Pressure-State-Response Research Articles

Regional Climate Change Adaptation Based on the PSR Model—Multi-Case Comparative Analysis on a Global Scale

Regional climate change is affected by global warming, large-scale inter-regional circulation, and land use/cover. As a result of different ecological, economic, and social conditions, climate adaptation actions vary from region to region, including community-based adaptation in small island developing states, enhancing flood resilience in Europe, weather index insurance promotion in Africa, climate change adaptation based on traditional knowledge in the Polar Regions, and global joint decision-making in terms of regional issues of the Ocean. This paper takes the above five typical cases as the research objects, and the multi-case comparative research method is adopted to discuss regional climate change adaptation based on the pressure–state–response framework. It found that: (1) regional climate change adaptation faces significant pressure from cross-regional flows of finance, population, and species under climate change; (2) climate change hotspot maps based on climate change projections show regional climate vulnerability; (3) responses for regional climate change adaptation require active promotion of multi-level governance with horizontal and vertical cooperation. In the future, regional climate change adaptation should focus on inter-regional climate justice and equality, regional climate change adaptation pathways optimization, and how to effectively learn from typical regional climate adaptation cases.

Application of pressure–state–response approach for developing criteria and indicators of ecological health assessment of wetlands: a multi-temporal study in Ichhamati floodplains, India

BackgroundTropical floodplain wetlands are among the most disturbed and intensively harvested ecosystems. Their sustainable management is often hindered due to the lack of comprehensive, coherent, and standardized assessment frameworks of wetland ecological health (WEH). In this study, a set of appropriate criteria and indicators (C&I) of WEH assessment was developed and tested on seven wetlands of River Ichhamati, eastern India.MethodsBased on the pressure–state–response (PSR) approach, evaluation indicators representing ecological, socio-economic, and institutional sustainability issues of floodplain wetland systems were either selected or formulated through literature survey and stakeholder consensus. Weights of indicators were assigned by the entropy weighting method and then used in the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution model to determine the Euclidean distances of each wetland from the positive ideal solution and negative ideal solution. Subsequently, a comprehensive wetland ecological health index (CWEHI) was constructed from these distances to portray the condition of any PSR system component in a wetland under a fivefold classification scheme, namely ‘excellent health’ (CWEHI ≥ 0.81), ‘good health’ (0.61–0.80), ‘moderate health’ (0.41–0.60), ‘weak health’ (0.21–0.40), and ‘morbid’ (≤ 0.20).ResultsThe developed C&I set contains 8 criteria and 38 indicators under pressure component, 7 criteria and 49 indicators under state component, as well as 4 criteria and 18 indicators under response component. When applied in 2016 and 2022, it was found that the Panchita and Aromdanga wetlands were continuously in weak and morbid health status, while the Madhabpur wetland always showed an excellent or good status for all components. Health of other wetlands oscillated between moderate and morbid health across assessment years and system components.ConclusionsThe developed C&I set was found to be a flexible, holistic, and refined framework that could be applied elsewhere in similar assessments with minor indicator-level adjustments. The present assessment inferred that agriculture-dominated wetlands were more affected by amplified environmental pressure than fishing-dominated wetlands. Absence of persistent water flow from main river channel, wide-spread jute-retting, agriculture-induced eutrophication, proliferation of aquatic weeds were identified as the major causes of rapid ecological deterioration.

