Vegetation Types Research Articles

Biomass yield potential, feedstock quality, and nutrient removal of perennial buffer strips under continuous zero fertilizer application

Abstract. Perennial-based buffer strips have been promoted as having the potential for improving ecosystem services from riparian areas while producing biomass as livestock feed or as a bioenergy feedstock. Both biomass production and nutrient removal of buffer strips are substantially influenced by the vegetation types for the multipurpose perennial buffers. In this 2016–2019 study in western Illinois, two perennial cropping systems, including forage crops composed of cool-season grass mixtures (forage system) and bioenergy crops made up of warm-season grass mixtures (bioenergy system), were used to establish buffer strips for assessing biomass production, feedstock quality, nutrient removal, and buffer longevity. Treatments for this study reflecting agronomic practices included (1) two harvests occurring in summer (at anthesis) and fall (after complete senescence) and (2) one harvest in fall for the forage system (two-cut vs. one-cut forage) and (3) one fall harvest for the bioenergy system (one-cut bioenergy). Successively harvesting without any fertilizer input resulted in a yield decline in forage biomass over 3 years by approximately 30 % (6.3 to 4.4 Mg DM ha−1 (dry matter) with a rate of 1.0 Mg ha−1 yr−1) in the two-cut forage and by 35 % (4.9 to 3.2 Mg DM ha−1 with a rate of 0.9 Mg ha−1 yr−1) in the one-cut forage systems. The feed quality also decreased over the years by showing declined rates of 12.9 (crucial protein), 0.9 (calcium), 0.7 (copper), and 1.3 g kg−1 DM yr−1 (zinc). Empirical models predicted enteric CH4 emissions from cattle ranged from 225.7 to 242.6 g per cow per day based on the feed nutritive values. In contrast, bioenergy biomass yield increased by 27 % from 4.9 to 6.7 Mg DM ha−1 with a consistent quality (cellulose of ∼ 397.9 g kg−1; hemicellulose of ∼ 299.4 g kg−1), corresponding to the increased total theoretical ethanol yield from 1.8 × 103 to 2.4 × 103 L ha−1 (∼ 33 % increase). Annual nutrient removals of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg were significantly higher in the forage systems (e.g., two-cut: 52.6–106.9 kg N ha−1; one-cut: 44.5–84.1 kg N ha−1) than those in the bioenergy system (e.g., 25.9–34.4 kg N ha−1); however, the removal rate declined rapidly over 3 years (e.g., ∼ 49 % reduction) as the annual biomass yield declined in the forage systems. This on-farm field study demonstrated the potential of the perennial crop used as buffer strip options for biomass production and buffer sustainability at the edge of the field.

A Study on the Cooling Impact of the River Yamuna and its Surrounding LULC: A Case Study of New Delhi, India

Abstract. The unplanned growth of urban cities has adversely affected the thermal conditions. The Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) present in urban areas significantly impacts the thermal conditions of the surrounding environment. This study investigated the cooling effect of river in dense urban environments. It is conducted on the Yamuna river that flows through New Delhi, the capital city of India. The River Cooling Intensity (RCI) and River Cooling Range (RCR) assessment has been done for the summer season of May 2023 with the help of Landsat 8 images. The RCI ranged from 3.58°C to 1.16°C while the RCR varied from 1320 m to 360 m. It is observed that the river cooling effect is higher in the built-up class while the vegetation class weakens the effect of river cooling intensity and range. Zonal mean temperature varies from 32.02°C to 34.82°C according to the LULC distribution. This study provides valuable insights into the relationship between river cooling and temperature regulation according to the LULC classes. It also establishes the presence of an urban cool island inside the city region due to the river, as the mean temperature of the river surrounding (33.83°C) was lower than that of the city (35.73°C).

Colonial management drives ecological change following the exclusion of Indigenous stewardship in a Stoney Iyethka montane grassland, Canadian Rocky Mountains

