Search Results (15,557)

Canopy fractional vegetation cover (FVCc) is a critical indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of ecological restoration, and its accurate estimation provides valuable data for regional ecological management. In this study, Sentinel-2 and MODIS data were integrated to develop an angular relationship model for MODIS reflectance, which was then used to estimate Sentinel-2 reflectance at a 45° viewing angle. Background reflectance at a 10 m spatial resolution was derived using a four-scale model, and total and shrub-herb fractional vegetation cover were estimated using a pixel dichotomy model. Finally, an empirical model tailored to the characteristics of the study area was developed to retrieve FVCc. Cross-validation results demonstrated that the multi-angle retrieval method proposed in this study achieved higher accuracy than the single-angle approach. The spatial distribution of FVCc in Changting County is characterized by higher values in peripheral areas and lower values in the central region. Temporal transitions among fractional vegetation cover classes were predominantly upward, indicating an overall trend of continuous improvement. These findings provide important technical support and a scientific basis for estimating and monitoring dynamic changes in forest canopy fractional vegetation cover. Full article

Against the global carbon neutrality target, predictive maintenance (PdM) of automotive engines represents a core technical strategy to advance the sustainable development of the automotive industry. Conventional single-modal diagnostic approaches for engine abnormal sound defects suffer from low accuracy and weak anti-interference capability. Existing multi-modal fusion methods fail to deeply mine the physical coupling between cross-modal features and often entail excessive model complexity, hindering deployment on resource-constrained on-board edge devices. To resolve these limitations, this study proposes a Physical Prior-Embedded Cross-Modal Attention (PPE-CMA) mechanism for lightweight multi-modal fusion diagnosis of engine abnormal sound defects. First, wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) are integrated to extract time-frequency features from engine audio signals, while a channel-pruned ResNet18 is employed to extract spatial features from engine thermal imaging and vibration visualization images. Second, the PPE-CMA module is designed to adaptively assign attention weights to audio and image features by exploiting the physical coupling between engine fault acoustic and visual characteristics, enabling efficient cross-modal feature fusion with redundant information suppression. A rigorous theoretical derivation is provided to link cosine similarity with the physical correlation of engine fault acoustic-visual features, justifying the attention weight constraint (β = 1 − α) from the perspective of fault feature physical coupling. Third, an improved lightweight XGBoost classifier is constructed for fault classification, and a hybrid data augmentation strategy customized for engine multi-modal data is proposed to address the small-sample challenge in industrial applications. Ablation experiments on ResNet18 pruning ratios verify the optimal trade-off between diagnostic performance and computational efficiency, while feature distribution analysis validates the authenticity and effectiveness of the hybrid augmentation strategy. Experimental results on a self-constructed multi-modal dataset show that the proposed method achieves 98.7% diagnostic accuracy and a 98.2% F1-score, retaining 96.5% accuracy under 90 dB high-level environmental noise, with an end-to-end inference speed of 0.8 ms per sample (including preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification). Cross-engine and cross-domain validation on a 2.0T diesel engine small-sample dataset and the open-source SEMFault-2024 dataset yield average accuracies of 94.8% and 95.2%, respectively, demonstrating strong generalization. This method effectively enhances the accuracy and robustness of engine abnormal sound defect diagnosis, offering a lightweight technical solution for on-board real-time fault diagnosis and in-plant online quality inspection. By reducing engine fault-induced energy loss and spare parts waste, it further promotes energy conservation and emission reduction in the automotive industry. Quantified experimental data on fuel efficiency improvement and carbon emission reduction are provided to substantiate the ecological benefits of the proposed framework. Full article

