INTRODUCTION: Hippophae rhamnoides, a temperate species with a transcontinental distribution spanning Eurasia, demonstrates preferential establishment in water-limited ecosystems (arid/semi-arid zones), particularly occupying high-elevation niches with skeletal soils and high solar flux. This ecologically significant plant, prized for dual ecological provisioning and economic services, shows biogeographic concentration in China's northern desertification belts, northwestern Loess Plateau, and southwestern montane corridors. Studying the possibl...