Abstract For millennia, Indigenous Peoples and their ecological stewardship have kept culturally important landscapes open, diverse and productive. Under colonization which suppresses stewardship activities, landscape vegetation patterns shift and areas previously stewarded by Indigenous Peoples are now undergoing successional change. As a case study, we document ecological change on the homelands of the Stoney Iyethka Nations in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where landscapes have changed dramatically over the past century of colonial management. On the Stoney Iyethka traditional montane Egnuck Wida grasslands, we analysed vegetation change on both the landscape and plot level. Using oblique photographs taken in 1924 paired with 2021 satellite imagery, we compared past and present landscape vegetation cover and assessed drivers of succession. We also examined differences in vegetation class cover and plant community structure between surveys conducted in 1981, 1995 and 2020. Nearly half (47%) of the landscape surveyed showed seral progression in vegetation class, which was not explained by topography, geology or climate warming. Grassland area decreased four‐fold between 1924 and 2021. Grassland retention was strongly related to management zoning, with greater losses in the crown‐managed ecological reserve than on lands that remain under Stoney Iyethka stewardship. Vegetation plots surveyed reveal changes to plant community composition and shifts in dominant vegetation class. In plots previously composed primarily of forbs and graminoids, shrubs have become the dominant groundcover. Declines in historic vegetation include a loss of culturally important food, medicine and ceremonial plants to the Stoney Iyethka Nations. The most likely explanation for these results is the displacement of Indigenous Peoples and their stewardship from the landscape. We demonstrate that the past century of colonial environmental management has altered ecological processes maintained on this landscape for millennia by Indigenous Peoples. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

To Investigate the Impact of Land Use Change on the Potential Groundwater Recharge on Hillslope With Deep Loess Deposits

ABSTRACTAccurately estimating groundwater recharge in hilly areas with limited water and thick vadose zones is challenging. This study investigated the impact of land use changes on groundwater recharge at a hillslope scale of Yuanzegou Watershed in China's Loess Plateau. Three adjacent hillslopes were selected for three different land uses: arbor (jujube, Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), subshrub (native grass, Artemisia gmelinii), and crop (millet, Setaria italica). Soil cores (as deep as 10–16/18 m) were collected at each of the three landscape positions on a hillslope. Reported tritium profiles in the watershed were used to estimate the net chloride input into vadose zone on hillslope associated with inverse chloride mass balance (CMB) method/chloride accumulation method (CAM). Soil water content and chloride profiles in the study were measured to determine recharge rates at each landscape position beneath different vegetation types. For the first time, we evaluated the actual chloride input into vadose zone on hillslopes as 540.2 ± 23.8 mg m−2 yr.−1, excluding the impact of runoff. Then, estimated recharge rates ranged from 42.7 ± 3.5 to 62.4 ± 4.7 mm yr.−1, consistent with nearby studies. Results showed that groundwater recharge does not change with landscape position except for higher value on upslope beneath subshrub hillslope. In contrast, groundwater recharge did significantly reduce by 12.9% ± 5.4% and 26.5% ± 4.5% after conversion from cropland to subshrub/arbor on the hillslope, respectively. Our findings contribute to understanding the ecohydrological effects of land use changes on groundwater recharge on hillslope and help to select suitable afforested vegetation for greening efforts in water‐limited hilly areas, with a priority on groundwater safety.

A Study on the Classification of Shrubs and Grasses on the Tibetan Plateau Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Multispectral Imagery

The ecosystem of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is highly fragile due to its unique geographical conditions, with vegetation playing a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance. Thus, accurately monitoring the distribution of vegetation in the plateau region is of paramount importance. This study employs UAV multispectral imagery in combination with four machine-learning models—Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Random Forest (RF)—to investigate the impact of different features and their combinations on the fine classification of shrubs and grasses on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, including Salix psammophila, Populus simonii Carrière, Kobresia tibetica, and Kobresia pygmaea. The results indicate that near-infrared spectral information can improve classification accuracy, with improvements of 5.21%, 1.65%, 6.64%, and 5.03% for Salix psammophila, Populus simonii Carrière, Kobresia tibetica, and Kobresia pygmaea, respectively. Feature selection effectively reduces redundant information and enhances model classification accuracy, with all four machine-learning models achieving the best performance on the optimized feature set. Furthermore, the RF model performs best on the optimized feature set, achieving an overall accuracy (OA) of 95.32% and a kappa coefficient of 0.94. This study provides important scientific support for the fine classification and ecological monitoring of plateau vegetation.

