Ecological Trends Research Articles

Citizen Science in the Study of Marine Biodiversity: The case of Iconic and Cryptic Syngnathids

Citizen science invites the public to participate in both scientific thinking and data collection. Citizen science adds new collaborators whose contributions help to gather or analyse data on a large scale particularly relevant for emerging questions about the distribution and abundance of organisms across space and time. Syngnathids are cryptic fishes that inhabits temperate and tropical sheltered, coastal marine waters. Pipefishes and seahorses are threatened by habitat loss and degradation. Unfortunately, data on biological and ecological aspects and population trends are rarely available in most species. More than half of the thirteen-syngnathid species inhabiting Spanish coasts are considered Data Deficient for population evaluation. Citizen science is an opportunity to improve data availability for the study of syngnathid population tendencies and monitoring. This contribution describes and discusses the approach followed by Sea Watchers citizen science platform. We analysed and discussed the data provided by the observers, and the distribution data of species based on citizen science surveillance. Citizen science achieved the expansion of spatial and temporal dataset of syngnathid distribution. However, the obtained information is affected by observers’ behaviour and suggest that the observers performed focussed surveys to find individuals of these slow motion iconic fishes, introducing biases in the data.

Prosumers integration in aggregated demand response systems

In recent years, the increasing popularity of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies is creating a new movement towards more sustainable communities. Understanding energy consumption is important for the optimisation of resources and the implementation of ecological trends. This paper integrates electricity consumers into a cooperative framework for planning sustainable smart communities through aggregators, which reallocates consumers’ demand according to available renewable energy supply collected from consumers and service providers. The aggregated demand response also includes consumers involved in energy production activities through microgeneration capabilities. A characterisation study of the different types of demand preferences is performed by defining scenarios of communities and consumers’ behaviours, which are validated through a reputation factor. The results show that the system adequately manages demand reallocation following the preferences and contribution of consumers and/or prosumers. Besides, this research analyses the current energy policy concerning demand flexibility, demand aggregation and microgeneration capacity, and their regulations in Spain. Finally, microgeneration acceptance, the role of aggregators and prosumers in the scheduling process is also investigated through a series of surveys.

Implementation of modern environmental greening trends for the student park design project

Today, student parks are an integral part of student life. However, many existing parks have shortcomings and problems that do not allow them to fully satisfy the needs and interests of the student community. Purpose. Development of a design project of a student park taking into account modern ecological trends in landscaping, the needs and interests of the student community Methods. Park user surveys, peer review, spatial analysis, modeling and visualization with Realtime Landscaping Architect. Results. A detailed landscape design project of the student park near the dormitory has been developed. Taking into account the basic needs of students, it is advisable to create two main functional areas of the future park: a sports area and a recreation area. The landscape design of the student park is designed and visualized as a real-time 3D landscape model. The park is designed in a regular style, where all elements are strictly geometrically located on the site, all shapes are clear and symmetrical. In the design of the future park, many plant compositions from flowering perennials are proposed Conclusions. The landscape design of the student park is an important element of student life, as it contributes to the provision of a healthy and comfortable environment for learning and active leisure, a healthy lifestyle and the formation of environmental awareness.

Ecological trends in moth communities (Geometridae, Lepidoptera) along a complete rainforest elevation gradient in Papua New Guinea

Abstract The tropical rainforest elevation gradients, extending from lowlands to treeline, often represent global maxima of biodiversity and are models for community studies. We surveyed geometrid moths along a complete rainforest gradient from 200 to 3700 m asl. in Papua New Guinea. The 16,424 moths collected with light traps represented 1102 species, a high diversity for such system. We demonstrated the importance of molecular data for taxonomy as COI sequences (DNA barcodes) changed the definition of 19% of morphological species. The abundance of geometrids did not change with elevation while their species richness peaked at 1200 m asl. The mid‐elevation diversity peak is a common, but poorly understood, pattern for geometrids. It was best explained by the species richness of the vegetation. At the same time, the community was exposed to opposing trends in abiotic favourability (decreasing temperature) and biotic favourability (decreasing predation by ants, birds and bats) with elevation, potentially contributing to such unimodal trends in species richness. Beta diversity of communities separated by 500 m elevation increased with increasing elevation, reflecting decreasing mean elevational range of species—a pattern opposite to that expected under the Rapoport's rule. The total number of species along the elevation gradient corresponded to 280% of the highest local community diversity. This enrichment of species underscores the key role of long elevational gradients in maintaining high regional diversity and makes them a conservation priority, especially as they also allow for redistribution of species in response to climate change.

