Characteristics Of Natural Environment Research Articles

Complex landscape, instream and anthropogenic environmental features drive genetic and morphological structuring amongst brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in a dendritic river system

Abstract Untangling the patterns and proximate drivers of intraspecific genetic and phenotypic structuring informs our understanding of the evolutionary processes shaping diversity. This study investigated morphological and genetic structuring of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) populations across varying spatial scales in a single, complex, dendritic river catchment and examined the potential natural and anthropogenic environmental features driving this structuring. Morphometric and hierarchical genetic structuring analyses of fish from 22 sampling sites in the River Foyle catchment, Ireland (~ 4500km2) identified 19 morphologically distinct groups and 15 genetically distinct populations, separated by river distances ranging from 0.4 km to 188 km. Isolation by Distance was the main factor shaping both genetic and morphological divergence, indicating that strong philopatry is one of the major drivers of the observed population structuring in this system. However, both natural and anthropogenic environmental variables also explained pairwise genetic and morphological differences between sampling sites. Thus, the pairwise differences in the area of woodland in the upstream catchment, water phosphorus concentration, biological oxygen demand, catchment slope, urban area in upstream catchment, altitude, site specific percentage of canopy cover and dissolved oxygen concentration in the river channel were correlated with genetic divergence. The pairwise differences in the concentration of suspended solids, the extent of bankside overhang, the composition of bedrock, boulder and cobble substrates, watercourse width, catchment slope and site altitude were correlated with between-site morphological differences. We hypothesise that local differential selection pressures comprising both natural environmental variation and variation resulting from anthropogenic effects, in combination with strong philopatry and random genetic processes drive the clearly defined genetic and phenotypic patterns described here.

Information Boards as Forest Conservation Campaign in Bahorok Research Center, Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Utara, Indonesia

Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL) in Bahorok Research Station in Bahorok Sub-district, Langkat District, is a very important location for this work. The hilly terrain of the area provides a beautiful landscape and varied flora and fauna with the main attraction being the corpse flower (Amorphophallus sp). With a preserved natural environment and unique ecological features, this research station allows other parties to participate in protecting the area in various conservation campaign, one of which is the installation/establishment of conservation information boards. Conservation information boards can raise public awareness about the importance of protecting forests and their natural environment. Information on ecosystems, flora, fauna, management, and the importance of conservation can be conveyed through these information boards. Information boards are widely used as an educational tool for local communities and visitors to the forest at the research station. They can learn about forest ecology, the negative impacts of deforestation, and sustainable ways of utilizing forest resources. They can learn about forest ecology, the negative impacts of deforestation, and sustainable ways of utilizing forest resources. Information boards can also be used to invite community participation in conservation efforts, which is expected to improve the quality of knowledge and understanding of conservation areas for communities, researchers, and tourists. Therefore, the installation/establishment of conservation information boards needs to be carried out at Bahorok Research Station, Batu Katak as one of the campaign and solutions to maintain the natural conditions in the forest and river.

Green infrastructure and well-being nexus within slums: a Lagos case

ABSTRACT Green infrastructure includes network of natural systems and environmental features that deliver ecosystem services which improves human well-being. This article reports a study dealing with health-related impacts of green infrastructure within a low-income informal urban setting. The study utilized a quantitative approach through survey data collection from residents in Ajegunle-Ikorodu community in Lagos, Nigeria. The residents’ survey (sample size = 455) was conducted to understand socio-economic and housing characteristics of the residents; green features available; pattern of Park Use. It elicited self-reported health information on physiological well-being and mental health. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale was used for mental health assessment. Inferential and descriptive statistical analysis was conducted on the data collected. This study shows a generally low presence of Green Infrastructure. Regression analysis (p = 0.033) affirms the positive link between green spaces and mental health. Contrary to popular opinion, the study revealed no correlation between some aspects of self-reported health and green features. The findings highlight the need to develop and maintain green spaces to optimize health benefits. By exploring the connections between greening and well-being in slums, the study contributes to knowledge on human health-nature linkages among low-income urban residents in context of developing countries.

