Estuarine habitats contribute disproportionately as nursery habitats for marine fish, yet are amongst the most anthropogenically degraded ecosystems on Earth. Juvenile fish growing in urbanised estuarine habitats are subject to a mosaic of stressors, thus development of higher resolution methods to gain a more complete assessment of fish responses is vital. Accordingly, this study provides the first

A persistent challenge in integrated water management is the ability to accurately evaluate human and ecological tradeoffs. Two-dimensional (2D) hydraulic models are frequently used to evaluate water management alternatives concerning aquatic species physical habitat needs or preferences. Recent studies have assessed the timing or duration of suitable habitat conditions, but no standardized approach

Ecosystem services (ES) are essential for the well-being of humans, and their measurement is an effective approach for estimating regional sustainability. In this study, the Jiayuguan-Jiuquan region (JJR) was selected as a typical arid inland river basin. Four key ES in 2000 and 2010, such as, food provision, carbon storage, soil conservation, and water retention, were calculated by using several models

In the 20 years since the implementation of the Grain for Green Project (GFGP), the ecological environment in western China has improved. It is important to study the interaction between the spatial distribution of land use and ecosystem services as well as the interaction among ecosystem services under the GFGP for the purpose of improving regional ecosystem services. In this paper, we explore the

Although farmland birds are used extensively in Europe as an indicator group to assess agricultural impacts on ecosystems, no such group has been formally identified in North America. Here we present a hierarchical framework to identify a suite of farmland bird species in Ontario, Canada by consolidating and validating classifications derived from literature review and empirical modelling. First, we

Indicators of large-scale ecological change are typically derived from long-term monitoring networks. As such, it is important to assess how well monitoring networks provide evidence for ecological trends in the regions they are monitoring. In part, this depends on the network’s representativeness of the full range of environmental conditions occurring in the monitored region. In addition, the statistical

Application of importance-performance analysis (IPA) has received wide applicability to reveal resident’s satisfaction with the performance of ecological services. In recent days, researchers have expanded the horizon of IPA through the implication of this technique in case of different ecosystem services to find out the satisfaction of local people with ecosystem services. However, a little contribution

Quantitative evaluation of the aquatic ecosystem health is crucial to formulate policies about environmental water management and ecological restoration. However, it is often difficult to quantitatively compare or estimate the health of aquatic ecosystems for different watersheds. In this study, we developed a Freshwater Ecosystem Health Index (FEHI) based on a modified Zooplankton-based Index of Biotic

Bacteria are a key component in lake ecosystems, playing a crucial role in driving biogeochemical and energy fluxes. In lake biomonitoring, false alarms have often been triggered due to the presence of abundant dead or dormant bacterial cells. Thus, quantification of the metabolically active and dormant cells is required for effective biomonitoring. In this study, 120 sites were seasonally sampled

As Earth’s temperature continues to rise, sudden warming events, designated as marine heatwaves (MHWs), are becoming more frequent and longer. This phenomenon is already shown to significantly impact marine ecosystems and respective fauna. While experimental acclimation to higher temperatures is known to affect predatory behavior, metabolism and overall fitness of sharks, the effects of short-term

The development of biodiversity indicators is an integral component of forming marine strategies under the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). A key stage in the development of biodiversity indicators is the selection of an appropriate temporal scale over which to assess change in indicator state. This presents a particular challenge for the development of plankton indicators for assessing

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is a key indicator of water quality, biogeochemical state and nutrient content in freshwaters. Land use affects the concentration, quality, source, and age of CDOM in rivers. To investigate the characteristics and composition of fluvial CDOM and the effects of land use on carbon components, 37 sites were sampled during May 2017 in the Yiluo River watershed

Organic carbon content of sediments, whether directly or indirectly assessed, has often been used as an indicator of marine benthic community condition both in site-specific and regional scale condition assessment studies. The conceptual framework underlying use of this indicator was developed based primarily on site-specific studies. A quantitative analysis of literature data on sediment organic matter