Assessment of Land Ecological Security from 2000 to 2020 in the Chengdu Plain Region of China

The purpose of land ecological security (LES) assessment is to evaluate the influence of land use and human activities on the land ecosystem. Its ultimate objective is to offer decision-making assistance and direction for safeguarding and rejuvenating the well-being and effectiveness of the land ecosystem. However, it is important to note that there are still significant uncertainties associated with current land ecological safety assessments. This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation model that combines the strengths of subjective and objective weighting methods. The model is built upon an index system developed using the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework. To verify the level of LES, theThe results of classifying the total ecosystem service valueTotal Ecosystem Service Value are utilized to verify the level of LES. Furthermore, spatial distribution patterns of regional land ecological safety levels are analyzed using statistical techniques, such as Moran’s I, Mann–Whitney U-test, and Kruskal–Wallis H-test. The findings indicate that: (1) theThe evaluation model developed in this paper achieves a validation accuracy of 75.55%, indicating that it provides a more accurate reflection of the level of land ecological safety in the region; (2) The ecological security index is generally safe, with a mean value in the moderate safety range. It experienced a turning point in 2010, showing initial deterioration followed by improvement, mainly due to the transition between unsafe and relatively safe zones. (3) The level of economic development, topography, and urban-–rural structure are significant factors influencing the spatial concentration of LES in the region, ultimately shaping the spatial pattern of LES in the Chengdu Plain region.

PSR_ti model, an adapted pressure-state-response (PSR) framework for measuring tourism impacts: the case of Madrid

PurposeAssessing the impacts generated by tourism has become an essential element for the industry’s sustainability. The increasing intensity of the impacts and the need to evaluate them from a resident’s perspective calls for new approaches to assist tourism management. This paper aims to advance from the pressure-state-response framework (PSR) to measure the tourism impacts in urban destinations with a holistic model called PSR-ti.Design/methodology/approachA multiple linear regression method was adopted to apply the PSR-ti model in the city of Madrid, estimating the relationship between the pressure (objective) and state (subjective) variables. Local statistical yearbook data was used to construct the pressure variables. Regarding the state variables, a survey was designed to assess residents’ perceptions of tourism. A total of 652 responses were obtained.FindingsThe results obtained from the study of pressure indicators unveil that these indicators can support decision-making processes as an underused management tool. This work represents a step forward in considering the transversality of tourism concerning urban planning, the development of equipment and infrastructures or activities such as commerce and culture for the analysis of the state indicators; the results obtained determine the need to periodically evaluate the perception of residents on the impacts of tourism, given its crucial role in the sustainability of the destination.Originality/valueThe PSR-ti model offers a holistic vision, including objective and subjective indicators in the model, which enhances the appraisal of the impacts of tourism by identifying pressure and state factors as a starting point for possible responses by the decision makers of the tourist destination.

Developing a multiscale landscape assessment framework integrating multiobjectives to identify priority action plans for sustainable development of small inhabited islands

The sustainable development of SII (small inhabited islands) has critical impacts on human well-being and requires balancing complex multiobjectives, for which the most beneficial actions must be prioritized, with limited financial and labor support. The effect of current plans based on single-scale or single-objective assessments may be overestimated, and multiscale landscape assessments and plans offer a potential solution. This study aimed to bring more attention to SII and use landscape ecology theories and methods to develop a multiscale landscape assessment framework that integrates multiobjectives to identify priority action plans for sustainable development. This framework consists of a LEHA (landscape ecological health assessment) based on the PSR (pressure-state-response) index system and a TLSA (tourism landscape suitability assessment) based on the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) index system at regional and unit landscape scales, respectively. And we verified it on Xiaodeng Island in Xiamen, China, near Kinmen Island in Taiwan Province, which is a typical case of SII that are in the administrative division of “township” consisting of villages only. Our framework is characterized by overall consistency, hierarchical transmission and spatial variability, which ensures the scientific and operability of plans that can meet both ‘top-down’ management objectives and ‘bottom-up’ development needs. The application in Xiaodeng Island confirmed its feasibility. We proposed 4 strategies and an action plan network of 12 actions with specific content, location and order based on the assessment results with the goal of mitigating climate change, particularly in marine ecosystems, and providing more sustainable development opportunities for SII residents. In the future, we need a long-term monitoring database, scenario modeling predictions and quantitative analysis of the plan effectiveness for SII; furthermore, we need to implement this framework at different landscape scales in other areas.