Co-location analysis of pedestrian accident attributes for Ankara

Even though accidents with pedestrians are more likely to have a severe or fatal outcome, most research concentrates on the vehicle part of the accidents. To make better policies and infrastructure decisions it is crucial to understand how and why such accidents happen. In this article, 2.588 pedestrian accidents from the year 2018 that resulted in injury or death in the city of Ankara, Türkiye are considered, and different attributes are analyzed co-location-wise. Three types of analysis will be undertaken for these accidents: temporal, natural environment, and pedestrian characteristics. The season of the year, weekend-weekday, and time of day will be explored for the temporal analysis. Visibility (daylight, twilight, and darkness) and rain are the natural surroundings of interest. The analyzed pedestrian characteristics are age group, gender, clothing colour, and nationality. Generally, the accident properties are evenly distributed and mostly the higher co-locations occur with themselves. Three important results stand out in this study. Firstly, the type of precaution appropriate to different time periods of the day should be applied, taking into account the locations that have the strongest co-location with themselves. Secondly, a seasonal approach should be adopted in determining places where pedestrian safety needs to be increased in the city. Lastly, pedestrian safety measures targeting especially both ‘0–14 and 65 + age groups’ and ‘foreign citizenship’ should be prioritized in the identified locations. The results show that the co-location methodology is a good fit for analyzing pedestrian accidents and a wider use of this methodology for other accident types and in general might be beneficial.

A Scalable Method to Fabricate 2D Hydrogel Substrates for Mechanobiology Studies with Independent Tuning of Adhesiveness and Stiffness.

Mechanical signals from the extracellular matrix are crucial in guiding cellular behavior. Two-dimensional hydrogel substrates for cell cultures serve as exceptional tools for mechanobiology studies because they mimic the biomechanical and adhesive characteristics of natural environments. However, the interdisciplinary knowledge required to synthetize and manipulate these biomaterials typically restricts their widespread use in biological laboratories, which may not have the material science expertise or specialized instrumentation. To address this, we propose a scalable method that requires minimal setup to produce 2D hydrogel substrates with independent modulation of the rigidity and adhesiveness within the range typical of natural tissues. In this method, norbornene-terminated 8-arm polyethylene glycol is stoichiometrically functionalized with RGD peptides and crosslinked with a di-cysteine terminated peptide via a thiol-ene click reaction. Since the synthesis process significantly influences the final properties of the hydrogels, we provide a detailed description of the chemical procedure to ensure reproducibility and high throughput results. We demonstrate examples of cell mechanosignaling by monitoring the activation state of the mechanoeffector proteins YAP/TAZ. This method effectively dissects the influence of biophysical and adhesive cues on cell behavior. We believe that our procedure will be easily adopted by other cell biology laboratories, improving its accessibility and practical application.

The downward spiral entangling soil sealing and hydrogeological disasters

Abstract The frequency of occurrence of hydrogeological disasters (HGDs), as well as the persistence of their impacts, are not evenly distributed. Hazardous areas, by definition, are more prone to extreme events, while in densely urbanized regions, the impacts of these events tend to be more severe. The objective of this study is to investigate statistical relationships between urban and natural environment features and HGD occurrences. Taking Italian provinces as a comprehensive case study, we assessed the coefficient of determination, the χ 2 test, and the p-value to determine the degree of statistical correlation between impact indicators and 57 hazard/risk/land management indicators, such as extension of at-risk areas or soil sealing. We discovered that HGDs persistence and frequency correlate best with an indicator describing the amount of soil sealing (i.e. urbanized soil) in medium-hazard areas. Building on that, a further dynamic analysis was carried out to investigate whether soil sealing trends changed significantly after the provinces were struck by HGDs. Our findings hold significant implications, challenging current policy norms. European directives and Italian national laws impose strict development restrictions in ‘high-hazard’ areas, but generally allow for urbanization in ‘medium-hazard’ areas, with only minor limitations. Moreover, a paradoxical positive urbanization trend is observed in the most sensitive areas, greater than in safer areas and generally unchanged after HGDs. This outcome highlights a critical gap in risk perception that reflects into territorial planning, decision-making processes, and existing policies.

