Search Results (7,800)

Nest-site selection in birds is a hierarchical process shaped by environmental filters operating across multiple spatial scales. In species that depend on burrows excavated by ecosystem engineers, understanding how these filters interact is essential for effective conservation. We evaluated nest-site selection by the Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) within colonies of the Mexican prairie dog (Cynomys mexicanus) in the southern Chihuahuan Desert using a multiscale analytical framework spanning burrow, site, colony, and landscape levels. During the 2010 and 2011 breeding seasons, we located 56 successful nests and paired each with an inactive non-nest burrow within the same colony. Eighteen structural and environmental variables were measured and analyzed using binary logistic regression models, with model selection based on an information-theoretic approach (AICc) and prior screening for predictor collinearity. Nest-site selection was associated with greater internal burrow development and reduced external exposure at the burrow scale, proximity to satellite burrows and low-to-moderate vegetation structure at the site scale, higher densities of active prairie dog burrows at the colony scale, and reduced predation risk and agricultural disturbance at the landscape scale. The integrated multiscale model showed substantially greater support and discriminatory power than single-scale models, indicating that nest-site selection emerges from interactions among spatial scales rather than from isolated factors. These findings support hierarchical habitat-selection theory and underscore the importance of conserving functional Mexican prairie dog colonies and low-disturbance grassland landscapes to maintain suitable breeding habitats for Burrowing owls in the southern Chihuahuan Desert. Full article

Vegetation volume is a useful indicator for assessing canopy structure and supporting vineyard management tasks such as foliar applications and canopy management. The photogrammetric processing of imagery acquired using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) enables the generation of dense point clouds suitable for estimating canopy volume, although point cloud quality depends on spatial resolution, which is influenced by flight height. This study evaluates the effect of three flight heights (30 m, 60 m, and 100 m) on grapevine canopy volume estimation using convex hull, alpha shape, and voxel-based models. UAV-based RGB imagery and field measurements were collected during three periods at different phenological stages in an experimental vineyard. The strongest agreement with field-measured volume occurred at 30 m, where point density was highest. Envelope-based methods showed reduced performance at higher flight heights, while voxel-based grids remained more stable when voxel size was adapted to point density. Estimator behavior also varied with canopy architecture and development. The results indicate appropriate parameter choices for different flight heights and confirm that UAV-based RGB imagery can provide reliable grapevine canopy volume estimates. Full article

Purpose: A growing body of evidence has emerged on the role of diet for health outcomes in cancer survivors. Patients transitioning to post-treatment care may seek guidance on dietary changes, and summaries of the evidence for dietary patterns recommended by guidelines can support providers in effectively answering questions. Increasing evidence suggests that food choices impact planetary health. Plant-based diets are one eating pattern that may improve patient outcomes and planetary health. Methods: We performed a literature review and used narrative reporting to summarize evidence for plant-based diets and offer specific guidance for breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer patients who are post-diagnosis. Specifically, we reviewed impacts on recurrence, all-cause, and cancer-specific mortality. Results: Increased fibre intake by consuming foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality, as well as reduced colon cancer-specific mortality. Replacing refined grains with whole grains is associated with improved disease-free survival for colon cancer survivors. Higher tree nut consumption is associated with improved disease-free survival for breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer survivors. Soy is safe to consume for breast cancer survivors and is associated with a reduced risk of recurrence. Conversely, more Western dietary patterns high in processed meat intake are associated with an increased risk of colon cancer recurrence and prostate cancer mortality. There are also environmental benefits of a shift towards plant-based diets to address the adverse health outcomes associated with climate change and its potential impact on cancer care delivery as previously outlined in a 2024 ASCO policy statement. Conclusions: Based on the best existing evidence, providers can suggest that patients consider plant-based dietary patterns in the post-treatment phase of their cancer care to support health outcomes and planetary health. Full article

