Destruction Of Vegetation Research Articles

A GEOSPATIAL STUDY OF TRENDS AND PATTERNS OF BIOPHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE STATE OF UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

Inevitable process of urbanization is taking place at much faster rate than ever before. It has engulfed all possible regions across the globe in order to meet out the demands of ever-increasing demographic pressure. Urbanization involves anthropogenic activities like construction of roads, railways, bridges, buildings (both residential and commercial) resulting in alteration of landscape. Similar scenario is taking place in the States of India but the most vulnerable ones are the mountainous states located in close vicinity of the mighty Himalayas. One such State is Uttarakhand which is facing the widespread destruction of pristine environment due to various developmental processes taking place as a result of urbanization. The vegetative destruction in order to provide land area for construction of hotels, resorts, ropeways and other constructions. The current unsustainable urbanization has triggered multi- dimensional problems like alteration of micro-climate, vegetation destruction, biodiversity degradation, habitat fragmentation and many more in the study area. The present study analyses trend and pattern of landscape alteration in the light of digital data viz Landsat - 4, 5 (TM) for 1990, 2000, 2010 and Landsat - 8 (OLI) for 2020. The ‘change detection’ along with ‘rate of change of land per year’ has been calculated and analyzed for various categories of land use/land cover. In addition to this, built-up expansion during 1990-2020 have also been analyzed and discussed. Lastly, study gives emphasis to bring urbanization process on the lines of sustainability and make an appeal to promote ecological urbanization in the study area.

DETER-R: An Operational Near-Real Time Tropical Forest Disturbance Warning System Based on Sentinel-1 Time Series Analysis

Continuous monitoring of forest disturbance on tropical forests is a fundamental tool to support proactive preservation actions and to stop further destruction of native vegetation. Currently most of the monitoring systems in operation are based on optical imagery, and thus are flaw-prone on areas with frequent cloud cover. As this, several Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-based systems have been developed recently, aiming all-weather disturbance detection. This article presents the main aspects and the results of the first year of operation of the SAR based Near Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER-R), an automated deforestation detection system focused on the Brazilian Amazon. DETER-R uses the Google Earth Engine platform to preprocess and analyze Sentinel-1 SAR time series. New images are treated and analyzed daily. After the automated analysis, the system vectorizes clusters of deforested pixels and sends the corresponding polygons to the environmental enforcement agency. After 12 months of operational life, the system has produced 88,572 forest disturbance warnings. Human validation of the warning polygons showed a extremely low rate of misdetections, with less than 0.2% of the detected area corresponding to false positives. During the first year of operation, DETER-R provided 33,234 warnings of interest to national monitoring agencies which were not detected by its optical counterpart DETER in the same period, corresponding to an area of 105,238.5 ha, or approximately 5% of the total detections. During the rainy season, the rate of additional detections increased as expected, reaching 8.1%.

Spatial-Temporal Correlations between Soil pH and NPP of Grassland Ecosystems in the Yellow River Source Area, China.

In recent years, ecological concerns such as vegetation destruction, permafrost deterioration, and river drying have been paid much more attention to on the Yellow River Basin in China. Soil pH is regarded to be the fundamental variable among soil properties for vegetation growth, while net primary productivity (NPP) is also an essential indicator to reflect the healthy growth of vegetation. Due to the limitation of on-site samples, the spatial–temporal variations in soil pH and NPP, as well as their intrinsic mechanisms, remain unknown, especially in the Yellow River source area, China. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the coupling relationship between soil pH and NPP of the area. The study coupled MODIS reflectance data (MOD09A1) with on-site soil pH to estimate spatial–temporal variations in soil pH, explore the response of NPP to soil pH, and assess the extent to which they contribute to grassland ecosystems, thus helping to fill knowledge gaps. Results indicated that the surface spectral reflectance for seven bands could express the geographic pattern of soil pH by applying a multiple linear regression equation; NPP exhibited an increasing trend while soil pH was the contrary in summer from 2000 to 2021. In summer, NPP was negatively correlated with soil pH and there was a lag effect in the response of NPP to soil pH, revealing a correlation between temperate steppes > montane meadows > alpine meadows > swamps in different grassland ecosystems. In addition, contribution indices for temperate steppes and montane meadows were positive whereas they were negative for swamps and alpine meadows, which are apparent findings. The contribution index of montane and alpine meadows was greater than that of temperate steppes and swamps. The approach of the study can enable managers to easily identify and rehabilitate alkaline soil and provides an important reference and practical value for ecological restoration and sustainable development of grassland ecosystems in alpine regions.

