Ecological Zones Research Articles

Threshold effects of vegetation cover on production-living-ecological functions coordination in Xiangyang City, China.

Clarifying the nonlinear impacts of vegetation cover on production-living-ecological function (PLEF) coordination is essential to ecological restoration regulation and sustainable land use. However, the threshold effect of vegetation cover on PLEF coordination, particularly in major function-oriented zones (MFZs), has yet to receive attention. This study selected Xiangyang City, China, as the case area to identify the impact threshold of vegetation cover on PLEF coordination from the perspectives of the region as a whole and MFZ, respectively. The results showed that the PLEF coordination was high in the center and east while low in the west. For production-ecological function, 51.46% of the area was primarily coordinated and above, while for production-living function, 61.35% of the city area was severely uncoordinated. Vegetation cover was high in the west and low in the east. A negative correlation existed between vegetation cover and PLEF coordination. Urban built-up areas with lower vegetation cover showed higher levels of PLEF coordination, whereas western mountainous regions with higher vegetation cover demonstrated lower levels of PLEF coordination. Furthermore, vegetation cover exhibited a pronounced threshold effect on PLEF coordination, featuring conspicuous regional variations. The identified thresholds of vegetation cover for PLEF coordination in key development, agricultural production, and key ecological function zones were 0.3896, 0.2272, and 0.8161, respectively. Our study provides scientific references for the impact assessment of ecological restoration and the synergistic enhancement of land functions.

Global Versus Local? A Study on the Synergistic Relationship of Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs from Multiple Perspectives Based on Ecological Restoration Zoning of National Land Space—A Case Study of Liaoning Province

Clarifying the trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services in Liaoning’s ecological restoration zones is crucial for strengthening the positioning of ecological restoration zones and optimizing ecosystem services. This study is based on “Liaoning Provincial Land Spatial Planning (2021–2035)” and divides the area into ecological restoration zones. We utilized the InVEST model, ArcGIS Pro, and Geoda in this study to quantify five ecosystem services (Soil Conservation, Carbon Storage, Habitat Quality, Water Yield, and Food Production) and constructed an evaluation framework to assess the trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services at both global and local levels. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The global relationships among ecosystem services in different ecological restoration zones are ranked as: strong trade-offs (35.51%) > weak trade-offs (33.17%) > low synergies (29.09%) > high synergies (2.24%); (2) The area exhibiting synergistic relationships between pairs of local ecosystem services in ecological restoration zones is larger than the area exhibiting trade-offs; (3) The strongest synergy is observed between water yield and soil conservation, while the most significant trade-off occurs between food production and soil conservation. These relationships exhibit similar spatial characteristics in the WSFR, SWCR, and WCR zones; (4) The proportion of areas showing trade-offs and synergies differs between global and local scales.

Microbial diversity in the arid and semi-arid soils of Botswana.

To date, little research has been conducted on the landscape-scale distribution of soil microbial communities and the factors driving their community structures in the drylands of Africa. We investigated the influence of landscape-scale variables on microbial community structure and diversity across different ecological zones in Botswana. We used amplicon sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and a suite of environmental parameters to determine drivers of microbial community structure. Bacterial communities were dominated by Actinomycetota (21.1%), Pseudomonadota (15.9%), and Acidobacteriota (10.9%). The dominant fungal communities were Ascomycota (57.3%) and Basidiomycota (7.5%). Soil pH, mean annual precipitation, total organic carbon, and soil ions (calcium and magnesium) were the major predictors of microbial community diversity and structure. The co-occurrence patterns of bacterial and fungal communities were influenced by soil pH, with network-specific fungi-bacteria interactions observed. Potential keystone taxa were identified for communities in the different networks. Most of these interactions were between microbial families potentially involved in carbon cycling, suggesting functional redundancy in these soils. Our findings highlight the significance of soil pH in determining the landscape-scale structure of microbial communities in Botswana's dryland soils.

Estimation of genetic polymorphism in quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) genotypes using morphological traits and molecular (DNA barcoding) characterizations.

