Search Results (1,228)

The Japanese Garden of La Paz, Bolivia, is a sociocultural space with high biodiversity, with its lagoon receiving treated effluent from the “Las Cholas” Wastewater Treatment Unit. Preliminary monitoring revealed elevated organic matter concentrations, raising concerns about water quality. This study aimed to design a constructed wetland (CW) to remove organic load and demonstrate its potential as a nature-based solution (NBS) for sustainable management. Physicochemical parameters and the trophic state index were evaluated during the dry and wet seasons. Macrophyte species were identified, and the most suitable species were selected through a systematic literature review considering treatment performance and local availability. The results showed alkaline conditions, low nutrient concentrations, and a mesotrophic trophic status. A total of 139 vascular plant species were recorded, including Cyperus involucratus, Azolla filiculoides, and Eichhornia sp. Cyperus involucratus was selected due to its abundance and reported BOD₅ or COD removal efficiency. The proposed system consists of a horizontal subsurface flow CW incorporating permeable reactive barriers filled with water hyacinth leaves as a biosorbent. A design flow rate of 0.86 m³/day was adopted for the proposed CW, corresponding to a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 1.68 days and an estimated BOD₅ removal efficiency of 68.54%. Full article

Microbial communities associated with plants influence their growth, physiological functions, and resistance to pathogens and environmental stresses. Nevertheless, the identification of beneficial bacterial taxa that support plant resilience to environmental stresses and can be incorporated into synthetic microbial communities is still far from complete. To address this problem, we analyzed the microbial communities associated with three drought-resistant plant species, Chenopodium album L. (from wetland and arid locations), Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult., and Alhagi pseudalhagi (Bieb.) Fisch., focusing on microbial signatures in the rhizosphere, roots, and stems. We showed that even under normal conditions, the microbiomes of drought-resistant plants are enriched with bacterial taxa associated with drought resistance, such as Bacillus (Bacillota), Burkholderiales and Pseudomonas (Pseudomonadota), as well as several representatives of Actinomycetota. The greatest diversity within the endospheric microbiome was found in stem samples of C. album from arid location. The specific bacterial genera identified in this study, such as Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Paenibacillus, and Streptomyces, could serve as sources for the creation of inoculants for other plants to help them overcome drought. Full article

Urban biodiversity planning depends on whether terrestrial and aquatic habitats retain the same species or make non-redundant contributions to the observed species pool. We surveyed 14 urban parks and four transects nested within two wetlands in Huai’an, eastern China, during two rounds. The audited counts comprised 2085 individual records and 58 species. Observed richness was higher on the sampled wetland transects (median 21.5 versus 16.0 species), but limited independent wetland replication precluded a general habitat-effect claim. Parks and wetlands each contained 43 species, with 28 shared and 15 recorded exclusively in each habitat class. Across 14 park–wetland pairs of pooled landscape units, mean Sørensen dissimilarity was 0.457, partitioned into turnover of 0.353 and nestedness-resultant dissimilarity of 0.104; turnover accounted for 77.3% of the summed dissimilarity. A classification of all 58 species using AVONET showed that 11 of the 15 wetland-only records had a wetland habitat affiliation, whereas eight park-only records were associated with forest or woodland and four with shrubland. These are global species-level traits, not evidence of local habitat specialization. Environmental correlations remained exploratory and did not survive within-family false-discovery-rate adjustment in the primary rank-based analyses. The results support observed compositional complementarity within the sampled landscape, while imperfect detection, two survey rounds, unmatched habitat area and only two wetland systems limit generalization. Conservation should retain both terrestrial green spaces and heterogeneous wetland habitats, with attention to habitat quality and hydrological structure. Full article

