Search Results (323)

Understanding the factors controlling tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) variability is essential for improving air-quality assessment and environmental management in tropical regions. This study analyzed the spatial and interannual variability of tropospheric NO₂ in ten municipalities of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, located within the Cerrado–Pantanal transition zone, during the period 2020–2024. Tropospheric NO₂ column densities were obtained from Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI observations and integrated with environmental and anthropogenic indicators, including fire density derived from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), land-use and land-cover data from MapBiomas, road density, and meteorological variables obtained from CEMTEC-MS. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression were applied to evaluate the relationships between NO₂ concentrations and the explanatory variables. The results revealed moderate spatial variability of tropospheric NO₂, with annual mean column densities ranging from 1.42 × 10⁻⁵ to 1.74 × 10⁻⁵ mol·m⁻². Higher concentrations were observed in municipalities characterized by greater urbanization and transport infrastructure, particularly Três Lagoas, Corumbá, and Ladário. Pasture area exhibited the strongest negative association with NO₂ concentrations (r = −0.81, p = 0.004), followed by agricultural area (r = −0.67, p = 0.034), whereas fire density showed a moderate positive relationship with NO₂ variability (r = 0.62, p = 0.056), highlighting the contribution of biomass burning to regional atmospheric pollution. Meteorological variables, especially precipitation and wind speed, also influenced NO₂ distribution through atmospheric removal and dispersion processes. These findings demonstrate that tropospheric NO₂ variability in Mato Grosso do Sul is controlled by the combined effects of land use, biomass burning, urban infrastructure, and meteorological conditions. The study provides new insights into the environmental drivers of atmospheric pollution in the Cerrado–Pantanal transition region and contributes to the development of monitoring and air-quality management strategies in tropical environments. Full article

The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games represent a significant departure from traditional mega-event models due to their markedly polycentric territorial structure. This study investigates the sustainability of this “decentralized” model by analyzing the environmental impact of mobility flows across a vast geographic area. Adopting a methodological approach, the research integrates historical attendance data from previous Winter Games with official projections and travel time simulations to model the event’s carbon footprint. Specifically, the framework quantifies gas emissions by categorizing mobility flows into external international travel and internal inter-cluster transit. The analysis highlights a significant discrepancy between the stated sustainability objectives and the actual implementation of the infrastructural plan. Findings reveal that the total carbon debt is heavily driven by international travel, yet the localized impact on Alpine clusters remains critical due to a persistent reliance on road infrastructure over rail systems. The results suggest a “paradox of decentralized sustainability”, where the benefits of reusing existing sporting venues are offset by the environmental costs of connecting geographically fragmented sites. We conclude that without a robust and efficient public transport network, territorial dispersion acts as a catalyst for widespread anthropogenic pressure on fragile mountain ecosystems, challenging the long-term ecological legacy of the event. By empirically exposing these dynamics, this study offers a novel evaluative framework for assessing the true sustainability of distributed governance in future mega-events. Full article

Myrmecochory is a form of seed dispersal mediated by ants. Although this mechanism of dispersal has received less research attention than other dispersal processes, the wide distribution and high biomass of ants mean that it can strongly influence plant dispersal patterns. In particular, the underlying mechanisms and key agents of myrmecochory remain poorly understood in the context of anthropogenic perturbations; furthermore, such research is especially scarce in East Asia. This review aims to elucidate the ecological mechanisms underlying myrmecochory, to explore how this interaction may be affected by urbanization and climate change, and to determine its potential ecological role in disturbed ecosystems. We first review past research on the three major hypotheses proposed for the emergence of ant-mediated seed dispersal—directed dispersal, distance dispersal, and predator avoidance. We then compile taxonomic information on myrmecochorous plants and ants from global databases and regional literature, expanding the checklist of Korean myrmecochorous plants to 130 species and reclassifying them as endangered, rare, or endemic. Our synthesis suggests that invasive ants could threaten myrmecochory by displacing native myrmecochorous ants, increasing seed predation, and facilitating the dispersal of invasive plants. Moreover, the urban heat island effect and habitat fragmentation could disturb the dispersal, germination, and growth of myrmecochorous plants, threats that may be further intensified by climate-driven phenological mismatches. Consequently, in temperate East Asian countries experiencing anthropogenically generated environmental changes, myrmecochory emerges as a pivotal ecological process that underscores ecosystem vulnerability and resilience. Ultimately, incorporating these plant–ant interactions into biodiversity monitoring is essential for predicting ecosystem shifts and designing robust, proactive conservation strategies in changing environments. Full article