The spiking output of the mouse olfactory bulb encodes large-scale temporal features of natural odor environments.

In natural odor environments, odor travels in plumes. Odor concentration dynamics change in characteristic ways across the width and length of a plume. Thus, spatiotemporal dynamics of plumes have informative features for animals navigating to an odor source. Population activity in the olfactory bulb (OB) has been shown to follow odor concentration across plumes to a moderate degree (Lewis et al., 2021). However, it is unknown whether the ability to follow plume dynamics is driven by individual cells or whether it emerges at the population level. Previous research has explored the responses of individual OB cells to isolated features of plumes, but it is difficult to adequately sample the full feature space of plumes as it is still undetermined which features navigating mice employ during olfactory guided search. Here we released odor from an upwind odor source and simultaneously recorded both odor concentration dynamics and cellular response dynamics in awake, head-fixed mice. We found that longer timescale features of odor concentration dynamics were encoded at both the cellular and population level. At the cellular level, responses were elicited at the beginning of the plume for each trial, signaling plume onset. Plumes with high odor concentration elicited responses at the end of the plume, signaling plume offset. Although cellular level tracking of plume dynamics was observed to be weak, we found that at the population level, OB activity distinguished whiffs and blanks (accurately detected odor presence versus absence) throughout the duration of a plume. Even ~20 OB cells were enough to accurately discern odor presence throughout a plume. Our findings indicate that the full range of odor concentration dynamics and high frequency fluctuations are not encoded by OB spiking activity. Instead, relatively lower-frequency temporal features of plumes, such as plume onset, plume offset, whiffs, and blanks, are represented in the OB.

Role of walkability, bike infrastructure, and greenspace in combatting chronic diseases: A heterogeneous ecological analysis in the United States

Associations of built and natural environment and bike infrastructure features with neighborhood-level hypertension and obesity prevalence across the U.S. are not well explored. Identifying the environmental determinants of neighborhood-level disease prevalence can support community-based nonpharmacologic interventions. Additionally, little is known about the extent of heterogeneity in built and natural environment impacts. Quantifying heterogeneity can help identify places where the greatest health gains can be obtained from infrastructural investments. Using a new neighborhood-level database, we assessed heterogeneous associations of neighborhood built and natural environment and bike infrastructure features with nationwide hypertension and obesity rates using a simultaneous quantile regression framework. A walkability index, access to green space, and bicycle infrastructure were negatively correlated with hypertension and obesity after controlling for social vulnerability. The associations of key environmental and bike infrastructure factors exhibited considerable heterogeneity. For a unit increase in the walkability index, the potential reduction in hypertension prevalence at the 10th percentile was 3.4 times the reduction at the 95th percentile. Likewise, the potential reduction in obesity prevalence at the 10th percentile was 1.8 times the reduction at the 95th percentile. Provision of on-street and off-street bike lanes was correlated with lower hypertension and obesity, although the impacts varied across the quantiles of health outcomes. Urban design policies promoting walkability, providing on-street and off-street bicycle facilities, and enhancing greenspace can be important strategies to combat hypertension and obesity. Our study underscores the importance of incorporating environmental features into future iterations of national disease prevalence data programs in the U.S.

Modern architectural landscape planning and design based on environmental sensors and 3D point cloud processing

With the continuous development of modern technology, the application of sensor technology in architectural landscape planning and design is becoming increasingly widespread. The combination of environmental sensors and 3D point cloud processing technology provides new possibilities for modern architectural landscape planning and design. Environmental sensors can provide accurate environmental data support for the design process by monitoring the climate conditions of the building site in real-time, better understanding the natural environmental characteristics of the building site, and making targeted planning and design. Environmental sensors can accurately measure the intensity and direction of light, helping designers arrange the layout and window design of buildings to maximize the use of natural lighting. By monitoring and analyzing temperature data, the design team can effectively optimize the energy consumption management of buildings and improve their energy efficiency performance. The combination of 3D point cloud processing technology and environmental sensor data accurately restores the real environment of the building site to a digital model, allowing designers to conduct comprehensive spatial analysis and design. This digital and intelligent design process improves the precision and efficiency of design, allowing the design team to better understand the environmental characteristics of the building site and achieve intelligent and personalized landscape design, Injecting new vitality and creativity into future architectural planning and design.