Use of remote sensing-based pressure-state-response framework for the spatial ecosystem health assessment in Langfang, China.

Land use/land cover changes are occurring at an unprecedented rate and scale because of the economic development that has jeopardized the ecosystem's health. Ecosystem health should be studied and monitored at spatiotemporal scale to promote sustainable development and ecological civilization. The goal of this study was to assess the spatial ecosystem health of Langfang at the city and administrative levels using city's regional characteristics. Remote sensing-based pressure-state-response (PSR) framework, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and principal component analysis (PCA) were utilized for spatial ecosystem health index (SEHI) formulation, indicator weighting, and indicator selection in several epochs (1990, 2003, 2013, and 2021), respectively. SEHI was formulated by combining subindices of pressure, state and response. The spatial ecosystem pressure index (SEIP) identified that the pressure was increasing on the ecosystem. In contrast, the spatial ecosystem state index (SEIS) pointed out an improvement in the state of the ecosystem since 1990. The worst state of the ecosystem was observed for the year 2013. The spatial ecosystem response index (SEIR) indicated that the response of the ecosystem towards the exerted pressures and states remained variable; however, it was reasonably good in 1990. All the administrative units of Langfang were associated with a healthy score for the spatial ecosystem health index (SEHI) for 1990 (pre-industrialization epoch), while the SEHI significantly reduced in 2013 (industrialization epoch) however improved for the later epochs (circular economy and ecological civilization epoch). The SEHI was moderately healthy for Dachang, Dacheng, Guan, Guangyang, and Yongqing while relatively healthy for the remaining administrative units in 2021. SEHI identified that spatial health has been improving since 2003 though not reaching the 1990's level for Langfang. Therefore, efforts should be focused on minimizing pressure and stabilizing the state to improve the spatial ecosystem health of Langfang. The developed SEHI can assist policymakers in analyzing regional health, identifying development strategies, driving environmental restoration, and quantifying needed changes.

Assessing the Landscape Ecological Health (LEH) of Wetlands: Research Content and Evaluation Methods (2000–2022)

Wetlands are often referred to as the Earth’s kidneys. However, wetlands worldwide are still negatively affected due to a lack of comprehensive understanding of wetland landscape ecological health (WLEH). Based on this background, we analyzed and compared the conceptual definitions, research progress, contents (in terms of structural, functional, and process health), and methods (indicator species approach, ecological integrity assessment, conceptual model evaluation including the vigor–organization–resilience (VOR), pressure–state–response (PSR), and ecological feature–function–socioeconomic (EFFS) models, and water–gas CO2 calculation) over the past 20 years (2000–2022). Moreover, the concept definition and research progress of ecosystem health (EH) and landscape ecological health (LEH) and WLEH research outlook were analyzed. In this study, it was shown that WLEH could be considered a LEH subset, while the LEH is a specific EH perspective. These three concepts share a common focus on ecosystem conditions, functions, and services while considering ecological processes and habitat characteristics. However, they differ in the scope and specific types of ecosystems considered. This review may provide references for ecological conservation and restoration of artificial and restored wetland landscapes.

Spatiotemporal evolution of ecological entropy in an ecologically vulnerable area

Abstract The spatiotemporal evolution of ecological entropy (EE) reflects the differences and correlations among the different elements (roads, rivers, land, etc.) and regions in an ecosystem. In this study, an index system for evaluating the EE in an ecologically vulnerable area in China from 2005 to 2020 is constructed according to the pressure–state–response model. Models of the EE and its gradient are constructed, and they are evaluated using GIS and remote sensing. The results show that except for the utilization rate of solid waste, the index values of EE have increased dramatically in the past 16 years. Investment in waste pollution control, GDP per capita, vegetation index in July, and utilization rate of solid waste make large contributions to the EE. The EEs on the edge of the ecologically vulnerable area increased from 2005 to 2020, indicating that the ecological environment in these areas has deteriorated year by year. The regions with the largest outflow of EE indicate that the EEs of these regions had a large impact on those of their surrounding regions. The regions with the largest inflow of EE indicate that the ecological security of these regions is relatively stable to the surrounding regions. Large EE gradients existed between adjacent regions show large rate of change and inflow and outflow of EE. The results contribute to alleviating the high entropy, reversing the ecological imbalance, enhancing the ecological benefits, and improving the environmental quality in an ecological entropy system. The present results offer decision support for ecological evaluation, protection, restoration, compensation, and security.