Determinants of rhizospheric organic carbon fractions and accumulation in four different vegetations of coastal saline-alkali soils

Rhizosphere processes are key pathways through which plants influence the carbon cycling of diverse ecosystems and are closely associated with vegetation types. However, the environmental responses of rhizospheric soil organic carbon (SOC) mediated by the interaction between rhizospheric effect and vegetation type remain uncertain, severely limiting our assessment of the carbon sequestration potential of different coastal vegetation. Here, we identified the core factors driving changes in various soil carbon fractions in the rhizosphere of four coastal vegetation types by testing the contents of the reactive, dissolved, particulate, mineral-associated, heavy and light fractions of SOC and their relationships with physicochemical properties and enzyme activities. It was found that the rhizosphere effect significantly influenced SOC, with rhizospheric SOC contents varying significantly among vegetation types, ranging from 2.12 to 9.04 g/kg. Besides, rhizospheric soil pH was found to contribute significantly to SOC fractions (except for light organic carbon) and exert significant inhibitory effects on SOC, reactive organic carbon, mineral-associated organic carbon and heavy organic carbon. Despite the different responses of various SOC fractions to physicochemical properties and enzyme activities, soil available phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase activity emerged as core environmental factors influencing rhizospheric SOC accumulation across different coastal vegetation types. This study presents a promising framework for understanding the determinants of SOC fractions in rhizospheric soil, and their accumulation in the vegetation of coastal saline-alkali soils. In addition to alkalinity, phosphorus acquisition capacity can be a key predictor of coastal SOC fractions and their accumulation.

Substituting potatoes with other food groups and type 2 diabetes risk: findings from the Diet, Cancer, and Health Study.

While potatoes are considered a dietary staple in some cultures, evidence suggests that their impact on T2D risk is nuanced, with preparation methods and dietary patterns playing crucial roles. Investigating the substitution effects of replacing potatoes with other foods is required to inform dietary recommendations for lowering T2D risk. To investigate associations between the substitution of potatoes (excluding fries/chips) with other food groups (vegetables, wholegrains, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, poultry, fish, and dairy) and the risk of T2D. The diet of participants from the prospective Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health study (DCH) was captured at baseline (1993-1997) by a food frequency questionnaire. Participants were followed up for incident T2D from baseline until 2012. Associations between the substitution of potatoes (total, boiled, and mashed) with other food groups and incident T2D was assessed by multivariable Cox-proportional hazards model. In 54,793 DCH study participants, during a median follow-up of 16.3 years, 7,693 incident T2D cases were recorded. A 26% lower risk of T2D was observed when 50 g/day of potatoes were substituted with the same amount of wholegrains [HR and 95% CI: 0.74 (0.70, 0.79)]. Similarly, a lower risk of T2D was observed upon substituting 25 g/day of potatoes with an equivalent amount of green leafy [0.79 (0.74, 0.83)], cruciferous [0.87 (0.83, 0.92)] and yellow/orange/red vegetables [0.97 (0.96, 0.99)]. Conversely, a higher risk of T2D was observed when potatoes were substituted with poultry [1.08 (1.02, 1.15)], red meat [1.06 (1.02, 1.10)] and processed meat [1.17 (1.11, 1.23)]. Replacing boiled potatoes with red meat or poultry was associated with a higher risk of T2D compared to replacing mashed potatoes. Substituting potatoes with wholegrains and most types of vegetables was associated with a lower risk of T2D while substituting potatoes with poultry, red meat and processed meat was associated with a higher risk.

Sex differences in positional behavior of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) living in the dry and open habitat of Issa Valley, Tanzania.

Many early fossil hominins are associated with savanna-mosaic paleohabitats, and high sexual dimorphism that may reflect differences in positional behavior between sexes. However, reconstructions of hominin behavior and the selective pressures they faced in an open habitat are limited by a lack of studies of extant apes living in contemporary, analogous habitats. Here, we describe adult chimpanzee positional behavior in the savanna-mosaic habitat of the Issa Valley, Tanzania, to test whether Issa chimpanzees show larger sex-differences in positional behavior than their forest-dwelling counterparts. We quantified and compared adult locomotor and postural behavior across sexes (6 females, 7 males) in the riparian forest (closed) and miombo woodland (open) vegetation types at Issa Valley (13,743 focal observations). We then compared our results to published data of chimpanzee communities living in more forested habitats. Issa females and males both spent less time arboreally in open vegetation and showed similar locomotor and postural behavior on the same substrates, notably using a high level of suspensory locomotion when arboreal. Females were, however, more arboreal than males during locomotor behavior, as well as compared with females from other communities. Issa males behaved similarly to males from other communities. Results suggest that open habitats do not elicit less arboreal behaviors in either sex, and may even select for suspensory locomotion to effectively navigate an open canopy. An open habitat may, however, increase sex differences in positional behavior by driving female arboreality. We suggest this is because of higher energetic demands and predator pressures associated with open vegetation, which are likely exaggerated for reproducing females. These results have implications for the interpretation of how sexual dimorphism may influence reconstructions of hominin positional behavior.