The planetary boundary (PB) concept can be used as a guide for the absolute environmental sustainability (AES) of humanity. However, the downscaling of PB as a guide remains a challenge at the local scale. This study aims to establish absolute environmentally sustainable indicators (AESIs) and a threshold based on five processes of the Earth system, namely, climate change, ocean acidification, biogeochemical

Monitoring of seagrass meadows is essential to inform adaptive management and address widespread declines in seagrass ecosystems. Effective monitoring techniques require sensitive indicators that are capable of detecting sub-lethal stressors and differentiating stress responses from background environmental variation. Here we explore untargeted metabolomics as a means to measure multi-parameter molecular

This paper evaluates the chemical composition of reed stands grown in different riverine habitats. In addition to the total concentrations, we first present data on the bio-available element fractions of the sediment of reed stands. The results demonstrate clear separation between the plant and sediment samples and reveal the same concentration order of organs in all of the investigated sites irrespective

The long-term effect of pulse crops such as pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) in crop rotation and nutrient management on soil microbial functions and enzymes activity was studied. We presumed that pulse-inclusive crop rotations and integrated nutrient management would have higher soil enzymes activity and microbial biomass carbon compared with

Environmental regulation and green technology are important to mitigate global warming, whereas few studies explored the role of green technology in environmental regulation on carbon intensity. This paper systematically reviews the literature on the relationship among environmental regulation, green technology, and carbon intensity, and assumes that green technology is a potential mediator of the

This study presents the results and interpretations of biological (floral and faunal) and geochemical (isotopic and chemical element composition) investigations of the Late Glacial and Holocene sediment accumulated in the Kaniewo palaeolake. These data allowed us to determine the indicators of environmental changes in this lake ecosystem, such as zooplankton and vegetation development, trophic state

In the past four decades, China has achieved tremendous economic success, but it has also faced serious ecological security (ES) problems. The land use/cover change (LUCC) plays a decisive role in the issue of ES. LUCC and ES evaluation were combined by predicting the change in land use and simulating ES pattern. Taking the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration (PRD) as the study area, the temporal

Grassland degradation has profound negative impacts on ecological functions, local economic development, and social stability. Although there are many studies on the alpine grassland degradation in the Tibetan Plateau, the variation in the response of alpine meadows to degradation and restoration processes, and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. To explore these issues, we selected

Grassland degradation is an important research topic on a global scale, since it can severely restrict the development of animal husbandry and threaten ecological security. The proper monitoring of regional grassland degradation is the basis for strengthening grassland protection and restoration, as well as improving grassland ecology. In this study, the standards for monitoring grassland degradation

Climate change and forest loss pose a significant threat to the long-term persistence of avian species in Southeast (SE) Asia. In this research, we assessed the impact of present and future climate and forest cover change on the ability of SE Asia’s protected areas (PAs) to provide coverage to the suitable habitats of 225 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-listed threatened avian

This paper explores the hypothesis that the action of stressors changes the state of mineral content at different stages in the leaf development in urban environment, in sites close to the major traffic roads. We evaluate a low-cost method to assess urban habitat quality with relatively easy sampling and no need for complicated and expensive equipment. The method is based on quantifying gravimetric

The contribution of soil to supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural functions as well as its role in the ecosystem services is well-known in the international literature. However, in the domain of organic agriculture, the impact of cropping systems shifts from cereal-cereal to high-frequency diversified cropping sequences with legume as a component crop on soil carbon dynamics is not widely

Traits provide key ecological information that can be applied to understanding the mechanisms which drive community assembly and persistence. In recent years, trait information has provided important insights into the responses of communities to stressors including pollutants and climatic extremes. Outside of Europe and North America, the use of stream macroinvertebrate traits has generally been hindered

Anthropogenic and natural climate-impacted water level (WL) fluctuations are one of many environmental problems affecting natural ecosystems. The aim of this study was to explain differences in the development of autotrophic and heterotrophic plankton in two shallow, temperate, embanked lakes with different modes of WL regulation. Lake Mytycze has natural WL changes supplied exclusively by precipitation;