Quince (Cydonia oblonga) is a medicinal plant and a member of family Rosaceae. It is native plant of Asia Minor and Europe. It is used in production of jam and jellies and also as a remedy of several ailments. The present study was conducted to evaluate the genetic polymorphism based on morphological and molecular traits. Different varieties of Quince were collected from different ecological zones of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan and a total of 26 different morphological traits were recorded among studied genotypes. Based on qualitative morphological trait study, the variety collected from Tindodag was unique one with highest fruit weight (328.82 g). The lowest fruit weight (68.38 g) was recorded for Talash genotype. The Charbagh and Tindodag genotypes showed highest seed length (10.6 mm) while genotypes of Chitral was recorded as lowest (8.4 mm). Statistically, significant level of variation was noted with coefficient of variance ranged from 2.23% to 30.38%. Based on correlation analysis, fruit length had strongly correlation with fruit weight (r = 0.89**), Average Fruit width was found significant with fruit weight (r = 0.90**). Similarly, the Core Width was found strongly significant with Core Length (r = 0.95**). ANOVA analysis indicated 10 quantitative characters to be highly significant, 2 significant and 1 insignificant. Principal component analysis was also computed for the 13 quantitative traits with Eigen value of 0.48 and a total variance of 97.78%. The first principal component shows total variation of 52.52%. In PC2 the total variation was 80.15%, PC3 94.06% while in PC4 it was 97.78%. The NCBI BLAST results shows that all the genotypes have similar origin except Tindodag genotype, which shows differences in its origin. Accession number for all other genotypes is MN216014.1, while accession number of Tindodag genotype is KF861967.1. Based on this study, it can be concluded that Tindodag genotype is unique out of the studied localities. NCBI BLAST have provided further support for the drawn conclusion.

Extracting above-ground biomass in areas corresponding to FAO’s definition of “Forest” using open geospatial data: Results for ASEAN

Abstract. In this study, we extracted above-ground biomass (AGB) information for forests in different ecological zones of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) by integrating freely-available global AGB, forest, and ecological zone map products. Our objective was to assess the suitability of the data and proposed approach for national reporting of forest carbon stocks. We compared the satellite-derived AGB values of forests in ASEAN countries with the corresponding AGB values provided by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) in their Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (which are derived from ground-based measurements of forest AGB). For this, we used a map integration approach that ensures that AGB data is extracted from areas corresponding to the Food and Agricultural Association (FAO) of the UN’s definitions of “forest” and “ecological zones”, as recommended by the relevant IPCC Guidelines. We found that the average satellite-derived AGB values extracted for each ecological zone were generally lower than the values for natural forests (but higher than the values for plantation forests) provided in the IPCC Guidelines. Further investigation showed that this was partly due to the presence of many erroneously low AGB values for forests in the extracted results, caused by errors in the data masks applied to the original global AGB map, including masks of cropland, urban areas, bare soil, and water bodies. Our findings suggest that further processing is necessary before using satellite-derived data for national reporting of forest carbon stocks in ASEAN countries, and we give a few possible options for this.

Spatiotemporal Evolution, Driving Mechanisms, and Zoning Optimization Pathways of Ecosystem Health in China

The health status of ecosystems is an important prerequisite for ensuring regional ecological security. Exploring the spatiotemporal patterns, driving mechanisms, and zoning regulation pathways of ecosystem health is of great significance for achieving co-ordinated and sustainable regional ecosystems. This study uses China as a case area and applies the InVEST model to measure integrated ecosystem services and incorporates it into an evaluation framework for ecosystem health based on the “Vigor-Organization-Resilience-Ecosystem Services” (VORS) model. It reveals the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ecosystem health in China from 2000 to 2020 and employs the geodetector and spatiotemporal geographically weighted regression model to analyze the main influencing factors and spatial differentiation characteristics, thereby exploring ecological management zoning and optimization pathways. The study results show that (1) during the study period, the overall ecosystem health level in China showed a declining trend, dropping from 0.397 in 2000 to 0.377 in 2020. (2) Overall, China’s ecosystem health exhibits strong spatial positive correlation and spatial clustering characteristics, with a basic pattern of lower values in the northwest and higher values in the southeast. (3) Vegetation coverage, population density, density of road network, and per capita GDP are the main influencing factors of ecosystem health in China. (4) China is divided into five types of Ecological Management Zones: Ecological Conservation Zone, Ecological Enhancement Zone, Ecological Buffer Zone, Ecological Remediation Zone, and Ecological Reshaping Zone, with differentiated strategies proposed for optimizing ecosystem health in each zone.

