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Application of ecosystem stability and regime shift theories in ecosystem assessment-calculation variable and practical performance Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-27 Jia-Nan Meng; Hongwei Fang; Donald Scavia
Assessing ecosystem states quantitatively or qualitatively is important for ecosystem management. Currently, Traditional Comprehensive Assessment (TCA), including ecosystem health, risk, and service assessment is used most often. Ecosystem stability theory (EST) and ecosystem regime shift theory (RST) from mathematical ecology have not been widely used. In this paper, we compare TCA and EST and RST
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Using remotely sensed indicators of primary productivity to improve prioritization of conservation areas for top predators Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-27 Adrián Regos; Salvador Arenas-Castro; Luis Tapia; Jesús Domínguez; João P. Honrado
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Statistical power of mobile acoustic monitoring to detect population change in southeastern U.S. bat species, a case study Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-26 Kristine O. Evans; Adam D. Smith; David Richardson
Bat populations in eastern North America have experienced precipitous declines following the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) and other population stressors. It is imperative to understand changes in bat populations as WNS spreads to provide appropriate guidance for species management. We developed generalized linear mixed-models of population trend and habitat associations for five indicator bat
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Spatial variation and biovectoring of metals in gull faeces Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-26 Víctor Martín-Vélez; F. Hortas; M.A. Taggart; A.J. Green; N.J. ÓHanlon; M.I. Sánchez
We assessed the spatial variation in concentrations of ten metals in faeces of the lesser black-backed gull (LBBG) Larus fuscus wintering at seven localities in South-West Spain. We found high concentrations of metals in gull faeces, with several elements (As, Cu, Mo, Pb, Zn) locally exceeding (by 2 to 11 times) derived Lowest Effect Level (LEL) values. We also found strong spatial variation, related
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Mapping satellite-derived thermal parameters of canopy onset and assessing their temperature dependency for temperate forests in Korea Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-25 Nanghyun Cho; Sinkyu Kang; Bora Lee; Casimir Agossou; Jihye Lee; Jong-Hwan Lim; Eunsook Kim
Growing degree days (GDD) and chilling requirements (CR) of canopy phenological onset are popular thermal indicators showing forest adaptation to local temperature regimes. This study proposes a satellite-based approach for mapping the canopy-onset thermal traits and analyzing their controlling factors in temperate forests. GDD and CR from 2003 to 2017 were estimated with canopy onset dates and air
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Species composition and longitudinal patterns of fish assemblages in the middle and lower Yarlung Zangbo River, Tibetan Plateau, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-26 Fei Liu; Mingzheng Li; Jian Wang; Zheng Gong; Meng Liu; Huanzhang Liu; Pengcheng Lin
The Yarlung Zangbo River is the largest river on the Tibetan Plateau, which is considered a hotspot of biodiversity conservation efforts. In this study, the fish fauna of the middle and lower Yarlung Zangbo River was investigated, to explore the species composition and spatial patterns of fish assemblages as well as the associated environmental factors. Thirty-four sites across an elevation of 589
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An evaluation of the effectiveness of protected areas in Thailand Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-25 Minerva Singh; Charlotte Griaud; C. Matilda Collins
Thailand is a biodiversity hotspot and home to over 1000 bird species, 15,000 plant species, and five of the World Wildlife Fund’s Global 200 Ecoregions of ecological significance. To preserve their unique ecosystems, the Thai government has established and maintained protected areas (PA) which in 2020, are estimated to cover 19% of Thailand’s land area. The success of these areas in preserving biodiversity
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Effects of a chain of reservoirs on temporal and spatial variation in water chemistry within an endorheic basin Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-26 Guofeng Zhu; Yu Zhang; Huiying Ma; Qiaozhuo Wan; Zhiyuan Zhang; Liyuan Sang; Yuwei Liu; Yuanxiao Xu
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How sensitive are epiphytic and epixylic cryptogams as indicators of forest naturalness? Testing bryophyte and lichen predictive power in stands under different management regimes in the Białowieża forest Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Janusz Czerepko; Radosław Gawryś; Rafał Szymczyk; Włodzimierz Pisarek; Magdalena Janek; Andżelika Haidt; Agnieszka Kowalewska; Amelia Piegdoń; Adam Stebel; Martin Kukwa; Cecilia Cacciatori
The aim of this study was to test the sensitivity of epiphytic and epixylic bryophytes and lichens as indicators of forest naturalness, by comparing their diversity patterns with forest structural, compositional and historical features associated with different management/protection regimes and protection time spans. The study was carried out in the Białowieża Forest (Poland). Out of 1370 pre-existing
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Silent winters and rock-and-roll summers: The long-term effects of changing oceans on marine fish vocalization Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-23 Shashidhar Siddagangaiah; Chi-Fang Chen; Wei-Chun Hu; Roberto Danovaro; Nadia Pieretti
The analysis of temporal trends and spatial patterns of marine sounds can provide crucial insights to assess the abundance, distribution, and behavior of fishes and of many other species. However, data on species-specific temporal and seasonal changes are still extremely limited. We report here the result of the longest recording ever conducted (five years, from 2014 to 2018) on fish vocalization.