Spatial Distribution of Water Risk Based on Atlas Compilation in the Shaanxi Section of the Qinling Mountains, China

Global climate change and rapid socio-economic development have increased the uncertainty in water resource systems and the complexity of water risk issues. Analyzing water risk and its spatial distribution is integral to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, as this contributes to effective water resource partition management. In this paper, a compiling method of risk atlas with multiple layers is proposed, and the water risk system is divided into five sub-systems including the risk of resource, management, engineering, quality, and disaster. The information used for the risk atlas is calculated by a risk evaluation model based on a Pressure–State–Response (PSR) framework, hierarchical cluster, and set pair analysis (SPA). Risks in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi (as a case study) are evaluated and visualized. The results show that grades IV and V of engineering, disaster, and resource risk exceed 40%, indicating that they require prior control. The quality and management risks are not major, but there is still room for improvement. Overall, the risk atlas can effectively and objectively reflect the spatial distribution of water risk and provide a basis for the layout of water risk control measures.

Ecological degradation in the Inner Mongolia reach of the Yellow River Basin, China: Spatiotemporal patterns and driving factors

The ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) has been the prime strategy of China. Wherein, the Inner Mongolia reach of the Yellow River Basin (IM-YRB) is a critical ecological barrier in northern China, playing an unshakable position in ecological and food security in the YRB. However, evaluation of ecological conditions and relevant driving factors have not aroused considerable concerns. Here we propose an ecological degradation index system based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) multi-scale comprehensive assessment framework and evaluate the ecological environment degradation intensity in the IM-YRB during 2000 to 2018. We find continual degradation of the ecological environment with increasing degradation intensity in the IM-YRB during 2000 to 2018. Moreover, we quantify that 24.16% of the IM-YRB had highly significant degradation (99% confidence level) of the ecological environment. The areas with significant degradation (95% confidence level) of the ecological environment accounted for 57.19% of the IM-YRB. The population density, land use, coal mining and fires are the main influencing factors behind ecological environment degradation in the IM-YRB. In addition, there occurred widespread land use conversion (>50% of the study region in area) amongst grassland, arable land, sands, construction land and unused land and these land conversions can be found mainly in the Yinshan Mountains (from grassland to abandoned land, the Hetao Irrigation District (from grassland to arable land) and the Kubuqi Desert (from sand, arable land and unused land to grassland). This study acts as the theoretical ground for sustainability and conservation of the regional ecological environment.

Measuring the agricultural sustainability of India: An application of Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model

Analyzing agricultural sustainability is essential for designing and assessing rural development initiatives. However, accurately measuring agricultural sustainability is complicated since it involves so many different factors. This study provides a new suite of quantitative indicators for assessing agricultural sustainability at regional and district levels, involving environmental sustainability, social security, and economic security. Combining the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model and indicator approach, this study creates a composite agricultural sustainability index for the 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions of India. The results of this study show that the Trans-Gengatic Plain Region (TGPR) ranks first in agricultural sustainability among India’s 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions, while the Eastern Himalayan Region (EHR) ranks last. Higher livestock ownership, cropping intensity, per capita income, irrigation intensity, share of institutional credit, food grain productivity, crop diversification, awareness of minimum support price, knowledge sharing with fellow farmers, and young and working population, as well as better transportation facilities and membership of agricultural credit societies are influencing indicators responsible for higher agricultural sustainability in TGPR compared with EHR. Although, the scores of environmental sustainability indicators of EHR are quite good, its scores of social and economic security indicators are fairly low, putting it at the bottom of the rank of agricultural sustainability index among the 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions in India. This demonstrates the need of understanding agricultural sustainability in relation to social and economic dimensions. In a nation as diverse and complicated as India, it is the social structure that determines the health of the economy and environment. Last but not least, the sustainability assessment methodology may be used in a variety of India’s agro-climatic regions.