The recognition of a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right has reshaped global human rights discourse, yet its operationalisation remains uneven. This article examines how the African human rights system which is uniquely grounded in collective rights, has reframed environmental protection as a constitutive element of development, sovereignty, and justice. Through doctrinal and case-law analysis, it traces the evolution from the African Commission’s foundational jurisprudence in SERAC, which extended state duties to the regulation of private and transnational corporate actors, to the African Court’s landmark judgment in LIDHO v. Côte d’Ivoire. The study demonstrates how the Court transforms the aspirational ‘greening’ of human rights into binding obligations by articulating a robust duty of vigilance and linking environmental harm to violations of the rights to life, health, and development. It further shows that LIDHO inaugurates a post-sovereign model of shared and polycentric responsibility, in which state accountability encompasses corporate conduct within their jurisdiction and, potentially, beyond it. The article concludes that the African Charter’s collective framework offers an implicit regional model of ecological justice, one capable of addressing extractive asymmetries and informing emerging climate-related obligations across the continent. Full article

Peatlands cover approximately 10% (640,000 ha) of Latvia’s territory, of which about 51,000 ha is officially classified as degraded due to peat extraction and related activities. This study assesses the current status of peat extraction site recultivation in Latvia and evaluates future after-use requirements under contrasting policy pathways using a review of scientific literature, project reports, national statistics, and updated peat extraction licence records. A simple allocation model was applied to estimate recultivation trajectories for the nationally defined degraded peatland area under two scenarios: (i) a licence-expiry baseline scenario and (ii) an accelerated immediate-stop-peat-mining scenario. The results show that full recultivation would require average annual efforts of approximately 1500 ha yr⁻¹ under the baseline scenario and around 2000 ha yr⁻¹ under the accelerated scenario. Although European Union-funded projects and corporate initiatives have demonstrated the potential of rewetting, paludiculture, and renewable energy integration, only a limited number of sites have been officially recognised as fully recultivated or restored. Because ecological recovery of peatland functions may take decades, administrative closure alone does not guarantee climate or biodiversity benefits. A phased recultivation strategy linked to licence expiry and prioritising degraded and self-regenerating sites emerges as the most pragmatic pathway for Latvia, balancing European Union climate objectives, institutional capacity, and socio-economic constraints. Full article

Resource-based cities face unique land use challenges due to resource dependence and path lock-in, yet the driving mechanisms and future trajectories of their land use transitions remain underexplored. This study examines the Huaihai Economic Zone (HEZ), a representative coal-rich region in eastern China, to analyze land use changes from 2000 to 2023 and simulate 2036 scenarios under different development pathways. Using land use transfer matrices, dynamic degree metrics, and the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model, we systematically identified spatiotemporal evolution patterns, quantified the contributions of driving factors, and projected multi-scenario future land use patterns. Results reveal that land use change in the study area was dominated by the conversion of cultivated land to construction land, alongside spatial restructuring from a monocentric to a polycentric network pattern. Notably, construction land expansion was least evident in the central Mining-Affected Zone, where land use changes remained relatively sluggish compared to other sub-regions. Driving factor analysis indicates that socio-economic factors primarily influenced changes in construction and cultivated land, while natural factors strongly affected ecological land and unused land. Multi-scenario simulations for 2036 demonstrate diverging trajectories: an urban development scenario would accelerate cultivated land loss and unused land expansion; a natural development scenario would maintain current pressures; and an ecological protection scenario would effectively curb urban sprawl while actively promoting ecological land recovery. This study concludes that transcending simple land use control to actively orchestrate “mining-urban-rural-ecological” spatial synergy is critical for achieving a sustainable transition in resource-based regions facing similar transformation pressures. Full article

As a novel approach to address the lack of systematic studies on spatial Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) accounting and Ecological Security Pattern construction, this study integrates GEP thresholds with Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) to identify ecological sources. A resistance surface is constructed using five representative influencing factors, and the Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model is applied to extract ecological corridors, thereby establishing the Ecological Security Pattern for the Yellow River-Fronting Region of Henan in 2020. The results indicate the following: (1) GEP in the study area exhibits a spatial distribution of “high in the northwest, low in the southeast,” with regulating services accounting for more than 90% of the GEP. (2) A total of 11 ecological sources, 13 ecological corridors, and 7 ecological nodes were identified, primarily distributed in mountainous regions. (3) The Ecological Security Pattern exhibits spatial imbalance, with dense corridors in the western mountains and sparse distribution in the eastern plains. These findings provide scientific support for formulating ecological conservation measures and optimizing ecosystem management in the Yellow River Basin. Full article