This article describes a field- and laboratory-based framework that can be used to monitor the C balance in Mediterranean pine forest ecosystems under different management practices that determine their structure and function. By jointly monitoring stand structure, gas exchange, litter, and decomposition dynamics, this protocol enables the assessment of how management-driven changes regulate carbon uptake, turnover, and losses, thereby affecting carbon sequestration potential. As an example, we suggest the implementation of the protocol at ten (10) permanent monitoring plots across three study areas located in Greece. The first group of plots represents a post-fire chronosequence in pine stands with no management interventions. The second group includes pine stands that exhibit variation in overstory and understory density driven by differences in microclimate and management history. The third group consists of peri-urban pine stands subjected to thinning of varying intensity. The monitoring protocol is implemented across all plots and the collected data can be classified into three analytical domains: (a) demography, encompassing measurements of tree growth and mortality; (b) litter and decomposition dynamics, involving the quantification of litterfall and its seasonality and the estimation of its decomposition rates; and (c) gas exchange, focusing on measurements of leaf photosynthesis and respiration (including relevant leaf functional traits) and monitoring of soil respiration. These three data domains can be used to comparatively consider the effect of forest management on key ecosystem processes and to constrain local-scale vegetation dynamics models. Full article

Reducing fuel costs, maximizing waste utilization, and improving energy efficiency are critical challenges in agricultural thermal processes. This study addresses these issues by developing and evaluating a mixed-fuel burner and furnace system for steaming mushroom substrate cubes using crude glycerol and recycled vegetable oil as low-cost alternative energy sources. The experimental investigation assessed boiler thermal efficiency, combustion efficiency, exhaust-gas composition, temperature distribution, steam generation, and combustion-gas dispersion within the furnace. In parallel, analytical modeling of pressure, temperature, and gas-flow behavior was performed to validate the experimental observations. Five fuel compositions were examined, including 100% used vegetable oil, 100% crude glycerol, and blended ratios of 50/50, 25/75, and 10/90 (glycerol/vegetable oil), with all tests conducted in accordance with DIN EN 203-1 standards. The results demonstrate that blending used vegetable oil with glycerol significantly improves flame stability, increases peak combustion temperatures, and suppresses incomplete-combustion byproducts compared with pure glycerol operation. Combustion efficiencies of 90–99% and boiler thermal efficiencies of 72–73% were achieved. Among the tested fuels, the optimal balance between combustion stability, efficiency, and cost was achieved with a 25% glycerol and 75% used vegetable oil mixture. Economic analysis revealed that the proposed mixed-fuel system offers superior viability compared with LPG, reducing annual fuel costs by approximately 50%, shortening steaming time by 2 h per batch, and achieving a payback period of only 3.26 months. These findings confirm the feasibility of the proposed waste-to-energy system for small- and medium-scale agricultural applications. To further enhance sustainability and renewable fuel utilization, future work should focus on improving air–fuel mixing for higher glycerol fractions, scaling the system for larger farms, and extending its application to other agricultural thermal processes. Full article

Fisetin is a naturally occurring flavonoid, a type of polyphenol found in fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, apples, persimmons, and onions. It has gained increasing attention for its antioxidant properties (enhancement of SOD1 and CAT activity and reduction of ROS), anti-inflammatory effects (suppression of NF-κB signaling), and senotherapeutic activity (senolytic and senomorphic effects). Although numerous studies have examined fisetin in the context of aging and chronic diseases, its role in women’s reproductive health has not been systematically explored. Mechanistically, fisetin regulates several pathophysiological processes, including ovarian aging, fibrosis, angiogenesis, and hormonal regulation, suggesting its potential relevance to female reproductive health and disease. Indeed, emerging evidence indicates that fisetin may support ovarian function and hormonal balance, modulate fibrosis and metabolism in benign gynecologic conditions, and suppress cell growth in gynecologic cancers. Early-phase clinical studies in non-gynecologic conditions suggest an acceptable safety profile, although evidence in reproductive health remains absent. This review summarizes current experimental and clinical evidence, identifies critical gaps in mechanistic understanding, and discusses future directions for advancing fisetin as a promising non-hormonal therapeutic option in reproductive health and diseases. Full article

