Search Results (3,326)

Forest ecological connectedness is defined as the spatial continuity of forested patches and landscapes that facilitate the exchange of materials, biodiversity, and ecosystem services; it has become an important criterion for environmental quality and economic productivity in China. Although forest cover in China has been rapidly increasing since the 1990s, forest ecosystems remain fragmented across administrative regions, resulting in complex environmental effects. This study develops a robust provincial-level Forest Ecological Connectivity Index (FECI) by merging forest cover, fragmentation, functional corridor density, and carbon stock data for 30 Chinese provinces (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) between 2013 and 2023, using data from national forest inventory records, satellite-based forest-cover products, and published databases. We use panel data econometrics (fixed-effects models, spatial Durbin models (SDMs), mediation analysis) to analyze the effects of within-province FECI improvements and ecological spillovers across provinces on (i) air quality (PM_2.5 concentrations), (ii) hydrological regulation (annual surface runoff variability), (iii) regional GDP growth and green total factor productivity (GTFP), and (iv) carbon sequestration in neighboring provinces. Results indicate that a one-standard-deviation increase in FECI is associated with a 4.7 μg/m³ reduction in PM_2.5 in the same province (p < 0.01) and an 23.4% reduction in annual runoff variability (relative to sample mean) in the same province (p < 0.05), with a statistically significant positive impact within a spatial bandwidth of 300–500 km. Provinces with higher forest connectivity have lower per-unit-GDP carbon emissions and higher GTFP growth (β = 0.18, p < 0.01). Mediation analysis shows that forest connectivity’s overall economic impacts are driven by ecosystem services, with carbon sequestration and water-yield regulation as the main ones, accounting for about 42%. These empirical, data-driven insights are expected to strengthen spatial governance and carbon-neutrality policy frameworks in China by incorporating ecological connectivity planning. Full article

Corticioid fungi play important ecological roles in forest ecosystems by contributing to wood decomposition, nutrient cycling, and habitat formation. Their simplified morphology has long-complicated taxonomic classification, while molecular phylogenetics has revealed this group to be highly polyphyletic. This bibliometric review assessed global publication trends, research dynamics, and geographical patterns in corticioid fungi research between 2016 and 2025. After duplicate removal and manual screening, 231 publications were retained for analysis. The results showed that original research articles strongly dominate the literature, whereas review papers remain scarce. Publication output peaked in 2021, when integrative taxonomic studies combining traditional morphology and molecular phylogenetic approaches predominated. Geographically, European research centers laid the historical foundations of corticioid fungi research. In recent years, however, Chinese research groups have contributed substantially to the increase in species discoveries and taxonomic revisions, whereas megadiverse regions of Africa and Central and South America remain underexplored due to limited research infrastructure. These findings underscore the importance of international collaboration for advancing research in underexplored regions and enhancing global assessments of fungal biodiversity. Full article

Habitat type and elevational gradient are key drivers shaping biodiversity variation in alpine montane grasslands. To explore the effects of habitat type on butterfly communities and their variation along the elevational gradient in the forest–grassland transition zone at the source of the Bailong River, we conducted transect surveys over three consecutive years (2022–2024). The main results are as follows: (1) The butterfly community showed typical characteristics of alpine grassland assemblages, dominated by Nymphalidae (60.0%), while Lycaenidae accounted for 13.0%, followed by Pieridae (23.7%). Papilionidae and Hesperiidae accounted for very low proportions, at 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively. (2) The ecotone generated pronounced habitat edge effects; the forest-edge shrub habitat harbored the highest species richness. (3) Species-composition similarity of butterfly assemblages among habitats was low. (4) The vertical distribution of butterfly species exhibited a distinct double-valley pattern. (5) Parnassiinae species inhabiting high-elevation alpine meadows face major threats from climate change. Conservation implications: Butterfly conservation within this alpine watershed requires coordinated ecological management that balances socioeconomic development and biodiversity protection. Endemic high-elevation butterfly species should be treated as priority conservation targets for future biodiversity management in the Bailong River source area. Full article

