Extensive Urban Development Research Articles

Effect of smart city construction on an urban transition to a low-carbon economy: evidence from China.

China is currently in a new era of an urban transition to a low-carbon economy and digital economic development. Smart cities, as an advanced form of information-based urban development, may be the key to the urban transition to low-carbon emissions. This paper examined the effect of smart city construction (SCC) on urban low-carbon transitions and its transmission mechanisms in China from the dual perspectives of reducing urban total carbon emissions (TCE) and improving urban total-factor carbon emission efficiency (TFCEE). Utilizing a multi-period difference in differences (DID) method, this study was conducted based on panel data of 245 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2021. The results demonstrated that SCC both reduced TCE and enhanced TFCEE. The effects of SCC were stronger in cities with more stringent environmental regulations. SCC achieved the dual effect of reducing TCE and enhancing urban TFCEE by promoting green technological progress and a low-carbon transformation of city residents' lifestyles. Moreover, optimization of the industrial structure was also a transmission mechanism for SCC to improve TFCEE. These conclusions provide an empirical basis for the SCC to empower low-carbon transitions of cities and help countries in different regions to transform the extensive urban development mode and promote urban low-carbon economic development.

Optimizing urban resource efficiency: A scenario analysis of shared sports facilities in fostering sustainable communities in Nanjing, China

Despite extensive urban infrastructure development, a shortage of community resources and amenities, particularly for physical activity, remains pervasive in high-density Chinese cities. A joint-use agreement (JUA) allows community access to school sports facilities, providing a low-cost approach to increasing the number of sports facilities available for residents’ use. To demonstrate the potential benefits of JUA and optimize the efficiency of urban resources, this study proposes a JUA scenario for football pitches in Nanjing, China, using a walking route-based methodology. In this scenario, the football pitches catchment areas expanded from 66.19 km2 to 169.46 km2 and the percentage of residential building points of interest within the catchment areas increased from 35.39% to 91.46%. The research results indicate that JUA can significantly reduce the travel costs for residents to access sports services, and it holds significant implications for urban walkability, physical activities and sustainable communities. The scenario analysis methodology applied in the study is expected to be broadly applicable to other studies on the accessibility of urban facilities and the findings provide valuable insights for urban planning practice in China.

Solid runoff assessment of Moscow territory

Over half of the existing river valleys and gullies on the territory of Moscow (within the Moscow Ring Road) for the XVIII–XX centuries were buried because of land development. Along with this, a network of storm-water drains (underground pipes) was built with an average density of 6.9 km/km2. Now the impermeable surfaces (roofs of buildings, sidewalks, roads etc.) cover 50% of total Moscow territory. Surface runoff, including soil, suspended and dissolve loads now enters remaining streams and ponds through storm-water network. It has been estimated, that on average the annual solid runoff from the surface area of 880 km2 is about 160–250 m3/km2 (or 2.6–4 ton/ha per year). About 100 m3/km2 of sediment per year is being washed off from flat surfaces (e.g. fluvial terraces) with amplitudes of less than 6–7 m. The reason of increase sedimentation and dissolved substances in runoff is a poor maintained storm-water network, extensive urban development, and intensification of aeolian transit from construction sites. The total quantity of particulate matter (suspended or bedload) coming from the storm-water drains lead to an explosive increase in sediment runoff exceeding the transporting capacity of the preserved rivers. The potential of the Moskva River to remove the increased runoff of sediments and pollutants has now been completely exhausted.

Metaphorical Architecture of Tanean Lanjhang as a programming concept for Indonesia Islamic Science Park (IISP) – Madura, towards Sustainable Urban Tourism

The current trend in Indonesia involves extensive urban development across various sectors, including tourism. The province of East Java has plans to create an area that not only entertains but also educates and imparts cultural and Islamic values. This concept is known as the Indonesia Islamic Science Park (IISP), which is intended to be built on Madura Island. However, the Madurese community holds strong reservations towards modern infrastructure due to their cultural traditions. Therefore, the design concept for the Indonesia Islamic Science Park serves as an alternative approach to address these concerns. This research employs an intangible metaphorical approach that maps elements of the traditional Tanean Lanjhang house arrangement pattern into zones within the Indonesia Islamic Science Park. Data collection related to Tanean Lanjhang includes literature review and field surveys. The transformation process utilizes source-to-target mapping frameworks. This mapping is carried out to select source objects that can be explored for information to be directed towards the target domain (architecture). This data or information will be reduced into design criteria to be used in formulating the spatial program and zoning for the Indonesia Islamic Science Park area. Ultimately, a spatial program concept like this can become the hallmark of the Indonesia Islamic Science Park, offering a unique tourist destination that is not only reminiscent of the local culture but is also readily embraced by all members of the community.