Achieving food and nutrition security remains a significant challenge for small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, indigenous vegetables offer a promising solution to this challenge. This systematic review used four databases and retrieved 38 studies published over the past 20 years for synthesis. These studies highlight the growing importance of indigenous vegetables grown in home gardens as a sustainable solution to improve livelihoods and dietary diversity. Indigenous vegetables are well-suited to local conditions, nutritionally rich, and were associated with improved household food availability and income. However, farmers face various risks, including environmental, technological, economic, institutional, and social risks, which threaten their production. To overcome risks, farmers adopt strategies such as training, cooperatives, improved storage, and better seed varieties. Indigenous vegetable cultivation also empowers women and marginalised groups who play key roles in home gardening. Despite their benefits, indigenous vegetables remain overlooked in mainstream markets and policies. The review recommends that policymakers and stakeholders must provide support to promote indigenous vegetables through training and market integration, helping farmers commercialise their produce, while simultaneously enhancing food and nutrition security. Further research is needed to explore the profitability of indigenous vegetable production, analyse supply value chains, and investigate processing and manufacturing opportunities to support their market potential and sustainability. Full article

Wildfires are part of terrestrial ecosystem processes; however, their frequency and intensity have recently increased due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. Geospatial data are essential for analyzing land cover changes at high spatial resolution, making the development of tools that use this information to detect burned areas particularly important, especially in regions of high ecological value. This study aimed to detect burned areas within the Iztaccíhuatl–Popocatépetl Protected Natural Area in central Mexico using a logistic regression model based on spectral variables such as NDVI, RBRc, and SWIR2 derived from Sentinel-2 imagery. The agreement between observed and classified data yielded Kappa coefficients and overall accuracy values of 0.79. Model performance varied with probability threshold: low thresholds achieved higher metrics, while high thresholds produced a more conservative delineation that was spatially more coherent with the reference polygons, prioritizing pixels with higher probability of being affected and generating maps more consistent with actual burned areas. Overall, the model performed well in detecting burned areas, providing a useful tool for fire monitoring. However, it is recommended to conduct analyses by vegetation type to increase model accuracy, as phenological variability associated with vegetation types can influence spectral responses and reduce precision. Full article

Dryland coastal–mountain systems stand at the frontline of climate change, where steep topographic gradients amplify the balance between resilience and collapse. Mount Elba—Egypt’s hyper-arid coastal–mountain reserve—embodies this fragile equilibrium, preserving a seventy-year climatic record across a landscape poised between sea and desert. Here, we present the first multi-decadal, spatio-temporal assessment (1950–2021) integrating the Standardized Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI-6) with satellite-derived vegetation responses (NDVI) along a ten-grid coastal–highland transect. Results reveal a pervasive drying trajectory of −0.42 SPEI units per decade, with vegetation–climate coherence (r ≈ 0.3, p < 0.05) intensifying inland, where orographic uplift magnifies hydroclimatic stress. The southern highlands emerge as an “internal drought belt,” while maritime humidity grants the coast partial refuge. These trends are not mere numerical abstractions; they trace the slow desiccation of ecosystems that once anchored biodiversity and pastoral livelihoods. A post-1990 regime shift marks the breakdown of wet-season recovery and the rise in persistent droughts, modulated by ENSO teleconnections—the first quantitative attribution of Pacific climate signals to Egypt’s coastal mountains. By coupling climatic diagnostics with ecological response, this study reframes drought as a living ecological process rather than a statistical anomaly, positioning Mount Elba as a sentinel landscape for resilience and adaptation in northeast Africa’s rapidly warming drylands. Full article