The effect of the training dataset sample size has been shown to have profound outcomes on the performance of species distribution models. However, the effects that the testing dataset sample size can have on the assessment of a models predictive capacity has received little attention. In this study, I used simulations to study how accurate two discrimination statics, the AUC (the area under the receiver

Assessing the vulnerability of agriculture to climate change can identify knowledge gaps and direct where adaptation options are required. However, determining the vulnerability of agricultural production to climate change is a challenge due to the complex nature of the problem. We propose a climate-crop modelling approach illustrated by using the APSIM crop model forced with daily climate data as

Large-scale, accurate and detailed forest height map is worthwhile and necessary for understanding and assessing global carbon cycle and biodiversity. The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission, employing a photon-counting LiDAR (PCL) system, offers an opportunity to map global forest height with high resolution. This study aimed to map forest height at a spatial resolution of

Turkey's many and varied landscapes face the challenge of degradation and ultimately desertification due to soil problems that include organic matter deficiency, salinity-alkalinity, compaction and erosion and the loss of biological productivity. Yet, without fully accepted indicators for the monitoring and reporting of degradation, desertification cannot be definitively confirmed at the regional or

Private land conservation initiatives are primary channels for wildlife population recovery and management in agricultural ecosystems. Billions of dollars are allocated to these programs in the United States and Europe. Ensuring cost-efficiency is a top priority for funding agencies and substantial resources are dedicated to targeting enrolment to maximize environmental benefits. Landowner management

Vulnerability to climate change is a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Econometric and indicator-based approaches have been used to assess vulnerability at regional, national and global scales. However, these approaches often fail to capture how vulnerability varies within regions and communities. Within regions there is often little capacity to distinguish between exposure and

The Three Gorges Project (TGP) is a mega-water conservancy and hydropower project that have attracted worldwide attention. Under the influence of human activities, the landscape pattern has changed greatly. Using landscape metrics to analyze landscape pattern changes is the critical to understanding landscape pattern and ecological process. In this study, Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI images are used to extract

The Minimum Data Set (MDS) is an effective way to improve understanding of the assessing soil quality and understanding of the heterogeneity of soil quality and encourage the adaption of proper agriculture practice. However, a suitable evaluation method of the soil quality of Astragalus mongholicus and ecological link between this and the active ingredients, including astragalosides (I, II, and IV)

Complex pollen-vegetation relationships in tropical environments have long been a challenge for the interpretation of pollen spectra in terms of vegetation cover. Here, we test the application of the widely-used Extended R-Value (ERV) model in the tropical secondary and planted woodlands of the Hainan Island (China) to estimate relative pollen productivities (RPPs) for common plant taxa occurring as

Responding to pressure to combat climate change by cutting greenhouse gasses emission, Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) is currently the most developed of all the renewable energy options that are based in the marine environment. However, despite its perceived benefits, OWF construction will also lead to direct and indirect impacts on the ecosystem. Nonetheless, surprisingly few studies have sought to combine

Soil organic carbon (SOC) has a large impact on soil quality and global climate change. It is therefore important to be able to predict SOC accurately to promote sustainable soil management. Although the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has many advantages and has been widely used in soil science research, it has rarely been used in previous SOC mapping studies based on remote sensing images. The purpose

During the past few decades, the majority of shallow lakes in the Yangtze River basin (Eastern China) have been impacted by heavy discharges of sewage and the intensification of aquaculture. These activities have significant potential to alter aquatic ecosystems and these changes may be reflected in the composition of lipid biomarkers in sediments at the time. In order to evaluate this effect, the

The intensification of dairy farming on the agricultural landscape in New Zealand has raised concerns about pollution sources from dairy fecal runoff into waterways. An important step for mitigation of pollution is the identification of the sources of fecal contamination. An amplicon-based metagenomic assay of the bacterial community mobilised into runoff from decomposing cowpats revealed shifts in

Development of water resources infrastructure largely decoupled floodplains and wetlands from rivers due to alteration of streamflow patterns. However, there is limited understanding of undesirable changes in streamflow patterns due to flow regulation. This study aimed to examine effects of flow regulation and rainfall variation on: 1) long-term flow, 2) upstream and downstream flow, and 3) seasonal