Natural Environmental Changes Research Articles

Review of the high bed–low ditch system as an alternative to lowland paddy in tropical and subtropical Asia

Many forms of traditional raised bed systems could be found around the world. Several of them have been identified as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) sites by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Unlike traditional raised bed systems with similar structures in the Americas, the high bed–low ditch (HBLD) system in tropical and subtropical Asia, which is originated and developed from rice production, has been playing an important role in enhancing food security and maintaining farmer livelihood for centuries. Moreover, products provided by HBLD system are not only important for the livelihood of the local farmers, but also important for people living in the nearby towns and cities especially for vegetable and fruit supply. In this system, the ditches or sunken beds can be used to lower the groundwater table, retain nutrients and soil particles washed from the bed, grow rice or aquatic vegetables, and raise fish or shrimp. The HBLD system can also help to reduce salinity in coastal lowlands due to the presence of ditches. The raised beds can be used to grow various upland crops. Compared with rice monocropping, the adoption of HBLD system significantly improves the cropping intensity, productivity, employment, and income of farmers. Famers’ long-term practices fully demonstrate that this system is a type of sustainable agriculture with strong adaptability to the changes of natural environment. However, it should also be noted that the large-scale development of HBLD systems is not simply dependent on natural conditions, but is also determined by specific socioeconomic factors, such as good transportation facilities, a well market system, and a sufficient supply of labor. As a model of equilibrium between food production and high levels of biodiversity maintenance, the HBLD system is an important agricultural heritage system with global significance, and it should be well preserved and utilized in new ways to realize its important multiple functions under conditions of rapid urbanization in lowland and coastal regions.

China's vegetation restoration programs accelerated vegetation greening on the Loess Plateau

The vegetation greening on the Loess Plateau, China, over recent decades, has been primarily driven by a series of vegetation restoration programs (VRPs) and other natural environmental changes (including climate change, rising atmospheric CO2 concentration, and nitrogen deposition, etc.). However, accurate determination of the contributions of natural environmental change and the VRPs to this greening has been challenging due to the lack of the exact time of policy implementation in different areas. Herein, we extracted the starting time of greening (SOG) from different sources of remote sensing data and used it as the starting time of the VRPs. Then, we employed a difference-in-differences (DID) method to ascertain the relative contributions of the VRPs on the observed vegetation greening. Results showed that the contribution of the VRPs to vegetation greening on the Loess Plateau was 23.8–35.8 %, with a greater contribution potentially originating from natural environmental factors. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationships among vegetation restoration policies and climate change, and offer a platform to quantify the climate effects on vegetation greening.

A Cross-Decadal Change in the Fish and Crustacean Community of Lower Yaquina Bay, Oregon, USA

Natural environmental change, anthropogenic development, and inter-annual variability can affect the ecology of estuarine fish and invertebrates. Yaquina Bay, Oregon, a well-studied estuary, has undergone intense development, as well as deep-draft dredging during the latter half of the 20th century, resulting in the alteration of ~45% of the lower estuary’s natural shoreline. In 1967, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conducted a 21-month survey of Yaquina Bay to characterize the demersal fishes and epibenthic crustaceans that occupy the bay. From 2003 to 2005, we conducted a 25-month survey to replicate that work and provide a comparative snapshot of the demersal fish and epibenthic crustacean community in the bay. A comparison of the trawl survey datasets reveals a 91% decline in total catch per unit effort (CPUE) between surveys, as well as a decline in multiple measures of biodiversity. Furthermore, the fishes and crustaceans of Yaquina Bay have experienced a shift in species dominance from demersal fishes in the late 1960s to epibenthic crustaceans in the 2000s, marked most notably by a nine-fold increase in the Dungeness crab CPUE. While this work does not establish a causal relationship between changes in the demersal communities of this West Coast estuary and human or natural events, it does document substantial changes in both the diversity and total abundance of animals in that community over a three-plus decade period of development and environmental variability. Hence, this forms a second baseline for continued long-term monitoring.

THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON FMCG DISTRIBUTION

Economic Impact-Many examinations have investigated the monetary ramifications of man-made intelligence and ML reception. Research frequently centres around efficiency gains, work market elements, and the potential for work uprooting and creation. A few examinations propose that while Artificial intelligence and ML can prompt expanded effectiveness and development, they may likewise disturb customary business designs, requiring labour force transformation and re-skilling. Business and Industry: Writing in this space looks at how Artificial intelligence and ML advances are changing business tasks, including promoting, finance, store network the board, and client care. Reads up feature the potential for artificial intelligence and ML to improve dynamic cycles, enhance asset designation, customize client encounters, and drive upper hand. Medical care: Artificial intelligence and ML have huge ramifications for medical care, including sickness determination, therapy arranging, drug disclosure, and customized medication. Research in this space investigates the potential for Artificial intelligence and ML to work on clinical results, diminish clinical blunders, lower medical services expenses, and upgrade patient consideration through prescient examination, picture acknowledgment, and normal language handling. Education and Learning: The effect of Artificial intelligence and ML on schooling and learning is likewise a subject of interest. Writing in this field looks at how artificial intelligence fueled devices and stages can work with customized growth opportunities, versatile coaching, robotized reviewing, and instructive substance creation. Research additionally investigates the difficulties and moral contemplations related with man-made intelligence driven instructive innovations. Ethical and social implications-Researchers have raised worries about the moral and cultural ramifications of Artificial intelligence and ML, including issues connected with protection, predisposition, decency, straightforwardness, responsibility, and algorithmic administration. Research in this space looks to foster structures, rules, and guidelines to alleviate likely dangers and guarantee capable man-made intelligence advancement and arrangement. Environmental Impact few examinations explore how simulated intelligence and ML can be utilized to address natural difficulties, for example, environmental change, asset preservation, contamination control, and manageable turn of events. Research in this area investigates uses of computer based intelligence and ML in energy the board, savvy horticulture, natural checking, and preservation endeavours’ lawful and administrative parts of simulated intelligence and ML are likewise a subject of insightful request. Writing in this field looks at licensed innovation privileges, risk issues, information assurance regulations, and the moral and lawful obligations of artificial intelligence designers and clients. Research intends to lay out legitimate systems and rules to successfully administer artificial intelligence and ML advancements.

Interannual Monitoring of Cropland in South China from 1991 to 2020 Based on the Combination of Deep Learning and the LandTrendr Algorithm

Timely and accurate acquisition of spatial distribution and changes in cropland is of significant importance for food security and ecological preservation. Most studies that monitor long-term changes in cropland tend to overlook the rationality in the process of cropland evolution, and there are conflicts between the interannual cropland data, so they cannot be used to analyze land use change. This study focuses on the rationality of annual identification results for cropland, considering the long-term evolution and short-term variations influenced by natural environmental changes and human activities. An approach for annual monitoring of cropland based on long time series and deep learning is also proposed. We acquired imagery related to cropland’s vegetation lush period (VLP) and vegetation differential period (VDP) from Landsat images on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and used the ResUNet-a structural model for training. Finally, a long-time-series cropland correction algorithm based on LandTrendr is introduced, and interannual cropland maps of Guangdong Province from 1991 to 2020 were generated. Evaluating the cropland monitoring results in Guangdong Province every five years, we found an overall accuracy of 0.91–0.93 and a kappa coefficient of 0.80–0.83. Our results demonstrate good consistency with agricultural statistical data. Over the past 30 years, the total cropland area in Guangdong Province has undergone three phases: a decrease, significant decrease, and stabilization. Significant regional variations have also been observed. Our approach can be applied to long-time-series interannual cropland monitoring in the southern regions of China, providing valuable data support for the further implementation of cropland protection.