Urban Echoes: Exploring the Dynamic Realities of Cities through Digital Twins

Digital twins (DTs) are highly valuable tools for urban planning as they provide a virtual replica of the physical city, integrating real-time data and simulations to enhance the decision-making and management processes. The use of DTs expands the possibilities for data integration and visualization in urban contexts. This includes real-time data measurements from multiple sources, such as sensors and IoT devices, facilitating comprehensive insights. DT’s virtual representation helps authorities and planners visualize urban dynamics and improve their understanding of urban ecosystems, energy efficiency, traffic management, emergency response, and more. DT supports the simulation and modeling of different scenarios in an urban built environment, enabling the predictive analysis of transformation decisions and the anticipation of future trends and challenges. This paper highlights the assumptions and ongoing progress in the development of a DT for the city of Turin (Italy), focusing on a range of applications, such as the extraction of built and natural environment features, land use data, road network and pavement quality, and signage, along with continuous model updates over time.

A two-level optimisation approach for underground natural ventilation based on CFD and building energy simulations

Natural ventilation is a historical and promising passive design for conserving building energy. However, a noticeable scarcity exists in design strategies and academic studies on underground natural ventilation. This study introduces a two-level optimisation approach for underground natural ventilation, considering form and environmental characteristics. At the initial level, computational fluid dynamics simulations were employed to quantify and visualise the momentary ventilation performances of various passive strategies. These simulations also furnished precise wind pressure coefficients. Subsequently, at the second level, this study predicted the annual energy savings of the proposed prototype by integrating an airflow network model with building energy simulations. To adapt design parameters, sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimisation techniques were applied. These numerical models underwent validation against measured data from analogous studies. The results reveal that the ‘inlet buried pipe + outlet shaft’ led to a 6.9 % reduction in energy consumption for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning in underground hybrid ventilation compared to underground mechanical ventilation. Moreover, it achieved a 28.8 % decrease compared to aboveground mechanical ventilation. Optimising air temperatures following climate, soil conditions, and building characteristics is imperative, aligning with design standards. This study contributes a quantitative and visual approach to support underground natural ventilation and addresses the limitations of empirical designs, providing a foundation for future research and practical applications.

Investigating the Impact of Streetscape and Land Surface Temperature on Cycling Behavior

Cycling is a flexible way of traveling that can promote the development of urban public transportation. Previous studies on the influence of cycling have focused more on the cyclists themselves, ignoring the influences of the features of natural environments, such as streetscapes and land surface temperatures (LSTs), on cycling behavior. Therefore, in this study, street view image data and Landsat 8 imagery were utilized to extract streetscape and LST features; in particular, a framework was established for a single-indicator analysis and a multiple-indicator interaction analysis based on the random forest model with GeoDetector. The model was used to explore the effects of streetscapes and surface temperatures on cycling behavior. The results of this study for the main urban area of Beijing show that (1) high-density buildings and high population activity exacerbated the heat island effect at the city center and certain areas in the east, with the highest LST reaching 46.93 °C. In contrast, the greenery and water bodies in the northwestern and northeastern areas reduced the LST, resulting in a minimum temperature of 11.61 °C. (2) The optimal analysis scale was a 100 m buffer pair, and the regression fitting accuracy reached 0.83, confirming the notable influences of streetscape and LST characteristics on cycling behavior. (3) The random forest (RF) model results show that the importance of LST features and vegetation and sky conditions exceeded 0.07, and a reasonable sky openness and open building ventilation became the first choices for promoting cycling behavior. (4) According to the GeoDetector model, the LST features alone exhibited an importance of more than 0.375 for cycling behavior, while interactions with streetscapes greatly reduced the negative effect of LST on cycling behavior. The interaction between walls and plants reached 0.392, while the interaction between multiple environmental factors and greenery and favorable ventilation counteracted the negative impact of high-temperature heat waves on the residents’ choice of bicycles.