Wetland degradation induced by climate change and human disturbance poses severe threats to migratory waterbirds, particularly the critically endangered Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus). The Erlongtao River Basin, a key stopover wetland complex on the Songnen Plain, exhibits prominent mismatches between general waterbird habitat quality and species-specific habitat suitability, together with widespread conservation gaps. In this study, line-transect and point-sampling field surveys were conducted during spring and autumn migration (2020–2024). The eight phases of land use datasets (1990–2023), the InVEST Habitat Quality module, and the MaxEnt habitat suitability model were used to quantify 33-year spatiotemporal dynamics of habitat quality and contributions from land use transitions, map spatial patterns of Siberian crane suitable habitats, and identify conservation gaps within and outside two national nature reserves. Wetland shrinkage and swamp fragmentation degraded regional foraging and habitat conditions for waterbirds. Transitions from unused and construction land to water bodies, shallows, and swamps increased habitat quality, whereas cropland expansion and soil salinization drove habitat degradation. In 2020, high-, moderate, and low-suitability habitats for Siberian cranes occupied merely 0.18%, 1.37%, and 3.55% of the total watershed area, respectively. Dry farmland constituted 47.97% of high-suitability habitats, 44% of which belonged to the poor-quality land cover class grade. Meanwhile, 66% of highly suitable habitats and 68% of moderate-suitability habitats occurred outside protected area boundaries. Targeted restoration of water body and swamp patches with high habitat quality contributions is needed to maintain Siberian crane populations. This work offers quantitative conservation strategies for this flagship species and provides theoretical support for spatial planning of the proposed Songnen Crane National Park. Full article

The Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio (Linnaeus 1758) is a waterbird species that has recently declined as a result of habitat loss, primarily due to agricultural expansion and reedbed cutting. We censused the Purple Swamphen population in the Sardinian wetlands, built a Bayesian model to explain population size in light of several wetland traits, and simulated the effects of cost-effective management scenarios. Our model achieved 73.5% accuracy. We found that (a) the overall extent of reedbeds in Sardinia is very limited (i.e., <600 ha of which 94.32% is contained within Natura 2000 sites); (b) the Purple Swamphen population in such reedbeds is very small and highly fragmented; (c) six wetland traits significantly influence the Purple Swamphen population size; and (d) the ideal habitat conditions entail lentic freshwater ecosystems, shallow water depth (10–50 cm), very large reedbed extent (>100 hectares) dominated by Phragmites australis, and reedbed height between 100 and 200 cm. Our results evidence that it is possible to increase the Purple Swamphen population size by acting selectively upon specific traits of specific wetlands. The proposed conservation strategies are beneficial for many other species inhabiting Sardinian wetlands. Full article

Constructed wetlands (CWs) depend on plant–microbe associations for pollutant transformation, yet the processes linking macrophyte identity to rhizosphere microbiome assembly remain insufficiently resolved. We compared bacterial communities associated with C. articulatus (Ca) and T. geniculata (Tg) roots with an unplanted treatment (Up) in pilot-scale CWs on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Bacterial communities were characterized by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Co-occurrence networks, taxon–environment correlations, and the phylogenetic bin-based null model iCAMP were used to assess community structure, potential associations and assembly mechanisms. CaS supported significantly greater bacterial diversity than TgS and Up, while each macrophyte recruited a distinct community. A shared core microbiome dominated by Rhodocyclaceae, Sphingomonadaceae, Chitinophagaceae, Pirellulaceae, and Xanthomonadaceae comprised taxa with putative roles in nutrient and organic matter transformations. Several bacterial families were significantly associated with PO₄³⁻, NH₄⁺, and dissolved oxygen. Assembly was predominantly stochastic, with dispersal limitation (45.2%) and ecological drift (33.2%) exceeding deterministic selection (16.5%). Nevertheless, planted treatments displayed higher network modularity and connectivity and inferred functional redundancy than Up, consistent with niche differentiation. These findings suggest that species-specific macrophyte configurations are associated with differences in root-associated microbial community composition, while assembly and network analyses provide exploratory insights into community organization. The limited replication precludes causal attribution to plant identity or conclusions regarding treatment performance. Future studies integrating controlled planting densities, increased replication, meta-omics, and root exudate characterization are needed to clarify plant–microbiome relationships and evaluate their potential relevance to constructed wetland functioning. Full article