Impacts of anthropogenic eutrophication on the carbon transfers in lacustrine food webs: A paleolimnological assessment in four mountain lakes

Over the last decades, the intensification of anthropogenic activities and associated disturbances on lake watersheds have led to major changes in lakes trophic functioning through accelerated eutrophication. In many lakes, these changes are characterized by an unprecedented increase in organic carbon fluxes, potentially leading to a shift in biogeochemical cycles and in the balance between carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. Understanding the response of the carbon cycle to natural and anthropogenic environmental changes is becoming a crucial challenge in the context of increasing global pressures. In this study, we reconstructed the changes in the trophic functioning of the benthic and pelagic food web, in response to accelerated eutrophication in four lakes over the last millenium. Changes in carbon pathways in food webs were assessed using stable carbon isotope analysis of chitinous subfossil remains of Daphnia, Bosmina, and Chironomini archived in sedimentary records. Changes in the trophic state were inferred from sedimentary geochemical analysis, including carbon accumulation rates, Chl a accumulation rates and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. Agro-pastoral activities were tracked by analysis of coprophilous ascospores. Results provided by this multi-proxy approach highlight recent disruptions in carbon sources and transfer pathways in lakes food webs. In particular, changes in the carbon isotopic signature of pelagic consumers suggest a recent increase in the use of 13C-depleted carbon sources such as methanogenic or respiration-derived carbon linked to recent changes in trophic state under the intensification of anthropogenic pressures.

Opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinarity in river water environmental ethics and integrated river basin management

AbstractThis paper examines the ethical issues of water environment in the context of river management in practical engineering and technological applications. In particular, three important issues are discussed in this paper referring to two actual engineering cases in ancient and modern China, that is, the construction of ancient Dujiangyan irrigation project in Sichuan, China, and the modern practice of integrated operation of flood control and pollution prevention in Huai River Basin. The three issues include how to consider the trade‐offs between flood control and irrigation, how to balance flood control and contamination prevention related to sudden water pollution incident, and how to ensure the protection of water environments and ecology in rivers under the grand challenges of natural environmental changes and high‐intensity human activities. Finally, this paper concludes by emphasizing the future development of water environmental ethics and its interdisciplinary integration with modern science & technology in smart river management in China.

영남지역 청동기시대 조·전기 주거형태의 변화와 특징

A research on Bronze age in S.Korea has made remarkable progress, but most of the
 achievements are confined on recording chronologically by pottery. It is so difficult to
 understand transition in housing type more than pottery because it is so conservative to
 change compared with pottery. Also it is changing by climate, environment, economic
 structure, development of technology, human preference and so on. The research method is
 order by fundamental concept of housing type of early Bronze age in S.Korea, case
 review, transition and feature in housing type and implication of archaeology.
 First of all, to set up typical housing feature of four types, and making a division for
 Misari, Garakdong, Kwansanri and Heunamri type. In sequence, to observe transition and
 feature of all housing type in Youngnam region especially the middle and upper streams
 of the Nakdonggang River, inland area, the southwestern area and south-east coast. The
 housing type of Misari demonstrate for transition of floor plan, number of fire pit and
 structure. The housing type of Garakdong demonstrate for becoming longer and
 disappearing of foundation stone. The housing type of Kwansanri also demonstrate for
 disappearing stone fire pit and standardizing of wooden column. On the other hand,
 housing type of Heunamri demonstrate for reduced fire pit and becoming re-smaller floor
 plan. And it turns to type of Gumdanri that is the latter part of Bronze age in the
 southeastern region. In conclusion, I analyzed for transition and feature in housing type as
 characteristics of early Bronze age in the Korean Peninsula also as universality of
 hunting-gathering society. In other words, the appearance of early Misari type is
 characteristics for deportation and settlement especially Korean Peninsula while type of
 Kwansanri is understood for universality by being expanded floor plan, division of fire
 range, structure transition, standardization of intercolumniation, that is also understood
 longhouse culture where living high latitude area. Popularly, in such society is understood
 as a complex incipient agriculture and hunting-gathering society. This research regard that
 society as universality of prehistoric culture of Korean Peninsula.
 And a pull-factor of transition in housing type occurs by complex causes such as population
 growth, development of technology, natural environment change, livelihood strategy and so on.