Saltworks are anthropogenic environments providing important ecosystem services ranging from biodiversity support to ecotourism. The traditional management of small Mediterranean coastal saltworks is slowly declining. Consequently, there is a need to deepen the study of these active evaporitic basins and valorize the byproducts of the production cycle. In accordance with circular economy principles, these byproducts are traditionally reused as essential ingredients for the purification of edible salt. The study area is a small Mediterranean saltwork, “Chiusicella,” located within the Trapani–Paceco Saltworks Nature Reserve (Sicily, Italy). Sediments from various ponds and a waste material used by salt workers, locally known as “mamma caura”, were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Additionally, brines from high-salinity ponds were used to analyze the precipitation sequence following total evaporation. Results demonstrate a clear relationship between the stability fields of mineral phases typical of evaporitic environments and the pond typologies. Furthermore, the interaction and synergy between bacterial activity in the water and the precipitating mineral phases appear more evident, thus outlining a clearer profile of the role of byproduct reuse within the saltwork’s annual production cycle. Full article

Radioisotopic techniques provide powerful tools for reconstructing the history of lake sediments, offering critical insights into past environmental changes and human impacts. These techniques have contributed significantly to our understanding of past environmental change and have implications for current environmental management practices. This review comprehensively examines various radiometric dating techniques used for lake sediments, with a focus on natural, cosmogenic, and artificial radionuclides, including ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs, ²⁴¹Am, ⁷Be, ³H, and ¹⁴C. The review highlights the widespread use of radionuclides in establishing sediment chronologies across different time scales, from short-term processes (days to decades) to long-term environmental reconstructions spanning thousands of years. Moreover, applications in limnological research are explored, including sedimentation rate estimation, reconstruction of pollution history of trace elements, nutrients, microplastics, and organic compounds, and assessment of anthropogenic impacts and catchment changes. The integration of radioisotopic methods with multiproxy paleolimnological approaches is emphasized as a powerful framework for reconstructing past environmental and ecological conditions. Despite their effectiveness, radioisotopic methods are exposed to several sources of uncertainty, including dispersion in atmospheric isotope flux, post-depositional processes, reservoir effects, and model assumptions. These challenges highlight the importance of careful methodological selection, site-specific evaluation, and rigorous uncertainty assessment in radioisotopic studies of lake sediments. Future research should emphasize refining sediment age-model calibration using region-specific sedimentation parameters and standardized validation procedures, and integrating radiometric techniques with geochemical, biological, and paleolimnological proxies to improve the reconstruction of environmental change in lacustrine systems. Such developments would enhance the interpretation of historical pollution records, sediment accumulation patterns, eutrophication history, and ecological variability, thereby providing scientifically robust information to support evidence-based lake management, restoration programs, and long-term conservation strategies. Full article

Microplastic contamination in wetland ecosystems is an escalating environmental threat, compromising ecosystem services, biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity conservation. This study assessed the occurrence, distribution and physicochemical characteristics of microplastics in the Ramsar-designated Pallikaranai wetland, southern India. Six representative subsamples were collected from spatially distinct locations and analyzed using density separation, followed by polymer identification via Raman spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Microplastics were ubiquitously detected across both sediment and water matrices, with significantly higher abundances in sediments, indicating their role as a major sink. The dominant polymer types, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), along with prevalent morphotypes such as fragments, fibers, beads and foams, reflect diverse and persistent anthropogenic inputs. The compositional profile strongly implicates mismanaged domestic and urban waste as the primary source. The widespread presence and accumulation of microplastics in this ecologically sensitive wetland raise concerns over potential impacts on trophic interactions, habitat quality and long-term ecosystem resilience. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted waste management strategies, pollution mitigation frameworks and continuous monitoring to safeguard the ecological integrity of the Pallikaranai wetland and similar Ramsar-listed ecosystems. Full article