Forests play a critical role in biodiversity and in the conservation of ecosystems. Reliable and efficient forest inventories are therefore essential for sustainable forest management. Handheld mobile laser scanning (HMLS) is operationally attractive for forest inventory but has rarely been validated against a destructive reference in Mediterranean Pinus pinaster stands. We propose an open-source five-phase HMLS pipeline comprising PDAL pre-processing with CSF ground classification, TLS2trees segmentation, CSF-anchored per-tree setup, slice-wise stem reconstruction with a sequential RANSAC prior, a one-parameter species-specific shape model, and analytical volume integration with a form-factor sanity clamp. The pipeline is calibrated against a destructive reference of 45 Pinus pinaster trees across four plots in central Portugal. Leave-one-plot-out cross-validation produces a volume MAPE of 9.9%, a height MAPE of 4.4% and a DBH MAPE of 3.9%. On the matched sub-sample for which the FJD Trion S1 manufacturer software and a manual CloudCompare workflow also have outputs, the proposed pipeline is competitive with the manual workflow on volume and delivers the lowest median DBH error of the three methods, while remaining fully open-source and reporting per-tree quality and uncertainty diagnostics alongside every estimate. Full article

Wildfires play a key ecological role in Mediterranean ecosystems but increasing fire frequency and severity, exacerbated by climate change, threaten vegetation integrity, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Understanding early post-fire recovery trajectories is therefore essential for informing adaptation and restoration strategies. This study examined vegetation recovery in a Mediterranean area three years after a large wildfire, comparing natural holm oak stands and two human-mediated reforestation types: broadleaf and non-native coniferous reforestations. Field surveys were conducted in 117 plots 10 × 10 m across burned and unburned stands to assess total vegetation cover and mean height, and cover and mean height of structural species, complemented by an analysis of the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). Among burned plots, no significant differences were detected among natural holm oak stands, broadleaf reforestations, and conifer reforestations in total vegetation cover, vegetation height, or spectral recovery. In contrast, structural species exhibited distinct recovery patterns: broadleaf reforestations closely resembled natural holm oak stands in terms of the structural species involved, whereas conifer reforestations significantly differed. Whereas recovery in natural stands and broadleaf reforestations was driven by species typical of the potential natural vegetation, regeneration in conifer reforestations was dominated by early successional and fire-resistant species such as Cytisus villosus Pourr. and Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn, and conifer seedlings. Overall, these results highlight that broadleaf reforestations may better support trajectories aligned with natural vegetation dynamics, while conifer reforestations may require targeted management to support post-fire vegetation recovery consistent with natural forest recovery trajectories. Full article

Romania’s forest sector has undergone significant transformation over the past two decades, with certification emerging as a key instrument for improving transparency, ecological safeguards and market access. This study examines the current state of forest certification in Romania within broader European trends toward sustainable forest management. Using a documentary analysis, a four-country comparative assessment (Romania, Finland, Sweden, Germany), three illustrative Romanian case studies, and a cross-country statistical analysis (Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression) of 18 European countries, the study evaluates the ecological, economic and social benefits of certification and the structural barriers limiting its adoption, especially among private and communal owners. Results show that certification has improved biodiversity protection, monitoring and institutional accountability, while facilitating access to international markets. A comparative analysis of 18 European countries, controlling for national income and EU accession timing, shows that Romania’s certification coverage lags roughly 16 percentage points behind the level predicted by its income and accession cohort, comparable to gaps in wealthier Western European economies; this residual is not explained by income or accession timing and is consistent with, though does not on its own demonstrate, the structural barriers (ownership fragmentation, administrative capacity, infrastructure) documented qualitatively in this study. Persistent challenges, including fragmented ownership, uneven administrative capacity and infrastructure gaps, continue to restrict implementation. The study concludes that Romania is progressing toward European models of sustainable forest management, but further convergence requires coherent policies, stronger institutional capacity and targeted support for small forest owners, in line with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Full article