“Flood inundation mapping of upstream region in the Adyar River basin: Integrating hydrologic engineering centre's river analysis system (HEC-RAS) approach with groundwater considerations”

Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, has grappled with recurrent devastating floods, notably in 2015 and 2021, originating from the upstream of the Adyar River basin. These events have profoundly impacted the city's growth sectors. The regions both upstream and downstream of the Adyar basin, covering Chennai and Chengalpattu districts, face increased vulnerability to severe riverine flooding due to rapid urbanization. The interplay of extensive urban development and river overflow during monsoon seasons has created conditions conducive to substantial flooding, necessitating the development of an effective flood model. This study utilizes digital elevation data and unit hydrograph analysis to estimate flood return probability water levels for various recurrence intervals, including the 10-year and 100-year events. Moreover, it investigates flood inundation, specifically in the Somangalam area, providing insights into the extent of water spread. To comprehensively address the flood dynamics, the study incorporates considerations for groundwater interactions. The overarching objective remains to identify the most vulnerable zones within the Adyar River region prone to flooding. Accurate identification of these vulnerable areas is crucial for policymakers and stakeholders to devise proactive planning and early warning measures, enhancing disaster preparedness and resilience in the face of potential flood disasters. This approach aims to safeguard the well-being of Chennai's residents and promote sustainable development in the region.

Delineation of lineaments for groundwater prospecting in hard rocks: inferences from remote sensing and geophysical data

Egypt is grappling with water scarcity challenges, which are exacerbated by extensive urban development in arid coastal regions with rugged terrain. Although desalinated water is an alternative source in the remote Halayeib region of Southeast Egypt, its cost increases reliance on groundwater from the intricate aquifers. This study aims to accurately delineate hydro-structural features, known as lineaments, and assess their impact on the groundwater conditions in this promising region. This integrated approach involves the assessment of various spaceborne sensors, including optical (Landsat 8), Digital Elevation Models (ALOS and ASTER-DEMs), and radar (Sentinel-1), using geospatial and geostatistical techniques within the Geographic Information System (GIS). Radar-based sensors, particularly the Sentinel-1A vertical–vertical (S1A VV) polarization, outperform all other datasets in extracting lineaments, yielding 4883 lineaments that correspond to the regional geological faults. These lineaments trend in NE–SW, NNE–SSW, NW–SE, and E-W directions. The results also indicated that both digital elevation models (DEMs) were less effective, showing different orientations with azimuth angles. S1A VV proved to be highly effective in identifying subsurface fractured hard rock terrains beneath thin sedimentary covers, especially in the flat coastal area of Wadi Serimatai, where they intersected natural drainage pathways. Geoelectrical sections confirmed that there are orthogonal subsurface faults extending from fractured basement aquifers to near-surface layers. These faults align with the NE-SW and NNE-SSW directions observed in S1A VV lineaments. Geostatistical analysis revealed that S1A VV structural lineaments, lithological, and hydrogeological factors influence the occurrence of groundwater. This emphasizes the structural control over groundwater and its significant impact on water flow and storage. The study provides valuable insights for groundwater management, guiding decisions related to the development of groundwater resources.