Wetlands support biodiversity and hydrological regulation; bird communities are sensitive indicators of environmental change. However, evidence linking bird-community patterns to restoration remains limited in the lower Yangtze floodplain wetlands. We aimed to characterize bird-community composition and spatiotemporal diversity in Longpao Yangtze Wetland and examine their association with restoration history. We conducted monthly surveys from November 2024 to September 2025 using line transects, point observations, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) monitoring. Combined records described species composition, standardized field records provided diversity indices, and historical records showed interannual patterns. We recorded 197 species in the combined inventory, including 5 Class I and 30 Class II nationally protected species; standardized surveys recorded 144 species. Winter migrants and Palearctic species were the largest residency and zoogeographical groups, respectively. Diversity was highest in spring and lowest in autumn, although autumn included one survey. Heterogeneous transects YX6 and YX3 had higher diversity. Recorded richness increased from 59 species (2019) to 197 (2025), coinciding with restoration. Longpao Wetland supports diverse birds of conservation concern, emphasizing the value of heterogeneous habitats. Unequal seasonal effort and inconsistent historical methods preclude causal inference. Future research should use standardized long-term monitoring and quantitative habitat analyses to guide hydrological management, habitat enhancement, and community co-management. Full article

Mangroves are critical components of coastal wetland ecosystems, providing essential services such as high-capacity carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and shoreline protection. They play an irreplaceable role in mitigating climate change and maintaining coastal ecological balance. However, the effects of S. alterniflora management on mangrove carbon sinks in coastal wetlands remain poorly quantified, particularly with respect to canopy structural constraints. To address this issue, this study took the Zhangjiang Estuary Mangrove National Nature Reserve in Fujian Province as the study area and constructed a retrieval framework for mangrove above-ground vegetation carbon stock integrating Sentinel-1/2 multi-source remote sensing and ICESat-2 spaceborne LiDAR data. Based on the 10-year time series data from 2016 to 2025, we analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of mangroves and S. alterniflora. Mangrove area was calculated by counting valid mangrove pixels from 10-m annual land-cover maps generated by the accuracy-validated Random Forest classifier, with pixel area used for areal conversion. We further selected three key years (2021, 2023, and 2025) to explore the phased-variation characteristics of mangrove canopy height and above-ground vegetation carbon stock. The results showed that: (1) the mangrove area in Zhangjiang Estuary increased significantly from 2016 to 2025, with two phases, namely stable at 75.78–81.34 ha (2016–2022) and rapid growth to 183.49 ha by 2025, which is consistent with the expected outcomes of local conservation and restoration practices; (2) mangrove canopy height was retrieved using the random forest model, with a coefficient of determination R² of 0.75 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.92 m, which reliably characterized the spatial distribution patterns of mangrove canopy height in the study area; and (3) from 2021 to 2025, S. alterniflora coverage dropped by more than 98%, while mangrove carbon storage rose 118.3% and vegetation expanded outward to tidal flats. The enhancement of mangrove carbon sink function was highly consistent with the implementation progress of S. alterniflora governance and associated mangrove restoration practices. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for evaluating invasive alien species management outcomes, guiding mangrove ecological restoration, and optimizing blue carbon resource management in coastal wetland ecosystems. Full article

Coal-mining subsidence wetlands are post-industrial landscapes whose sustainable management requires coordinated biodiversity monitoring across multiple taxonomic groups. We surveyed wetland plants and macrozoobenthos across nine coal-mining subsidence wetlands at three subsidence stages in China’s Jining Coalfield over three seasons. We evaluated cross-taxon congruence in α-diversity and community composition, together with environmental associations. Results indicated that plant species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity were lower at the middle stage than at the late stage, whereas macrozoobenthos richness was higher at the late stage than at the initial and middle stages. Overall species richness was positively correlated between taxa, whereas stage- and season-specific congruence occurred only for Pielou’s evenness at the initial stage (negative) and Shannon–Wiener diversity in autumn (positive). Community composition varied among stages and exhibited significant cross-taxon congruence (p < 0.01). Environmental analyses indicated some shared associations but different overall response patterns between communities. Thus, the development of coal-mining subsidence wetlands involved asynchronous and context-dependent community reorganization rather than uniform cross-taxon convergence. These findings support stage-sensitive, multi-taxon monitoring to improve biodiversity assessment and provide a case-based reference for the science-based conservation, ecological restoration, and sustainable management of similar post-industrial wetland systems. Full article