Analysis of the Ongoing Effects of Disasters in Urbanization Process and Climate Change: China’s Floods and Droughts

Urban development and climate change have strengthened the possibility of floods and droughts in cities. In this study, we evaluated the influences of these disasters and related social damage in nine major basins during the past 50 years. Unusually, the following conclusions were drawn from the analysis of relevant indicators before and after urbanization: (1) agricultural loss area (flood), grain loss, and direct economic loss showed an upward trend, while other indicators showed the opposite. (2) Floods most often occur in the Yangtze River Basin (58, 26.2%), followed by the Liaohe River Basin (49, 22.2%), which is closely related to the topography and economic progress of the area. (3) The modified Mann–Kendall (MK) analysis results are consistent with the indicators trend. Finally, the regularity of the climate change and urbanization process is revealed by the migration of the standard deviation ellipse and the mean center of the four indicators. China needs to integrate urban water/drought policy development with sustainable urbanization policy development to cope with the changing natural and social environment and to minimize urban ecological risks.

Discordant patterns between nitrogen-cycling functional traits and taxa in distant coastal sediments reveal important community assembly mechanisms.

A central question in microbial ecology is how immense microbes are assembled in changing natural environments while executing critical ecosystem functions. Over the past decade, effort has been made to unravel the contribution of stochasticity and determinism to the compositional of microbial communities. However, most studies focus on microbial taxa, ignoring the importance of functional traits. By employing shotgun metagenomic sequencing and state-of-the-art bioinformatics approaches, this study comprehensively investigated the microbially mediated nitrogen (N) cycling processes in two geographically distant coastal locations. Both shotgun and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing demonstrated significantly differed taxonomic compositions between the two sites. The relative abundance of major microbial phyla, such as Pseudomonadota, Thaumarchaeota, and Bacteroidota, significantly differed. In contrast, high homogeneity was observed for N-cycling functional traits. Statistical analyses suggested that N-cycling taxonomic groups were more related to geographic distance, whereas microbial functional traits were more influenced by environmental factors. Multiple community assembly models demonstrated that determinism strongly governed the microbial N-cycling functional traits, whereas their carrying taxonomic groups were highly stochastic. Such discordant patterns between N-cycling functional traits and taxa demonstrated an important mechanism in microbial ecology in which essential ecosystem functions are stably maintained despite geographic distance and stochastic community assembly.

The Canonical Discriminant Model of the Environmental Security Threats

The existence of modern humanity directly depends on environmental security. Human society, biodiversity, ecosystems, and climate safety are interdependent. The anthropogenic influence that causes irreversible climate change threatens both the ecosystem’s existence and humans’ survival. To maintain a balance between human well-being and a safe environment, it is important to have a diverse knowledge of the interrelations between the technological impact on the natural environment and climate change and an understanding of action strategies to mitigate climate change and ensure sustainable development. Applying a scientific approach, data analytics, and data science tools can effectively support climate change mitigation and prevent a climate disaster. Based on the components of the climate change performance index (CCPI) 2023 for 59 countries and the EU, a canonical discriminant model was built to identify the significant factors that influence the assessment of the effectiveness of climate protection in a particular country or region and the assessment of climate risks. It can be used to assess the level of climate protection effectiveness of countries that have not defined the CCPI 2023. Based on empirical data, we have determined the real weights of the relevant CCPI components in relation to the effectiveness of actions aimed at reducing global warming. We have established that there are additional factors important for assessing climate protection, but the CCPI rating does not consider them. We conducted a comparative analysis of the CCPI index and the sustainable development goals (SDG) index. The study establishes that the differences in environmental protection among the world’s countries do not determine the assessment of the level of sustainable development of the world’s countries. The obtained results can provide information to support decision-making in developing effective strategies and urgent actions to ensure climate protection.