Spatiotemporal trends of urban-induced land use and land cover change and implications on catchment surface imperviousness

Urbanization, changes in land use and land cover (LULC), and an increase in population collectively have significant impacts on urban catchments. However, a vast majority of LULC studies have been conducted using readily available satellite imagery, which often presents limitations due to its coarse spatial resolution. Such imagery fails to accurately depict the surface characteristics and diverse spectrum of LULC classifications contained within a single pixel. This study focused on the highly urbanized Dry Creek catchment in Adelaide, South Australia and aimed to determine the impact of urbanization on spatiotemporal changes in LULC and its implications for the land surface condition of the catchment. Very high spatial resolution imagery was utilized to examine changes in LULC over the past four decades. Support Vector Machine-learning-based image classification was utilized to classify and identify the changes in LULC over the study area. The classification accuracy showed strong agreement, with a kappa value greater than 0.8. The findings of this analysis showed that extensive urban development, which expanded the built-up area by 34 km2, were responsible for the decline in grass cover by 43.1 km2 over the last 40 years (1979–2019). Moreover, built-up areas, plantation, and water features, in contrast to grass cover, have demonstrated an increasing trend during the study period. The overall urban expansion over the study period was 136.6%. Urbanization intensified impervious area coverage, increasing the runoff coefficient, equivalent impervious area, and curve number by 60.6%, 60.6%, and 7.9%, respectively, while decreasing the retention capacity by 38.6%. These modifications suggest a potential variability in catchment surface runoff, prompting the need for further research to understand the surface runoff changes brought by the changes in LULC resulting from urbanization. The findings of this study can be used for land use planning and flood management.

The change of green space well-being during rapid urbanization: A case study in Jinan, China, 2006-2018.

With the rapid advancement of urbanization, the green space well-being (GSWB) of developing countries faces drastic changes and is increasingly threatened. Green and residential spaces are the core elements of GSWB; however, we know very little about the interaction and combination of the two in terms of their effect on GSWB. This study identified the spatiotemporal features of GSWB and critically examined how patterns of residential-green combinations affect GSWB. Based on land-use data for Jinan from 2006 to 2018, and using the spatial measurement tool GeoDa, we found that both green and residential space have increased significantly in central Jinan. At the macro level, the spatial correlation between the two decreased significantly; meanwhile, at the micro level, there are obvious differences in time and geography. This led to differences in the distribution of GSWB between regions with high value and those with low value. We revealed that the development, preservation, and demolition of residential and green spaces influence changes in GSWB. The positive effects on GSWB come from (1) mountain park development policy in built-up areas, (2) theme park development policy in new urban areas, and (3) urban renewal and demolition policy. The negative effects on GSWB come from (1) issues remaining from prior extensive urban development, (2) the replacement of central areas driven by urban branding, and (3) the lack of supervision of nearby facilities for new housing development. To better understand changes in GSWB, it is necessary to consider its internal residential-green spatial collaboration and propose targeted response strategies. This can help to better safeguard the quality of human settlements in the process of urbanization in developing countries.

Spatial heterogeneity in summer phytoplankton communities shaped by anthropogenic and natural effects in typical coastal bay-river systems in South China

Phytoplankton community spatial scales vary in typical coastal bay-river systems under natural and anthropogenic effects. However, their relative importance in shaping phytoplankton spatial heterogeneity has been largely uncharacterized in the literature. In this study, we performed comprehensive analyses using field monitoring, meteorological, and remote sensing datasets from a coastal bay-river system in South China (the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay-Pearl River tributaries) to examine phytoplankton spatial heterogeneity and main effects. We showed that water quality in the four water bodies of the typical coastal bay-river system in South China were relatively poor. Phytoplankton community abundance, taxonomic grouping, dominant species, and species similarity varied significantly in response to environmental gradients. We showed that Cyanophyta, Bacillatiophyta, and Chlorophyta were dominant phyla, and we observed regional variations in taxonomic groups and dominant species. Phytoplankton abundance was significantly higher in Dongjiang River and water bodies in branched bays when compared with other regions due to nutrient input from extensive agricultural and urban development, where the dominant phylum was Cyanophyta. Cyclotella (Bacillariophyta) had relatively high abundance and was widely distributed throughout the coastal bay-river system, except in the Dongjiang River. Melosira (Bacillariophyta) had relatively high abundance in Dongjiang and Xijiang Rivers, Merismopedia (Cyanophyta) dominated in the Dongjiang River and highly urbanized branched bay areas, while Microcystis (Cyanophyta) only dominated in Beijiang and Xijiang Rivers. Dominant species distributions showed apparent spatial heterogeneity in phytoplankton community composition. Species similarities between different water bodies were generally low, but phytoplankton species similarities between the Dongjiang River and water bodies in the branched bay area were relatively high, which indicated that water exchange associated with freshwater and nutrient inputs may have profoundly influenced species dispersal and dominant phytoplankton species. Redundancy analyses (RDA) demonstrated that pH, elevation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), dissolved active phosphorus (SRP), total dissolved phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) values - associated with nutrient and climate indicators were the main factors explaining structured phytoplankton spatial distributions. Variance partitioning analyses (VPA) showed that phytoplankton community variations were explained by anthropogenic factors (eutrophication) in summer. Our study improves our understanding of the natural and anthropogenic effects on phytoplankton spatial heterogeneity and provides basic study data for long-term phytoplankton evolution from river to bay areas.