RETRACTION: Analysis of the Combination of the Regional Natural Environment and Local Characteristics of the Tourism Industry under the Perspective of Synergistic Development.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1155/2022/2955401.].

Variables limnológicas asociadas a la presencia de larvas de Anopheles Meigen, 1818 (Diptera: Culicidae) en criaderos de Amazonas, Brasil

The objective of this study was to correlate environmental characteristics (biotic and abiotic) of different breeding site types with the richness and abundance of anophelines in the metropolitan region of Manaus, Brazil. Anopheles larvae and biotic and abiotic parameters were collected in artificial breeding sites, where we demonstrated that the dams presented characteristics of natural environments, with good water quality, shaded areas, and the presence of macrophytes, positively influencing the larval abundance of anophelines. The fish ponds are in the process of transitioning from a natural to an altered environment, followed by breeding sites classified as clay pits (anthropized). Macrophyte richness was higher in dams and fish ponds, being responsible for creating microhabitats for larvae and the structure of breeding sites. Ten anopheline species were identified, totaling 1,186 individuals, with an abundance of An. triannulatus (Neiva & Pinto, 1922), An. albitarsis Lynch-Arribálzaga, 1878, An. nuneztovari Gabaldón, 1940 and An. darlingi Root, 1926. Malaria vectors in the region were present in all collection sites. A good part of the physicochemical parameters were in agreement with the current environmental resolution, mainly in less altered environments. Another strong correlation was observed between anophelines and some limnological parameters, which may be an indicator of the presence of these Culicidae in the environments.

A review of factors influencing sensitive skin: an emphasis on built environment characteristics.

Sensitive skin (SS) is a condition characterized by hyperreactivity. Impacting around 37 percent of the worldwide population and exerting an influence on the quality of life for affected individuals. Its prevalence rate has increased due to factors such as elevating stress levels and deteriorating environmental conditions. The exposome factors influencing SS have extended from demographic, biological attributes, and lifestyle to external environments. Built environments (BEs) have demonstrated as root drivers for changes in behaviors and environmental exposure which have the potential to trigger SS, but the review of the associations between BEs and SS is currently lacking. This review aims to achieve two primary objectives: (1) Examine exposome factors that exert influence on SS at the individual and environmental levels. (2) Develop a theoretical framework that establishes a connection between BEs and SS, thereby offering valuable insights into the impact of the built environment on this condition. An extensive literature search was carried out across multiple fields, including sociology, epidemiology, basic medicine, clinical medicine, and environmental research, with a focus on SS. To identify pertinent references, renowned databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and CNKI were utilized. SS is the outcome of interactions between individual attributes and environmental factors. These influencing factors can be categorized into five distinct classes: (1) demographic and socioeconomic characteristics including age, gender, and race; (2) physiological and biological attributes such as emotional changes, skin types, sleep disorders, and menstrual cycles in women; (3) behavioral factors, such as spicy diet, cosmetic use, alcohol consumption, and physical exercise; (4) natural environmental features, including climate conditions and air pollution; (5) built environmental features such as population density, green space availability, road network density, and access to public transportation, also have the potential to affect the condition. The importance of interdisciplinary integration lies in its ability to ascertain whether and how BEs are impacting SS. By elucidating the role of BEs in conjunction with other factors in the onset of SS, we can provide guidance for future research endeavors and the formulation of interventions aimed at mitigating the prevalence of SS.

The utility of street view imagery in environmental audits for runnability

Understanding the conduciveness of an environment for running is critical for promoting community wellbeing through physical activity. In-person assessment of these factors is time consuming and costly on a large scale, causing researchers to audit environments virtually using Street View Imagery (SVI). However, no studies have assessed the efficacy of SVI for auditing environments for runnability, which measures the conduciveness of an area for running. This research seeks to determine whether virtual audits of street view imagery are a reliable proxy for in-person environmental scans. A secondary goal of this work was to design a preliminary runnability index based solely on runner studies. In this study, virtual and in-person audits were conducted in 30 locations around Metropolitan Vancouver, Canada, assessing runnability to compare SVI with field observations. Results reported high agreement between both methods for most runnability variables, especially for natural environment characteristics. Virtual scans were less reliable than in-person scans for measuring path continuity and street lighting. We recommend researchers continue to validate virtual audits with in-person scans until SVI technology improves.