A Review of Policy Progress in China's Ecological Civilization Demonstration Zone

Under the background of increasing urbanization rate and global warming, China urgently needs to address the issue of promoting economic growth while reducing the intensity of carbon emissions to achieve harmony between economic growth and environmental protection and promote sustainable development. This study takes China's ecological civilization demonstration areas construction policy as the main object of analysis. The literature review method would summarize the specific pathways of this policy to achieve carbon emission reduction in terms of eco-economy and eco-institution. By classifying and analyzing its existing carbon reduction pathways, this study found that reforms and innovations were made in this policy, mainly in eco-economy and eco-institution. China's Ecological Civilization Demonstration Zones (ECDZs) policy, to achieve carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality, has used both green technological innovation and economic reforms to upgrade the industrial structure and improve the energy structure. However, the above policies are broad and cannot meet the regional differences. Therefore, this paper gives the corresponding recommendations: to increase the support of financial and financing policies, optimize the energy infrastructure in urban areas, and develop green transport and green buildings.

Multi-Scale Supply and Demand Relationships of Ecosystem Services Under Multiple Scenarios and Ecological Zoning to Promote Sustainable Urban Ecological Development in Arid Regions of China

Predicting and analyzing the supply and demand relationship of ecosystem services provides theoretical support for the improvement of the ecological environment. This paper takes Bortala, a typical oasis city with a fragile ecological environment in the arid northwest region, as a case study. Based on the GMOP-PLUS-InVEST coupled model, it predicts the coupling coordination and matching degree of the supply and demand connection of ecosystem services such as habitat quality (HQ), carbon storage (CS), water yield (WY), and soil erosion (SD) under four scenarios. The findings indicate that from 2020 to 2035, HQ, CS, and WY have basically achieved coupling coordination at both scales. However, there is a notable disparity in the supply and demand of water resource production and carbon emission production. To ensure the long-term balance of ecosystem service supply and demand (ESSD), the research area was ultimately divided into five ecological zones: ecological conservation zone, ecological agriculture zone, ecological moderate development zone, ecological improvement zone, and ecological protection zone. It could offer insights for guiding the sustainable growth of ecologically vulnerable zones in the future.

Autonomous Extraction Technology for Aquaculture Ponds in Complex Geological Environments Based on Multispectral Feature Fusion of Medium-Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery

Coastal aquaculture plays a crucial role in global food security and the economic development of coastal regions, but it also causes environmental degradation in coastal ecosystems. Therefore, the automation, accurate extraction, and monitoring of coastal aquaculture areas are crucial for the scientific management of coastal ecological zones. This study proposes a novel deep learning- and attention-based median adaptive fusion U-Net (MAFU-Net) procedure aimed at precisely extracting individually separable aquaculture ponds (ISAPs) from medium-resolution remote sensing imagery. Initially, this study analyzes the spectral differences between aquaculture ponds and interfering objects such as saltwater fields in four typical aquaculture areas along the coast of Liaoning Province, China. It innovatively introduces a difference index for saltwater field aquaculture zones (DIAS) and integrates this index as a new band into remote sensing imagery to increase the expressiveness of features. A median augmented adaptive fusion module (MEA-FM), which adaptively selects channel receptive fields at various scales, integrates the information between channels, and captures multiscale spatial information to achieve improved extraction accuracy, is subsequently designed. Experimental and comparative results reveal that the proposed MAFU-Net method achieves an F1 score of 90.67% and an intersection over union (IoU) of 83.93% on the CHN-LN4-ISAPS-9 dataset, outperforming advanced methods such as U-Net, DeepLabV3+, SegNet, PSPNet, SKNet, UPS-Net, and SegFormer. This study’s results provide accurate data support for the scientific management of aquaculture areas, and the proposed MAFU-Net method provides an effective method for semantic segmentation tasks based on medium-resolution remote sensing images.