The Effect of Grazing on Central Anatolian Steppe Vegetation: A Modeling Approach Using Functional Traits.

Grazing is a major ecological driver that influences vegetation dynamics globally. We investigated the long-term effects of different grazing regimes on the vegetation structure of the Central Anatolian steppes, a region characterized by its unique convergence of biogeographical influences and historical land use. We employed the spatially explicit FATELAND model to simulate vegetation dynamics over a 50-year period under three distinct grazing scenarios: no grazing, moderate grazing, and overgrazing. Our simulations incorporated a range of plant functional traits to predict changes across five different vegetation types in Central Anatolia, including woodland steppes and treeless steppes. The simulations revealed that moderate grazing supports the diversity and abundance of various plant functional groups, excluding resprouter trees, which flourish under no grazing conditions. In contrast, overgrazing leads to significant reductions in the abundance of perennial forbs and both spiny and non-spiny subshrubs, often resulting in a shift toward grassland dominated by resprouter gramineae or an annual herb-dominated grassland, depending on the initial abundance of gramineae. Our findings highlight the critical role of grazing management in maintaining biodiversity and ecological stability in steppe ecosystems. While moderate grazing can enhance plant functional group diversity, overgrazing significantly threatens the ecological integrity of the Central Anatolian steppes. In conclusion, our modeling approach reveals that the grazing regime is a major driver in shaping the vegetation structure of Central Anatolian steppes. Grazing management strategies that are adjusted to the ecological characteristics and historical context of specific regions are required to prevent degradation and promote sustainable grassland vegetation.

Strong decline in grasshopper abundance over 20 years without major land-use changes: Is soil drying one of the drivers?

Strong declines in insect numbers have been described for different taxa and regions. These observations are of great concern such that broad scientific and public attention has been raised. Among other urgencies, the need for long-term insect data has been identified. Here, we present data on grasshopper (Caelifera) abundances recorded between 1992 and 2011 at over 600 sites in north-western Switzerland. While vegetation type, often semi-natural grasslands, had remained largely constant, total grasshopper abundance declined by around 50 % (while many other taxa showed much less decline). Numbers in July remained relatively stable until about 2003 but then declined similar to the declines seen in August–October already before. Greatest losses were observed for drier habitats and steeper slopes, suggesting that soil drying might be an important factor for the decline. Second, more nutrient-rich habitats suffered greater losses; possible reasons for this include small-scale vegetation changes in these habitats e.g. due to atmospheric nitrogen deposition, or isolation of sites. Other than abundance, species richness decreased much less, illustrating that important ecological changes may be strongly underestimated when only species lists are available. The strong declines at our sites, which often are in an agri-environmental scheme, is alarming. Apart from being yet another call to fight climate change, our results also point to the urgent need to reduce atmospheric nitrogen deposition and to continue extensive farming, but also to adapt it in preparation of expected effects of climate change, with the aim to favour a divers, ecologically robust insect community.

Investigation, Determination, and Analysis of Dominant Vegetation in Mining Areas

During the mining process, a large amount of untreated and unusable land, namely mining wastelands, is generated. Ecological remediation in mining areas aims to rehabilitate polluted mining wasteland, thus enabling the reuse of land resources. Phytoremediation technology can effectively restore pollution in mining areas, with the prerequisite of identifying suitable tolerant or dominant plant species, which are typically found in the vicinity of mining sites with a long history of exploitation. This study conducted field surveys and collected samples, followed by laboratory analyses to explore the dominant plant species in the vanadium-titanium mining area of Zhujiabaobao, Panzhihua. Field surveys revealed a low coverage of wild vegetation due to the fragile ecological environment, primarily consisting of low, medium, and high-coverage vegetation types. Based on a comprehensive analysis of 13 dominant plant species in terms of their quantity, quality, morphological characteristics, and potential value, Eriophorum vaginatum, Rumex hastatus, and Dodonaea viscosa were identified as the three most suitable species for ecological remediation in this mining area.

Vegetation community recovery on restored bottomland hardwood forests in northeast Indiana, USA.