Groundwater systems in semi-arid and industrial regions are increasingly affected by climate-driven non-stationarity and anthropogenic pressure, challenging conventional forecasting approaches. This study develops and evaluates an integrated artificial intelligence framework designed to minimize piezometric head residual dispersion under non-stationary hydroclimatic conditions. The proposed methodology combines Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (ICEEMDAN) and Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) with a Slime Mould Algorithm–optimized Long Short-Term Memory (SMA–LSTM) model and a CNN–LSTM architecture, which are dynamically fused using an Adaptive Weighting Model (AWM). The framework was applied to long-term groundwater level (1994–2024), groundwater quality (2017–2023), and meteorological datasets to evaluate the predictive robustness across climatic variability regimes. The proposed ensemble achieved a mean absolute error of 0.267 m, root mean square error of 0.429 m, coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.948, and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.938, representing substantial residual reduction compared to baseline deep learning models. Residual diagnostics confirmed minimized peak deviations and stable performance under non-stationary conditions. Scenario-based simulations driven by CMIP6 climate projections indicate increasing groundwater stress under future warming trajectories, with amplified variability and declining recharge signals. These findings demonstrate that multi-stage signal decomposition coupled with metaheuristic optimization and adaptive ensemble learning significantly enhances predictive stability and residual minimization in climate-sensitive aquifer systems. The proposed framework provides a transferable, climate-resilient decision-support tool for sustainable groundwater management in industrial and semi-arid regions. Full article

In equatorial Africa, rapid urbanization has increased city populations and particulate matter emissions. Street dust is a visual indicator that can be used to track urban pollution. In the present study, the total concentration and speciation of 10 potentially toxic elements (PTEs; As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Mn, Fe, Pb, Co, and Zn) in dust (n = 36) sampled from three streets of Mbarara City, Uganda, were determined using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry. The concentration of PTEs (0.27–36,401.50 mg/kg) geostatistically indicated moderate to extremely high enrichment of Cd, Cu, and Co in street dust. According to principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses, As, Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cd originated mainly from anthropogenic inputs, Fe and Mn came from geogenic sources, while Cr, Ni, and Co were from both natural and anthropogenic contributions. The mobility of the PTEs followed a general trend, Zn > Co > Cd > Ni > Cr, with Zn and Co being more environmentally mobile. Human health risk assessments indicated that discernible non-carcinogenic health risks may result from ingestion of dust by both children and adults. Children could also experience cancer health effects through the same exposure pathway. Full article

Anthropogenic activities and environmental changes have exerted an increasingly high impact on the habitats of wild animals, especially endangered species. Researchers have paid attention to the effects of future climate change on wildlife habitats. However, the impact of climate change on the suitable habitats of Tragopan birds has rarely been reported. Here, we used the Maxent model to assess the influence of climate change on the geographical distribution of five Tragopan species. The results showed that the SSP585 scenario projected relatively favorable conditions, with the total area of suitable habitats expected to show an overall increasing trend over time. Centroid analysis revealed that the centroid gradually shifts toward lower latitudes and elevations due to climate warming. Environmental factor analysis showed that human-induced factors (particularly land use) are the main determinants affecting the habitat suitability of Tragopan birds. Notably, a comparison between dispersal velocity and biological velocity showed that despite the predicted gradual expansion of habitat area, Tragopan birds may be difficult to expand into the newly suitable habitat regions. We further emphasize that establishing ecological corridors and setting up new protected areas will have a more significant impact on conserving the Tragopan birds. Full article

