Search Results (937)

Tourism plays an increasingly important role in promoting economic growth and rural revitalization in ecologically fragile regions. However, tourism systems in Tibet–related areas of Sichuan, China, are highly vulnerable to natural disasters, ecological degradation, and regional development imbalances, posing challenges to sustainable tourism development. This study aims to evaluate tourism system resilience and identify its key influencing factors from a sustainability perspective. Based on the regional characteristics of Tibet-related areas in Sichuan, a comprehensive evaluation framework is constructed covering four subsystems: tourism infrastructure and scale, economy, society, and ecology. An integrated entropy weight–analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, coupling coordination model, and obstacle degree model are employed to assess tourism system resilience and examine subsystem interactions using panel data from 2011 to 2020. The results indicate that: (1) the resilience levels of tourism subsystems show no clear spatial or temporal regularity across the study areas; (2) ecological resilience remains significantly lower than tourism, economic, and social resilience, representing the weakest component of the tourism system; (3) the coupling coordination among subsystems remains at a low level, suggesting insufficient synergy for sustainable regional development; and (4) ecological constraints are the primary limiting factors affecting overall tourism system resilience. This study contributes to sustainable tourism research by revealing the critical role of ecological governance and subsystem coordination in enhancing tourism resilience in ecologically sensitive regions. Policy implications include strengthening ecological protection, improving tourism infrastructure, promoting digital tourism marketing, and advancing rural revitalization to achieve long-term sustainable development. However, this study is limited by data availability and the spatial scope of the selected case-study areas, which may affect the generalizability of the findings. Full article

Rapid urbanisation has reshaped Shanghai’s ecological land base and intensified fragmentation of its green infrastructure (GI). This study evaluates the spatiotemporal evolution of Shanghai’s GI network from 2000 to 2020 using a resilience-informed patch-corridor-connectivity assessment. In this study, resilience is not just an explanatory label but a measurable structural criterion. Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) was used to identify core patches; patch importance was evaluated using delta Probability of Connectivity (dPC); a Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model was used to derive potential corridors; and a gravity model was used to classify corridor importance. The results show that important ecological corridors increased from 22 in 2000 to 33 in 2010 and 68 in 2020, while the total area of the MSPA core class declined and north–south connectivity remained uneven. The key finding is not the growth of corridor number itself, but the mismatch between corridor densification and contraction of major source patches. This mismatch indicates a structural vulnerability that would be overlooked by a conventional network-optimisation reading. Therefore, based on the results of indicator-based resilience assessment, this study proposes a planning scheme that combines core-area conservation, corridor continuity, redundancy improvement, and cross-regional connectivity enhancement. Full article

Defective seed filling, which manifests as seed wrinkling, severely impairs the yield and commercial quality of soybean crops. Soybean varieties independently developed in Heilongjiang Province exhibit distinct phenotypic variations in seed wrinkling across diverse ecological planting regions, whereas the molecular and physiological mechanisms driving such differences remain largely uncharacterized. In this study, two soybean genotypes with divergent heat resistance, namely, the heat-sensitive cultivar HH43 and the heat-tolerant cultivar HN76, were planted in three distinct ecological sites for comparative analysis. Statistical results indicated that ecological conditions serve as the predominant factor regulating seed-wrinkling variation, with high temperatures occurring during the seed-filling stage identified as the key abiotic stress trigger. Excessively high ambient temperatures triggered abnormal sucrose accumulation in the pod husks of heat-vulnerable HH43, disrupting the coupling relationship between sucrose metabolism and energy supply and thereby restricting starch biosynthesis in developing seeds. Transcriptome profiling combined with weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) further demonstrated that heat stress significantly suppressed the expression of energy transport-related genes and induced the dysregulated expression of starch synthesis-associated genes in susceptible soybean plants, and these transcriptional alterations were further verified via qRT-PCR assays. Collectively, short-term extreme high temperatures interrupt the carbon transport and allocation process from pod husks to seeds in heat-sensitive soybean cultivars. By contrast, heat-tolerant genotypes can sustain a stable physiological metabolism and molecular regulatory networks to effectively cope with high-temperature stress during the seed-filling period. Full article