A limited overlap of interactions between the bacterial community of water and sediment in wetland ecosystem of the Yellow River floodplain.

Aquatic ecosystems in floodplains provide homes for a variety of active bacterial populations. However, the coexistence pattern of bacterial communities of water and sediment in these ecosystems is unclear. In the present study, Illumina Mi-Seq sequencing were to assess bacteria's co-occurrence patterns in the water and sediment of different time dynamics and plant communities of the Yellow River floodplain ecosystem. The results showed that compared to water, the α-diversity of the bacterial community was way greater in sediment. The bacterial community structure significantly differed between water and sediment, and there was a limited overlap of interactions between the bacterial community of water and sediment. In addition, bacteria in water and sediment coexisting show different temporal shifts and community assembly patterns. The water was selected for specific groups of microorganisms that assemble over time in a non-reproducible and non-random way, whereas the sediment environment was relatively stable, and the bacterial communities were gathered randomly. The depth and plant cover significantly influenced the structure of a bacterial community in the sediment. The bacterial community in sediment formed a more robust network than those in water to cope with external changes. These findings improved our comprehension of the ecological trends of water and sediment bacterium colonies coexisting enhanced the biological barrier function, and the capacity of floodplain ecosystems to provide services and offered support for doing so.

Teacher’s Teaching Performance on Ecopedagogic Learning and Behavioral Framework

This paper reviews a crucial aspect of education, namely pedagogy. Ecological trends have influenced many aspects of life, inseparable from the educational aspect. This research aims to explore the teacher's performance in implementing Ecopedagogic in language learning. The method used is observation and interviews. Observations were conducted using a checklist of observations, and interviews were conducted using semi-structured interviews. The sample that can be taken is ten teachers spread across high schools in Merauke Regency. As a result, the implementation of eco-pedagogic is applied unconsciously by the teacher, learning is oriented to introducing the surrounding environment, and student activities are project-based.

Evaluating population trends of juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon at low abundance in a dynamic estuarine environment (Hudson River, New York)

AbstractEvaluating population trends in dynamic estuarine environments can be challenging, especially when survey data include a high percentage of zero observations. In fishery‐independent surveys, zeros that come from reduced susceptibility to sample gears and reduced availability of the population to the survey impact survey catchability and negatively bias relative abundance indices. A zero‐inflated negative binomial model was used to standardize a juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) relative abundance index (Hudson River, New York) that included a high proportion (42%) of zero observations and intra‐ and interannually variable covariates. Reduced susceptibility was related to low water temperature, with the percentage of zeroes increasing rapidly below 7°C. Availability was influenced by temperature and distance to salt front, as catch rates increased with temperature and peaked in mesohaline waters ~27 km downstream of the predicted salt front. An alternative index suggested significant population growth (r = 0.15; p‐value = 0.007) occurred from 2004 to 2015. The zero‐inflated model helped better understand Hudson River juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon ecology and relative trends in abundance, to better inform future management and monitoring decisions along the Atlantic Coast.

Two decades of change in sea star abundance at a subtidal site in Puget Sound, Washington.