Decentralization Policies and Rural Socio-Economic Growth in Senegal: An Exploration of Their Contributions to Development and Transformation

Since proclaiming independence in 1960, Senegal has faced economic and demographic imbalances across its regions. To address these disparities, the government launched decentralization policies in three major phases, aiming to stimulate socio-economic growth at the local level. This study examines the impact of these policies on urban–rural development using socio-economic data between 2000 and 2020, and a multiple linear regression model in the entirety of Senegal. The findings reveal significant correlations between rural population growth, access to electricity, fertilizer availability, and per capita cultivated land, all positively associated with agricultural productivity. Additionally, rapid urbanization (47.3%) and weak land tenure (88.6%) adversely affect ecological systems and contribute to the proliferation of slums. A notable lack of health facilities per capita highlights a severe gap in healthcare accessibility. The study suggests increasing agricultural income, creating jobs, and promoting policies that support rural collective entrepreneurship as critical steps. It also recommends adopting a “one ecological zone, one economic activity” strategy to reduce economic disparities and encourage sustainable development in rural Senegal.

Greening urban areas in line with population density and ecological zone can reduce premature mortality

Urban green space and urban compactness are each important principles for designing healthy, climate-resilient cities. The principles can co-exist, but greening may come at density’s expense if not considered deliberately. Existing studies estimating health impacts of greening scenarios have not considered what level of greenness is attainable for different population densities. Here, using the square kilometer as the unit of analysis, we estimate non-accidental mortality that could be prevented among adults older than 30 by greening that small area to a level of greenness assumed to be attainable based on its broader urban area (N = 15,917 globally), population density, and ecological zone. Results suggest a large potential for urban greening even in the most population-dense parts of cities such that on average 54 deaths per 100,000 could be prevented per year in those areas. That estimate may be about 25% higher or lower due to uncertainty in the underlying model.

Cost of Productions and Partial Budget Analysis of Coffee (<i>Coffea arabica</i> L.) Seedling Across Various Pot Sizes and Biochar-Based Media Preparations

Coffee cultivation mainly lies in the production of coffee seedlings with desirable characteristics under the recommended nursery management operations. Any improper handling made at early stage would remain to cause poor field performances. Biochar is considered as a soil conditioner and a carrier for plant nutrients, which improve the different soil functions, as an amendment to improve soil fertility, soil pH, available phosphorus, organic carbon, and water retention. The experiment was conducted to provide detail information on production costs and gross net profits of reduced sizes poly bag and biochar application used for coffee seedling production under small scale farmers. Biochar to topsoil blended at 1:3 ratio was found to increase (SVI) over the local and standard practice by 66.50% and 7.50%, respectively. Hence, combined effects of reduced pot size (13x19cm) with biochar mixed topsoil 1:3 noticed to significantly improve soil chemical conditions and growth response of coffee seedlings under nursery conditions at the study area. Besides, the result of simple partial budget analysis indicated the cost effectiveness with reduced polybag sizes as compared to the conventional pot sizes, especially for production, transportation and early stage field transplanting of quality coffee seedlings in large quantities. However, it is imperative to assess the effects of the present promising pot size and pot media treatments under field performance by considering growth, yield, and quality performances and profitability to smallholder coffee farmers over locations and year in the study area and other similar agro ecological zones in the country.

Assessment of dyna clue model for prediction of spatio-temporal dynamics of urbanisation and green space in Jaipur district, Rajasthan (India)

Urbanisation in Jaipur, Rajasthan’s capital, has significantly impacted land use and land cover (LULC) over the past four decades. This study addresses the pressing issue of how rapid urban expansion affects green spaces and environmental balance. Utilizing satellite imagery and a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, LULC maps for 1993, 2003, 2013, and 2023 were generated to analyze changes in land cover, including agriculture, barren land, built-up areas, vegetation, wasteland, fallow land, and water bodies. The Dyna-CLUE model, incorporating variables such as elevation, slope, aspect, and proximity to streams and roads, was employed to forecast LULC changes for 2033 and 2043. The findings reveal a marked increase in built-up areas at the expense of vegetative cover, driven by urbanization, infrastructural development, agricultural expansion, climate change, and policy decisions. With Kappa coefficients indicating high agreement between classified land cover and ground truth data (84–90% accuracy), the study projects continued urban growth and further decline in vegetation. This underscores the urgent need for sustainable land use planning and environmental conservation in Jaipur. Proposed strategies to address these issues include establishing ecological zones, enforcing green building regulations, promoting mixed-use development, and implementing a 15-min green space policy. These measures aim to enhance green space distribution and support Jaipur’s transition towards a greener urban environment.