Introduction: Skates (Rajidae) are cornerstone elasmobranchs, yet their intrinsic biological constraints, like slow growth, late maturation, and low fecundity, render them exceptionally susceptible to anthropogenic pressure. Despite their ecological and economic importance, tracking their population trajectories is historically hindered by “taxonomic blurring” and aggregated reporting in commercial fisheries. Objective: This study evaluates long-term conservation trends and exploitation dynamics of Rajidae species in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Methodology: We analyzed 31 Rajidae species across the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea (FAO Areas 27 and 37) by integrating IUCN Red List assessments, species-specific life-history traits (maximum body size and depth distribution), and FAO fisheries landing data from 1992 to 2023. Descriptive analyses and Spearman correlations were used to assess temporal trends in conservation status and exploitation patterns. Results: Our synthesis reveals that some species show improvements in IUCN Red List category assessments, likely driven by recent management interventions such as species-specific reporting, catch quotas, and targeted retention bans. However, we also identify a critical mismatch between policy and biology: current Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and minimum landing sizes often do not explicitly incorporate species-specific life-history traits, inadvertently favoring smaller, less-marketable taxa while leaving larger, vulnerable species at risk. While FAO landings offer a valuable broad-scale overview of exploitation, the results highlight the limitations of aggregated fisheries statistics for species-level conservation assessments. Conclusions: These findings underline the need to adopt more precise and species-specific fisheries management approaches for Rajidae, including expanded regional monitoring programs, the use of data collected by on-board observers or electronic monitoring tools, and improved control of data reporting procedures, to prevent continued aggregation of species-level data. Full article

Introduction: AQUArestore is a three-year project focused on promoting adaptive ecological restoration strategies for river ecosystems in the vulnerable cross-border region of Portugal. The project responds to pressing environmental challenges across the territory, including severe habitat degradation, climate vulnerability, declining water security, and biodiversity loss, with particular concern for freshwater fish communities, making river restoration essential to preserve native species and freshwater ecosystem services. Objective: The project aims to develop a replicable framework for restoration of Mediterranean transboundary riverine habitats, supporting the objectives of the EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL, Regulation 2024/1991). The consortium AQUArestore will develop (1) robust restoration indicators, (2) implement living labs for restoration experimentation, and (3) establish capacity-building and training programs for technicians and citizens. Methodology: The project kick-off meeting was used to operationalize project tasks, detail the implementation calendar and milestones, and clarify responsibilities of each project member and partner institutions within the different work tasks. The meeting gathered consortium members from the coordinating institution CEF-ISA (researchers at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia) and partners WWF Portugal (an environmental NGO) and Mushmore Cooperative, each one contributing according to their respective expertise and institutional objectives. Results: The AQUArestore project kick-off meeting took place in January 2026 at ISA, Lisbon, and included a presentation of the NRL and a detailed discussion of project task development. In detail, the activities will begin with the compilation of information on previously restored sites (Task 1). This will support the development and validation of environmental and biodiversity indicators of restoration outcomes, including those linked to freshwater fish assemblages and riparian vegetation (Task 2). The project will then establish two living labs as platforms to test nature-based solutions in collaboration with stakeholders and local communities (Task 3). In parallel, AQUArestore will strengthen technical capacity through training for practitioners and public authorities (Task 4). Finally, dissemination will be supported through citizen science, communication activities, and stakeholder engagement, fostering a broader impact (Task 5). Together, these tasks provide an integrated, science-based, and participatory framework aiming to support adaptive river restoration under climate and environmental changes. Conclusions: By integrating ecological restoration, biodiversity and environmental monitoring, and stakeholder engagement, AQUArestore is expected to contribute to the recovery of Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems and improve habitat quality and connectivity for native fish communities, enhancing resilience to climate change and other anthropogenic pressures. Full article