RUSLE Model Evaluation of the Soil and Water Conservation Ratio of the Guizhou Province in China between 2000 and 2019

The soil and water conservation ratio (SWCR), which is a quantitative index for measuring the control degree of soil and water loss, is equal to the percentage of the land areas with a slight erosion intensity in the study area. The dynamic change in the SWCR reflects the dynamic process of realizing a specific soil and water conservation goal in a certain stage. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the change in the SWCR in the Guizhou Province in this century and to analyze its causes. The temporal and spatial variations of soil erosion intensity and SWCR were measured based on GIS technology and revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). The results showed that the spatial pattern of soil erosion intensity in the Guizhou Province was high in the west and low in the southeast, and that the soil erosion characteristics were obviously different between karst and non-karst areas. In the karst areas, the land with a moderate and above erosion intensity (>3 t hm−2 y−1 in the karst area; >25 t hm−2 y−1 in the non-karst area) accounted for 28.20–34.78% of the total area, while only accounting for 2.39–2.72% in the non-karst areas. From 2000 to 2019, the mean intensity of soil erosion decreased from 13.97 to 10.83 t hm−2 y−1, and the SWCR increased from 32.95% to 35.31%. According to the change in erosion intensity grades, 22.30% of the whole province’s erosion grade changed from high to low, especially in the west, with a high erosion intensity. Meanwhile, about 11.99% of the land in the central, eastern and southeastern regions, was where the erosion intensity showed a slight increase and the spatial distribution showed sporadic patch distribution characteristics, which may be related to an increase in infrastructure investment in the Guizhou Province in recent years. A large number of production and construction projects caused the destruction of surface vegetation and also caused patchy soil erosion. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the soil erosion and the SWCR in the Guizhou Province between 2000 and 2019 were mastered through this study, and our results provide an important basis for further scientific and reasonable soil and water conservation planning work.

Ecological restoration of solar park plant communities and the effect of solar panels

The construction of solar parks leads to soil degradation and the destruction of vegetation. Solar panels change the microclimate affecting plant survival and vegetation development. The increasing solar energy production requires solutions for ecological restoration from the beginning of electricity production. We compared three methods to restore Mediterranean dry grasslands as a target community not affecting solar energy production: seed material transfer, sowing of the target species Brachypodium retusum and an increase in soil organic matter by compost addition. The experiment was set up in a solar park located in South-Eastern France, both outside and below solar panels (SP). After four years, seed material transfer was the best method to initiate plant succession towards the reference community. SP hampered restoration success and strongly reduced plant species richness, in particular of species from the reference community. B. retusum survival decreased by 50% and phytometabolic indices revealed a light stress under SP. However, the species still maintained growth similar to plants outside SP suggesting shade tolerance. Long-term monitoring is required to evaluate whether communities better adapted to light reduction under panels need to be taken into account for successful restoration.

Comprehensive assessment of Krascheninnikoviaceratoides L. development and its productive potential in reclaimed pastures of arid zone

Improper use of pasture lands has become one of the factors resulted in destruction of natural vegetation. In order to stop desertification, forest reclamation works were carried out in the Caspian region in the mid-20th century, and significant areas of Krascheninnikovia ceratoides (L.) plantings were created. The Pamirian winterfat is a wide distributed plant. It has a well-developed root system, providing sufficient water in climatic conditions of the arid zone. The article provides a systematic assessment of the long-term impact of afforestation and the development of a subshrub layer in various humidity conditions over the growing season during the functioning of pasture ecosystems in reclaimed Molodezhny-teresken territory. The main taxation indicators used to assess the development of Krascheninnikovia ceratoides were determined: height, crown diameter, plant standing density. The research was based on field taxational and morphological measurements of the subshrub and calculations of the complex indicator D. The study revealed that the generalized analysis of the biometric parameters of Pamirian winterfat according to criterion D was an objective tool for assessing its development in the prevailing climatic factors of a certain year. A direct correlation was established between the amount of precipitation in autumn period of research years and the values of the integral indicator D (r = 0.97) with its higher value in 2012 (D = 0.905). There is a high level of direct correlation between the values of the integral indicator D and the yield of feed mass (r = 0.90). Krascheninnikovia ceratoides reclamation and forage plantations have stability, durability, high price-forming potential and are the best way to improve and restore pastures in arid and semi-arid zones.