Protected wetlands in the Mediterranean are vital biodiversity hotspots that face growing pressure from climate change and human activity. Traditional bird monitoring relies on professional field surveys, which, although highly standardized, are resource-constrained and limited in temporal frequency. Here, we present ValWet-Birds, a multi-source spatiotemporal dataset and fusion framework that harmonises and integrates professional counts, eBird citizen science registries, and passive acoustic monitoring (via a BirdNET classifier deployed on a Raspberry Pi 5 node) for three protected wetlands in Alicante, Spain (El Hondo, Santa Pola, and La Mata–Torrevieja), from 2010 to 2025. We normalize incompatible observation protocols into a unified monthly relative observation proportion target across 12 sub-regions and 394 taxa (349 resolved to species level after a taxonomic audit). Spatiotemporal prediction models are implemented using Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks. A preliminary evaluation using non-matched test sets suggested a 42.7% reduction in Test Mean Squared Error for the LSTM under multi-source augmentation. Re-evaluating every source condition on an identical held-out set of professional-census observations shows that this benefit does not hold in aggregate: both baselines outperform naive temporal reference predictors by a wide margin, but adding eBird and BirdNET data does not reduce error relative to census-only training overall. The exception is conservation-relevant taxa (a 50-species subset cross-referenced against Annex I of the EU Birds Directive), for which multi-source augmentation reduces LSTM error by 29% and MLP error by 9%, plausibly because these less-common species have sparser census history to draw on. We report this reversal explicitly as a methodological finding in its own right. Finally, we describe the design and interactive user flows of the deployed web visualization platform Avistory, which presents observation summaries and model outputs; it should not be interpreted as a validated population-monitoring or conservation-decision system. Full article

Iron-rich aquatic environments can support redox processes that couple the iron and nitrogen cycles, but these interactions remain poorly characterized in Patagonian wetlands. This study investigated the hydrochemical and microbial characteristics of iron-rich environments in the Exploradores Valley, Chilean Patagonia, and assessed their potential to support coupled Fe-N transformations. Historical monitoring data from six rivers in the General Carrera sector were analyzed to establish the regional context for Fe, complemented by PHREEQC equilibrium modeling. Water and sediments from four wetland environments in the site were characterized physicochemically, and microbial communities from two contrasting Fe-rich sites were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Regional records revealed strong spatial variability in total Fe. The sites in Explorers Valley showed marked differences in Fe, organic matter, and nitrogen species, along with visible Fe-rich deposits and conditions favorable for redox stratification. Microbial communities contained taxa associated with Fe oxidation and reduction, as well as nitrogen transformations, including Gallionellaceae, Geobacteraceae, Nitrosomonadaceae, Gallionella, Rhodoferax, and Anaeromyxobacter. These findings identify the Explorers Valley wetlands as naturally Fe-rich systems with microbial and geochemical conditions potentially favorable for the coupled iron–nitrogen cycle, laying the groundwork for future direct investigations of Feammox and NDFO. Full article

Large-scale removal of the invasive salt-marsh plant Spartina alterniflora has become an important intervention for restoring native coastal wetland habitats. However, its effects on vegetation reorganization and blue carbon storage remain unclear because conventional before–after comparisons cannot readily separate management effects from background wetland dynamics. Following a large-scale S. alterniflora removal program in Yancheng Coastal Wetlands, China, we integrated Landsat and Sentinel observations (2009–2024), random forest classification, an LSTM–Land Change Modeler framework, and the InVEST Coastal Blue Carbon model to reconstruct vegetation trajectories and simulate a 2024 no-removal counterfactual. From 2010 to 2023, S. alterniflora expanded by 43.16%, Suaeda salsa declined by 78.95%, and Phragmites australis increased by 27.20%. The LSTM temporal-demand model estimated a 2024 S. alterniflora demand of 41.90 km², whereas the intervention-defined management layer represented extensive post-removal surfaces and vegetation reorganization. Using the corrected 2023 landscape as a persistence-based carbon reference, carbon storage was 0.712 Tg C compared with 0.564 Tg C in the 2024 management layer, corresponding to a scenario difference of 0.148 Tg C (20.8%), 91.4% of which was attributable to biomass carbon. These findings reveal substantial short-term blue carbon losses and highlight the importance of rapid native vegetation recovery after invasive-species removal. Full article