To address frequent street-level flooding, inadequate targeted management, and unbalanced cost-effectiveness in the old urban area, this study takes Yong’an Subdistrict in Quanshan District, Xuzhou, as a typical case, regards the street-level as its fundamental analytical unit and constructs a systematic “simulation–assessment–strategy” framework, focusing on evaluating and enhancing flood resilience in old urban districts. First, numerical simulation quantifies water depth under extreme rainfall to identify the flood risk spatial distribution. Second, a flood resilience assessment system is established based on the “exposure–vulnerability–adaptive capacity” framework, using the TOPSIS method to measure and grade street resilience. Finally, differentiated flood management strategies are proposed by integrating assessment results with regional characteristics. This study shows that high-risk flooding zones are clustered, with resilience results significantly correlated with the flood risk distribution. Low-resilience areas highly overlap with high-risk zones, mainly due to deficiencies in engineering, ecological, and social resilience. Accordingly, differentiated strategies—”pipe network upgrades + permeable paving”, “retention facilities + smart drainage”, and “micro-topography modifications”—are applied to old residential areas, core commercial districts, and new development peripheries. This approach balances management costs and effectiveness, providing theoretical and practical support for precise street-level flood management and spatial optimization in old urban districts. Full article

This study examines farmers’ perceptions of how policy support is associated with ecological agriculture adoption and perceived green development outcomes in Xinjiang under China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used, in which the qualitative phase was deliberately connected to the quantitative phase through a shared sampling frame and a construct-aligned interview guide, and the two strands were integrated using a joint display and meta-inferences. In the quantitative phase, survey data from 300 farmers were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the relationships among perceived policy support, ecological agriculture adoption, and green development. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with 30 participants drawn from the same respondent pool were thematically analyzed to explain, qualify, and contextualize the statistical relationships. The quantitative findings show a strong positive association between perceived policy support and ecological agriculture adoption (β = 0.659, p < 0.001), a strong positive association between ecological agriculture adoption and green development (β = 0.689, p < 0.001), and a smaller but significant direct association between perceived policy support and green development (β = 0.324, p < 0.001). The indirect effect of perceived policy support on green development through ecological agriculture adoption (β = 0.454) indicates partial mediation. The model explains 43.4% of the variance in ecological agriculture adoption and 47.4% of the variance in green development. The integrated joint display shows that technical training, policy clarity, and extension support helped farmers translate policy support into ecological practices, whereas high initial costs, financing constraints, and market uncertainty limited adoption and created uneven outcomes. The integrated findings suggest that policy effectiveness depends not only on the availability of support instruments but also on farmers’ practical capacity, economic security, and confidence in market returns. The study contributes perception-based mixed-method evidence on the policy–adoption–green development nexus in an ecologically vulnerable agricultural region. Full article

Introduction: Freshwater ecosystems are global biodiversity hotspots, yet they remain highly vulnerable to biological invasions. Non-native freshwater fish species (NNFS) have established self-sustaining populations across nearly all biogeographic realms, reshaping regional ichthyofaunas and driving community-level impacts through predation, competition, hybridisation and ecosystem disruption. Critically, both foreign introductions and within-country translocations (extralimital species) contribute to this process, yet the latter remain more weakly regulated and consistently under-studied in invasion risk frameworks. Objective: We developed a stage-structured profiling framework to jointly evaluate foreign and extralimital NNFS in Greece and predict three sequential invasion outcomes, establishment, spread and integration, with the goal of identifying the ecological traits and pathway variables that best explain invasion success at each stage and informing management policy. Methodology: We compiled a dataset of 63 NNFS recorded in Greek freshwaters (36 foreign, 27 extralimital), characterised by eleven ecological, biogeographic and anthropogenic attributes. Logistic and multiple regression models and classification and regression trees (CART) were fitted independently for each invasion stage, with cross-validated predictor screening to limit multicollinearity and a taxonomy-based covariate to account for phylogenetic non-independence. Results: All 27 extralimital translocations established successfully, compared with only 11 of 36 foreign introductions, underscoring the disproportionate establishment success of within-country movements. Establishment probability was positively associated with high physiological tolerance and proximity to the nearest native source, and negatively associated with maximum adult size; propagule pressure provided only weak additional support. Spread across drainage basins was driven primarily by introduction effort and physiological tolerance. Integration increased with introduction effort, while the CART identified distance from the nearest native source as the primary partition of widespread, high-abundance outcomes, with trophic level further structuring outcomes among extralimital taxa. Conclusions: Our results indicate that management frameworks focused solely on foreign NNFS substantially underestimate invasion risk from within-country translocations. A compact set of predictors, biogeographic proximity, physiological tolerance and introduction effort, offers a practical, pathway-inclusive screening tool to guide prevention, surveillance and early detection in Mediterranean river networks, addressing a recognised European policy gap where extralimital movements remain more weakly regulated than foreign introductions. Full article