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Emergetic and cosmic exergy-based ecological assessments of long-term raised field eco-farming systems in saline–alkaline lands Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Hengyu Hu; Mengkun Zhang; Yin Zhang; Min Fu; Jiansheng Chen; Geng Li; Mingzhen Zhai; Xiuyun Ming; Tangyuan Ning
The ecological and efficient use of saline–alkaline lands is very important worldwide. The main objective of this paper is to identify an eco-farming system suitable for saline–alkaline lands via emergetic and cosmic exergy-based ecological assessments. Three ecosystems were compared: an agriculture-free system, a local agricultural system, and a superior agricultural system. In the latter two systems
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An improved approach to estimate above-ground volume and biomass of desert shrub communities based on UAV RGB images Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-22 Peng Mao; Longjun Qin; Mengyu Hao; Wenli Zhao; Jiechunyi Luo; Xu Qiu; Lijie Xu; Yujiu Xiong; Yili Ran; Chunhua Yan; Guo Yu Qiu
Above-ground biomass (AGB) is an essential indicator for assessing ecosystem health and carbon storage in desert shrub-related research. Above-ground volume (AGV) of vegetation is a crucial parameter to estimate the AGB. In unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing, the AGV and AGB are mainly estimated by vegetation feature metrics (for example, spectral indices, textural, and structural metrics)
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Progress and pitfalls: A systematic review of the evidence for agricultural sustainability standards Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-23 Rebecca Traldi
Over the last decade, there have been increasing calls for robust impact evaluations of voluntary agricultural sustainability standards (VSS’s). In response, this study reviews the literature regarding 13 major agricultural standards, asking: where are certified crops being studied? Which sustainability outcomes and indicators are measured? And finally, what does the current evidence base suggest about
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The effects of the invasive seaweed Asparagopsis armata on native rock pool communities: Evidences from experimental exclusion Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-23 Carla O. Silva; Marco F.L. Lemos; Rui Gaspar; Carlos Gonçalves; João M. Neto
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Testing foraminiferal environmental quality indices along a well-defined organic matter gradient in the Eastern Mediterranean Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-21 Briz Parent; Orit Hyams-Kaphzan; Christine Barras; Hadas Lubinevsky; Frans Jorissen
Coastal environments are affected by multiple pressures resulting from anthropogenic activities, among which organic enrichment (Corg) is particularly important. Foraminiferal communities react to organic enrichment by changes in community structure (density, diversity, species composition) and behaviour (metabolism, feeding strategy, reproduction, mortality, etc.). A number of biotic indices based
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A new early warning indicator of tree species crashes from effective intraspecific interactions in tropical forests Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-22 Hugo Fort; Tomás S. Grigera
The vulnerability of species richness to several factors like, climate change, habitat fragmentation, resource exploitation, etc., poses a challenge to conservation biologists and agencies working to sustain the ecosystem services. Hence, there is a clear need for early warning indicators of species loss generated from empirical data. The tree community of the long-term 50-hectare plot on Barro Colorado
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Development of fish-based indices of biological integrity for Minnesota lakes Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-22 Jacquelyn Bacigalupi; David F. Staples; Melissa T. Treml; Derek L. Bahr
Indices of biological integrity (IBIs) have been developed for a wide variety of locales and ecological systems to describe their biological condition. Due to variability in geophysical and chemical conditions, IBIs are often developed regionally and applied to similar ecological systems. Researchers in Minnesota previously developed a fish IBI (FIBI) for lakes; however, its application was limited
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Landscape heterogeneity analysis using geospatial techniques and a priori knowledge in Sahelian agroforestry systems of Senegal Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-20 Babacar Ndao; Louise Leroux; Raffaele Gaetano; Abdoul Aziz Diouf; Valérie Soti; Agnès Bégué; Cheikh Mbow; Bienvenu Sambou