Spatial Dynamics of Land Cover Change in Ternate Tengah District, Ternate City, Indonesia

The phenomenon of urban growth has become an important issue that affects the land use system and land cover in a region for several reasons, such as population growth and the economy. This phenomenon has also become one of the main environmental issues lately because it has devastated urban ecosystems. Ternate Tengah District has the highest population growth rate in Ternate City and has experienced extensive urban development due to several reasons, such as the pace of urbanization, economic growth, and population. Urbanization accelerates the demand to land for living. As a result, there will be gaps or disparities between land needs and available land, a decline in environmental carrying capacity, and potential environmental harm in the future. Spatial modeling of future land covers is needed to provide data on policy-making. GIS and remote sensing methods have been widely introduced, but the most effective one is CA-Markov. This model has been used in various areas worldwide, but its application to predicting land use change in the populous city of a small island under threat of volcanic hazards like Ternate is limited. This study aims to evaluate and forecast the land-use changes brought on by urbanization in Ternate City's Central Ternate District. We used a cellular automata-Markov chain to examine and forecast land cover changes in 2002, 2012, 2022, and 2032. The findings indicate that residential area development will increase along with population expansion and land demand. The results of this study can support the policy-making related to the future arrangement and utilization of space in The Central Ternate District.

Understanding the impacts of floods on learning quality, school facilities, and educational recovery in Indonesia.

This research is among the first pieces of work to use the comprehensive school safety (CSS) framework to assess the impacts of floods on quality learning and education infrastructure. The CSS framework is employed here to identify the level of disruption to education services following floods in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2013. The paper poses three key questions, concerning: (i) disruption to children's access to quality education during the flood emergency in 2013 and the early recovery phase; (ii) the impact of the floods on a school's physical infrastructure; and (iii) the effectiveness and level of success of the 2013 flood responses by relevant stakeholders. Combining quantitative and qualitative strategies, the paper examines the experiences of 100 schools in Jakarta. The findings suggest that the CSS framework offers a more nuanced approach to assessing post-disaster education needs. Moreover, it is also relevant for examining the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and relative losses in the education sector.

FORECASTING URBAN POPULATION GROWTH IN THE PHILIPPINES USING AUTOREGRESSIVE INTEGRATED MOVING AVERAGE (ARIMA) MODEL

The Philippines is one of the fastest urbanizing countries in the East Asia and Pacific region (Baker & Watanabe, 2017). Despite having its advantages, urbanization still has its challenges that require extensive urban management and development programs for it to be prevented and minimized. In this paper, the researchers forecasted the urban population growth of the Philippines using the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) Model. The historical data obtained from the World Bank Group was from 1960 to 2020. The R Programming Language was used as the medium for the entire forecasting process. Autocorrelation Function (ACF) and Partial Autocorrelation Function (PACF) plots, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, Phillips-Perron (PP) test, and Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt, and Shin (KPSS) test were used for testing the stationarity of the time-series data. Moreover, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), Corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc), and Schwarz Information Criteria (SIC) were used as criteria for selecting the best ARIMA model. It was shown that the best ARIMA model for forecasting the urban population growth of the country is ARIMA (20, 1, 10). This model has been formulated and chosen through the mentioned statistical tests, and criteria for validation, and was further validated using error measures. The chosen ARIMA model was proven to be accurate based on the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.18877 and the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 3.71%. The researchers found an increase in the trend of 1.95% by 2022, 2.08% by 2024, 2.19% by 2026, and 2.36% by 2028. This potential rise in urban population growth in the Philippines may improve the economy of the country for the next 6 years, but this could also imply that the underlying issues of urbanization may get worse. The researchers conclude that the Philippine national government and local government units should have better and strengthened urban management and development programs to aid these problems. Government officials and even private sectors may use this paper as a reference to have an informed decision and policy-making. KEYWORDS: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) Model, Box-Jenkins Method, Urbanization, Urban Population Growth, Forecast, R Programming Language