Introduction: Studying the structure and dynamics of living communities is essential from both ecological and wildlife management perspectives. Objective: The main objective of this study was to analyze the fish community structure inhabiting different river sections across several basins in the Mediterranean area. The data collected here contributed to: (i) creating a regional and national reference inventory to assess ichthyological biodiversity; (ii) generating digital cartographic information on species distribution and potential habitats; and (iii) providing scientific data to update national legal protection for governments. Methodology: Fish assemblages were monitored using electrofishing, which ensures reproducible data and long-term comparability. The study period extended until autumn 2025, with intensive sampling at 30 sites across major water bodies in the Valencian Community and selected rivers in Mijares, Turia, Jucar and Palancia basins. Results: The results reveal notable ichthyological richness in the studied basins (Turia, Júcar, Palancia, Mijares), with 12 native species identified. Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae were the most representative families, both in species number and spatial distribution, consistent with their dominance in Mediterranean river systems. Areas with the highest species richness corresponded to the middle and lower river sections and to ecologically valuable coastal wetlands. However, the study also detected 10 invasive alien species, representing 45% of the total fish fauna recorded. This high proportion reflects the significant ecological alteration affecting rivers and wetlands in these basins and underscores the urgent need for management actions to limit the spread of invasive species and reduce their impact on native biodiversity. The most widespread IAS were the bleak (A. alburnus), mainly in the Júcar basin, and the mosquitofish (G. holbrooki), predominantly in coastal wetlands. Conclusions: This study contributes directly to updating the Atlas of Ichthyofauna of the Valencian Community, providing a robust and current information base to support environmental decision-making at regional and national levels. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening proactive conservation measures, particularly in areas where biodiversity is most vulnerable. Full article

The Iberian Peninsula hosts one of the world’s most endemic fish faunas. Its extensive evolutionary, palaeogeographic, and geological history has produced a distinctive freshwater fish fauna. Many of these species have very limited distributions, making them especially vulnerable to habitat disturbance. Past monitoring of this biodiversity has revealed alarming results, indicating that most native Spanish species are at risk. The causes of this serious situation are varied and reflect the ongoing deterioration of freshwater ecosystems. The main pressures faced by populations include pollution, loss of river connectivity caused by hydraulic infrastructure, regulation of watercourses, water extraction, fishing, and the presence of invasive species. Additionally, the effects of climate change worsen the risk of extinction for these populations, particularly through the increased frequency and intensity of droughts and heatwaves. It is evident that current planning models and investments are inadequate to conserve freshwater fish. To prevent the extinction of many populations in Spain, especially Iberian endemics, it is crucial to change the management of aquatic ecosystems and adopt integrated solutions that halt population declines and promote the sustainable use of aquatic resources. The IUCN Red Lists of Threatened Species are vital indicators of biodiversity health and are widely used to guide and structure conservation efforts. These lists, published in the Red Books, result from a thorough evaluation process that employs specific categories and criteria to assess the extinction risk of species, both globally and regionally. This report presents preliminary findings from a monitoring study on the current state of freshwater fish in Spain. The monitoring results reveal that, based on IUCN assessment criteria, two species are classified as extinct (EX), four as critically endangered (CR), eighteen as endangered (EN), and twenty-one as vulnerable (VU). Of fifty-seven species documented, 79% are considered threatened. The project’s final outcome is the development of the Atlas and Red Book of Freshwater Fish of Spain. This resource includes the main native and invasive freshwater and diadromous fish species, offers detailed information on their biological and ecological traits, and provides an up-to-date inventory of records along with an assessment of their conservation status. Full article

