Search Results (6,874)

Microbial communities associated with animal cadaver decomposition play a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, it remains unclear regarding the diversity, succession, and assembly of phosphate-solubilizing microbes during animal cadaver decay. In this study, plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) as mammal degradation models were placed on alpine meadow soils to study diversity, succession and assembly of phosphate-solubilizing microbes using amplicon sequencing of phoC- and phoD-genes during 94 days of incubation. The total phosphorus concentration in the corpse group increased by 8.53% on average. Alpha diversity of both phoC- and phoD-harboring microbes decreased in the experimental group compared to the control group, and the community structure differed between control and experimental groups. Phosphate-solubilizing microbial community turnover time rate (TDR) of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group, indicating corpse decay accelerates the succession of phoC- and phoD-harboring microbial community. Null model revealed that deterministic process dominated phoC microbial community in corpse group, while the stochastic process dominated phoD microbial community. The microbial network in experimental group was more complicated than that in control group of phoC microbial community, while phoD microbial community showed opposite trend. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) showed that phoC-harboring microbial community was mainly influenced by pH, Total carbon (TC) and Total phosphorus (TP), while the phoD microbial community was only regulated by TP. These findings elucidate the ecological mechanism of phosphorus-solubilizing microbial community changes during animal corpse degradation. Full article

Air pollution is a major but often under-integrated driver of forest dynamics at the global scale. This review combines a bibliometric analysis of 258 peer-reviewed studies with a synthesis of ecological, physiological, and biogeochemical evidence to clarify how multiple air pollutants influence forest structure, function, and regeneration. Research output is dominated by Europe, East Asia, and North America, with ozone, nitrogen deposition, particulate matter, and acidic precipitation receiving the greatest attention. Across forest biomes, air pollution affects growth, wood anatomy, nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, species composition, litter decomposition, and soil chemistry through interacting pathways. Regional patterns reveal strong context dependency, with heightened sensitivity in mountain and boreal forests, pronounced ozone exposure in Mediterranean and peri-urban systems, episodic oxidative stress in tropical forests, and long-term heavy-metal accumulation in industrial regions. Beyond being impacted, forests actively modify atmospheric chemistry through pollutant filtration, aerosol interactions, and deposition processes. The novelty of this review lies in explicitly framing air pollution as a dynamic driver of forest change, with direct implications for afforestation and restoration on degraded lands. Key knowledge gaps remain regarding combined pollution–climate effects, understudied forest biomes, and the scaling of physiological responses to ecosystem and regional levels, which must be addressed to support effective forest management under global change. Full article

Vegetation degradation in arid and semi-arid regions is intensifying due to rising temperatures, declining rainfall, soil exposure, and persistent human pressures. Drylands cover over 41% of the global land surface and support nearly two billion people, making their degradation a major environmental and socio-economic concern. However, many remote sensing and GIS-based assessment approaches remain fragmented and difficult to reproduce. This study proposes a Computational Sustainability Framework for vegetation degradation assessment that integrates multi-source satellite data, biophysical indicators, automated geospatial preprocessing, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) within a transparent and reproducible workflow. The framework comprises four phases: data preprocessing, indicator extraction and normalization, AHP-based modeling, and spatial classification with qualitative validation. The framework was applied to the Al-Khunfah and Harrat al-Harrah Protected Areas in northern Saudi Arabia using multi-source datasets for the January–April 2023 period, including Sentinel-2, Landsat-8, CHIRPS precipitation, ESA-CCI land cover, FAO soil data, and SRTM DEM. High degradation zones were associated with low NDVI (<0.079), high BSI (>0.276), and elevated LST (>49 °C), whereas low degradation areas were concentrated near wadis and relatively more fertile soils. Overall, the proposed framework provides a scalable and interpretable tool for early-stage vegetation degradation screening in arid environments, supporting the prioritization of areas for ecological investigation and restoration planning. Full article

The Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TNSFP) region in northern China, a critical ecological zone, has experienced significant changes in vegetation coverage and water availability under climate change. However, a comprehensive understanding of how vegetation growth responds to both water deficit and surplus remains limited. This study systematically assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation responses to atmospheric water constraints (represented by the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)) and soil moisture constraints (represented by the Standardized Soil Moisture Index (SSMI)) across the TNSFP region from 2001 to 2022. Our results revealed a compound water constraint pattern: soil moisture deficit dominated vegetation limitation across 46.41–67.88% of the region, particularly in the middle (28–100 cm) and deep (100–289 cm) layers, while atmospheric water surplus also substantially affected 37.35% of the area. From 2001 to 2022, vegetation has shown weakening correlations with atmospheric and shallow-soil moisture, but strengthening coupling with middle- and deep-soil moisture, indicating a growing dependence on deep water resources. Furthermore, the response times of vegetation to water deficit and water surplus have been reduced, indicating that vegetation growth was increasingly restricted by water deficit while being less constrained by water surplus during the period. Attribution analysis identified that air temperature exerted a stronger influence than precipitation on vegetation–water relationships over the study period. This study improved the understanding of vegetation–water interactions under combined climate and land use change, providing critical scientific support for land use-targeted adaptive management in arid and semi-arid regions. Full article

Background and Clinical Significance: Furuncular myiasis is a tropical parasitic skin infestation caused by dipterous fly larvae, most commonly affecting travellers to endemic regions. While returning travellers typically present with one or few lesions, extensive parasitism is rare. Increased global mobility and expanding ecological range of myiasis-causing species underscores the need for clinicians in endemic and non-endemic regions to recognise, diagnose, and manage this condition promptly. Awareness of exposure risks—including soil contact, infested clothing, and poor living conditions—is essential to reducing morbidity and preventing complications like secondary bacterial infection. Case Presentation: A healthy male in his forties returned to the UK after a month-long visit to rural Ethiopia, during which he slept on dirt floors and hung his washing on a line. He developed pruritic papular lesions that progressed to erythematous furuncles with central puncta and purulent discharge, accompanied by sensations of movement. The patient self-extracted 12 larvae in Ethiopia and subsequently sought local medical attention, receiving Albendazole, after which emerging larvae were non-motile. On UK presentation, he had 27 lesions at varying stages, 3 with signs of secondary infection. Laboratory investigations revealed elevated inflammatory markers, and wound swabs grew scanty Streptococcus pyogenes. Management included wound occlusion and systemic antibiotics. No further larvae were retrieved, precluding definitive speciation. All lesions improved over subsequent reviews. Conclusions: This case illustrates an unusually extensive presentation of presumed Cordylobia spp. myiasis in a returning traveller, highlighting potential complications following larvicidal therapy. Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for myiasis in patients with compatible cutaneous lesions and relevant history. Increasing travel and shifting vector distributions make familiarity with tropical dermatoses and provision of effective safety measures essential in clinical practice. Full article

The Ebinur Lake Basin, a key ecological security barrier for windbreak and sand control in northern Xinjiang, is crucial to the ecological safety of western China and the northern sand-prevention belt. Combining the basin’s geographical characteristics, this study comprehensively evaluated ecosystem service functions from four dimensions: water conservation, soil and water conservation, windbreak and sand-fixation, and biodiversity maintenance. Simultaneously, it conducted an ecological sensitivity assessment from four aspects: soil erosion, desertification, land use, and salinization sensitivity. The assessments of the importance of ecosystem service function and ecological sensitivity results were combined to create a tiered zoning plan for the basin. The basin was divided into four first-level zones: the Ebinur Lake Water Area and Wetland Biodiversity Protection Zone, the Desert Vegetation Windbreak and Sand Fixation Ecological Restoration Zone, the Oasis Agricultural Ecological Function Protection Zone, and the Mountain Water Conservation Zone. Six second-level zones were also delineated: the Ebinur Lake Wetland National Nature Reserve, Gobi Vegetation Distribution and Soil Erosion Sensitive Zone, Desert Vegetation Restoration Zone, Jinghe-Bortala Valley Oasis Agricultural Ecological Function Zone, Mountain Water Conservation and Forest-Grass Protection Zone, and Sayram Lake Water Body. This assessment and zoning plan provide support and scientific basis for the basin’s comprehensive ecological management, integrated protection and governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts, as well as regional ecological development. Full article

The Qaidam Basin on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is an extreme arid environment, posing severe survival challenges. The goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) is a keystone species in this fragile ecosystem, yet the ecological role of its gut microbiota and its associations with environmental drivers remain poorly understood. We collected fecal samples from gazelles across seven regions of the basin. Metagenomic sequencing was employed to characterize the gut microbiome. Statistical analyses (Mantel tests, multiple regression on matrices, co-occurrence networks) were used to link microbial composition and function with key environmental factors. The gut microbiota was dominated by fiber-degrading phyla (Firmicutes, Bacteroidota) and enriched in metabolic pathways, aligning with a high-fiber diet. Regarding environmental drivers of gut microbial composition variations, isothermality and soil organic carbon were significant predictors, likely via vegetation and environmental inoculation. Regarding environmental drivers of gut microbial function variations, winter solar radiation was uniquely associated with metabolic function without altering microbial composition, suggesting a functional plasticity—the capacity to shift metabolic profiles independently of taxonomic turnover—in response to environmental variation. The gut microbiota of the goitered gazelle exhibits a stable core composition alongside environmentally responsive functional modules. This suggests the microbiome may serve as a significant mediator of host resilience, highlighting adaptation as a dynamic interplay between host, microbiome, and environment. These insights are crucial for microbiome-assisted conservation. Full article