A sustainable solution to manage ecosystem health of wetlands in urban and peri-urban areas of Lucknow district, India using geospatial techniques and community based pragmatic approach

Wetlands are multi-functional landscapes between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that provide habitat for wildlife, support groundwater recharge, moderate climate, control flood and fulfil the livelihood of the communities. Rapid population growth, urban expansion, and industrialization have caused the degradation of wetlands over the last few decades. The wetlands located in the urban and peri-urban areas are generally the most threatened ecosystems globally. The present study assessed the ecosystem health of urban and peri-urban wetlands of Lucknow district in India and recommended a sustainable solution for their management. Remote sensing data derived from the normalized difference vegetation index, modified normalized difference water index, and land use/land cover change were utilized for analyzing the spatiotemporal change in areas under wetlands, from 1989 to 2018. Site-specific indicators on pressure, state and response were integrated in FRAGSTATS-based assessment to construct a Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model. A qualitative field survey has been conducted through focus group discussion and expert opinion to validate the result from the PSR model. The results revealed that the overall health of the wetlands has deteriorated drastically in these peri-urban areas owing to anthropogenic activities. The wetland ecosystem's health is significantly correlated with land transformation. The study recommended community participation, and involvement of local authorities in storing rainwater, constructing culverts and channels, and interlinking them with wetlands for sustainable conservation and effective management of the wetland ecosystem.

Evaluation, comparison, and unique features of ecological security in southwest China: A case study of Yunnan Province

Yunnan Province is part of the Yun-Gun Plateau in southwest China with rich ecological resources and special geographic features, resulting in considerable ecological security. This study used the pressure-state-response (PSR) model to vertically evaluate Yunnan’s ecological security and horizontally compare ecological security between Yunnan and other four neighbouring provinces (Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi) during 2000–2020. We also elaborated on the ecological security of Yunnan’s unique geographical features, such as plateau lakes, karst mountains, and tropical rainforest areas. The results show that the ecological security in Yunnan Province improved overall, with a slow increase (2000–2006), a fluctuating decline (2007–2012), and a sharp jump (2013–2020). The ecological security level climbed from ‘critical safe’ to ‘comparative safety’. The pressure layer was the largest contributor to the increase from 2000 to 2011, whereas the response layer was the main determinant of the upward trend since 2012. Despite its better performance early in the study period, Yunnan’s ecological security index (ESI) rose at a lower rate since 2011 than ESIs of neighbouring provinces in the southwest. Within Yunnan, unique geographical regions have roughly consistent ESIs as the entire province. The exception was the tropical rainforest area, with lower ESI than in other parts of Yunnan. We then discussed implications for enhancing ecological security in Yunnan, including real-time monitoring platforms, green innovations and different environmental regulations. The results provide insight beneficial to the improvement of ecological-security evaluation and the ecological sustainable development of Yunnan.

Data-Driven Analysis and Evaluation of Regional Resources and the Environmental Carrying Capacity

The resources and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) of a region are considered the key and the foundation for achieving sustainable development and the benchmark of environmental protection and pollution control. However, to improve the regional RECC, we need to comprehensively consider the data information and correlation of the economy, society, resources, and the environment. Therefore, we propose a data-driven method for RECC measurement and evaluation of the regional RECC. Based on data collection and the application of the pressure-state-response (PSR) framework to reflect RECC, an evaluation index system for the regional RECC is constructed. The technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) model with the entropy weight method is used to measure and evaluate the regional RECC. The obstacle degree model is adopted to select and identify the key factors affecting the regional RECC and to propose targeted policy suggestions for data application. The results indicate that the RECC level in three provinces and one city of the Yangtze River Delta region fluctuated slightly from 2010 to 2019, with an overall upward trend. Anhui Province has a relatively weak carrying capacity, and the main obstacles to RECC improvement in the region are the proportion of wetland area and the ownership of water resources. This study provides theoretical and methodological support for regional RECC research and management as well as a basis for formulating policies related to environmental protection and pollution control.