Global climate change has altered temperature regimes, hydrological stability, and redox dynamics in inland waters, yet the continental-scale impact of these alterations on sediment microbiomes remains poorly understood. Here, we compiled 562 publicly available 16S rRNA gene datasets from lake sediments across five major climatic zones in China to examine how climatic gradients influence microbial diversity, community assembly, and interaction networks, as well as their associated taxonomic composition and environmental responses. Sediment microbiomes showed clear spatial differentiation in both α- and β-diversity, accompanied by climatic zone-specific taxonomic signatures and biomarker taxa. Community assembly also varied markedly across climatic zones, with stochasticity and dispersal limitation dominating in colder regions, transitional assembly in the south temperate zone, and stronger selective or high-turnover dynamics in the warm subtropics. Importantly, random forest models revealed a clear transition from climate-dominated to anthropogenic-dominated control in sediment microbiome organization: microbial variation in the plateau and temperate regions was primarily associated with climatic and geographic constraints, whereas anthropogenic factors played a more important role in shaping community differentiation in the central subtropical zone. By integrating diversity patterns, taxonomic composition, assembly processes, and network topology, we further propose a three-stage conceptual pattern of sediment microbial community organization along climatic gradients, shifting from a persistence-dominated regime in the cold plateau regions, to an efficiency-dominated regime in the temperate zones, and finally to a plasticity-dominated regime in the warm subtropical regions. These findings would provide a continental-scale framework for understanding sediment microbiome responses to coupled climatic and anthropogenic forcing in inland waters, with implications for future water quality management and ecosystem conservation. Full article

Wetland ecosystems have been a central focus of ecological research for an quite some time. Nevertheless, the degradation of wetland riparian zones has markedly accelerated due to anthropogenic activities, climate change, and habitat heterogeneity. The objective of this paper is to investigate the differences in functional traits of riparian plants under changing wetland environments on a karst plateau, as well as to elucidate the adaptive strategies of wetland plants across different habitats. This study examines the Caohai Wetland located on the Guizhou karst plateau, selecting the leaves of four dominant plant species (Phragmites australis, Onopordum acanthium, Galium odoratum, Paspalum distichum) in the Caohai Wetland lakeshore zone and analyzes the influence of soil factors on the variation of plant functional traits within the wetland riparian zone. The results reveal that: (1) significant differences exist in the functional traits of dominant plants in the riparian zones of karst plateau wetlands, with complex interrelationships among these traits; (2) the coefficients of variation for magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) in the soil are notably high (79.53% and 67.21%, respectively), whereas soil oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) exhibits the lowest coefficient of variation (4.36%)—furthermore, the convergent variation in specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) directly reflects the strong environmental filtering imposed by this habitat—and (3) redundancy analysis (RDA) indicates that leaf length (LL), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area (LA), and plant carbon content (PCC) are particularly sensitive to environmental changes, while soil calcium (Ca), total nitrogen (TN), water-dispersible clay (WDR), soil organic matter (SOM), soil moisture content (SPMC), and total potassium (TK) constitute the principal soil factors influencing plant adaptive strategies in karst plateau wetlands. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that adaptation to karst wetland habitats is mediated through trade-offs in the allocation of photosynthetic products and the regulation of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) nutrient balances under calcium-enriched and phosphorus-limited conditions, thereby reflecting the response characteristics of functional traits in karst plateau wetland plants to environmental changes. Full article

Ants play a central role in seed dispersal and predation, shaping plant recruitment, yet their foraging behavior is increasingly influenced by anthropogenic food subsidies. In human-modified landscapes, processed food waste may disrupt ant–seed interactions by diverting foragers or altering activity patterns, but the extent and mechanisms of these effects across habitats remain unclear. We conducted three field experiments in Panama to test how common food residues affect seed removal by ants in urban and forest environments. Using oat seeds as standardized diaspores, we (1) tested whether potato chips surrounding seed depots reduced removal, (2) evaluated the effects of adjacent chips or cookies on removal rates, ant activity, and species composition, and (3) manipulated the distance between chips and seeds (0, 30, 60 cm) to distinguish behavioral distraction from physical obstruction. Across experiments, seeds near food residues were removed significantly more slowly than controls, approximately half as fast in both habitats, despite differences in ant assemblages. Ant activity near seeds declined in the presence of food, particularly in the urban site. Suppression of seed removal occurred at close range but disappeared at 60 cm. These findings indicate that food waste disrupts ant-mediated seed removal through fine-scale behavioral shifts across contrasting habitats. Full article