Vegetation communities in restored bottomland hardwood forests in northeast Indiana were studied 6-21 years after restoration to assess progress toward restoration objectives. The study focused on four sites that were restored to compensate for resource injuries after contaminant releases. The restored sites were compared with four reference-site conditions, including crops (prerestoration condition), old field communities representing a no-management alternative, locally sampled second-growth mature forests, and forest community types described by the US National Vegetation Classification (USNVC), which represent ideal or defining conditions of recognized vegetation communities. Fixed-area plots provided data on field-sampled environmental variables, vegetation, soil, and hydrological conditions for crops, old fields, restored areas, and mature forests. The USNVC database provided quantitative data for three historically and geographically relevant reference forest community types for comparison with the sampled communities. Results of nonmetric multidimensional scaling based on species cover revealed clear gradients relating to site age and canopy development. Along those gradients, restored areas demonstrated increasing similarity to mature forest reference communities in terms of floristic composition. Specifically, the floristic quality of restored areas was significantly greater than that of crops and old fields. Furthermore, soil health measurements of physical, chemical, and hydrological conditions indicated significant improvements in restored site soils compared with prerestoration conditions represented by cropland soils. Descriptions and data from the USNVC provided ecological context for restoration target conditions and facilitated the assessment of restoration recovery along a trajectory from starting conditions to those target conditions. Descriptions by USNVC also helped identify deviations from the intended restoration objectives (e.g., invasive species recruitment) and potential adaptive management actions to return sites to their intended trajectories. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:1917-1938. Published 2024. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Effects of Rainfall Variability and Land Cover Type on Soil Organic Carbon Loss in a Hilly Red Soil Region of Southern China

Rainfall intensity (RI) and land cover type are two important factors that affect soil erosion and thus the transfer and loss of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the in situ quantitative monitoring of SOC loss under natural rainfall and various land cover types restored on eroded lands has not been thoroughly examined. In order to further study the effects of rainfall changes and vegetation types on SOC loss in the red soil region of Southern China, the Jiangxi Eco-Science Park of Soil and Water Conservation in De’an County, Jiangxi Province, was taken as the research object. Considering natural rainfall and based on the long-term field in situ monitoring of rainfall and runoff and sediment data, we studied the effects of three land cover types (bare land, orchards, and grass cover) on surface runoff, sediment production, and SOC loss in relation to 1 hour of RI during natural rainfall in the red soil region of Southern China during rainy seasons of 2020 and 2021 (March to August). Compared with bare land plots, the orchard and grass cover plots had surface runoff reductions of 67% and 98%, respectively, and sediment reductions of 79% and 99% over the two rainy seasons, respectively. With an increasing RI over 1 hour, total SOC loss increased for each of the three land cover types. More SOC loss was associated with sediments, and the enrichment ratio of SOC in the sediments (ERoc) decreased significantly. The ERoc values decreased in the following order: bare land (1.23) > orchard (1.08) > grass cover (0.81). Bare land exhibited the highest proportion of SOC associated with sediment in the total SOC loss (Ps), at 68.69%, followed by the orchard plots, at 55.02%, and then the grass cover plots at 49.24%. With the transfer of land cover type from bare land to orchard and to grass cover (decreased soil loss intensity, SLI), more SOC was lost associated with runoff in the form of dissolved organic carbon (DOC); the values of ERoc and organic carbon loss intensity (CLI) also decreased significantly. These findings are crucial to improving our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of rainfall changes and land cover types on SOC loss during soil erosion.

Analysis of Land Use and Occupation in a Neighborhood of the City of Manaus-AM Using Geotechnologies

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the land use and occupation that occurred between 1999 and 2021 in the Tarumã neighborhood located in the city of Manaus-AM, with the aim of carrying out, through remote sensing techniques, the investigation of the environmental impacts that occurred, considering the classes of soil, vegetation and hydrography. Theoretical Framework: The accelerated population expansion and the lack of environmental planning contribute to the increasing degradation of natural resources. The disorderly distribution of the territory represents one of the main problems in Manaus. Method: Land use and occupation mapping was obtained from the supervised classification of Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 satellite images, RGB bands, through the United States Geological Survey – USGS (Earth Explore). Data comparisons were made based on the temporal analysis of the images and shapefile. Results and Discussion: The results obtained identified the class transformations that occurred in the last 22 years, which corresponds to 41.71% of primary vegetation, 8.98% of secondary vegetation, 17.70% of exposed soil. In the urban area, there was interference of 30.16%, with a 1.74% decrease in the water class, including the Environmental Preservation Area Research Implications: The practical and theoretical implications of this study favor the understanding, measurement and prediction of environmental impacts caused by the ordered and disordered urban occupation of cities. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the monitoring of occupations in the Tarumâ neighborhood, contributing to decision-making in preservation areas.