The Qinghai Lake Basin, a typical ecologically vulnerable, high-altitude, cold region, requires coordinated ecosystem conservation and socio-economic development to achieve territorial sustainability. Based on the Production–Living–Ecological Space (PLES) framework, this study used land use data from five periods between 2000 and 2020 and integrated the PLUS and InVEST models to examine and simulate the evolution of PLES patterns and carbon stock under four scenarios—natural development, ecological protection, economic development, and sustainable development—in 2035. The results show that the PLES pattern in the Qinghai Lake Basin remained generally stable from 2000 to 2020, with ecological space dominating the landscape, while production and living spaces expanded slowly. Carbon stock increased from 214.73 × 10⁶ Mg to 264.70 × 10⁶ Mg, representing a growth rate of 23.27%. Its spatial distribution is highly consistent with the PLES pattern, with ecological space being the main contributor. By 2035, carbon stock is projected to slightly increase under the natural development scenario; under the ecological protection scenario, the expansion of ecological space leads to an increase in carbon stock; it decreases under the economic development scenario due to the encroachment of ecological space by construction land expansion; and under the sustainable development scenario, which balances economic development and ecological protection, carbon stock increases by 4.87 × 10⁶ Mg, achieving the best overall performance. Therefore, it is essential to properly coordinate the relationships among PLES components to achieve synergistic enhancement of ecosystem services and regional sustainable development. The findings provide methodological references and decision support for sustainable development in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and other ecologically vulnerable regions. Full article

Focusing on how environmental stressors intersect with socioeconomic vulnerabilities to shape migratory patterns, this study examines the relationship between climate change and youth (im)mobility in Ethiopia. It examines how climate shocks—including droughts, unpredictable rainfall, and land degradation—heighten household insecurity and shape young people’s migration decisions. Using mixed-methods data, including surveys and interviews conducted in Chencha, Dugna Fango, and Kebribeyah, the research shows that youth mobility serves both as a proactive adaptation and a reactive coping mechanism. Some young people migrate to pursue education, employment, and independence, while others move to meet immediate livelihood needs. Mobility pathways such as stepwise, return, seasonal, and rural-urban migration are shaped by social networks, local ecological conditions, and perceived opportunities. Kebribeyah emerges as the most vulnerable location according to the Household Susceptibility Index (HVI), highlighting regional disparities. By demonstrating that migration reflects both agency and structural constraints, the study challenges simplified push–pull models and advocates for policies that address spatial variations in vulnerability, support youth aspirations, and recognize migration as a legitimate adaptation strategy. It also offers insights for designing inclusive, context-sensitive interventions that bolster resilience and expand opportunities amid climate uncertainty, promoting a more nuanced understanding of climate-related mobility rooted in adolescent experiences. Full article