This study is essential for medium- and long-term land-use management, as land-use patterns directly influence local economic and social development. Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are fundamental tools for analyzing a wide range of geomorphological processes, including relief fragmentation density, relief energy, soil texture, slope gradient, and slope orientation. The present research focuses on the Pesceana river basin in the Southern Carpathians, Romania. It addresses three main objectives: (1) to analyze land-use dynamics derived from CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data between 1990 and 2018, along with the long-term distribution of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for the period 2000–2025; (2) to evaluate the basin’s natural potential byintegrating topographic data (contour lines and profiles) with relief fragmentation density, relief energy, vegetation cover, soil texture, slope gradient, aspect, the Stream Power Index (SPI), and the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI); and (3) to assess the spatial distribution of habitat types, characteristic plant associations, and soil properties obtained through field investigations. For the first two research objectives, ArcGIS v. 10.7.2 served as the main tool for geospatial processing. For the third, field data were essential for geolocating soil samples and defining vegetation types across the entire 247 km² area. The spatiotemporal analysis from 1990 to 2018 reveals a landscape in which deciduous forests clearly dominate; they expanded from an initial area of 80 km² in 1990 to over 90 km² in 2012–2018. This increase, together with agricultural expansion, is reflected in the NDVI values after 2000, which show a sharp increase in vegetation density. Interestingly, other categories—such as water bodies, natural grasslands, and industrial areas—barely changed, each consistently representing less than 1 km² throughout the study period. These findings emphasize the importance of land-use/land-cover (LULC) data within the applied GIS model, which enhances the spatial characterization of geomorphological processes—such as vegetation distribution, soil texture, slope morphology, and relief fragmentation density. This integration allows a realistic assessment of the physical–geographic, landscape, and pedological conditions of the river basin. Full article

Melatonin (MEL), also known as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, has been reported in plants as a secondary messenger involved in regulating abiotic stress responses. MEL treatment, either preharvest or postharvest, regulates several physiological and biochemical processes during fruit growth and ripening in horticultural products. These include reproductive development, tissue and quality maintenance, delayed senescence, and responses to abiotic stress. Due to its natural origin, low toxicity, and multifunctional regulatory capacity, MEL has recently attracted attention as a promising ‘green preservative’ for sustainable postharvest management. Additionally, MEL coordinates through cross-talk with other plant hormones, such as abscisic acid, ethylene, polyamines, jasmonic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, salicylic acid, and nitric oxide, to regulate postharvest ripening and senescence. Furthermore, MEL enhances antioxidant systems and improves membrane integrity, thereby alleviating chilling injury and enhancing fruit firmness and colour. Notably, recent evidence highlights the innovative regulatory mechanisms of MEL involving redox homeostasis, hormone signalling reprogramming, and transcriptional modulation of stress-responsive pathways. MEL could therefore be considered an emerging, eco-friendly tool for prolonging the shelf-life of fruit and vegetables and maintaining their quality. This review summarises the mechanisms by which MEL contributes to plant stress resistance by regulating the biosynthesis and metabolism of stress tolerance and improving fruit quality. Full article

The Arid Region of Northwest China (ARNC) functions as a critical ecological barrier for the Eurasian hinterland. To clarify the non-linear drivers of eco-environmental dynamics, a long-term (2000–2024) Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) time series was constructed and analyzed using an interpretable machine learning framework (XGBoost-SHAP). The analysis reveals pronounced spatial asymmetry in ecological evolution: improvements are concentrated in localized, human-managed areas, while degradation occurs as a diffuse process driven by geomorphological inertia. The ARNC exhibits low-level stability (mean RSEI 0.25–0.30) and marked unbalanced dynamics, with significant degradation (19.9%) affecting more than twice the area of improvement (6.5%). Attribution analysis identifies divergent driving mechanisms: ecological improvement (R² = 0.559) is primarily anthropogenic (58.3%), whereas degradation (R² = 0.692) is mainly governed by natural constraints (58.4%), particularly structural topographic factors, where intrinsic landscape vulnerability is exacerbated by human activities. SHAP analysis corroborates a “Greenness-Quality Paradox” in stable agroecosystems, where high vegetation cover coincides with reduced evaporative cooling and secondary salinization from irrigation, resulting in declining Eco-Environmental Quality (EEQ). A zero-threshold effect for grazing intensity is also identified, indicating that any increase beyond the baseline immediately initiates ecological decline. In response, a Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is proposed: direct salt-water balance regulation in oases, resist hydrological cutoff in ecotones, and accept natural dynamics in the desert matrix. These findings provide a scientific basis for reconciling artificial greening initiatives with hydrological sustainability in water-limited regions. Full article