Regional Variability of Chestnut (Castanea sativa) Tolerance Toward Blight Disease

Since its introduction into Europe in the first half of the 20th century, Cryphonectria parasitica has been gradually spreading across the natural range of the sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), infecting the trees and causing lethal bark cankers. Serendipitously, a hyperparasitic Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV1), which attenuates C. parasitica virulence in combination with more tolerant European chestnut species, was able to ward off the worst effect of the disease. In North America, unfortunately, the native Castanea dentata is now functionally extinct since it occurs only as root sprouts in eastern deciduous forests where it was once dominant. In our work, we investigated changes in C. parasitica populations over time and the regional variability in chestnut populations’ tolerance toward the blight disease. While vegetative compatibility (vc) type diversity and prevalence of hypovirulence remained similar as in previous studies, in the Buje population, unlike in previous studies, we were unable to find any hypovirulent fungal strains. The most common vegetative compatibility types (vc types) were EU-1, EU-2 and EU-12. However, several rare EU-types were found, including one previously unreported: EU-46. By inoculating several C. parasitica strains on tree stems from several chestnut populations, we observed that the induced lesion size was affected by the type of inoculum (CHV1-free or CHV1-infected), genotype-related individual chestnut stem and chestnut stem population of origin-related variability. The largest lesions were induced by CHV1-free fungal isolate DOB-G: 20.13 cm2 (95% C.I. 18.10–22.15) and the smallest by CHV1-infected L14/EP713: 2.49 cm2 (95% C.I. 1.59–3.39). Surprisingly, the size of the lesions induced by other CHV1-infected strains fell somewhere in between these extremes. The size of induced lesions was dependent on the population of origin as well and ranged from 11.60 cm2 (95% C.I. 9.87–13.33) for stems from the Moslavačka gora population to 17.75 cm2 (95% C.I. 15.63–19.87) for stems from Ozalj.

The Current Phyto-Scape and Foodplants of Holley Shelter, KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and Its Potential for Past Foragers

AbstractCurrent phyto-scapes (plant populations in their geo-spatial context) are not exact replicas of past foraging potential, yet they provide valuable data about the carrying capacity or potential of a foraging-scape. Knowledge about contemporary micro-ecologies and ethno-historical plant use can inform on behavioral aspects, should such plants be found in archaeological deposits. It is in this context that we explore existing information (data and literature) to establish the current vegetation types and micro-ecologies around Holley Shelter, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, that contains Middle and Later Stone Age occupations. We present the first plant species inventory consisting of > 1500 taxa growing approximately a day’s foraging distance from the site, compiled from records provided by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and other sources. From this list, we generated separate checklists for foodplants (n = 450) and plants that have other uses (n = 337), to gain insight into the site’s current phyto-fitness potential. The resulting database is intended as a modern proxy for future work on the site’s archaeo-botany and palaeo-climatic reconstructions. The data is also applicable to other sites on the Savanna/Grassland Biomes of southern Africa with records of the same species. Here we use the foodplant checklist and what is known about the edible plant parts, their seasonality and the distribution of some species to speculate about land-use patterns. These hypotheses can be tested for the past with future archaeo-botanical work. We demonstrate that, compared to archaeological sites in the Eastern and Western Cape for which comparable data exist, Holley Shelter is rich in foodplants, and especially so in plant foods that are known to buffer against famine during the periodical droughts of inland South Africa.

Assessment of Landscape‐Scale Fluxes of Carbon Dioxide and Methane in Subtropical Coastal Wetlands of South Florida