Long-term datasets can reveal otherwise undetectable ecological trends, illuminating the historical context of contemporary ecosystem states. We used two decades (1997-2019) of scientific trawling data from a subtidal, benthic site in Puget Sound, Washington, USA to test for gradual trends and sudden shifts in total sea star abundance across 11 species. We specifically assessed whether this community responded to the sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epizootic, which began in 2013. We sampled at depths of 10, 25, 50 and 70 m near Port Madison, WA, and obtained long-term water temperature data. To account for species-level differences in SSWD susceptibility, we divided our sea star abundance data into two categories, depending on the extent to which the species is susceptible to SSWD, then conducted parallel analyses for high-susceptibility and moderate-susceptibility species. The abundance of high-susceptibility sea stars declined in 2014 across depths. In contrast, the abundance of moderate-susceptibility species trended downward throughout the years at the deepest depths- 50 and 70 m-and suddenly declined in 2006 across depths. Water temperature was positively correlated with the abundance of moderate-susceptibility species, and uncorrelated with high-susceptibility sea star abundance. The reported emergence of SSWD in Washington State in the summer of 2014 provides a plausible explanation for the subsequent decline in abundance of high-susceptibility species. However, no long-term stressors or mortality events affecting sea stars were reported in Washington State prior to these years, leaving the declines we observed in moderate-susceptibility species preceding the 2013-2015 SSWD epizootic unexplained. These results suggest that the subtidal sea star community in Port Madison is dynamic, and emphasizes the value of long-term datasets for evaluating patterns of change.

Assessing capabilities of conducted ambient air pollution health effects studies in 22 Eastern Mediterranean countries to adopt air quality standards: a review.

The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries suffer from exposure to high levels of ambient air pollutants due to dust storms and have unique climatic as well as topographic and socio-economic conditions which lead to adverse health effects on humans. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the quantity and quality of published articles on air pollution and health-based studies in 22 EMR countries to determine if they can be applied to adopting air quality standards. We designed a review based on a broad search of the literature in the Scopus, PubMed, and web of science (WOS) databases published from January 1, 2000, to January 2, 2022, using combinations of the following relevant terms: air pollution, health, and EMR countries. The generic eligibility criteria for this review were based on the population, exposure, comparator, outcome, and study design (PECOS) statement. The search results showed that following the PRISMA approach, of 2947 identified articles, 353 studies were included in this review. The analysis of the types of studies showed that about 70% of the studies conducted in EMR countries were Health Burden Estimation studies (31%), Ecological and time trend ecological studies (23%), and cross-sectional studies (16%). Also, researchers from Iran participated in the most published relevant studies in the region 255 (~ 63%) and just 10 published documents met all the PECOS criteria. The lack of sufficient studies which can meet the PECOS appraising criteria and the lack of professionals in this field are some of the issues that make it impossible to use as potential documents in the WHO future studies and adopt air quality standards. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-023-00862-1.

Spatiotemporal change in ecological quality and its influencing factors in the Dongjiangyuan region, China

It is of great significance for regional ecological protection and sustainable development to quickly and effectively assess and monitor regional ecological quality and identify the factors that affect ecological quality. This paper constructs the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of ecological quality in the Dongjiangyuan region from 2000 to 2020. An ecological quality trend analysis was conducted through theTheil-Sen median and Mann-Kendall tests, and the influencing factors were analyzed by using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results show that (1) the RSEI distribution can be divided into the spatiotemporal characteristics of "three highs and two lows," and the proportion of good and excellent RSEIs reached 70.78% in 2020. (2) The area with improved ecological quality covered 17.26% of the study area, while the area ofdegradation spanned 6.81%. The area with improved ecological quality was larger than that with degraded ecological quality because of the implementation of ecological restoration measures. (3) The global Moran's I index gradually decreased from 0.638 in 2000 to 0.478 in 2020, showing that the spatial aggregation of the RSEI became fragmented in the central and northern regions. (4) Both slope and distance from roads had positive effects on theRSEI, while population density and night-time light had negative effects on theRSEI. Precipitation and temperature had negative effects in most areas, especially in the southeastern study area. The long-term spatiotemporal assessment of ecological quality cannot only help the construction and sustainable development of the region but also have reference significance for regional ecological management in China.