Traditional one size fits all pharmacotherapy often yields suboptimal clinical outcomes, preventable adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and significant drug waste, imposing substantial economic and ecological burdens on healthcare systems. This review evaluates the transformative potential of pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing, particularly cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene variants, as a foundation for an ecosystem-centric accountability framework for green pharmacy and links human metabolic variability to specific environmental outcomes. Personalized CYP profiling is shown to minimize the environmental release of unused drugs and potentially ecotoxic metabolites into aquatic ecosystems, in contrast to standard uniform drug use approaches. The limitations of ethnicity-based dosing models, which rely on population genetic variation, are examined in the context of increasing global genetic admixture. It is argued that individual genetic profiling, conceptualized as a PGx-Green Passport, provides a reliable safety standard that accounts for individual differences, thereby enhancing efficiency and well-being in a globalized society. By integrating clinical data, including real-world evidence on hospital utilization, with sustainability frameworks, this review demonstrates that PGx-guided therapy is not only a tool for clinical efficiency but also a fundamental requirement for systematically achieving environmentally sustainable healthcare. Full article

Mountain forests on the western edge of the Sichuan Basin are challenging to monitor at high resolution because rugged topography, cloud cover, and Landsat-7 SLC-off artifacts create data gaps, while the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and subsequent restoration further alter vegetation dynamics. We fused Landsat 5/7/8/9 surface reflectance with MODIS MOD13Q1 using an index-then-fusion STARFM framework to reconstruct a continuous 30 m NDVI record for 2000–2024 and quantified forest fraction dynamics using annual forest/non-forest maps, transition analysis, and K-means clustering of pixel-wise NDVI trajectories. To identify dominant controls, we applied a multi-output random forest with spatial block cross-validation and SHAP attribution. The fused NDVI agrees well with MODIS across 100,000 samples (R² = 0.953; RMSE = 0.032), and the regional mean NDVI increased from 0.711 (2000) to 0.774 (2024), showing a post-2008 decline–stagnation–recovery pattern. Forest fraction rose from 48.2% to 72.9%, with accelerated gains after 2010 (+21.4%), and improving trajectories dominated (70.95%), concentrating near the Longmenshan fault zone. The driver model generalized well (micro-mean R² = 0.875), and SHAP ranked elevation (32.6%) and initial forest fraction (32.3%) above temperature and precipitation. These results provide high-resolution evidence of mountain forest change and its primary controls to support terrain-informed ecological management. Full article

Under global climate change, analyzing carbon storage dynamics and their drivers is essential for understanding regional carbon sink capacity. Human activities and land-use change have substantially affected regional carbon storage. However, in China, most existing studies emphasize specific driving pathways, and integrated analyses of the combined effects of climate, natural, human, and landscape factors remain limited. This study aims at clarifying the integrated mechanisms by which multiple driving factors influence regional carbon storage. The InVEST model was used to analyze the carbon storage spatiotemporal changes. OPGD was then applied to evaluate the explanatory power of driving factors and their interactions, quantifying their contributions to carbon storage spatial patterns. Based on PLS-SEM, the direct and indirect effects of LULC, climate, natural, human, and landscape factors were quantified to elucidate the driving pathways of carbon storage. This study focuses on Shaanxi Province, which is a key ecological restoration region in the core area of the Loess Plateau. The main results are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, carbon storage in Shaanxi Province showed a continuous increasing trend, rising from 2.97 × 10¹⁰ Mg C to 3.03 × 10¹⁰ Mg C. (2) LULC was identified as the most important direct and predominantly negative driving factor of carbon storage. (3) Natural factors had a strong positive influence on carbon storage, among which slope and NDVI exhibited the highest explanatory power; in contrast, climate factors showed weaker but still positive effects. (4) Human activities affected carbon storage through both direct and indirect pathways associated with LULC, with positive effects driven by landscape factors and negative effects driven by natural factors, while climate factors exhibited mixed but weak effects. Overall, carbon storage dynamics in Shaanxi Province reflect a hierarchical and path-dependent process shaped by the combined effects of natural constraints, human activities, and policy guidance through LULC pathways, providing important evidence for systematically understanding the driving structure and pathways of regional carbon storage. These findings highlight the importance of aligning land-use policies with regional biophysical constraints to enhance carbon sequestration efficiency. Full article