To reveal the driving mechanisms of oxidative carbon components in urban forest soils in highly urbanized areas, this study collected 126 soil samples from the 0–30 cm layer of typical urban forests in Shenzhen, China. Soil organic carbon (SOC) was classified into four fractions based on oxidation stability: highly oxidizable organic carbon (VAC), moderately oxidizable organic carbon (AC), poorly oxidizable organic carbon (PAC), and inert oxidizable organic carbon (IAC). Integrating multi-source data on climate, topography, vegetation, soil, and urbanization, we adopted a synergistic multi-model approach to screen key drivers, identify nonlinear thresholds, and quantify pathway contributions, thereby systematically exploring the dominant characteristics and driving mechanisms of soil carbon components under urbanization. The results showed that (1) urban forest soils in Shenzhen were dominated by reactive carbon, with VAC accounting for the highest proportion of SOC, and the proportion of reactive organic carbon was significantly higher than that of recalcitrant organic carbon; (2) SOC and total nitrogen (TN) were the core driving factors of carbon fractions, and the number of regulatory factors increased with the enhancement of carbon fraction oxidation stability; (3) soil factors directly affected carbon fractions, while urbanization indirectly acted on inert carbon by altering vegetation characteristics. Based on the research results, urban soil and forest managers can implement zonal management for carbon fractions with different oxidation stabilities, which is expected to effectively enhance the carbon sink capacity and stability of urban forest soil carbon pools, providing practical support for ecological sustainable development. Full article

Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics, interactions, and drivers of ecosystem services (ESs) is critical for ecological conservation and sustainable management in fragile sandy ecosystems. This study assessed five key ESs (water conservation, vegetation carbon sequestration, biodiversity, soil conservation, sand fixation) in the Hunshandake Sandy Land during 2000–2020, using Spearman correlation, geographically weighted regression, self-organizing maps (SOMs), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to quantify trade-offs/synergies, identify ES bundles (ESBs), and clarify natural/social drivers. Results showed that all ESs fluctuated temporally with distinct spatial heterogeneity (higher in wetter, vegetated east; lower in arid, wind-erosion-prone west). Synergies dominated most ES pairs (e.g., WC-VS, WC-SC), with VS-BD showing a trade-off, WC-SF/VS-SC synergies strengthened, and WC-BD shifted from synergy to trade-off. SOMs identified six ESBs with consistent spatial patterns across decades. SEM revealed precipitation enhanced WC, evapotranspiration reduced SF/BD, temperature promoted SC but suppressed VS, elevation strongly benefited SC, NDVI was the primary driver of VS, and GDP had a slight negative effect. These findings provide insights for targeted ecological management in the study area and sustainable ES promotion in global fragile sandy landscapes. Full article

Alpine grasslands on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau are highly sensitive to climate change and human disturbances, and their degradation poses serious threats to ecosystem stability and soil conservation. Belowground bud banks form the foundation of vegetative regeneration, yet their variation along degradation gradients and the soil factors regulating these changes remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we investigated the density and composition of belowground buds in grasses, sedges, and forbs across four degradation levels during the peak growing season and examined the soil controls shaping these responses. The results showed that moderate degradation significantly increased total bud density, indicating enhanced clonal renewal capacity, whereas severe degradation markedly reduced bud-bank potential. Bud types from different functional groups responded differently to soil conditions: rhizome buds of grasses were mainly driven by soil fertility, while tiller buds were more sensitive to soil compaction and carbon–nitrogen availability; rhizome buds of sedges could still develop in compact, nutrient-poor soils; and bud types of forbs were more responsive to variations in soil nutrient status or soil structure. Structural equation modeling further revealed that the formation of the belowground bud is primarily influenced by soil physico-chemical properties, particularly soil nutrients, which regulate regenerative capacity under degraded alpine grasslands. This study reveals the variation patterns of belowground bud banks along degradation gradients in alpine grasslands on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and their responses to soil factors, and it elucidates the pathways through which degradation mediates belowground bud bank dynamics via soil physico-chemical properties, particularly soil nutrients, thereby providing a scientific basis for understanding the regeneration potential of alpine grasslands and for the sustainable management and ecological restoration of degraded alpine grasslands. Full article