Calcium oxide nanofertilizer as alternative to common calcium products for the improvement of the amount of peel fruit calcium

The necessity to improve the effectivity of fertilizers in agriculture, to be more in agreement with the new ecological trends, is a must nowadays. For this purpose, nanoparticles (NPs) could be an interesting alternative thanks to its enhanced characteristics due to the high surface-to-volume ratio. In this point, the use of NPs as nanofertilizers has been demonstrated that could be an alternative to conventional products using bulk macro and micronutrients. However, the effect of NPs on fruits has not been studied yet, although their effect on plants showed enhanced growth, root, shoot length, higher amount of biomass without phytotoxicity effects. In addition, the study of these nanomaterials directly on field has been avoided until now.Therefore, in this work the effect of CaO NPs as foliar feeding nanofertilizers was studied directly on field for different fruits (cherries, apples, peaches, pears, tomatoes, grape, Paraguayan and apricots). For this purpose, the NPs size, the effect of the presence of chelate agents in the product and comparison with bulk fertilizers was evaluated.The results showed that the use of CaO NPs increase the content of Ca2＋ in the peel fruit and the peel cell width. In addition, the products using CaO NPs showed similar results than those obtained when a bulk Ca2＋ commercially available product is used but using 20 times less CaO than the commercial product. Therefore, the proposed CaO NPs as foliar fertilizer alternative foliar to improve the peel Ca2＋ content and the cell width has been demonstrated.

The Impact of Partial Lockdown During COVID-19 Pandemic on Metabolic Control in People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to determine the effects of lockdown due to COVID-19 on the metabolic control in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: This cross-sectional study (Ecological trend study) was conducted based on the medical records of patients with type 2 diabetes between September 20, 2019 and September 20, 2020. The metabolic control changes were evaluated as differences of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), creatinine (Cr), fasting triglyceride (FTG) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) values during pre-lockdown and lockdown periods. The stratified analysis based on age (due to partial closure measures applied over the age of 65) and gender was also performed. Results: There are statistically significant increases between FPG levels and FTG levels in the “during lockdown” group compared to the “pre-lockdown” group (p=0.036 and p=0.013 respectively) while the differences between HbA1c, LDL, cholesterol and creatinine levels are not significant. In subgroup analysis, increases in FPG and FTG levels remained in both <65 years and male groups, but no significant difference in any parameter was found in both ≥65 years and female groups. Conclusion: COVID-19 partial lockdown period negatively impacts metabolic control in people with T2DM according to our study results. Although FPG significantly increased, this increase was not found in HbA1c levels. The worsening was more pronounced in the males and patients <65 years than in females and patients ≥ 65 years possibly because of major changes in lifestyle due to partial lockdown measures conducted in Turkey.

SituSeq: an offline protocol for rapid and remote Nanopore 16S rRNA amplicon sequence analysis

Microbiome analysis through 16S rRNA gene sequencing is a crucial tool for understanding the microbial ecology of any habitat or ecosystem. However, workflows require large equipment, stable internet, and extensive computing power such that most of the work is performed far away from sample collection in both space and time. Performing amplicon sequencing and analysis at sample collection would have positive implications in many instances including remote fieldwork and point-of-care medical diagnoses. Here we present SituSeq, an offline and portable workflow for the sequencing and analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons using Nanopore sequencing and a standard laptop computer. SituSeq was validated by comparing Nanopore 16S rRNA gene amplicons, Illumina 16S rRNA gene amplicons, and Illumina metagenomes, sequenced using the same environmental DNA. Comparisons revealed consistent community composition, ecological trends, and sequence identity across platforms. Correlation between the abundance of taxa in each taxonomic level in Illumina and Nanopore data sets was high (Pearson’s r > 0.9), and over 70% of Illumina 16S rRNA gene sequences matched a Nanopore sequence with greater than 97% sequence identity. On board a research vessel on the open ocean, SituSeq was used to analyze amplicon sequences from deep sea sediments less than 2 h after sequencing, and 8 h after sample collection. The rapidly available results informed decisions about subsequent sampling in near real-time while the offshore expedition was still underway. SituSeq is a portable and user-friendly workflow that helps to bring the power of microbial genomics and diagnostics to many more researchers and situations.