Cities face escalating climate risks, including heat stress, pluvial and fluvial flooding, drought, and biodiversity loss, that conventional grey infrastructure alone cannot address. Landscape architecture occupies a distinctive position at the interface of ecology, urban design, and engineering, translating nature-based solutions (NBS) principles into implementable urban form. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of peer-reviewed and grey literature, concentrated in the last five years, on the role of landscape architecture in operationalizing NBS for urban climate adaptation. Drawing on a broad survey of major scientific databases and a narrative, thematic synthesis of the retrieved corpus, the review identifies dominant NBS typologies (green roofs and walls, urban forests, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands, sponge city networks, and blue-green corridors), the design and governance mechanisms through which landscape architects mainstream these interventions, and the persistent barriers, financial, regulatory, technical, and social, that constrain scaled implementation. The review further maps geographic and methodological imbalances in the current evidence base and proposes a research agenda oriented toward performance quantification, cross-scale integration, and equity-centred design. The findings are intended to support researchers, practitioners, and policymakers engaged in the design of climate-resilient urban landscapes. Full article

Integrated Crop–Livestock–Forest (ICLF) systems have emerged as a key strategy for sustainable agricultural intensification by simultaneously enhancing productivity, ecosystem services, and climate resilience in tropical environments. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the role of the tree component in ICLF systems, with emphasis on wood production, timber quality, greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, and ecosystem functioning. We discuss the conceptual basis and typologies of ICLF systems, the influence of spatial and temporal arrangements, and the biotic and abiotic factors regulating tree growth and productivity. The review further examines management practices—including species selection, tree density, thinning, and pruning—and their implications for wood yield, timber quality, and overall system performance. Evidence demonstrates that appropriately managed tree components enhance nutrient cycling, soil quality, biodiversity, animal welfare, and farm profitability while increasing carbon sequestration in aboveground biomass and soils. Trees also contribute to offsetting methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, reinforcing the climate mitigation potential of ICLF systems. Despite these benefits, adoption remains constrained by technical, economic, and regional challenges, highlighting the need for site-specific recommendations and improved silvicultural management. Overall, optimizing the tree component can maximize the multifunctionality of ICLF systems, supporting sustainable wood production, ecosystem restoration, the implementation of Brazil’s ABC+ Plan, and the achievement of the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Full article

Afforestation is a high-potential and cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy, but its large-scale implementation raises sustainability concerns. It requires extensive areas of land, potentially conflicting with agriculture and impacting food security. Moreover, inappropriate forest expansion, such as the afforestation of naturally open habitats, could reduce habitats for non-forest organisms and may cause biodiversity loss. Here, we assess the global mitigation potential of afforestation by integrating environmental constraints and sustainable food system transformations within an integrated assessment model framework. Using the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model (AIM), including the AIM-Hub general equilibrium model and AIM-PLUM spatial land use allocation model, we evaluated seven scenarios incorporating biodiversity protection, soil quality enhancement, dietary shifts, food waste reduction, trade, and irrigation intensification. We found that environmental considerations reduce the maximum afforestation potential to 2.13 GtCO₂ yr⁻¹, highlighting the importance of accounting for land use trade-offs. However, sustainable food system transformations substantially recover this mitigation potential, increasing afforestation-based carbon sequestration to 5.01 GtCO₂ yr⁻¹ by 2100. Approximately 90% of this potential can be achieved at a cost below 50 USD tCO₂⁻¹. Our study emphasizes the need for integrated policies to balance climate mitigation with environmental conservation. Full article

Accurately identifying dominant forest tree species from remote sensing supports biodiversity assessment, carbon stock estimation, and sustainable forest management. Sentinel-2 satellite time series capture phenological dynamics and canopy spectral variation, providing valuable information for regional tree species classification. However, interannual shifts in phenological timing can reduce the temporal correspondence among repeated annual cycles. This temporal misalignment complicates the consistent representation of multiyear observations. To address this problem, this study proposes the Hierarchical Season-Year Representation Alignment Network (HSRA-Net). Using multiyear Sentinel-2 NDVI time series, HSRA-Net builds robust temporal representations, aligns comparable seasonal phases across years, and adaptively integrates informative temporal features. The model was evaluated on dominant tree species in representative temperate and subtropical forests in China using ground reference observations and four temporal scales: intra-growing, annual, biennial, and triennial. It was compared with standard models and representative recent spatiotemporal methods. Among the four temporal scales, HSRA-Net achieved its highest classification accuracy in the triennial scale in both study areas. HSRA-Net achieved OA of 88.90% and 83.17% in the temperate and subtropical regions, respectively. Compared with the intra-growing season, the triennial scale increased OA by 3.72% and 14.31%, respectively. These findings demonstrate that organizing comparable phenological information across repeated annual cycles can improve dominant tree species classification and highlight the effectiveness of HSRA-Net for multiyear temporal representation. Full article