24절기에 기반한 몸·마음의 생태치유적 생활방식의 제언

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively suggest an ecological healing lifestyle of the body and mind by examining the intrinsic connection with the multi-layered system between 24 seasonal-divisions and four seasons and revealing the ecological healing value of seasonal food and the ecological mind posture according to the season.
 Our ancestors, who lived in a place with the natural environment and cultural characteristics of the East, recognized the human body as an ever-changing part of nature from the philosophical point of view that the laws of nature and human life resemble each other.
 Just as spring, summer, fall, and winter change, the human body also goes through the same process of change as the natural world, recognizing that the form and the cycle of yin and yang and five elements, which express the fundamental principles of cosmic change, can be applied to the lifestyle of the body and mind.
 Accordingly, this paper organized and had an insight into the origin, formation, and meaning of 24 seasonal-divisions, and the characteristics of seasonal holidays, social time that appears in the field of human life, in terms of ecological healing, the direction of understanding the human body and food that are part of nature, the inflection point of time, and the attitude of the mind to be noticed and taken care of each time.

Ecological tourism as a promising trend of sustainable development in Georgia: topicality, capabilities, peculiaritie

The article analyzes the prospects for the development of ecological tourism in Georgia, in particular, the opportunities and conditions for the development of sustainable or ecotourism for different regions of Georgia are studied. Each region has distinct characteristics of natural environment, economic level, recreational and ecotourism resources. The article emphasizes that the development of ecotourism contributes to its main resources - the diverse nature of the country and the long-term preservation of a rich culture of life. Economic growth in the regions, providing employment for the local population, improving their well-being and, what is most important for the highland regions, solving the current demographic problem. Development of at least one national park visitor management plan that includes environmental impact and capacity assessments. development of appropriate institutional capacity for sound and efficient operation. creation of mechanisms for joint coordination practices in ecotourism management. Development of ecotourism/recreational development plans in forest areas. Development of national ecotourism standards based on existing international criteria and promotion of their implementation.

Mineral identification based on natural feature-oriented image processing and multi-label image classification

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has significant potential in Earth sciences, particularly in mineral identification for industrial exploration, geological mapping, and archaeological research. However, traditional methods are time-consuming, expensive, and complex. And existing mineral identification methods based on mineral photos face several critical challenges, including lack of consideration for natural image features captured in real environments, limitations of single-label classification which does not align with multi-mineral occurrences in nature, and growing computational complexity as the number of identifiable mineral labels increases. Therefore, this paper proposes an efficient mineral identification model based on multi-label image classification, focusing on natural environmental features. First, realistic feature datasets are created by simulating mineral photos in real environments. Then, the model uses the query-label (Query2Label) framework, with MaxViT-T (Multi-Axis Vision Transformer-Tiny) as the feature extraction network and the asymmetric loss function. Knowledge distillation is employed to improve identification accuracy while reducing computational complexity. The proposed model achieves an impressive average identification accuracy of 84.74% on a dataset of 495,756 mineral photos, surpassing existing models like ResNet-101, ML-GCN (Multi-Label Graph Convolutional Network), and SRN (Spatial Regularization Net). It maintains a lower parameter count and computational complexity. In the end, ablation experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of each optimization scheme.

Natural environment effect on the land uses in Siktan sub-district using the Weighted Overlay Method

The article emphasizes the importance of identifying land uses and studying the natural environment as a critical stage in land use planning. and thus determining the most appropriate sites for the most appropriate uses to make good use of the, the study specifically examines the natural environment's characteristics in the Sktan district, including its geology, topography, climate, soil, hydrology, natural vegetation, geomorphology, erosion, phenomena, and slope), because each of these phenomena has an impact on land use, furthermore, the article presents the Weighted Overlay model as a useful tool for generating land use maps and determining appropriate land use types.