The luxury yacht charter market and sustainable brand image: the case of Sunreef

PurposeDrive, power and consciousness are the corner stones for the long-term sustainability of any industry. In the luxury yachting industry, the objective of this study is to evidence through the case of sunreed yachting that environmental innovation in the yachting industry has been key to sustainability.Design/methodology/approachAs a case study central to this paper, Sunreef has reconciled key luxury sustainability indicators to improve its brand image. This article adopted a case study approach to provide a systematic documentary analysis of online materials. It is also supported by a critical review of recent literature.FindingsBeyond reconciling the three core components of any long-term sustainable strategy, the paper provides evidence that luxury yachting can operate without impacting negatively on the environment and local population, providing it is fully aware of the challenges faced by the planet in terms of sustainability, and that everyone has a role to play in achieving sustainability (consciousness) and also a willingness (driver) to invest in research and development (power).Originality/valueThis paper addresses the sustainability challenge in the luxury yachting industry. The case of Sunreef Yachts Eco has shown that green communication and innovations are able to reverse the unsustainable ecological trends in the yachting industry. This paper argues that “green activism” is the key encapsulating all the approaches by Sunreef, linking “consciousness”, “power” and “drivers” in sustainability yachting.

Long-term ecological changes in China’s Ramsar sites

Wetlands are globally critical for human survival and Earth's sustainable development. However, wetlands are experiencing rapid degradation and loss due to pollution, reclamation, climate change, invasions, etc. Ramsar sites are globally recognized as wetland hotspots that have been designated Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. However, the long-term trends of change that affect these sites remain unclear. This study explored the ecological changes and characteristics of Ramsar sites using 7 ecological indicators from three aspects: vegetation status, hydrological dynamics and anthropogenic disturbance, with the support of 36-year dense Landsat imagery and the trend and mutation analysis algorithms of Theil-Sen and BreakoutDetection. The results showed that (1) for the long-term trend, the ecological status of 55% of China's Ramsar sites experienced a trend of degradation, and the remaining Ramsar sites showed a trend of restoration in the past 36 years. (2) After the mutation was analysed, 47% of the Ramsar sites showed an environmental and ecological improvement trend in the recent period. (3) More than 50% of Ramsar sites were found to have ecological reversals in vegetation status and hydrological dynamics in the past 36 years.

What Can We Expect for the Development of Rural Areas in Europe?—Trends of the Last Decade and Their Opportunities for Rural Regeneration

Rural areas in Europe have been undergoing structural change for years, resulting in strong functional differentiation and fragmentation into prosperous and structurally weak areas. Rural areas are as diverse as the challenges they face. Not only various megatrends but also social, economic, technological, ecological, and political trends influence and shape the development of rural areas. In order to understand the problems and causes of the current development of rural areas, this paper provides a differentiated trend analysis for rural areas at the European level. A content analysis of more than 70 EU-funded project reports on rural areas and rural development is carried out. The aim is to identify trends and their drivers over the last decade and to summarize opportunities and challenges for successful rural regeneration. These external and overarching trends, particularly in the context of a sustainable transition, renewable energies, the emergence of new technologies and growing awareness of environmental impacts, offer rural areas more opportunities than ever before. The interplay between external incentives (e.g., European Union policies) and endogenous regional development (e.g., local actors) is crucial for the successful exploitation of these opportunities for rural regeneration.