Agroforestry plays a pivotal role for Sahelian communities by allowing simultaneous improvement of food security and conservation of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. However, agroforestry systems (AFSs) are particularly heterogeneous in sub-Saharan Africa due to small to very small fields, a large variety of agricultural practices and a diversity of parkland compositions and configurations
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Loss of canopy-forming algal richness and coverage in the northern Adriatic Sea Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-21 Martina Orlando-Bonaca; Valentina Pitacco; Lovrenc Lipej
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Lichen functional traits and light influx in the analysis of environmental quality of subtropical riparian ecosystems Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-20 Márcia Isabel Käffer; Renan Kauê Port; João B.G. Brito; Jairo Lizandro Schmitt
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Pollution characteristics, spatial distributions, and source apportionment of heavy metals in cultivated soil in Lanzhou, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-20 Lei Chai; Yuhong Wang; Xin Wang; Liang Ma; Zhenxiang Cheng; Limin Su
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Concentration, distribution, source apportionment, and risk assessment of surrounding soil PAHs in industrial and rural areas: A comparative study Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-21 Zeyu Xu; Chunhui Wang; Huanxuan Li; Shaodan Xu; Jia Du; Yujie Chen; Chao Ma; Junhong Tang
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the important environmental pollutants that are mainly originated from industrial activities, vehicle emissions, biomass combustion, etc. Nowadays, the surrounding environment of the abandoned industrial area may still have potential health effects on the population, but current researches have paid less attention to this issue. Therefore, we report
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Belowground bud bank and its relationship with aboveground vegetation under watering and nitrogen addition in temperate semiarid steppe Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-20 Jianqiang Qian; Zhengwen Wang; Jitka Klimešová; Xiaotao Lü; Chunyan Zhang
In temperate perennial grasslands, the recruitment/regeneration of aboveground vegetation predominantly relies on belowground bud bank. Thus, understanding how belowground bud bank density and composition respond to global changes is essential to explain and predict plant community dynamics and ecosystem functions under global change context. The belowground bud bank and aboveground vegetation under
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Post-white-nose syndrome passive acoustic sampling effort for determining bat species occupancy within the mid-Atlantic region Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Sabrina M. Deeley; Nicholas J. Kalen; Samuel R. Freeze; Elaine L. Barr; W. Mark Ford
We assessed the sampling effort requirements for detecting the presence of extant bat species following the impact of white-nose syndrome in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. We acoustically sampled 27,796 nights across 846 sites between 15 May and 15 August 2016–2018 within the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. We developed simulations to determine
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Differences in trophic structure and trophic pathways between artificial reef and natural reef ecosystems along the coast of the North yellow Sea, China, based on stable isotope analyses Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Rongliang Zhang; Hua Zhang; Hui Liu; Jianmin Zhao
Artificial reefs have been employed to promote enrichment of degraded habitats communities and support local fisheries. To better evaluate the performance of artificial reefs, simultaneous comparisons with relatively undisturbed natural reefs nearby are essential. With the inclusion of the stable isotope method to characterize and compare ecosystem functioning for two reef systems, both trophic structure
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Allometric scaling relationships of Larix potaninii subsp. chinensis traits across topographical gradients Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Lili Zhang; Khambay Khamphilavong; Hengchen Zhu; Hua Li; Xiaojun He; Xufang Shen; Liru Wang; Yongxiang Kang
The variation of phenotypic traits with environmental gradient can reveal the plant adapting strategies and predict reactions to future climate changes. However, it remains elusive, especially for alpine timberline tree species. To quantify the variation and explore the patterns of twig, leaf, stoma traits, and determine the scaling relationships along the topographic gradients, 576 current-year branches
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Litter microbial responses to climate change: How do inland or coastal context and litter type matter across the Mediterranean? Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Maya Kheir; Thomas Z. Lerch; Amine Habib Borsali; Philip Roche; Fabio Ziarelli; Mohamed Zouidi; Anne Marie Farnet Da Silva