Quantification of Off-Channel Inundated Habitat for Pacific Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) along the Sacramento River, California, Using Remote Sensing Imagery

Off-channel areas are one of the most impacted aquatic habitats by humans globally, as extensive agricultural and urban development has limited them to roughly 10% of historical extent. This is also true for California’s Sacramento River Valley, where historically frequent widespread inundation has been reduced to a few off-channel water bodies along the mid-Sacramento River. This remaining shallow-water habitat provides crucial ecological benefits to multiple avian and fish species, but especially to floodplain-adapted species such as Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Characterizing spatiotemporal off-channel dynamics, including inundation extent and residence time, is fundamental to better understanding the intrinsic value of such habitats and their potential to support recovery actions. Remote sensing techniques have been increasingly used to map surface water at regional and local scales, with improved resolutions. As such, this study maps off-channel inundation areas and describes their temporal dynamics by analyzing pixel-based time- series of multiple water indices, modified Normalized Difference Water Index (mNDWI) and the Automated Water Extraction Index (AWEI), generated from LandSat-8 and Sentinel-2 data between 2013–2021. Quantified off-channel area was similar with each water index and method used, but improved performance was associated with Sentinel-2 products and AWEI index to identify wetted areas under lower mainstem discharges. Results indicate an uneven distribution of off-channel habitat in the study area, with limited inundated areas in upstream reaches (<16% of total off-channel area for greater flows). In addition, much less habitat exists for flows under 400 m3/s, an important migration cue for endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, limiting juvenile access to areas with enhanced rearing conditions. Off-channel habitat residence times averaged between 7 and 16 days, primarily defined by the rate of receding flows, with rapid flow recession providing marginal off-channel habitat. This study shows reasonable performance of moderate resolution LandSat-8 and Sentinel-2 remote sensing imagery to characterize shallow-water inundated habitat in higher-order rivers, and as a method to inform restoration and native fish recovery efforts.

The impact assessment of smart city policy on urban green total-factor productivity: Evidence from China

This study systematically explored the effect of smart city policy (SCP) on urban green total-factor productivity (GTFP) in China. We first measured the urban GTFP using the Luenberger productivity indicator derived from the directional distance function, and further investigated the impact of SCP on urban GTFP using the difference-in-differences (DID) model, and its heterogeneities, impact mechanism, and spatial spillover effect were examined using balanced panel data for 283 prefecture-level cities from 2004 to 2017. The study produced five key results. (1) SCP can significantly promote urban GTFP in China, and a series of robustness checks verified the validity of this finding. (2) There was a positive spatial spillover effect of SCP on GTFP in neighboring non-pilot cities, while the spillover effect on the neighboring pilot cities was poor. (3) There was heterogeneity among Chinese cities, with the promotional effect of SCP on GTFP being more significant in eastern cities, super cities, non-resource-based cities, and cities with high levels of human capital, financial development, and information and communication infrastructure construction. (4) The regression results of a mediating effect model showed that SCP can promote GTFP through technological innovation, upgrading the industrial structure, and resource allocation optimization. (5) Smart city policy improved urban GTFP mainly by improving technical efficiency rather than technological progress. These conclusions are of great theoretical and practical significance for the Chinese government, and can be used to transform the extensive urban development mode and achieve high-quality development.

Functional Responses of Phytoplankton Assemblages to Watershed Land Use and Environmental Gradients

Watershed land-use changes have been identified as major threats to lake fauna, subsequently affecting ecosystem functioning. In this study, the functional-based approach was used to examine the effects of land use and environmental changes on phytoplankton communities in four selected lakes in Northeast China. We also identified the sensitive functional traits as indicators of environmental stressors. The integration of RLQ analysis with the fourth-corner approach significantly identified five of 18 functional trait categories, including flagella, filamentous, unicellular, mixotrophic, and chlorophyll c, as potential indicators to changes in watershed land-use intensity and environmental gradients. Significant relationships between traits and land use and water quality highlighted the consequential indirect impact of extensive agricultural and urban development on phytoplankton via allochthonous nutrient inputs and various contaminants. In addition, the functional richness of phytoplankton assemblages generally increased along with surface area and forests, but decreased along with intensive agricultural and urban land use, implying that functional homogenization may cause a reduction in ecosystem productivity and reliability to land-use intensity. Given the superior performance of the functional-based approach, our findings also highlighted the importance of the application of both the biological traits and functional diversity index in monitoring programs for lake ecosystems.