Virulence perspective genomic research unlocks the secrets of Rhizoctonia solani associated with banded sheath blight in Barnyard Millet (Echinochloa frumentacea).

Banded sheath blight (Bsb) disease, caused by Rhizoctonia solani, is an emerging problem in barnyard millet cultivation. One of the significant goals of pathogenomic research is to identify genes responsible for pathogenicity in the fungus. A virulence profiling-based approach was employed and six R. solani isolates were collected from various ecological zones of India. The morphological parameters and virulence of all of the six R. solani isolates were investigated. The most virulent strain was designated as RAP2 and its genome has been sequenced, assembled, and annotated. The RAP2 genome is 43.63 megabases in size and comprises 10.95% repetitive DNA, within which 46% are retroelements, 8% are DNA transposons, and 46% are unidentified DNA. The Gene Ontology (GO) annotation of RAP2 proteins revealed that "phosphorylation", "membrane", and "ATP binding" have the highest gene enrichment in the "biological process", "cellular component" and "molecular function" domains, respectively. The genome comprises a majority of secretory proteins in the pectin lyase fold/virulence factor superfamily, which break down plant cell wall polymers to extract saccharides. The RAP2 genome is comparable to R. solani, which infects maize and rice, but it diverges further from soybean in terms of nucleotide-level genetic similarity. Orthologous clustering of RAP2 protein sequences with R. solani infecting maize, rice, and soybean yields 5606 proteins shared across all genomes. GO analysis of 25 proteins specific to the RAP2 genome found enrichment in the ethylene response, which can cause spore germination and infection in host plants. Interestingly, a 28-bp deletion in the RAP2 strain's cutinase domain was discovered in the cutinase protein, which might be important in the infection process, perhaps rendering the enzyme inactive or allowing the pathogen to infect barnyard millet while avoiding host defense. This study sheds light on the genetic makeup of R. solani, allowing researchers to discover critical genes related with pathogenicity as well as potential targets for fungicide development.

Ecological effects of land use and land cover change in the typical ecological functional zones of Egypt

Evaluation the value of ecosystem services can provide crucial reference for formulating ecological protection plans and making informed management decision. This study utilized Landsat remote sensing images as the data source and employed land-use transfer chains and land use transfer matrix methods to compare the ecological effects of land use and land cover change(LUCC) in the two typical ecological functional zones of Egypt, one area isthe northern region of Egypt with the Priority function of Economic Development, another area is the Nasser Reservoir area with the priority function of water conservation. The key findings are as follows: (1)The northern region of Egypt and the Nasser Reservoir exhibited different trends across the ecological functional zones.From 1985 to 2020, the northern region of Egypt is characterized by an increase in arable land and impervious surface,the Nasser Reservoir area is distinguished by the expansion of water and a reduction in sand.(2) Key land transfer patterns vary significantly between the ecological functional zones of the northern region of Egypt and the Nasser Reservoir. From 1985 to 2020, the Egypt’s northern region experienced significant shifts between arable land, sand, and impervious surfaces. The conversion of arable land to impervious surfaces represented 2.41% of the total arable land transfer area, while sand converted to impervious surfaces accounted for 11.68% of the total sand transfer area. In the Nasser Reservoir region, significant conversions occurred between water, grasslands, and sand. Sand converted to water made up 3.83% of the total sand transfer area, while grassland converted to water compriseed 5.38% of the total grassland transfer area. (3) The ecological benefits of the northern region of Egypt and the Nasser Reservoir have increased significantly. In northern region of Egypt, the primary drivers of this increase in ecological service value are the conversion of arable land and grasslands, along with the ecological development and utilization of sand. In the Nasser Reservoir area,the inflow of water and the continued outflow of sands are the main factors contributing to the rise in ecosystem service value. (4) Differentiated LUCC management should be implemented for different ecological functional zones. In northern region of Egypt, the focus should be on balancing ecological security with human development, while the Nasser Reservoir area should prioritize water resource protection and sustainable development. The research findings are not only significant for optimizing LUCC but also for enhancing ecosystem service functions in Egypt.