Forest Fire Incident Forecasting System In Permanent Reserved Forest In Peninsular Malaysia Using Big Data Analytics

Purpose – This paper summarized the research project on the implementation of big data analytics to forecast the forest fire incident in Peninsular Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – The research project has developed a Forest Fire Incident Forecasting System in Permanent Reserves Forest (PRF) to forecast forest fire incidence in Peninsular Malaysia. This project was conducted for the Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (JPSM) in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) using Big Data Analytics (BDA). Findings – The results from the system have been summarized into four conclusions. Firstly, the forecast of areas with fire potential can be identified as early as 7 days; secondly, the location of relevant agencies to deal with forest fires close to the site of the fire incident can be identified. Third, the water source close to the fire scene can be located; and finally, the estimated cost of the extinguishing operation can be determined in advance. Practical Implications - To overcome these obstacles and accomplish wise forest management, modern science, and technology must be improved. This research project has successfully implemented BDA via the Forest Fire Incident Forecasting System in PRF. It has improved the performance of the JPSM for its forest management system. Originality – The project is originally conducted with collaborations between the JPSM and NRECC in the Malaysian federal government and has been successfully implemented by the forestry department.

Exploring different methodological approaches to unlock paleobiodiversity in peat profiles using ancient DNA

Natural and human-induced environmental changes deeply affected terrestrial ecosystems throughout the Holocene. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions provide information about the past and allow us to predict/model future scenarios. Among potential records, peat bogs are widely used because they present a precise stratigraphy and act as natural archives of highly diverse organic remains. Over the decades, several techniques have been developed to identify debris occurring in peat, including their morphological description. However, this is strongly constrained by the researcher's ability to distinguish residues at the species level, which typically requires many years of experience. In addition, potential contamination hampers using these techniques to obtain information from organisms such as fungi or bacteria. Environmental DNA metabarcoding and shotgun metagenome sequencing could represent a solution to detect specific groups of organisms without any a priori knowledge of their characteristics and/or to identify organisms that have rarely been considered in previous investigations. Moreover, shotgun metagenomics may allow the identification of bacteria and fungi (including both yeast and filamentous life forms), ensuring discrimination between ancient and modern organisms through the study of deamination/damage patterns. In the present review, we aim to i) present the state-of-the-art methodologies in paleoecological and paleoclimatic studies focusing on peat core analyses, proposing alternative approaches to the classical morphological identification of plant residues, and ii) suggest biomolecular approaches that will allow the use of proxies such as invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria, which are rarely employed in paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

Multi-Factors Synthetically Contribute to Ulva prolifera Outbreaks in the South Yellow Sea of China

In recent years, the frequent outbreaks of Ulva prolifera in the South Yellow Sea have become the largest-scale green tide disasters in the world. The causes of its outbreaks have garnered widespread attention, particularly the coupled effects of multiple factors. Leveraging the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, this study conducted a long-term investigation of the Yellow Sea green tide disaster and the factors using multi-source satellite imagery. Finally, the combined effects of natural environmental changes and human activities on Ulva prolifera were analyzed by redundancy analysis (RDA) and variation partitioning analysis (VPA). The results indicate: (1) Since 2018, the scale of Ulva prolifera in the South Yellow Sea has shown a distinct “biennial” trend. (2) Regarding environmental factors, SST, PAR, precipitation, and windspeed have certain effects on the growth of Ulva prolifera. However, they cannot be considered as determining factors for the outbreak of Ulva prolifera (0.002 < R2 < 0.14). Regarding anthropogenic factors, the recycle time of Pyropia yezoensis culture rafts has a relatively minor influence on the extent of Ulva prolifera. There exists a certain positive correlation (R2 = 0.45) between the human footprint index (HFI) of Jiangsu Province and the annual variation in Ulva prolifera area in the South Yellow Sea. (3) The combined effects of multiple factors influence green tide outbreaks. The Ulvatotal explanatory power of SST, PAR, precipitation, windspeed, HFI, and the recycle time of Pyropia yezoensis culture rafts for the annual variation in the Ulva prolifera area is 31.8%, with these factors interweaving and mutually influencing each other. This study offers important insights into quantifying the driving forces behind Ulva prolifera in the South Yellow Sea, providing valuable information for a deeper comprehension of the complexity of marine ecosystems and sustainable management.