When a Patio Becomes a City

In the 1950s, the city of Casablanca underwent a surge in demographic growth. Having become a strategic port during the French protectorate, it quickly had to accommodate more than 140,000 new arrivals from the countryside.
 The most extensive urban development project in the city was Carrières Centrales, introduced as a case study in the CIAM IX by the GAMMA team. Michel Écochard, Candilis and Woods reinterpreted the traditional Moroccan house in a compact horizontal fabric as well as in singular buildings. This became the typology not only for a house, but for the whole city.
 A revisit to Carrières Centrales 65 years after its construction provides an understanding of the metamorphosis that the urban fabric has undergone over time. The critical analysis in this research aims to uncover the main architectural and social parameters that have influenced its transformation.
 To achieve this goal, fieldwork was carried out during a research trip in October 2018. The work involved contacting local professors, accessing the archives of the University of Casablanca, interviewing the residents, and redrawing and graphing all the architectural elements that had changed since their construction.
 The urban fabric of Carrières Centrales was found to have evolved in a way that supports the following hypothesis: if an urban model imported into a developing country does not adapt to the changes in the life of its residents, it is considered a failure.

Study on the relationship among the urbanization process, ecosystem services and human well-being in an arid region in the context of carbon flow: Taking the Manas river basin as an example

The complex interaction among urban socioeconomic development, ecosystem services and human well-being is related to the level of regional sustainable development, which is an important cross scientific issue in the study of natural ecosystems and the social economy and is also an important subject in the study of the “future Earth”. This research quantitatively evaluated the level and the spatial and temporal dynamic characteristics of urbanization, ecosystem services and human well-being in Manas River Basin with carbon elements as the carrier. Then the complex relationships and action mechanisms among the three was revealed by using an approach comprising constraint lines, the urban development benefit index and a correlation analysis. The results showed that urbanization and all its dimensions increased to varying degrees from 2000 to 2015. For the ecosystem services, except for provision services, the other ecosystem services showed a fluctuating downward trend, affected by which human ecological well-being also showed the same trend, while social well-being, economic well-being and total human well-being showed exponential growth. Spatially, in addition to the provision services, the distribution of the other ecosystem services had an obvious spatial differentiation with urbanization. And broadly, the distribution trend showed that the farther away from the city centre an area was, the higher the services level. The constraint line analysis showed that each dimension of urbanization had a significant constraint on the ecosystem services, and the constraint relationship showed the hump type, logarithmic type, and negative line type, which indicated that the potential maximum value of the basin ecosystem services decreased with the improvement of urbanization level. Meanwhile, the extensive urban development made the benefit of urban development of the river basin decline. The correlation analysis showed that human well-being was more affected by urbanization than ecosystem services, especially economic urbanization and land urbanization, which remarkably improved human well-being. However, in the long run, the decline of ecological well-being caused by urbanization will affect the growth potential of human well-being. This study provides a theoretical support and suggestions for the formulation of urban development strategies and the realization of low-carbon and high-quality development for the basin.

Multifactor-based spatio-temporal analysis of effects of urbanization and policy interventions on ecosystem service capacity: A case study of Pingshan River Catchment in Shenzhen city, China