The Process of Soil Carbon Sequestration in Different Ecological Zones of Qingtu Lake in the Arid–Semi-Arid Region of Western China

As a vital component of the global carbon pool, soils in arid and semi-arid regions play a significant role in carbon sequestration. In the context of global warming, increasing temperatures and moisture levels promote the transformation of barren land into wetlands, enhancing carbon sinks. However, the overdevelopment of oases and excessive extraction of groundwater lead to the opposite effect, reducing carbon sequestration. This study examines two soil types—meadow soil (MS) and swamp soil (SS)—from Qingtu Lake, an arid lake in western China. It analyzes the sources of soil inorganic carbon, the composition and origin of dissolved organic matter (DOM), and the relationships between microbes, soil organic carbon (SOC), soil inorganic carbon (SIC), mineral composition, and soil texture. The results indicate that inorganic carbon in the study area consists of both primary carbonate minerals and secondary pedogenic carbonates. The DOM primarily consists of two components, both identified as terrestrial humic substances. In meadow soils, bacterial activity drives the weathering of plagioclase, which releases Ca2+ necessary for the formation of pedogenic carbonates. Plagioclase also provides colonization sites for microbes and, along with microbial activity, participates in the soil carbon cycle. Within the soil community, bacteria appear to play a more critical role than fungi. In contrast, microbial contributions to the carbon cycle in swamp soils are weaker, with minerals predominantly interacting with organic carbon to form mineral-associated organic matter, thus promoting the soil carbon cycle. These findings have important implications for understanding soil carbon sinks under different micro-ecological conditions in arid and semi-arid regions. Through targeted human intervention, it is possible to enhance carbon sequestration in these areas, contributing to the mitigation of global climate change.

The Assessment of Land Suitability for Urban Expansion and Renewal for Coastal Urban Agglomerations: A Pilot Study of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Effectively and rationally allocating land resources, while coordinating urban expansion with internal renewal strategies, is crucial for achieving high-quality regional development in coastal urban agglomerations. Land-use suitability assessment (LSA) is a key method for coastal land-use planning, but it is primarily used to delineate ecological redlines or areas for urban expansion, often overlooking the spatial analysis needed for urban renewal. This is particularly critical in coastal urban agglomerations facing land scarcity and ecological fragility. Here, we combined land use and the Analytical Hierarchical Process (to consider stakeholder priorities) in a Minimum cumulative resistance model (MCRM) to determine suitable coastal urban growth and renewal based on a suite of 12 indicators relevant to development intensity and stock space. Application to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) indicates a dominance of the Ecological Buffer Zone (70.5%), and the available stock space in the GBA comprises only 9.2% of the total area. Our modeling framework tailored different development strategies for different cities: Huizhou and Zhaoqing had space for urban expansion to varying degrees, while other cities were found to be suitable for urban renewal due to low stock space and high development intensity. Our modeling approach, incorporating stakeholder input and objective evaluation of geographic land-use information, can assist planners in improving ecological security while promoting high-quality developments in coastal areas.

Attribution of Vegetation Dynamics in the Yellow River Water Conservation Area Based on the Deep ConvLSTM Model