Herbage intake by grazers and browsers is of fundamental importance to agricultural ecosystems worldwide but is also notoriously difficult to quantify. The intake process is mediated by herbage comminution in the mouth. The attendant chew actions generate sound bursts that can be detected acoustically and analyzed to help elucidate the entire process. Goats consuming a single plant species were acoustically monitored in order to (i) determine the sensitivity of the chewing effort to the large variation in bite mass and satiety level and (ii) estimate how well the amount of herbage consumed can be predicted by counting chews. Experiments used hand-constructed patches containing bite-sized carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) leaflets of a pre-determined mass that were presented to six goats, individually, with acoustic sensors attached to their horns. Experiment 1 determined the chewing effort and the sequence of bites and chews for three bite masses across five levels of total intake. Experiment 2 determined the chewing effort and the chew sequence at three levels of satiety, achieved by control of the feeding regime, using a single bite mass across three levels of total intake. In Experiment 1, the global chewing coefficient was ≈4 chews g⁻¹ fresh mass ingested (≈10 chews g⁻¹ dry matter). For an individual animal, the chewing coefficient was fairly stable, being influenced mildly by bite mass, but the variation between animals was large. In Experiment 2, the chewing coefficient was again fairly stable in an individual animal, although the chewing effort was slightly elevated at low satiety. At the population level, and for the most relevant range of intake levels, inverse regression of the pooled data from both experiments estimated the two-sided 95% confidence interval of the predicted intake of carob leaves to be <10% of the predicted value. If chewing coefficients can be estimated locally, usefully precise intake predictions should be attainable for the tested vegetation. These results are promising for the future potential of acoustic monitoring, although significant challenges remain. Full article

Automated recognition of rock mass discontinuities in vegetated high-slope terrains remains a challenging task critical to geohazard assessment and slope stability analysis. This study presents an integrated framework combining close-range UAV photogrammetry with an Improved Superpoint Transformer (ISPT) for semantic segmentation and structural characterization. High-resolution UAV imagery was processed using an SfM–MVS photogrammetric workflow to generate dense point clouds, followed by a three-stage filtering workflow comprising cloth simulation filtering, volumetric density analysis, and VDVI-based vegetation discrimination. Feature augmentation using volumetric density and the Visible-Band Difference Vegetation Index (VDVI), together with connected-component segmentation, enhanced robustness under vegetation occlusion. Validation on four vegetated slopes in Buyun Mountain, China, achieved an overall classification accuracy of 89.5%, exceeding CANUPO (78.2%) and the baseline SPT (85.8%), with a 25-fold improvement in computational efficiency. In total, 4918 structural planes were extracted, and their orientations, dip angles, and trace lengths were automatically derived. The proposed ISPT-based framework provides an efficient and reliable approach for high-precision geotechnical characterization in complex, vegetation-covered rock mass environments. Full article

Accurate estimation of soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) is essential for understanding land–atmosphere interactions, climate dynamics, and ecosystem processes. While passive microwave missions such as SMAP and SMOS provide reliable global SM and VOD products, they are limited by coarse spatial resolution and infrequent revisit times. Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) observations, particularly from the Cyclone GNSS (CYGNSS) mission, offer an improved spatiotemporal sampling rate. This study presents a deep learning framework based on an artificial neural network (ANN) for the simultaneous retrieval of SM and VOD from CYGNSS observations across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Ancillary input features, including specular point latitude and longitude (for spatial context), CYGNSS reflectivity and incidence angle (for surface signal characterization), total precipitation and soil temperature (for hydrological context), and soil clay content and surface roughness (for soil properties), are used to improve the estimates. Results demonstrate strong agreement between the predicted and reference values (SMAP SM and SMOS VOD), achieving correlation coefficients of R = 0.83 and 0.89 and RMSE values of 0.063 m³/m³ and 0.088 for SM and VOD, respectively. Temporal analyses show that the ANN accurately reproduces both seasonal and daily variations in SMAP SM and SMOS VOD (R ≈ 0.89). Moreover, the predicted SM and VOD maps show strong agreement with the reference SM and VOD maps (R ≈ 0.93). Additionally, ANN-derived VOD demonstrates strong consistency with above-ground biomass (R ≈ 0.77), canopy height (R ≈ 0.95), leaf area index (R = 96), and vegetation water content (R ≈ 0.90). These results demonstrate the generalizability of the approach and its applicability to broader environmental sensing tasks. Full article