Two novel bacterial strains, designated YIM B11945^T and YIM B11997^T, were isolated from soil samples collected in the Napahai Plateau wetland, Yunnan Province, China. The cells were aerobic, Gram-stain-positive, motile and non-spore-forming rods. The strains YIM B11945^T and YIM B11997^T showed the highest 16S rRNA sequence similarity with Planococcus shixiaomingii N022^T (97.5%) and Planococcus koreensis JG07^T (98.3%), respectively. The phylogenomic analyses based on the core genome sequences placed the two strains within the genus genus Planococcus. The average nucleotide identity and the digital DNA–DNA hybridization values between the two novel strains and their closest relatives were below the species delineation thresholds of 95% and 70%, respectively. The strains YIM B11945^T and YIM B11997^T possessed major fatty acids, which were anteiso-C_15:0 and C_16:1ω7c alcohol, and anteiso-C_15:0, iso-C_14:0, C_16:1ω7c alcohol and iso-C_16:0, respectively. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, and diphosphatidylglycerol, and the respiratory quinones detected were menaquinone-7 and menaquinone-8. The genomic DNA G+C contents of YIM B11945^T and YIM B11997^T were 45.0% and 49.2%, respectively. Based on the phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analyses, the strains YIM B11945^T and YIM B11997^T are considered to represent two new species of the genus Planococcus, for which the names Planococcus terreus sp. nov. and Planococcus flavus sp. nov. are proposed, respectively. The type strains are YIM B11945^T (=CGMCC 1.64737^T=KCTC 43683^T) and YIM B11997^T (=KCTC 43680^T=NBRC 116630^T). Full article

Urban small wetlands face eutrophication. Using 15 small wetlands in Jinan, China, we analyzed phytoplankton community and trait responses to eutrophication. Based on autumn TLI (2020–2022), wetlands were classified into oligotrophic (3), mesotrophic (6), and lightly eutrophic (6). We evaluated functional α/β-diversity, phytoplankton standing biomass (a proxy for productivity), and resource use efficiency (RUE, biomass/TP). Total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and Chl-a increased with eutrophication, reaching 6.83, 0.14, and 0.03 mg/L in lightly eutrophic sites. Species richness, Shannon, and Simpson indices were highest in lightly eutrophic sites (25, 2.75, and 0.71, respectively), whereas functional richness was highest in oligotrophic sites (0.14). Taxonomic β-diversity was dominated by turnover components (63.7–73.7%), while functional β-diversity was dominated by nestedness components (79.7–97.1%). Mean phytoplankton standing biomass and RUE increased with eutrophication, reaching 44.79 mg/Land 350.64 in lightly eutrophic conditions. Biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships were gradient-dependent. Species richness positively correlated with standing biomass in mesotrophic and lightly eutrophic sites (p < 0.05), while evenness negatively correlated with standing biomass and RUE across all trophic grades (p < 0.05). Overall, these results reveal complex responses of phytoplankton community structure and function to eutrophication in small urban wetlands. The nestedness-dominated functional β-diversity reflects differences that arise mainly through nestedness rather than species turnover. We recommend incorporating these small wetlands into routine monitoring frameworks and prioritizing functional diversity in ecological health assessments. Full article

Lake Seyfe, designated a first-degree natural site (1989), a Nature Conservation Area (1990), and a Ramsar Site (1994), is a shallow saline wetland internationally important for flamingos and supports Great Bustard (Otis tarda) habitats documented in Kırşehir Province. Drainage since the 1960s reduced the lake area, transforming exposed land into farmland and semi-halophytic steppe used by the species. However, long-term information remains fragmented, limiting assessment of the species’ status and conservation needs. We compiled 17 dated records from 1969 to 2026 using literature, records from the Kırşehir Provincial Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP), verified local reports, and September 2025–July 2026 transects. Historical counts were 13–61 birds; 11 records from 2020 to 2026 comprised 2–14 birds (mean 6.2), with groups of only 2–6 in 2024–2026. Non-standardized methods, effort, and seasons precluded trend estimation. Recent observations occurred in open steppe or low-intensity farmland. None of the 11 georeferenced records fell within the Nature Conservation Area, although survey effort was also absent within this boundary. The spatial pattern is therefore interpreted descriptively and indicates recent use of the surrounding agro-steppe landscape. Conservation should extend beyond the reserve through coordinated monitoring, stronger illegal-hunting control, public outreach and youth education, and seasonally adjusted agricultural management across Lake Seyfe and adjoining Malya TİGEM lands. Full article