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Estimating quality of archive urban stream macroinvertebrate samples for genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic assessment Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Valerija Begić; Mirela Sertić Perić; Suzana Hančić; Mihaela Štargl; Matea Svoboda; Petra Korać; Ines Radanović
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Ecological indicators and bioindicator plant species for biomonitoring industrial pollution: Eco-based environmental assessment Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Ines Terwayet Bayouli; Houssem Terwayet Bayouli; Aronne Dell'Oca; Erik Meers; Jian Sun
Industrial pollution remains a driving force to ecosystem alteration. Pollutants are released in the atmosphere interacting in turn with other components of earth system such as plant species. Despite the long-term exposition of vegetation cover to pollution is drastically devastating, less is known about the contribution of ecological indicators for its monitoring. The aims of this study are (i) to
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Tillage-induced effects on organic carbon in earthworm casts through changes in their physical and structural stability parameters Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-19 Xuewen Chen; Aizhen Liang; Donghui Wu; Neil B. McLaughlin; Shuxia Jia; Shixiu Zhang; Yan Zhang; Dandan Huang
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How far can EPTs fly? A comparison of empirical flying distances of riverine invertebrates and existing dispersal metrics Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Andrés Peredo Arce; Thomas Hörren; Martin Schletterer; Jochem Kail
The species composition of a community is driven by the dispersal capacity of the species forming that community and their ecological niche. While the ecological niches of EPTs (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera) are well-studied due to their wide use as indicators for the ecological status of freshwater ecosystems, their dispersal capacity has not yet been accurately characterized. Dispersion
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Sources and features of particulate organic matter in tropical small mountainous rivers (SW China) under the effects of anthropogenic activities Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Yao Zhang; Xianwei Meng; Yazhi Bai; Xiangqin Wang; Peng Xia; Gang Yang; Zhiwei Zhu; Haitao Zhang
Small mountainous rivers (SMRs), particularly those in the tropics, play a disproportionate role in global carbon cycling and have been heavily disturbed by anthropogenic activities during the Anthropocene. Identifying the sources of particulate organic matter (POM) in SMRs and their influencing factors have crucial scientific significance in terms of filling a cognitional gap concerning the fate of
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Ecological risks of geological disasters and the patterns of the urban agglomeration in the Fujian Delta region Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Jinhuang Lin; Mingshui Lin; Wenhui Chen; An Zhang; Xinhua Qi; Haoran Hou
Geological disasters not only hinder the ecological security guarantee in urban agglomerations, but also pose serious threat to the life and property of residents in the areas. The study establishes a “hazard-vulnerability-exposure” three-dimensional ecological risk assessment model, adopts an information value model to assess hazard, use landscape indices to analyze vulnerability and nighttime light
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Predicting the number of dusty days around the desert wetlands in southeastern Iran using feature selection and machine learning techniques Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Zohre Ebrahimi-Khusfi; Ali Reza Nafarzadegan; Fatemeh Dargahian
In the past decades, some desert wetlands have become critical regions for dust production in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Accurate prediction of the number of dusty days (NDDs) in these areas is of great importance. The most popular method for predicting climatic and environmental variables is machine learning (ML). Although it has received more attention for spatial prediction, it
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Comprehensive evaluation of the eco-environmental vulnerability in the Yellow River Delta wetland Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Hongyang Zhang; Yadong Sun; Wenxin Zhang; Ziyi Song; Zelin Ding; Xianqi Zhang
The eco-environmental vulnerability is an important indicator of the development in wetland. However, the vulnerability is influenced by various interacting factors. The interaction among these factors is fuzzy and stochastic, making it difficult to describe the evaluation results accurately and quantitatively. To overcome the difficulty, this study takes the Yellow River Delta wetland as object, and