Solitary living is an evolutionarily widespread yet comparatively under-theorized social system, despite its occurrence across diverse animal taxa. Shrikes (family Laniidae) are small predatory passerines that combine raptorial behavior, strong territoriality, and predominantly solitary space use, making them a powerful model for examining the ecology and evolution of solitary living. Here, I synthesize published work on shrike behavioral ecology and explicitly link these traits to the costs and benefits of a solitary lifestyle. I argue that shrikes exemplify how solitary species can offset the absence of social buffering through cognitive innovation, finetuned habitat selection, and flexible yet tightly bounded sociality. I then compare shrike ecology to solitary mammals and reptiles, highlighting convergent patterns in resource dispersion, spatial memory, risk management, and juvenile dispersal. I further examine how anthropogenic pressures, such as habitat fragmentation, climatic instability, and urbanization, interact with solitary life histories and review evidence from management interventions in both European farmland and North American systems that demographic recovery is achievable but remains contingent on addressing broader land-use conflicts and sources of adult mortality. Finally, I outline five interconnected research priorities—spanning cognitive ecology, trophic interactions, movement ecology, genomics, and formal comparative analyses—that would move shrike research from its current observational foundation toward a more experimental, mechanistic, and phylogenetically informed programme. By reframing shrikes as a model taxon for solitary living, this review aims to integrate avian behavioral ecology into broader comparative frameworks of social organization, cognition, and resilience under global change. Full article

Methane (CH₄) is a major component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas. Increasing atmospheric methane concentrations are attributed to emissive anthropogenic activities by an average of 13 ppb per yr since 2020 and are linked to a changing global climate. Mitigating CH₄ emissions from oil and gas production sites has recently become a target to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions; however, monitoring the efficacy of mitigation strategies depends on accurate quantification of CH₄ emissions at the facility-level. Near-field quantification of methane (CH₄) emissions from oil and gas (O&G) facilities remains challenging due to the effects of atmospheric variability and sensor configuration on atmospheric dispersion models. This study evaluates the performance of two atmospheric dispersion models, the Gaussian plume (GP) and backward Lagrangian stochastic (bLS), by comparing calculated CH₄ emissions to controlled single-point emissions between 0.4 and 5.2 kg CH₄ h⁻¹. Emissions were calculated by both models using 121 individual sets of measurements comprising five-minute averaged downwind methane mixing ratios and matching meteorological data. The comparison shows that the bLS approach achieved a higher proportion of emission estimates within a factor of two (FAC2) of the known emission rates compared to the GP approach. The emissions calculated by the bLS model also had a lower multiplicative error and reduced bias relative to GP. Other error-based metrics further confirmed the bLS model performed better, as it yielded lower RMSE and MAE than GP. Statistical analysis of the emission data shows that the lateral and vertical alignment of the source and the sensor plays a critical role in emission estimations, as measurements made closer to the plume centerline and at a distance between 40 and 80 m downwind yielded the best FAC2 agreement. High wind meander degraded the ability of both approaches to generate representative emissions, particularly with the GP approach, as it violates the modeling approach’s assumption of steady-state emissions. Data suggest emissions calculated by the bLS model are comprehensively in better agreement, but the computational demands of the modeling approach and integration into fenceline systems limit real-time applicability. While these results provide insight into model performance under controlled near-field conditions, their applicability to more complex or heterogeneous oil and gas production environments (e.g., the regions Marcellus or Unita Basins) remains limited and uncertain. Full article