The transition from predatory extractive economies to high-technology systems centered on the standing forest paradigm represents a defining sustainability challenge for the Global South. This integrative review establishes a novel socio-technical and technological architecture, conceptualized as Amazonian Nanobioeconomy 5.0, by critically synthesizing the convergence of the Amazonian lipid pharmacopeia, Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NaDESs), and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) optimization. We critically evaluate how data-driven green nanomanufacturing can overcome the empirical trial-and-error bottlenecks and severe chemical variability inherent to native biodiversity oils and butters. The integration of predictive algorithms—such as tree-based models and Bayesian optimization—with eco-friendly extraction media enables the rational design of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) while accelerating their translation across the biotechnological “Valley of Death”. Under the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) framework, this convergence offers a composition-dependent green alternative to harmful petrochemical volatile organic compounds, fosters circular biorefineries, and minimizes the global environmental footprint of advanced nanopharmaceuticals and cosmeceuticals. Finally, we articulate how this digital and green deep-tech infrastructure must be non-negotiably tethered to strict territorial governance, fair benefit-sharing, and epistemic justice to prevent data colonialism and foster a truly just planetary transition. Full article

Montane forests are among the most critical terrestrial biodiversity reservoirs, acting as climate-regulating systems and water towers, and are vital for human well-being across the world. However, they are facing diverse, repeated, and contradictory challenges due to climate variability and change that may undermine their resilience. This study analyzed spatiotemporal trends in temperature and rainfall in the Aberdare Forest ecosystem, Kenya, over the past three decades (1994–2024). ERA5-Land (temperature, 9 km resolution) and CHIRPS-v3 (precipitation, 5 km resolution) provided the gridded climate datasets and were validated against observed station data from the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD). Trend detection utilized the non-parametric Mann–Kendall (MK) test, while Sen’s slope estimator quantified the magnitude and direction of change. Results show a statistically significant positive trend in temperature, while rainfall demonstrated a statistically non-significant positive trend over the study period. Spatial analysis revealed statistically significant warming across the forest, bamboo, and moorland ecological zones, while rainfall showed positive but non-significant trends, with the magnitude of both temperature and rainfall trends varying across zones. These findings provide robust empirical evidence of significant temporal and spatial warming with no clear corresponding directional change in rainfall, underscoring increasing climate pressures on the Aberdare Forest ecosystem. The results establish one of the first empirically validated long-term climate trend baselines for the Aberdare Forest ecosystem. This benchmark provides critical evidence to inform adaptive governance and responsive management for enhanced resilience of East Africa’s montane forests. Full article