Wildfires are a major natural hazard causing extensive ecological damage and endangering human survival. Previous studies on wildfires in China have mostly focused on specific regions or individual drivers, with limited systematic assessments at the long-term and national scales. The spatiotemporal patterns of wildfires and their multiple driving mechanisms under China’s diverse climatic regimes remain insufficiently understood. To bridge this gap, we combined MCD64A1 burned area data (2001–2023) with multi-source natural (meteorological, vegetation, and topographic) and anthropogenic factors, using random forest models at both the national and regional scales to examine the spatiotemporal patterns, dominant drivers, and response mechanisms of wildfires in China. The results revealed that: (1) Spatially, wildfires were concentrated in northeastern and southern China, which accounted for 86.20% of the total burned area. Temporally, northern wildfires were primarily a spring-dominated fire regime, with peak activity in March and April, whereas southern wildfires were winter-dominated, peaking in February. (2) At the national scale, elevation was the key topographic factor influencing wildfire occurrence (relative importance = 0.49), with low-elevation and gentle-slope areas being more fire-prone. At the regional scale, the driving factors exhibit spatial differentiation, forming a spatial pattern of topography-dominated and climate-dominated. (3) Partial dependence plot analysis revealed nonlinear and threshold responses. Fire probability increases rapidly when the soil moisture is below 20 mm, while extremely high land surface temperatures in arid regions suppress fire occurrence due to fuel limitations. This study enhances the understanding of spatially heterogeneous wildfire drivers in China and provides a scientific basis for region-specific wildfire prevention and management strategies. Full article

Saline–alkaline water constitutes a vital strategic non-traditional fishery resource in China, characterized by high pH values, elevated carbonate alkalinity, and complex ionic compositions. These extreme environmental conditions impose significant stress on aquatic animals, mainly by inducing ionic toxicity and disrupting acid–base regulatory mechanisms. Such disruptions subsequently lead to osmotic imbalance, metabolic dysregulation, and immunosuppression, thus restricting the survival and growth of aquatic species in aquaculture systems. Consequently, the sustainable development of the saline–alkaline aquaculture is imperative for enhancing production efficiency and promoting the utilization of marginal land and water resources. This review comprehensively summarizes the current status of saline–alkaline aquaculture and highlights the stress-inducing impacts of salinity, alkalinity, and specific ionic ratios on teleost fishes and crustaceans. It further explores key adaptive mechanisms, including osmoregulatory and ionoregulatory strategies, bioenergetic trade-offs related to oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion, coordinated antioxidant and innate immune responses, as well as recent findings from multi-omics research. This review aims to offer a scientific foundation for the selection and breeding of saline–alkaline-tolerant strains, the precise regulation of aquaculture water environments, and the development of ecological aquaculture models in saline–alkaline regions, thereby facilitating the sustainable utilization of saline–alkaline land and water resources. Full article

Nutrient inputs from human activities, such as agriculture and sewage discharge, influence algal blooms in water bodies. In Ecuador, the Daule River receives wastewater discharges. In addition, poor agricultural practices, including the unsuitable use of fertilisers in combination with soil erosion and surface runoff processes, increase the nutrient load to the river. Considering this, the objective of this study was to evaluate environmental and biological variables using statistical analysis to identify the parameters that influence algal blooms in the main stem of the Daule River. The methodology consisted of two phases: (i) data collection, including water sampling and laboratory work for the analysis of nutrients and phytoplankton, and (ii) statistical analysis, which includes univariate, bivariate, inferential and multivariate analysis (STATICO technique). The results showed that pH and dissolved oxygen were the main drivers of diatoms (Polymyxus coronalis and Aulacoseira granulate) and the charophyte Mougeotia sp. Similarly, ammonium-N was the main driver of the diatom Ulnaria ulna and the cyanobacteria Planktothrix cf. agardhii. The outcomes of this study identified the main environmental variables driving blooms of the five most abundant species, providing a basis for the development of ecological models in the context of land use and climate change. Full article