Urbanization significantly influences the capacity of ecosystems to provide services for humans. A better understanding of the response of ecosystem service capacity (ESC) to urbanization is essential for sustainable urban planning. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of ESC change during rapid urbanization in the Pingshan River Catchment in Shenzhen, China. We developed a multifactor analysis approach that links urban planning decisions to the ESC by integrating policy intervention-related variables, i.e., anthropogenic pressures and the typology, size, and spatial distribution of ecosystem service suppliers. Built-up areas and transportation systems associated with urbanization were two factors determining the interference intensity of anthropogenic pressures. The main ecosystem service suppliers were ecological lands involved in urban planning, including water bodies, forest lands, and grass lands. We performed a multifactor-based spatial superposition analysis in a geographic information system to produce spatio-temporal distribution maps of the ESC. Results revealed that with urbanization in 1990–2018, the ESC experienced a fluctuating downward trend before witnessing an upward trend. Areas with moderate ESC and above reduced from 63.3 % of the catchment area to 2.9 % in 1990–2015, and then increased to 21.3 % in 2018. This pattern of ESC change was mainly attributed to the extensive urban development since 1990, together with a series of environmental protection policy initiatives formulated since 2005. In terms of spatial distribution, the areas with moderate ESC and above dramatically reduced by 66.3 % during the study period and were predominantly located within ecological control zones by 2018. Based on the current status of the ESC, our findings can be beneficial to identify and prioritize urban intervention strategies, including land conservation, restoration, enhancement, retirement, and low-impact development. The proposed approach can also be applied to ESC evaluation and sustainable urban development of other urban regions.

High prevalence of biliary neoplasia in white perch Morone americana: potential roles of bile duct parasites and environmental contaminants.

Recent surveys of white perch Morone americana from Chesapeake Bay, USA, revealed a high prevalence of hepatic and biliary lesions, including neoplasia, and bile duct parasites. Here, we describe lesions in the liver and gallbladder and evaluate for statistical associations among lesions, parasites, and biomarkers of chemical exposure in fish from 2 tributaries of Chesapeake Bay. Fish were collected from an estuarine site in the Choptank River (n = 122, ages 3-11), a tributary with extensive agriculture within the watershed, and the Severn River (n = 131, ages 2-16), a tributary with extensive urban development. Passive integrative samplers were deployed at the fish collection site and an upstream, non-tidal site in each river for 30 d. Intrahepatic biliary lesions observed in fish from both rivers included neoplasia (23.3%), dysplasia (16.2%), hyperplasia (46.6%), cholangitis (24.9%), and dilated ducts containing plasmodia of Myxidium sp. (24.9%). Hepatocellular lesions included foci of hepatocellular alteration (FHA, 15.8%) and neoplasia in 4 Severn River fish (2.3%). Age of fish and Myxidium sp. infections were significant risk factors for proliferative and neoplastic biliary lesions, age alone was a risk factor for FHA, and Goussia bayae infections were associated with cholangitis and cholecystitis. Lesion prevalence was higher in fish from the Severn River, which contained higher concentrations of PAHs, organochlorine pesticides, and brominated diphenyl ethers. Metabolite biomarkers indicated higher PAH exposures in Severn River fish. This study suggests Myxidium sp. as a promoter of bile duct tumors, but more data are needed to evaluate the biological effects of environmental contaminants in this species.

Temporal and spatial patterns of orchid species distribution in Greece: implications for conservation

Studies comparing species’ distribution range at different time periods provide valuable information about temporal trends, and may help to identify the factors responsible for these changes. This knowledge is vital for setting conservation priorities and applying suitable management strategies and practices focused on species’ conservation. We examined records produced before and after December 31, 1985 for determining possible changes in the distribution range of 195 orchid species recorded in Greece, using a 10 × 10 km grid as the recording unit. We used regression techniques to explore the association of species richness with environmental and spatial variables. Species richness was calculated by using the orchid records made (a) before December 31, 1985, (b) after January 1, 1986, and (c) in both time periods. Generalized linear models (GLM) were used for identifying the most significant factors associated with the distribution of the threatened orchids of Greece. Most Greek orchids showed an increasing trend in distribution from the first to the second period, with the exception of a few Critically Endangered species, whose distribution was larger in the first than in the second period. The spatial distribution of the threatened orchids was mostly explained by land area and the area of the calcareous substrates at each grid cell, whereas all variables that were used in the GLM analysis accounted for about 32% of the variance. The observed increasing trend in orchid distribution should be attributed to the extensive research efforts during the second period, especially in areas of high altitude and towards the northern parts of Greece. Our results did not support the findings of other studies, mainly from northern Europe, which showed a significant decline in the distribution range of their orchid flora. These differences in distribution trends could be attributed to the complex orographic configuration of Greece, which renders large parts of the country rather unsuitable for agricultural use or for extensive urban development.