Temperate native grasslands in southeastern Australia have been extensively cleared for agriculture, and the remaining patches are under growing pressure from further land use change, climate variability, and invasive species. Mapping and monitoring their distribution and the cover of native and exotic grasses are critical for their conservation and management. Field-based methods are not always scalable or time-effective, and this study aimed to develop a scalable method to map and monitor the fractional cover-class maps of native C3 and native C4 grass cover as a component of remnant native grasslands on the western outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Field-based reference data for training and validation of random forest machine learning models were collected across multiple sites in 2021. Sentinel-2 optical spectral bands and vegetation indices were used as the primary input data, and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-derived Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) texture metrics were assessed for their capacity to improve the model. Results show that random forest models trained on Sentinel-2 data without GLCM texture information derived from Sentinel-1 SAR data provided a moderate overall accuracy (C3: 59.1%, C4: 78.1%). Class-specific metrics showed that reliability was highest for better represented lower-cover classes, particularly the 6–25% native C3 class and the 0–5% native C4 class, while higher-cover classes were less reliable because of the limited number of training and validation samples. Grass cover fractions were modelled well for sparse to moderate grass cover, but dense grass cover was not modelled accurately, probably due to limited high-cover samples in the training dataset. Model performance was not improved by the inclusion of Sentinel-1 SAR-derived GLCM texture metrics, indicating that C-band VH-polarised SAR is not sensitive to the fine-scale structural heterogeneity that characterises native grassland ecosystems. Sparse native C3 and C4 grasses could be mapped most reliably in the lower-cover classes as a component of grasslands with optical remote sensing, and the method developed here can now be applied to enable evidence-based management of grasslands, biodiversity conservation and the monitoring of grassland composition in the WGR and elsewhere. Higher-resolution structural datasets and more sophisticated machine learning approaches may be required to accurately predict native C3 and C4 grass cover fractions in denser grasslands. Full article

Viruses represent a major component of global biodiversity and are integral to ecological and evolutionary processes shaping host populations and communities. Bats, with high species richness and ecological diversity, provide a system to examine how host traits and environmental context structure viral communities. Here, we characterize viral diversity from three bat species (Pipistrellus kuhlii, Cnephaeus isabellinus, and Nyctalus lasiopterus) using samples across two environments in southern Spain: a well-preserved Mediterranean forest (Sierras de Cazorla, Segura, and Las Villas Natural Park, CSVNP) and a human-modified wetland-agrosystem mosaic (Doñana National Park, DNP). Metagenomics detected 72 eukaryotic virus species, including viruses reported in mammals, insects, arachnids, and plants. Viral richness and composition varied among samples, bat species, and environments. Samples of P. kuhlii exhibited the highest richness, driven by insect-associated viruses. C. isabellinus showed a higher contribution of vertebrate-related viruses, whereas N. lasiopterus exhibited the lowest richness. CSVNP samples showed higher viral richness and more exclusive taxa, whereas DNP samples exhibited lower richness, with a greater contribution of arthropod-associated viruses, potentially reflecting prey communities. Despite this, diversity metrics were similar between environments, indicating structurally comparable communities composed of distinct taxa. Bat viromes appear to be associated with host ecology, trophic behavior, and environmental context. Full article

Against the backdrop of the coordinated development of biodiversity conservation, the preservation of ethnic cultures, and public environmental education, the traditional environmental education model in national forest parks—which primarily focuses on showcasing natural landscapes and one-way knowledge dissemination—struggles to fully address the practical needs of dynamic ecosystem conservation and the sustainable preservation of local cultures. This paper focuses on the objectives, content, and implementation mechanisms of environmental education in national forest parks that integrate ethnic cultures. It analyzes the intrinsic connections among digital technology, community collaboration, traditional ecological knowledge, and hands-on environmental education and constructs a “Hub” model centered on the integration of digital knowledge and collaborative governance. This model employs digital technology, community collaboration, and hands-on environmental education as its three primary implementation pathways. Through a cyclical mechanism of “knowledge collection—digital integration—community validation—educational transformation—ecological practice—feedback optimization,” it connects ethnic cultural knowledge, modern ecological science, and public participatory conservation actions. In this model, digital technology primarily serves to record, integrate, and disseminate ecological data and ethnic cultural archives; community collaboration emphasizes the leading role of ethnic communities in knowledge interpretation, curriculum design, ecological practices, and conservation decision-making; and environmental field education promotes the transformation of learners from ecological awareness and cultural identity toward environmental responsibility and conservation behavior through nature observation, cultural experiences, ecological field studies, and community participation. This paper argues that this model can drive the transformation of environmental education in national forest parks from static displays and one-way communication toward knowledge co-creation, scenario-based learning, and adaptive governance, thereby providing a theoretically grounded framework and practical pathway—tailored to local contexts—for achieving the coordinated development of biodiversity conservation, the preservation of ethnic cultural heritage, and the enhancement of public ecological literacy. Full article