Disruption of terrestrial plant ecosystem in Miocene (sub) tropics: A palynological perspective from Fotan Formation, Southeast China

Fern spikes in pollen sequences represent the initial colonization by pioneer species following massive destruction of vegetation. Here, two fern spikes were recognized in the palynological sequences of MP-1 and HK sections from the Miocene Fotan Formation in Zhangpu County, Fujian Province, Southeast China. Based on the occurrences of fern spikes and the law of vegetation succession, we found that at least two catastrophic events occurred in the study area during the Miocene. The contemporaneous flood basalt volcanism in this region is considered to be the main cause for the devastation of terrestrial plant ecosystem, which was followed by the increased runoff as well as the bloom of Concentricystes (algae) as a result of enhanced nutrient inputs after disturbances. Besides, in comparison with MP-1 section, the fern spike in HK section is characteristic of 1) the higher abundance and diversity in terms of the composition of fern spores, 2) the appearance of fungal spike, 3) the longer time of duration, and 4) the much higher abundance of Concentricystes, suggesting that the catastrophic event occurred during the deposition of HK section is more severe than that recorded by MP-1 section.

Conditions of Mainland China’s Island Ecosystems and Associated Influencing Factors: Integrated Assessment of 42 Typical Island Ecosystems

Although China possesses a large number of islands, knowledge of their overall ecological condition is limited on a national scale. Accordingly, this study developed a comprehensive and quantitative island ecosystem assessment framework that incorporates environmental quality, biological structure, and landscape patterns. The framework was applied to 42 typical, representative islands within China’s coastal regions, including different climatic zones, area sizes, populations, and substratum lithologies. Results showed that the value range of the comprehensive index of island ecosystem condition (CIisland) was significant (from 52.33 to 89.53, 71.72 average), and 85.4% of islands scored either “high” or “good,” indicative of their exceptional condition. However, conditions varied among different island components, indicating different challenges. Environmental quality index (Ienv) values ranged from 60.70 to 94.80 (79.72 average), where primary threats were seawater nutrient pollution, petroleum, and marine organism metal contamination. Biological structure index (Ibio) values ranged from 43.50 to 89.40 (66.10 average), where primary threats were vegetation destruction and a reduction in marine biodiversity within intertidal and subtidal zones. Landscape pattern index (Iland) values varied significantly (from 6 to 100, 72.36 average), where a key characteristic of highly developed islands was low natural landscape (vegetation) coverage. Conditions also varied among island climate zones, lithologies, area sizes, and levels of human habitation. Additionally, island ecosystem conditions were influenced by both natural and anthropogenic factors as well as area size, population, and GDP. Although distance to the mainland significantly correlated to (Ibio), and (CIisland), these parameters did not significantly correlate to (Ienv), which might be explained by that environmental quality was generally conditional on large-scale environments. This assessment is intended to provide a holistic perspective on island conditions in China while identifying key challenges and associated driving factors, which will greatly aid in establishing island-specific sustainable management practices.

К юбилею ФНЦ «ВИК им. В. Р. Вильямса»: об отделе защиты растений

The main directions of research on chemical means of protecting fodder crops from diseases, pests and weeds in the field fodder production of the All-Russian Fodder Research Institute are given. Studies on toxicological assessment of feed and soil are given. Plant Protection Department included three laboratories: the Herbicide Laboratory, the Plant Protection Laboratory and the Feed Toxicological Evaluation Laboratory. The Laboratory of Herbicides was established in 1967 to conduct research on the chemical method of controlling weeds on fodder crops, hayfields and pastures. Research on the study of pests of fodder crops was started in 1939 in the newly created laboratory for the protection of fodder crops from pests and diseases. The Feed Toxicology Assessment Laboratory was established in 1980 to assess pesticide residues in crop and soil. As a result of the studies, a system of measures for clover from pests has been developed; alfalfa diseases and pests and measures to combat them in the Non-Chernozem zone were studied. Pests and pathogens of corn, root crops, peas, lupine and other fodder crops were identified; their biology, ecology and harmfulness have been studied. A set of protective measures has been developed to combat the main pests and diseases of fodder crops, including soil cultivation techniques, early sowing dates, the use of resistant varieties, micro- and macrofertilizers, pre-sowing treatment of seeds with combined preparations, etc. Plant Protection Department carried out work with herbicides. As a result of research begun in 1950, a method was developed to clean the meadows from weedy herbaceous vegetation with the help of preparations 2,4-D and 2M-4X. A chemical method for the destruction of woody and shrubby vegetation with the help of the same preparations in the Non-Chernozem zone of the European part of the USSR has been developed. Methods of using herbicides on crops of almost all fodder crops have been developed: perennial and annual legumes and cereal grasses for green mass and seeds, corn, fodder beets, rapeseed, etc. The theoretical issues of the mutual influence of fodder crops and weeds are studied, the substantiation of the effectiveness of the use of herbicides on different types of soils is given.