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Ascertaining the pollution, ecological risk and source of metal(loid)s in the upstream sediment of Danjiang River, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Sukai Zhuang; Xinwei Lu; Bo Yu; Xinyao Fan; Yufan Yang
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Rapid urbanization effects on partial pressure and emission of CO2 in three rivers with different urban intensities Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Wei Tang; Y. Jun Xu; Siyue Li
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Influence of environmental factors on autotrophic, soil and ecosystem respirations in Canadian boreal forest Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Soumendra N. Bhanja; Junye Wang
Ecosystem respiration (Reco) and its components, the autotrophic respiration (Ra) and soil respiration (Rs) are the essential indicators of the global carbon cycle. They are represented as functions of either temperature or soil moisture, or a combination of both in the widely-used Earth System Models (ESMs). Thus, it is difficult to evaluate the influence of other environmental factors (such as, precipitation
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The influence of small-scale resource heterogeneity caused by human activities on the growth phenotype of invasive aquatic plants Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-18 Junnan Wang; Qiuyue Wang; Jingwen Hu; Hongwei Yu; Chunhua Liu; Dan Yu
Climate change caused by human activities leads to nitrogen deposition, phosphorus input and changes in rainfall patterns, which also result in heterogeneous distribution patterns of resources and biological invasion. Clonal plants grow in environments with spatial and temporal heterogeneity; they can effectively adapt to heterogeneous environments and further increase growth performance through their
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Tree abundance, diversity and their driving and indicative factors in Beijing’s residential areas Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Min Jiao; Haoran Xue; Jingli Yan; Zhong Zheng; Jia Wang; Cheng Zhao; Lu Zhang; Weiqi Zhou
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Sedentary fish as indicators of changes in the river flow rate after impoundment Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Yanne A. Mendes; Renata S. Oliveira; Luciano F.A. Montag; Marcelo C. Andrade; Tommaso Giarrizzo; Rossineide M. Rocha; Maria Auxiliadora P. Ferreira
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Quantifying the effect of environmental drivers on water conservation variation in the eastern Loess Plateau, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-16 Jinfeng Wang; Taoli Wu; Qing Li; Sheng Wang
The Loess Plateau is famous for its water shortages and soil erosion, quantitatively assessing the water conservation function is of great significance to maintain regional ecological security. Zhanghe River Basin with severe water conflicts in eastern Loess Plateau, was selected to investigate the variation characteristics of water conservation. The results showed that water conservation decreased
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Contribution analysis on spatial tradeoff/synergy of Karst soil conservation and water retention for various geomorphological types: Geographical detector application Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Jiangbo Gao; Yuan Jiang; Yaakov Anker
Rocky desertification is the most typical ecological and environmental problem in Karst mountainous areas, which hinders sustainable development. Clarifying spatial relationship of ecosystem services including soil conservation and water retention and their dominant factors can provide scientific basis for containment of rocky desertification. The spatialization and quantification of dominant, interaction
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Identifying and setting the natural spaces priority based on the multi-ecosystem services capacity index Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-16 Jiake Shen; Xiaolu Guo; Yuncai Wang
The loss and fragmentation of natural spaces in rapidly urbanized areas have greatly reduced their capacity to provide multiple ecosystem services (ESs). It is of great importance to identify natural spaces with key ecological functions, which are used to construct effective and efficient ecological networks, especially in urbanized areas where natural spaces are limited. This paper individually evaluated
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Spatio-temporal variation of oasis landscape pattern in arid area: Human or natural driving? Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-16 Changjiang Liu; Fei Zhang; Verner Carl Johnson; Pan Duan; Hsiang-te Kung