Assessment of Urban Ecological Resilience Based on PSR Framework in the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China

Studying resilience provides an opportunity to address a range of urban environmental problems. However, existing studies pay little attention to urban ecological resilience (UER), and the system of assessing urban resilience pays little attention to the process attribute of resilience. This study focuses on UER and constructs an evaluation framework based on the pressure _state _response (PSR) framework. The ‘pressure’ indicator morphological resilience (MR) is evaluated using source _sink landscape theory. The ‘state’ indicator density resilience (DR) is evaluated using the ratio of ecological carrying capacity to ecological footprint. The ‘response’ indicator uses indicators of economic structure, vitality, and innovation for evaluation. We found that the MR and DR of the study area in 2020 showed a spatial layout of low in the central area and high in the peripheral areas, while the high-value ER area was in the central part. The average district and county MR was 1.44, DR was between 0.003 and 1.975, and ER was 0.32; overall, ER and MR are better in the study area, but DR is worse. The spatial layout of comprehensive UER was found to be low in the middle and high in the periphery of the study area. Some areas with low MR and DR have high UER, which verifies the compensation effect of ER on urban ecology. This study provides a new method for assessing UER, and the findings can provide useful information for urban planning.

Data-driven decision-making of marine ecological civilization construction in island county of China

In the cause of assessing the construction of ecological civilization in island county accurately, an evaluation index system involving 27 single indexes under the framework of Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model is established. Because the system of island county ecological civilization development is a complex network system. This research designs an assessment method based on network analytical method to evaluate the development of island county ecological civilization. For this purpose, a Back-Propagation (BP) neural network-based decision-making model are established at the same time. Regarding the standardized data of 6 island counties from 2010 to 2020 in China as the input learning matrix, both entropy and coefficient of variation are applied to the evaluation of the “Development Index of Marine Ecological Civilization Construction” (DIMECC). More specifically, after 10,000 times of training, the error accuracy is within overhead manageable, and the island counties which are evaluated as ecological civilization level are found out and the key impacting indicator contributing to low level are identified. According to the actual evaluation result of island counties obtained by BP neural network, the ecological civilization of them is proposed as a whole under land-sea coordination. Finally, this paper suggests on the decision-making of the participants to contribute the construction of the island county ecological civilization development system.

Spatial and temporal variation and driving factors of ecological carrying capacity in the Pan-Pearl River Basin, China

The Pan-Pearl River Basin (PPRB) has acted as a pioneer region of China’s reform and opening-up with rapid economic development. Quantitatively clarifying the evolution of ecological carrying capacity (ECC) is vital for the sustainable development of PPRB. Therefore, this study combined a comprehensive evaluation method of the pressure-state-response (PSR) index system with the ecological footprint based on net primary productivity (EF-NPP) method to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of ecological carrying capacity (ECC) and the comprehensive ecological carrying capacity (CECC) in the PPRB from 2002 to 2019 with the development of economy and society. The random forest regression method was then used to analyze the factors driving ECC and the exponential smoothing was used to predict the future trend in the ECC and CECC of the PPRB. The results indicated that the rapid development of the economy of the PPRB coincided with some resource consumption and environmental damage. But the ECC and the CECC of the PPRB will improve continuously over the next six years according to the prediction results of exponential smoothing method. The per-capita ECC of the PPRB increased from the southern coastal area to the northern inland area. The ECC of Hunan Province decreased significantly during 2007–2010 and the ECC of Guangdong Province increased significantly during 2015–2019. The main factors influencing ECC included the damage of the ecological environment and economic development. These two driving factors showed a “U”-shaped relationship to the ECC of the PPRB, indicating a gradual emergence of the harmony of economic development and ecological damage. This study provides a theoretical basis for the ecological restoration and comprehensive ecological management in the PPRB.