Ecological restoration of abandoned mines with high and steep slopes is challenging due to their steepness, water scarcity, and lack of soil, and restoration effects vary with applied techniques. This study aims to assess the ecological restoration effectiveness of restored steep bare rock slopes in Jiangsu Province. The restoration status of steep bare rock slopes was assessed through field surveys, with corresponding methods for vegetation data collection and soil sample analysis subsequently selected. An evaluation system consisting of 14 evaluation indicators from 3 aspects was established using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Based on the on-site investigation results and test data, the evaluation criteria and evaluation intervals for the five evaluation levels of “optimum, excellent, good, medium, and poor” have been determined. After obtaining the weights of each indicator, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to establish a normalized matrix of evaluation indicators, calculate the weighted decision matrix, and determine the ideal solution. The results showed that (1) the proportion of ecological restoration effects in the excellent–optimum, good–excellent, and medium–good was 30%, 43.3%, and 26.7%, respectively, which is consistent with the on-site investigation results; (2) the on-site investigation and evaluation results indicate that the ecological restoration effect of steep bare rock slopes is easily affected by the slope’s soil and water conservation capacity; (3) the weights of each indicator layer are slope ecosystem stability > vegetation > soil, with a maximum value of 0.443, indicating that ecosystem stability is the main factor affecting the ecological restoration effect of mines. This evaluation system is based on on-site investigations and indoor test results, and objectively and effectively evaluates the ecological restoration effect of steep bare rock slopes through qualitative evaluation and quantitative analysis. The methodology demonstrates high applicability and reliability for steep bare rock slopes, thereby serving as a valuable reference for selecting and evaluating the efficacy of ecological restoration technologies in similar environments. Full article

Coastal reclamation profoundly alters soil physicochemical conditions and strongly influences soil microbial ecology; however, the millennial-scale successional patterns and assembly mechanisms of prokaryotic communities under such long-term disturbance remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we investigated archaeal and bacterial communities in the plow layer along a 0–1000-year coastal reclamation chronosequence on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay. We analyzed community abundance, diversity, composition and assembly processes, and quantified the relative contributions of geographic distance, environmental factors and reclamation years to microbial biogeographic patterns. The results showed that reclamation markedly drove continuous soil desalination, acidification, nutrient accumulation, and particle-size refinement. Bacterial abundance exhibited a sharp decline during the early stages of reclamation, whereas archaeal abundance remained relatively stable. The α-diversity of both archaea and bacteria peaked at approximately 210–230 years of reclamation. Community assembly processes differed substantially between the two microbial domains: the archaeal communities were dominated by stochastic processes (77.78%) identified as undominated processes and dispersal limitation, whereas bacterial communities were primarily shaped by deterministic processes (70.75%) driven as variable selection. Distance–decay analysis indicated that bacterial communities were more sensitive to environmental gradients. Multiple regression and variance partitioning further demonstrated that soil pH and electrical conductivity were the key drivers of community structure. Overall, this study reveals the millennial-scale community dynamics and assembly mechanisms of archaea and bacteria in response to coastal reclamation, providing mechanistic insights into long-term microbial ecological succession and offering valuable guidance for sustainable agricultural management and ecological restoration in reclaimed coastal regions. Full article

Remote sensing approaches to monitoring dryland ecosystem states and trends have been dominated by the binary distinction between degraded/non-degraded areas, leading to inconsistent results. We propose a different conceptual framework that better reflects the states and pressures of these ecosystems—ecological integrity—that is, the maintenance of ecosystem composition and its capacity to contribute to human needs and adapt to change. We systematically reviewed earth observation techniques for characterizing ecological integrity in trusted databases together with studies identified through expert-guided search. A total of 137 papers were included, and their metadata (i.e., location, year) and data (i.e., aspect of ecological integrity assessed, techniques employed) were analyzed. The results show that remote sensing ecological integrity is becoming an increasingly researched topic, especially in countries with extensive drylands. Vegetation was the most frequently monitored attribute and was often employed as an indicator of other attributes (i.e., soil and water quality) and as a key feature in approaches that aimed for a comprehensive ecosystem assessment. However, most of the literature employed the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a descriptor of vegetation characteristics (i.e., health, structure, cover), which has been shown not to be a good indicator of the litter/senescent vegetation components that tend to frequently dominate drylands. Methods to overcome this weakness have been identified, although more research is needed to demonstrate their application in ecological integrity monitoring. Specifically, knowledge gaps in the relationship between vegetation cover fractions (i.e., green, non-green, and bare soil), descriptors of ecosystem quality (e.g., soil condition or vegetation structure complexity), and management (i.e., how human intervention affects ecosystem quality) should be addressed. Notable potential has been identified in time series analysis as a means of operationalising remotely sensed vegetation fractional cover. Nevertheless, limitations in benchmarking must also be tackled for effective ecological integrity monitoring. Full article

Understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of soil salinization is essential for elucidating its driving mechanisms and supporting sustainable land and water management in arid regions. In this study, the Alar Reclamation Area in Xinjiang, a typical desert–oasis transition zone, was selected to investigate the drivers of spatiotemporal variation in soil salinization. GRACE gravity satellite observations for the period 2002–2022 were used to estimate groundwater storage (GWS) fluctuations. Contemporaneous Landsat multispectral imagery was employed to derive the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a salinity index (SI), which were further integrated to construct the salinization detection index (SDI). Pearson correlation analysis, variance inflation factor analysis, and a stepwise regression framework were employed to identify the dominant factors controlling the occurrence and evolution of soil salinization. The results showed that severe salinization was concentrated along the Tarim River and in low-lying downstream zones, while salinity levels in the middle and upper parts of the reclamation area had generally declined or shifted to non-salinized conditions. SDI exhibited a strong negative correlation with NDVI (p ≤ 0.01) and a significant positive correlation with both irrigation quota and GWS (p ≤ 0.01). A pronounced collinearity was observed between GWS and irrigation quota. NDVI and GWS were identified as the principal drivers governing spatial–temporal variations in SDI. The resulting regression model (SDI = 0.946 − 0.959 × NDVI + 0.318 × GWS) established a robust quantitative relationship between SDI, NDVI and GWS, characterized by a high coefficient of determination (R² = 0.998). These statistics indicated the absence of multicollinearity (variance inflation factor, VIF < 5) and autocorrelation (Durbin–Watson ≈ 1.876). These findings provide a theoretical basis for the management of saline–alkali lands in the upper Tarim River region and offer scientific support for regional ecological sustainability. Full article

This study takes the source region of the Yellow River from 2000 to 2024 as the research area, and integrates multi-source remote sensing, long-term meteorological observation, and land use data from 2000 to 2024. Using GIS spatial analysis, the standard ellipse model, and a geographic detector, this study systematically depicts the spatio-temporal heterogeneity and multi-scale evolution trend of soil and water conservation services, and then quantifies the spatial differentiation of the contribution rate of climate fluctuation, land use transformation, and human activity intensity to service change. The results showed the following: (1) The land use pattern in the source region of the Yellow River showed a one-way transformation of “grassland dominated, forest land increased alone, and the rest decreased”. The net increase in forest land 204.3 km² was all from the transformation of grassland. The vegetation coverage increased by 9.9%, and the low-value area of soil and water conservation services in the northwest continued to expand. (2) The overall moving distance of the center of gravity of soil and water conservation service capacity is not significant compared with the spatial scale of the source area of the Yellow River. The standard deviation ellipse of each year also did not show systematic and large changes in area, shape, or direction. (3) Annual mean temperature (Q = 0.590) and vegetation coverage (Q = 0.527) are the most influential single factors, while the interaction between annual mean temperature and precipitation (bidirectional enhancement) is the most stable synergistic driving combination. The single-factor Q values of topography and human activities were <0.10. (4) Climate and economic factors are the key factors driving the spatial differentiation of soil and water conservation service capacity, and the role of each driving factor has an optimal range to reduce the risk of soil erosion. The optimal range of population density is 7~9 person/km², the optimal range of average GDP is 11,900~14,100 yuan/km², the optimal range of annual average temperature is 1.71~3.47 °C, the optimal range of annual precipitation is 682~730 mm, the optimal range of vegetation coverage is 81.7~100%, and the optimal range of altitude is 3390~3740 m. The optimal range of slope is 18.3~24.3°. The optimal range of soil moisture is 26.7~29.4%. The optimal range of grazing intensity is 0.352~0.652. The study proposes countermeasures such as strict control of development in high-value areas of soil and water conservation services and key ecological restoration in low-value areas, the establishment of breeding bases and catchment areas in low-precipitation areas to cope with climate change, the optimization of grazing strategies, so as to provide scientific support for the stability of alpine grassland ecosystem services, and the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. Full article