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Investigation on depth-dependent properties and benthic effluxes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in pore water from plateau lake sediments Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-16 Shuaidong Li; Lingfeng Lu; Yongfang Wu; Zhilong Zhao; Changchun Huang; Tao Huang; Hao Yang; Xiaohua Ma; Quanliang Jiang
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in sediment pore water plays a key role in lake water quality, complexation of the contaminants, biogeochemical cycles, and even climate. To better understand the vertical dynamics and characteristics of DOM among pore water profiles, we investigated concentrations, chemical structures, and benthic fluxes of DOM in plateau lake sediments via stoichiometric analysis, ultraviolet–visible
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Effects of recreational beaches on chironomid assemblages in a large, shallow lake Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Diána Árva; Attila Mozsár; Barbara Barta; András Specziár; Mónika Tóth; Attila Bohus; Blanka Gál; Dénes Schmera
The recreational use of water bodies presents new challenges and pressures on lake ecosystems. We focused on how recreational beaches influence the shoreline biodiversity of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Taking into account the establishment of beaches, we examined natural reed vegetated shorelines (representing natural situation), open areas (representing areas, where reed has been removed), as well as beaches
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Sediment transport and roughness coefficients generated by flexible vegetation patches in the emergent and submerged conditions in a semiarid alluvial open-channel Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-15 Douglas Monteiro Cavalcante; Maria Tatiane Leonardo Chaves; Gabriella Moreira Campos; José Ramon Barros Cantalice; Genival Barros Junior
In the semiarid environment, low vegetation cover and deforestation on the banks of rivers represent a strong impact on the flow resistance process, altering the interaction of the flow with the banks, one of the conditioning factors of the morphological balance of the river channel. In extreme hydrological events, turbulence and high speeds can cause a marked erosion process at the banks, increasing
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Economic and ecological trade-offs of coastal reclamation in the Hangzhou Bay, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-12 Lefeng Qiu; Min Zhang; Bibing Zhou; Yuanzheng Cui; Zhoulu Yu; Tao Liu; Shaohua Wu
Due to the growing demand for land resources, coastal reclamation has become a global land use practice. Although the reclamation of coastal wetlands brings substantial economic benefits, it can lead to a series of adverse ecological impacts. Considerably, economic and ecological trade-offs of reclamation activities must be analyzed to make targeted land use policy decisions. This study focuses on
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Evaluating the spatial spillover effect of farmland use transition on grain production – An empirical study in Hubei Province, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Yifeng Tang; Xinhai Lu; Jialin Yi; Hongzheng Wang; Xupeng Zhang; Weibo Zheng
Farmland resources are the most basic material for grain production. Therefore, the impact of farmland use transition (FUT) on grain production is receiving increasing attention from scholars. However, only a few studies have explored the spatial spillover effects of FUT on grain production and investigate the impact difference under topographical constraints. To fill this gap, this study uses county-level
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The contributions of an airport and related road network to Pseudevernia furfuracea bioaccumulation of trace elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-15 L. Lucadamo; L. Gallo; G. Vespasiano; A. Corapi
The use of a high-density lichen transplant network together with quantitative wind relationships (WQRs) made it possible to evaluate the influence of an airport and surrounding road network on the spatial variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace elements at both the local and whole study area scale. WQRs clearly showed that the parking/idling/taxiing area (PIT), but not the landing/take-off
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Corn response to selected soil health indicators in a Texas drought Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Kabindra Adhikari; Douglas R. Smith; Harold Collins; Richard L. Haney; June E. Wolfe
The phrase “soil health” describes the condition of a soil in terms of its physical, chemical, and biological properties. The relationship between soil health and crop yield is rather complex, and quantifying their spatial characteristics at field scale is often limited in the literature. To explore the significance and spatial characteristics of soil health and its indicators in crop production, field-based