Сучасні аспекти стійкого розвитку Поліського економічного регіону

Abstract. Introduction. The strategy of sustainable development is an extremely complex and extensive plan for predicting, preventing and solving problems on which depends the future survival of all living beings. It is quite difficult to operate with global goals without sufficient awareness of what is happening at the regional and local levels. Thus, a problem arises in the study of aspects of sustainable development of a specific economic region of Ukraine with the aim of determining its main properties and ways for improving regional policy. Purpose. Research of the current state of economy, ecology and social trends, definition of the main aspects and development of proposals for ways to improve and accelerate the sustainable development of the Polissya economic district. Results. Polissya economic district is a region where every global goal of sustainable development must be implemented at the local level, because economic sphere, environment, and society need considerable changes. Social sphere is dominated by depressive processes, the environment is constantly polluted by harmful emissions from enterprises and radiation pollution. All this factors directly affect the economy, which has lost its former potential and has focused only on extracting raw materials. The war became a catalyst for large-scale negative tendencies. But despite the factors listed above, Polissya economic district has a great potential in agro-industrial complex, tourism sector, and available renewable energy sources. Conclusions. Sustainable development should be completely supported by local population and government. Also implementation of environmental management system will be strong impulse for responsible and enhanced restoration of the environment, which will directly affect the condition of health of the local population.

Analysis of ecological quality changes and influencing factors in Xiangjiang River Basin

The Xiangjiang River Basin is an important part of the Yangtze River Basin and an important area in Hunan Province. Thus, taking steps to protect the ecological sustainability of the Xiangjiang River Basin, such as the construction of the protection of ecological security in Hunan Province and the Yangtze River Protection Law, is important for national projects However, research on the ecological quality of the Xiangjiang River Basin is mostly biased toward the evaluation of ecosystem services or an individual ecological index. Furthermore, a long-term evaluation of multiple indicators is lacking. Therefore, based on Google Earth Engine and geographic detectors, the remote sensing ecological index was used to evaluate this area. The year-by-year research on the Xiangjiang River Basin from 2001 to 2020 clarified its past ecological quality change trend, explored the reasons for the ecological quality change, and provided a basis for protecting its ecological quality. The following results are presented. (1) Regarding spatial distribution, areas with poor ecological environments are mainly distributed at the centers of Chang-Zhu-Tan, Hengyang, and various districts and counties. (2) Regarding the time variation, the ecological quality of the Xiangjiang River Basin from 2001 to 2020 showed a slight downward trend, with a downward slope of approximately − 0.0000357143; a rapid increase, with a growth rate of approximately 0.00395; And an overall improvement over 20 years. The areas with declining ecological quality are mainly located in the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration, the city center of Hengyang, and the county centers of various county towns. (3) The factor detection results show that human factors play a key role in population density and land use, with average q values of 0.429 and 0.353, respectively. Among natural factors, elevation and slope play a key role, with average q values of 0.230 and 0.351, respectively; hence, Land use directly affect on the ecological quality in a location. These findings will provide important information for managers to formulate ecological restoration measures for the Xiangjiang River.

Preface: Emerging trends in aquatic ecology IV

Preface: Emerging trends in aquatic ecology IV

Machine learning-based prediction and assessment of recent dynamics of forest net primary productivity in Romania

While the analysis of spatio-temporal changes in the net primary productivity (NPP) of forests can provide critical information on carbon cycle and climate change, these ecological trends have remained unclear in many countries worldwide, including Romania. By using complex (satellite, forest and climate) data, many sophisticated (machine learning) algorithms and some widely applied (the Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator) statistical procedures, this study investigates, for the first time, recent forest NPP trends (1987–2018) that occurred in Romania, in relation to climate change that affected the country over the past decades. Following the modelling, mapping and assessment of NPP dynamics, results showed almost exclusively positive trends for this ecological parameter, which accounts for ∼99% of all forest NPP changes that occurred throughout the country, after 1987. Interestingly, almost three quarters (∼73%) of all NPP increasing trends are statistically significant, which indicates that Romania's forests have recently experienced a large-scale improvement in carbon fluxes and stocks. Investigations of eco-climatic relationships suggest that climate change has partially contributed to these surprising NPP dynamics observed in recent decades. All these findings can provide valuable information for forest management and for many stakeholders and policymakers who operate in the forestry and climate fields in Romania.