Multi-energy system smart tool for ecological water body restoration using an AI-based decision-making framework

Abstract Ecological regeneration will reduce air pollution, reverse forest clearing and wilderness, minimize loss of biodiversity, improve urban ecosystems, and probably enhance the livelihoods and ties between mankind and nature. Ecological regeneration risk factors include frequent changes in natural environments, imperfect interpretation of natural systems by humans, and a lack of knowledge on past successes and shortcomings. The Internet of Things (IoT) uses in environmental monitoring are varied: environmental protection, extreme weather monitoring, water safety, conservation of endangered species, and commercial farming. In this paper, artificial intelligence-based environmental decision restoration framework (AI-EDRF) has been proposed to strengthen the continuously evolving natural systems; people are deficient about natural systems and the insufficient knowledge about past achievements and failures. The biological terrestrial collective analysis is introduced to improve natural systems is rapidly evolving, and people are inadequately aware of natural systems. Stochastic water quality analysis is integrated with AI-EDRF to boost past achievements and failures. IoT-enabled smart energy management is an effective approach to provide cost-effective, efficient energy distribution and technologies are used in connection with sustainable, renewable energy sources. The computational analysis is executed based on accuracy, performance ratio, reaction time, and data deployment to verify the developed framework's reliability.

Academic Coverage of Social Stressors Experienced by Disabled People: A Scoping Review

Social stress can be caused by many factors. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) highlights many social stressors disabled people experience in their daily lives. How social stressors experienced by disabled people are discussed in the academic literature and what data are generated influence social-stressor related policies, education, and research. Therefore, the aim of our study was to better understand the academic coverage of social stressors experienced by disabled people. We performed a scoping review study of academic abstracts employing SCOPUS, the 70 databases of EBSCO-HOST and Web of Science, and a directed qualitative content analysis to achieve our aim. Using many different search strategies, we found few to no abstracts covering social stressors experienced by disabled people. Of the 1809 abstracts obtained using various stress-related phrases and disability terms, we found a bias towards covering disabled people as stressors for others. Seventeen abstracts mentioned social stressors experienced by disabled people. Fourteen abstracts flagged “disability” as the stressor. No abstract contained stress phrases specific to social stressors disabled people experience, such as “disablism stress*” or “ableism stress*”. Of the abstracts containing equity, diversity, and inclusion phrases and policy frameworks, only one was relevant, and none of the abstracts covering emergency and disaster discussions, stress-identifying technologies, or science and technology governance were relevant. Anxiety is one consequence of social stressors. We found no abstract that contained anxiety phrases that are specific to social stressors disabled people experience, such as “ableism anxiety”, “disablism anxiety” or “disability anxiety”. Within the 1809 abstract, only one stated that a social stressor is a cause of anxiety. Finally, of the abstracts that contained anxiety phrases linked to a changing natural environment, such as “climate anxiety”, none were relevant. Our study found many gaps in the academic literature that should be fixed and with that highlights many opportunities.

Malacological indicators of anthropogenic and natural environmental changes of the Podhale Basin during the last 2000 years. Studies in the Rogoźnik Stream valley (the Carpathian Mountains, Southern Poland)

The lithological and malacological studies covered sediments forming the low terrace of the Rogoźnik Stream in the northwest part of the Podhale Basin. This terrace is characterised by a uniform structure within a significant part of the valley. Three layers of gravel and four layers of sandy and silty muds were found there. A rich and diversified malacofauna was discovered in fine-grained sediments. Its analysis allowed us to characterise environmental conditions during sediment deposition. The age of the individual components of the sedimentary sequence was determined by radiocarbon dating. A distinct change was found in the upper intervals of the sequence, corresponding to the warm phase of the Medieval Climate Optimum. This period is associated with the robust development of agriculture, and processes related to human activities became the main factor shaping the environment, influencing the course of geological processes, and changing the taxonomical and ecological structure of the fauna and flora assemblages found in this area.