We explored the application of spatial information technology in the assessment and optimization of cultural heritage resources within traditional settlements in Meizhou City, a core area of Hakka culture in China. By integrating methods such as geographic information systems and Kernel density estimation, it systematically evaluates the spatial distribution and socioeconomic conditions of these settlements. A multi-criteria evaluation model is constructed to quantify resource endowment across cultural, historical, and ecological dimensions, with particular emphasis on key factors influencing conservation effectiveness, such as infrastructure and economic vitality. Combining field investigations and literature review, we propose adaptive reuse strategies and policy recommendations to enhance settlement resilience and balance cultural preservation with regional development. Their expected outcomes include the engineering of a multidimensional geographic database for traditional settlements, the establishment of a spatial decision-support framework for heritage infrastructure conservation, and the development of systematic optimization protocols integrated with China’s rural revitalization technical policies. These results provide a computational and methodological foundation for interdisciplinary research in sustainable cultural heritage management and smart rural engineering. Full article

Flexible conductive hydrogels hold great promise in wearable electronics and biomonitoring applications, yet their practical use is constrained by issues such as poor low-temperature tolerance, susceptibility to dehydration, and limited multifunctional sensing capabilities. This study successfully synthesized a dual-conductive lithium-ion and calcium-ion hydrogel based on acrylamide/gelatin via a simplified low-temperature one-pot polymerization method. At 60 °C, mixing acrylamide, gelatin, lithium chloride, and calcium chloride within 40 min constructed a network structure featuring covalent bonds, ionic bonds, and hydrogen bonds. The resulting material exhibited exceptional extensibility with a break elongation of 1408.5% and tensile strength of 134.2 kPa while maintaining strong adhesion to nine different substrates. It retained flexibility at −20 °C and demonstrated minimal mass loss (3% of initial value) after 10 days of aging. As a sensor, this hydrogel reliably responds to pressure, temperature, large-amplitude body movements, and subtle physiological signals like pulse and vocal cord vibrations. In animal simulation monitoring, its electrical resistance signals increased linearly with model body weight and remained stable between −20 °C and 20 °C. These results demonstrate the hydrogel’s broad application potential in wearable sensing, ecological monitoring, and smart agriculture. Full article

Balancing ecological conservation with agricultural production in protected areas remains a critical challenge, particularly regarding the nexus of food, water, land, and ecosystems (FWLE). Yet, the spatiotemporal trade-offs, synergies, and underlying drivers within the FWLE remain poorly understood. Focusing on the Henan Funiu Mountain National Nature Reserve (HFMNNR), we quantified water yield (WY), habitat quality (HQ), and food production (FP) using the InVEST model and statistical yearbook data. The XGBoost-SHAP framework was applied to dissect the key drivers and mechanisms governing the FWLE system. Results indicate a significant increasing trend in FP (2000–2020), contrasting with the unimodal (increase-then-decline) trajectories of HQ and WY. Pronounced trade-offs were identified between HQ and WY, and between HQ and FP. Topographic and vegetative factors predominated in shaping the spatial patterns of HQ and FP, whereas climatic factors dictated WY distribution. Specifically, HQ declined when NDVI fell below 0.87, population density surpassed 0.01, or slope was gentler than 7°. WY was constrained when precipitation dropped below 947 mm, actual evapotranspiration exceeded 752 mm, or temperature ranged between 12.5–16.2 °C. FP was suppressed under conditions of slopes > 7°, NDVI within 0–0.61 or 0.61–0.86, or DEM > 373 m. These findings underscore the necessity of spatially explicit management strategies grounded in spatial heterogeneity. We advocate for a multi-objective governance framework centered on HQ to harmonize production and ecological functions. Our findings provide critical insights for formulating policies aimed at sustainably managing protected areas facing similar ecological-production conflicts. Full article