A comprehensive evaluation of the security of the water-energy-food systems in China

Water-energy-food (WEF) are the indispensable resources for achieving sustainable social-economic development, poverty reduction, and human well-being. An appropriate WEF security evaluation may help inform China's sustainable resource production and consumption. This study selects 27 indicators representing pressure-state-response (PSR) dimensions to evaluate the WEF security of 30 provinces in mainland China from 2010 to 2019 using the entropy weight method and matter-element extension (MEE) model. The results indicate that the security of the water subsystem is mostly under high risk, and is relative severe in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shanghai, Shandong, and Ningxia. Meanwhile, energy subsystem indicators like carbon emission and energy intensities have significantly improved. All food subsystem indicators have improved by varying degrees. Regionally, food security is high in the east, and low in the central and western regions. In terms of the performance of PSR dimensions, “Pressure” is the most optimistic, followed by “Response” and “State”. The “Response” in most provinces is getting better, which has promoted the overall improvement of WEF systems. Thus, while maintaining the subsystem with high security, the integrated system's security can be enhanced by addressing the shortcoming of other subsystems. This can help realise synergistic resource use and enhance their security.

Ecological Security Assessment and Warning of Cultivated Land Quality in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China

The ecological security of cultivated land critically depends on maintaining the quality of the land under cultivation. For the security of the nation’s grain supply, the evaluation and early warning of cultivated land quality (CLQ) are essential. However, previous studies on the assessment of the ecological safety of CLQ only rigidly standardized the assessment indicators and failed to investigate the positive and negative trends and spatiotemporal driving factors of the indicators. The main objective of this study was to develop a drive–pressure–state–response (DPSR) model to identify the hierarchical structure of indicators, using an improved matter–element model to assess the CLQ in the black soil region of northeastern China from 2001 to 2020. A panel data model was employed to explore the crucial drivers of CLQ warnings. The findings reveal that socioeconomic development has a potential impact on the improvement of CLQ. CLQ is generally in a secure state, with 69.71% of cities with no warnings and only 3.46% and 0.13% of cities under serious and extreme warnings, respectively. Compared with 2001, the CLQ in 2020 effectively improved by socioeconomic development and the conservation and reasonable utilization of arable land. According to the early warning results, the cultivated land in the northern regions was of higher quality than that in the southern regions. Moreover, the CLQ was significantly positively correlated with the agricultural GDP growth rate, grain yield per unit of cultivated land area, annual precipitation, and the habitat quality index, and was significantly negatively correlated with land carrying capacity. The findings of this study can provide a scientific and targeted basis for black soil conservation and utilization.

Quantifying biodiversity impacts of livestock using life‐cycle perspectives

Biodiversity impacts are rarely included in systems analyses of livestock production. We piloted two approaches toward quantifying biodiversity impacts, pressure‐state‐response (PSR) and potential species loss (PSL), at a cow–calf operation in Florida for which extensive environmental data were available. Using these approaches, we compared livestock production on two vegetation types, semi‐native pasture (SNP) and improved pasture (IMP), and we found fewer deleterious effects on biodiversity associated with SNP (characterized by low stocking rates and no fertilizer) than with IMP, as evidenced by a lower PSL and greater biotic integrity under PSR. Both approaches agreed in the direction of the outcome, but we argue that, when possible, they should be applied complementarily to inform both absolute and per‐unit product biodiversity impacts of livestock production. This research demonstrates how to incorporate biodiversity into life‐cycle perspectives of livestock sustainability assessments when data availability varies, supporting the expansion of multi‐metric, holistic evaluations that are absent from most livestock system analyses.