Cost-benefit analysis of migration in the context of environmental change in Ben Tre Province of Viet Nam

Changes in the natural environment and the socio-economic environment have had both direct and indirect impacts on agricultural production and farmer’s life in three coastal districts of Ben Tre Province of Viet Nam, including Binh Dai, Ba Tri, and Thanh Phu. Natural environment changes are drought, saline intrusion, and landslides while the socio-economic environment changes consist of agricultural market fluctuation, rising labor and agricultural input price, decreasing output price, diseases, etc. One of the solutions that households take to cope with these changes is migration. In this article, the authors examine factors that affected households’ migrating decisions and behaviors using cost-benefit approach. Two research methods used in this study are social surveys and in-depth interviews. The survey was conducted with 79 households that have migrants in 3 coastal districts. The research suggests that migrants themselves made the migration decision in most cases (85%). Three main reasons for migration among farmers in the area have been identified as (1) solving the immediate difficulties of the household, (2) being part of the family’s long-term plan, and (3) being the family’s livelihood strategy in the short term (solving difficulties) and long-term (transforming livelihoods). The costs that migrants and their families can face are direct costs (packing, travel costs, rental housing, etc.) and indirect costs (change in living environment and social relations, anxiety of family members, and social evils at the destination, etc.). The benefits of migration can be immediate benefits (economic and non-economic) as well as long-term effects that have a great impact on household life and the migrants themselves. The research finds that migration provided more benefits related to the living conditions of households. It also points out that migration has become a feasible long-term adaptation strategy for farmers, those who stayed behind, in the context of environmental change.

Landscape Evolution and Its Driving Forces in the Rapidly Urbanized Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, a Case Study in Zhuhai City, South China

Over the past four decades, urban expansions driven by rapid economic development and climate change have exerted profound impacts on land-use dynamics in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. However, our understanding of the interplay of different urban landscape patterns in this rapid urbanization zone remains limited. This study examines remote sensing data from 1999, 2009, and 2019 to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of the urbanization impact on landscape patterns, as well as driving forces, in Zhuhai City, in the western part of the Great Bay. The findings reveal that land-use changes in Zhuhai City are primarily characterized by the conversion of cultivated land and water areas into construction land and forest land, particularly in the western part of the city. These changes may result from rapid urbanization, leading to increased fragmentation and spatial aggregation of landscape patterns. Landscape pattern changes in Zhuhai City were related to both socio-economic development and natural environment change. The urbanization has promoted the agricultural transformation with a loss of cultivated land and water areas. Additionally, this study suggests that the coordination of land use along with the protection and construction of the ecological environment is urgently needed to achieve sustainable development in the region.

Navigating a broken river: Understanding the ecological consequences of fragmentation on benthic life

AbstractHabitat fragmentation is emerging as a leading cause of biodiversity decline in riverine ecosystems. Several natural and human factors contribute to the fragmentation of rivers. River fragmentation is a growing problem that is widely spread and poses a significant challenge to the conservation of freshwater biodiversity, but its impact is not fully documented and acknowledged. Fragmentation impedes the movement of aquatic organisms and alters natural flow regimes, disrupting habitats and trophic supplies for aquatic biodiversity. It can also affect the adaptive ability of organisms to natural environmental changes, leading to a change in the structure and function of biotic communities. To understand the effects of fragmentation on river ecology, it is crucial to link its spatial and structural implications. This article examines the occurrence and frequency of fragmentation and its effects on the ecological community of benthic biota. This review aims to elucidate the overall effects of fragmentation on river ecology and recommends the possible measures to mitigate its impact. Urgent action is required to establish a comprehensive global network of free‐flowing river systems and revive previously exploited rivers in different regions to enhance the protection and sustainable utilization of river ecosystems.