Climate change and human activities have significantly impacted the long-term growth of vegetation, thereby altering the ecosystem’s response mechanisms. The Yellow River Water Conservation Area (YRWCA) is a critical ecological functional zone in China. Since 1982, the vegetation in the YRWCA has changed significantly, and the primary drivers of vegetation which changed before and after 2000 were identified as climate change and human activities, respectively. However, the extent to which different drivers contribute to the vegetation dynamics of the YRWCA remains uncertain. In this study, we introduced a modified deep Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory (ConvLSTM) model to quantify the contributions of climate change and human activities to vegetation change while considering the spatiotemporal heterogeneity. We identified areas with minimal human activity before 2000 using the residual trend method, and used the regional data from these areas to train the model. Subsequently, we applied the trained deep ConvLSTM model to perform an attribution analysis after 2000. The results show that the deep ConvLSTM effectively captures the impacts of climate change on vegetation growth and outperforms the widely used Random Forest model (RF). Despite the fact that the input data of RF were optimized, ConvLSTM still distinctly outperformed RF, achieving R2, MAE, and RMSE values of 0.99, 0.013, and 0.018, respectively, compared to RF’s corresponding values of 0.94, 0.038, and 0.045. Since 2000, the regional normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) has shown a broad increasing trend, particularly in dryland, primarily induced by human activities from 2006 to 2015. Furthermore, an analysis of changes in regional land use, particularly in drylands, revealed that the highest magnitude of conversion of farmland back to forest or grass was recorded from 2000 to 2005. However, the most significant contributions from human activities occurred from 2006 to 2015, indicating a time lag in vegetation recovery from these ecological programs. The attribution results provide valuable insights for the implementation of ecological programs, and the introduced deep ConvLSTM proves the suitability of deep learning models that capture spatiotemporal features in vegetation growth simulations, allowing for broader applications.

Spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem service bundles and the driving factors in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Defining a multi-service spatial pattern and ecosystem packages is the key to ensuring regional ecological security and sustainable development. Ecosystem service bundles can effectively discern the interactions among multiple services and regionalize ecological functional zones. Aiming at a range of environmental and ecological challenges in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, such as water scarcity, soil erosion, land degradation, poor forest and grassland quality, and shrinking agricultural land, the spatial pattern and driving forces of eight crux ecosystem services, including product supply, soil conservation, water conservation, carbon storage, sand fixation, environment purification, biological diversity and recreation culture, were analyzed by combining multiple model algorithms. Additionally, spatial system clustering was employed to identify ecosystem services bundles and optimize the ecological functional zoning. The results revealed significant spatial heterogeneity of the eight ecosystem services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. High product supply concentrated in plain regions, while the rest seven ecosystem services were dominant in in mountainous areas. The region can be classified into four service bundles: ecological conservation service (ECS), ecological restoration service (ERS), product supply service (PSS) and ecological fragile service (EFS). ECS and ERS are dominated by regulating and supporting services, which are primarily driven by climatic factors and NDVI. ERS exhibits relatively low service level and is the crucial area for future ecological restoration. PSS is dominated by food supply, with land use change being the primary driving force. At present, with the rapid urbanization, various ecosystem services provided by EFS is inadequate. In the future, urban ecological construction should be strengthened to enhance regional ecosystem services capabilities.

Exploring an adaptive management model for “status-optimization-regulation” of mining city in transition: A case study of Huangshi, China

Mining cities face the challenges of ecological transformation and sustainable development after mineral depletion. Thus, ecological space optimization and adaptive management are pivotal after ecological restoration project, but easily neglected. Taking Huangshi in Hubei Province as an example, a top-down adaptive management model for regional mining ecological space integrating status-optimization-regulation (SOR) was established based on land system resilience (LSR) evaluation, circuit theory, complex network model and community discovery algorithm. The results showed that i) As the LSR increased, the land use structure shifted from non-ecological zones to forest and cropland, indicating that balancing agriculture and forest protection was crucial for increasing LSR in Huangshi. i) The ecological networks (ENs) of Huangshi had an irregular fishnet pattern, with densely intricate corridors in the south and broader, sparser ones in the north, and numerous ecological barriers near the mining area. Furthermore, the distribution of ecological sources and corridors displayed complementarity and hierarchy. iii) The optimized ENs exhibited higher connectivity and efficiency under disturbance, reducing corridor redundancy and migration costs. iv) The ENs clusters were classified into five types based on ecological connectivity: ecological buffer zone, priority restoration zone, moderate restoration zone, natural restoration zone, and moderate development zone, and tailored ecological regulatory strategies were proposed. The findings provide practice-oriented guidance for the sustainable development of mining cities, and offer a direct approach to support conscious, clear, and coherent adaptive management of ecological restoration in rapidly changing environments.