AbstractCoastal wetlands play a significant role in the storage of “blue carbon,” indicating their importance in the carbon biogeochemistry in the coastal zone and in global climate change mitigation strategies. We present airborne eddy covariance observations of CO2 and CH4 fluxes collected in southern Florida as part of the NASA BlueFlux mission during April 2022, October 2022, February 2023, and April 2023. The flux data generated from this mission consists of over 100 flight hours and more than 6,000 km of horizontal distance over coastal saline and freshwater wetlands. We find that the spatial and temporal heterogeneity in CO2 and CH4 exchange is primarily influenced by season, vegetation type, ecosystem productivity, and soil inundation. The largest CO2 uptake fluxes of more than 20 μmol m−2 s−1 were observed over mangroves during all deployments and over swamp forests during flights in April. The greatest CH4 effluxes of more than 250 nmol m−2 s−1 were measured at the end of the wet season in October 2022 over freshwater marshes and swamp shrublands. Although the combined Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve region was a net sink for carbon, CH4 emissions reduced the ecosystem carbon uptake capacity (net CO2 exchange rates) by 11%–91%. Average total net carbon exchange rates during the flight periods were −4 to −0.2 g CO2‐eq m−2 d−1. Our results highlight the importance of preserving mangrove forests and point to potential avenues of further research for greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.

Brassica Vegetables - An Undervalued Nutritional Goldmine

Abstract The genus Brassica includes six species and over 15 types of vegetables that are widely cultivated and consumed globally. This group of vegetables is rich in bioactive compounds, including glucosinolates, vitamins (such as vitamin C, folate, tocopherol, and phylloquinone), carotenoids, phenols, and minerals, which are crucial for enriching diets and maintaining human health. However, the full extent of these phytonutrients and their significant health benefits remain to be fully elucidated. This review highlights the nutrient compositions and health advantages of Brassica vegetables and discusses the impacts of various processing methods on their nutritional value. Additionally, we discuss potential strategies for enhancing the nutrition of Brassica crops through agronomic biofortification, conventional breeding, and biotechnological or metabolic engineering approaches. This review lays the foundation for the nutritional improvement of Brassica crops.

A GIS-Based Framework to Analyze the Behavior of Urban Greenery During Heatwaves Using Satellite Data

This work proposes a new unsupervised method to evaluate the behavior of urban green areas in the presence of heatwave scenarios by analyzing three indices extracted from satellite data: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), and Land Surface Temperature (LST). The aim of this research is to analyze the behavior of urban vegetation types during heatwaves through the analysis of these three indices. To evaluate how these indices characterize urban green areas during heatwaves, an unsupervised classification method of the three indices is proposed that uses the Elbow method to determine the optimal number of classes and the Jenks classification algorithm. Each class is assigned a Gaussian fuzzy set and the green urban areas are classified using zonal statistics operators. The membership degree of the corresponding fuzzy set is calculated to assess the reliability of the classification. Finally, for each type of greenery, the frequencies of types of green areas belonging to NDVI, NDMI, and LST classes are analyzed to evaluate their behavior during heatwaves. The framework was tested in an urban area consisting of the city of Naples (Italy). The results show that some types of greenery, such as deciduous forests and olive groves, are more efficient, in terms of health status and cooling effect, than other types of urban green areas during heatwaves; they are classified with NDVI and NDMI values of mainly High and Medium High, and maximum LST values of Medium Low. Conversely, uncultivated areas show critical behaviors during heatwaves; they are classified with maximum NDVI and NDMI values of Medium Low and maximum LST values of Medium High. The research results represent a support to urban planners and local municipalities in designing effective strategies and nature-based solutions to deal with heat waves in urban settlements.

Fruit and Vegetable Image Recognition Based on Multiple Tree Models: Applications of Random Forest, XGBoost and Decision Tree

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate and compare the performance of three machine learning models— Random Forest, XGBoost, and Decision Tree—in the context of fruit and vegetable image classification. This research aims to identify which model best handles the challenges associated with imbalanced datasets and complex data structures. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of more efficient and accurate automated systems for agricultural applications, thereby improving productivity and reducing operational costs in the industry. This study utilized a dataset of 3,825 images covering 36 fruit and vegetable classes. Images were resized, normalized, and augmented to enhance diversity. Three models—Random Forest, XGBoost, and Decision Tree—were trained on this dataset. Performance was evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score to assess classification effectiveness and handling of class imbalances. The evaluation revealed that XGBoost outperformed Random Forest and Decision Tree in fruit and vegetable image classification, achieving the highest accuracy of 96.66%. XGBoost demonstrated superior handling of class imbalances and complex data structures, reflected in its precision and recall scores across various classes. Random Forest also performed well, closely following XGBoost, while Decision Tree exhibited more variability in results, indicating potential overfitting in certain classes. In conclusion, this study highlights the effectiveness of ensemble methods, particularly XGBoost, in agricultural image classification tasks. These findings suggest that XGBoost is a robust model for similar applications, offering improved accuracy and reliability