), malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), proline, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase levels were measured.
The manuscript is prepared professionally. It includes a well-crafted abstract and an exhaustive introduction that justifies the research undertaken. The introduction points to the deficiencies in the literature on the subject. The aim is clearly defined. Modern analytical methods were used in the research. The discussion of the results is well prepared. The conclusions are well-defined. The illustrative material is appropriate.
In my opinion, the manuscript after corrections, will be suitable for publication in a journal.
Detailed comments:
Abstract: Must be include some numeric data obtained from results.
Correct (H2O2)
Non-growing season must be dormant period????
Introduction
Questions of why do woody 36 plants fail to thrive or grow badly at a particular altitude and how could the currently existing woody plants react to environmental changes have been raised [2].
Use more citations. I suggest below ones
Fine root vertical-seasonal distribution of Robinia pseudoacacia in relation to abioticfactors in a chronosequence in coastal saline alkali land of the Yellow River Delta, China
750-765
Effects of growing site parameters on vessel elements of Quercus ilex through Turkey and evaluating in respect of forestry
599-616
Is altitude 4300, 4400 m etc. true??????
Please arrange Table 1 better.
2.3. Chemical methods change it as Biochemical parameters
Du not abbreviate MDA, H2O2, Pro, CAT, SOD etc. when use first time.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 5 Report
This manuscript evaluated physiological characteristics and cold resistance of five woody plants (Abies georgei var.smithii, Sabina saltuaria, Sabina saltuaria, Rhododendron nyingchiense and Rhododendron nivale) in treeline ecotone of Sygera Mountains. It is an interesting topic, but I refuse to publish this manuscript for the following reasons:
1. Abstract
(1) five different woody 15 plants (line 15), 19 woody plants (line 17). Which one is correct.
(2) (H2O2) (line 19). What is this.
(3) The conclusion of this part (line 26-29) is not consistent with the later conclusion (line 307-318).
2. Introduction
(1) “The majority of literature is predicated on the link between climate and treeline” (line 38-39). There is no literature at all.
(2) “Li discovered that very low temperatures in Southeastern Tibet could inhibit the growth of xylem in trees” (line 42-43). Please confirm.
(3) Didn't make it clear why the study was conducted
(4) The description of the introduction is not ideal.
3. Materials and methods are not clearly described.
(1) The small sample size of his manuscript (three, line 108-110) makes the reliability of the results very low.
(2) How to choose the 1–3 years old leaves and 1– 2 years old branches (line 112-113).
(3) The roots were chosen from which directions (east, west, north, and south) (line 114-116).
(4) Why show prominent herbaceous plant species as order Cassiope fastigiata, Bergenia purpurascens, and Rhodiola fastigiata (line 98-99).
(5) Rewrite this part.
4. Results
(1) Why 9 results in Table 2, but 8 results in Figure 1.
(2) “Table 3. Common factor score C(x), membership function value U(x), and comprehensive evaluation value D of five tree species (leaf organs).” (line 209-210), “Table 4. Common factor score C(x), membership function value U(x), and comprehensive evaluation value D of five tree species (leaf organs)” (line 211-212). Please confirm.
(3) Please check the results carefully and rewrite this part.
5. Discussion
(1) Although the author spends a lot of space in the discussion section. But there is no clear explanation around the three themes in the discussion section.
(2) “By contrast, according to earlier findings, the stress on the root organs of tree species is greater than that on the leaf organs of shrub species (line 285-287)”. Which earlier finding?
(3) “This finding is congruent with the findings of Chen for 12 kinds of woody plants in various vertical climate zones of Sygera Mountains [14]” (line 303-305). What new information does it tell us?
6 References
(1) Li, X.; Liang, E.; Gričar, J.; Rossi, S.; Čufar, K.; Ellison, A.M. Critical Minimum Temperature Limits Xylogenesis and Maintains Treelines on the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau. 2017, 62, 804–812, doi:10.1016/j.scib.2017.04.025 (line 343-344). Please confirm.
(2) There is a lack of up-to-date authoritative research.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
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Additional datas are needed to support the conclusion