Microplastic (MP) contamination has become a defining feature of twenty-first century environmental change, yet the toxicological and ecological consequences for amphibians and reptiles—two vertebrate classes already facing severe extinction pressures—remain fragmented across taxa, regions, and methodological traditions. Here, we synthesize field and experimental evidence from five continents to provide a taxonomically balanced, mechanistically grounded, and geographically explicit assessment of MP exposure, bioaccumulation, and toxicity in herpetofauna, drawing on a structured literature search in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed (January 2015—March 2026). Field detection rates of MPs in amphibian larvae range from 26% in conservatively screened Central European populations to 73–80% in anuran tadpoles from high-anthropogenic-pressure Anatolian catchments, with fibrous polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP) particles dominating the detected burden. Mechanistic evidence converges on oxidative stress cascades, hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid axis disruption, gut and cutaneous microbiome dysbiosis, and compromised antiviral and antifungal immunity, with the latter potentially amplifying vulnerability to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and to ranavirus. Among reptiles, sea turtles display near-universal MP ingestion with documented maternal transfer to eggs; freshwater turtles, terrestrial squamates, and crocodilians remain critically understudied. Three structural asymmetries constrain current ecotoxicological risk characterization: taxonomic bias toward anurans and sea turtles, geographic bias toward the Global North, and experimental bias toward acute, supra-environmental laboratory exposures using pristine, single-polymer particles that fail to capture the chemical complexity of weathered field mixtures. We argue that MP burden may warrant consideration as a candidate stressor criterion within IUCN Red List assessments and within environmental risk assessment frameworks for freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity once a robust quantitative relationship between MP burden and demographic decline or population-level fitness has been established, and propose six hypothesis-driven research priorities: methodological standardization, reptile toxicokinetics, transgenerational epigenetics, MP–pathogen microbiome interactions and their translation into population viability models, temperature × MP interaction under climate warming, and population-genetic consequences of contemporary MP-driven selection, as the most tractable avenues for ecotoxicological progress and for the development of herpetofauna-specific risk characterization frameworks. Full article

We assessed the current and possible future predicted distributions of the Mexican narrow-mouthed toad, Amphibia, Microhylidae Hypopachus variolosus (Cope, 1866) across its range to evaluate vulnerability under global change. (2) Methods: We integrated 481 validated occurrence records across the species’ distribution range, including 120 records from Mexico, with bioclimatic and land-cover predictors to build ensemble ecological niche models. We additionally incorporated human footprint metrics to evaluate anthropogenic pressure and projected future habitat suitability under climate and land-use change scenarios. (3) Results: Models showed high performance (TSS > 0.80; AUC > 0.90), identifying temperature and precipitation extremes as main drivers. Suitable habitats extended across both coasts and revealed novel areas in central Mexico. The most suitable habitat occurred under low human pressure, although localized impacts were detected. Deforestation in the Yucatán Peninsula reduced tree cover despite high climatic suitability. Future projections for 2050 under RCP 8.5 indicated marked reductions in modeled high-suitability areas, particularly in central Mexico. (4) Conclusions: These findings indicate high vulnerability to climate and land-use change and support updating distribution limits, incorporating new regions into conservation planning, and reassessing threat status to promote long-term persistence. Full article

Mediterranean-type forest ecosystems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to intensifying drought, threatening the resilience of even highly adapted ecosystems such as the Northern Jarrah Forest in south-western Australia. This study quantifies multi-decadal dynamics of canopy water stress using a 36-year multispectral satellite archive (1988–2024) and the newly developed Infrared Canopy Dryness Index (ICDI). We combined this spatiotemporal dataset with a MaxEnt-based risk assessment framework to identify the biophysical drivers of drought-induced canopy loss and to delineate high-risk zones under accelerating climate-forcing changes. Our results demonstrate a systematic spatial expansion of canopy dryness, paralleling a deteriorating regional climatic water balance. Hotspot analysis revealed a transition from localized, peripheral stress to widespread, chronic drought conditions across the landscape. The modelling achieved high diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.952), significantly outperforming conventional assessment methods. Regolith depth was identified as the primary determinant of drought-induced canopy collapse, followed by ICDI, NDVI, and slope. Crucially, high-biomass stands exhibited disproportionately higher risk of collapse, revealing a density-dependent vulnerability that suggests productive forests are approaching critical hydraulic thresholds. Conversely, lower-stature forests to the east of the study area demonstrated greater stability, likely due to reduced evapotranspirative demand. These findings provide robust spatial evidence for transitioning from reactive monitoring to proactive forest management. We conclude that targeted interventions, such as ecological thinning and prescribed burning in identified high-risk zones, are imperative to protect the forest and preserve the structural integrity of Mediterranean ecosystems in a drying climate. Full article