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Regenerative rotational grazing management of dairy sheep increases springtime grass production and topsoil carbon storage Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Xabier Díaz de Otálora; Lur Epelde; Josune Arranz; Carlos Garbisu; Roberto Ruiz; Nerea Mandaluniz
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Promoting landscape connectivity of highly urbanized area: An ecological network approach Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-12 Shuang Wang; Maoquan Wu; Mengmeng Hu; Chen Fan; Tao Wang; Beicheng Xia
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Effects of landscape disturbance on seed germination of Enterolobium contortisiliquum (Fabaceae) in Brazilian seasonally tropical dry forest: Are seeds a sensitive biomarker of environmental stress? Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Isabela Botelho Cardoso; Marina do Vale Beirão; Pablo Cuevas-Reyes; Yurixhi Maldonado-López; Joan Sebastian Aguilar-Peralta; Patrícia de Abreu Moreira
Habitat disturbance of native forests is currently the major threat to biodiversity conservation. Plant species can be negatively affected as a result of landscape conversion; thus, it is essential to detect the potential effects of environmental stress on plant performance using reliable bioindicators of quick, cheap diagnosis. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) describes the degree of the random differences
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Promote the advance of the start of the growing season from combined effects of climate change and wildfire Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Wu Rihan; Hongyan Zhang; Jianjun Zhao; Yu Shan; Xiaoyi Guo; Hong Ying; Guorong Deng; Hui Li
The variation of land surface phenology (LSP) in natural ecosystems has received much attention at the regional and global scales. In this paper, we explore the relationship between variations in the start of the growing season (SOS) and their direct and indirect drivers for the Mongolian Plateau. Our results show that wildfire events mainly occurred in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2016. The frequency
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Nitrogen and phosphorus resorption of desert plants with various degree of propensity to salt in response to drought and saline stress Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-13 Yan Luo; Yue Chen; Qingwen Peng; Kaihui Li; Anwar Mohammat; Wenxuan Han
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Does taxonomic and numerical resolution affect the assessment of invertebrate community structure in New World freshwater wetlands? Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-15 Mateus M. Pires; Marta G. Grech; Cristina Stenert; Leonardo Maltchik; Luis B. Epele; Kyle I. McLean; Jamie M. Kneitel; Douglas A. Bell; Hamish S. Greig; Chase R. Gagne; Darold P. Batzer
The efficiency of biodiversity assessments and biomonitoring studies is commonly challenged by limitations in taxonomic identification and quantification approaches. In this study, we assessed the effects of different taxonomic and numerical resolutions on a range of community structure metrics in invertebrate compositional data sets from six regions distributed across North and South America. We specifically
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Spatiotemporal evolution and the driving factors of PM2.5 in Chinese urban agglomerations between 2000 and 2017 Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-15 Qilong Wu; Runxiu Guo; Jinhui Luo; Chao Chen
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) threatens public health severely, which, luckily, can be governed by referring to its spatiotemporal distribution and key driving factors. However, very few explored it in the long-term, broadly, and systematically. In this study, nine Chinese key urban agglomerations were targeted to explore the spatial distribution of PM2.5 and the evolution of its major driving factors
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Ecological vulnerability assessment based on AHP-PSR method and analysis of its single parameter sensitivity and spatial autocorrelation for ecological protection – A case of Weifang City, China Ecol. Indic. (IF 4.229) Pub Date : 2021-02-15 Xiaojing Hu; Chuanming Ma; Peng Huang; Xu Guo
With the continuous development of society, the contradiction between human and nature becomes increasingly prominent, and ecological vulnerability assessment is an effective tool to alleviate the contradiction. In this study, AHP-PSR (Analytic Hierarchy Process - Press-State-Response) model was used to assess the ecological vulnerability of Weifang City. PSR model was used to select parameters, AHP
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