Climate Variations vs. Human Activities: Distinguishing the Relative Roles on Vegetation Dynamics in the Three Karst Provinces of Southwest China

Vegetation in karst areas is crucial for maintaining fragile local ecosystems, driven by climate change and human activities. Southwest China contains the largest continuous karst zone in the world and its vegetation dynamics are more sensitive to climate changes and human activities. However, previous studies rarely studied the driving roles of vegetation dynamics in karst areas during the last 20 years, and whether climate change or human disturbance factors have dominated the vegetation dynamics are still uncertain. The objective of this work is to study vegetation dynamics and its responses to climate change and human activities from 2001 to 2019 using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Taking the three karst provinces of southwest China as study area. Vegetation variation characteristics under the influence of climate variations and human activities were distinguished through a residual analysis. The results indicated general greening trends with about 90.31% of the study area experiencing an increase in NDVI and about 9.69% of the area showing a decrease. Within the combination of climate change and human activities, human activities became the dominant factor in the process of vegetation cover improvement and degradation in the study area during 2001–2019, with average relative roles of 62 and 59%, respectively. Temperature made the greatest positive contribution among the climatic factors, followed by precipitation and relative humidity. In contrast, sunshine duration had a negative effect on NDVI in the study area. Human activities have had different effects on the vegetation dynamics of the three karst provinces in southwest China, including destruction of vegetation around some cities.

In the Shadow of Cormorants: Succession of Avian Colony Affects Selected Groups of Ground Dwelling Predatory Arthropods

(1) Nesting of the great cormorants strongly influences terrestrial ecosystems by physical destruction of vegetation and chemical changes in the soil and around the nesting colonies. (2) We investigated spider, harvestmen, and centipede assemblages in different influenced plots (starting colony, active dense colony, and partly abandoned colony) in the biggest Lithuanian cormorant colony in pine woods on the shore of the Baltic Sea in the Curonian Spit National Park in Lithuania. Selected groups of ground dwelling predatory arthropods were collected by pitfall traps in 2012–2014. (3) We recorded a total of 4299 spider specimens (102 species), 451 harvestmen specimens (9 species), and 1537 centipede specimens (7 species). The coverage of moss and herb vegetation, mean Ellenberg value for light, bare ground without vegetation, and number of nests significantly influenced the abundance, species richness, and ecological groups of arthropod predators. (4) Active ground hunters represented by spider Trochosa terricola and centipede Lithobius forficatus were positively influenced by bare ground without vegetation and a higher density of nests, and negatively influenced by an increasing coverage of moss and herbs. The opposite effect was found for web builder spiders and less movable species, represented by dominant spider species Diplostyla concolor and harvestmen Nemastoma lugubre and Oligolophus tridens. (5) The results show how cormorant influence the forest vegetation structure and affect the abundance and species diversity of ground dwelling predatory arthropods.

Features of insect species diversityin the forest plantings disturbed by anthropogenic impact

Insects are universal objects for monitoring biogeocenoses. Wide distribution, close connection with various components of the environment and the abundance of individual species in disturbed ecosystems, the variety of responses to anthropogenic impacts, quick response to changes in the quality of the environment, as well as there is a clear correlation between the level of exposure and the degree of manifestation of the response time they make it possible to use insects as indicators. Green spaces are an important environmental protection and environmental-forming factor of the urban environment, which determines changes in the composition and structure of entomological complexes. At the same time, plantings of different types and environmental categories are in different conditions in relation to air pollution, that what determines the features of biodiversity and the balance of the population structure. Among the most significant among them are the exhaust gases of motor vehicles, various chemicals used to combat icing of the roadway in winter, as well as the selective destruction of weed vegetation within the decorative design of highways, etc. The need to study the responses to environmental pollution, manifested in changes in the composition and structure of entomofauna, the dynamics of the number and the change in the role of individual species in the transformed territories determines the direction of this study. The analysis of insect responses at the species level allows us to identify the consequences of the transformation of biocenoses, changes in faunal abundance, the structure of dominance and, as a result, determines the stability of ecosystems.

Environmentally significant indicators of mountain meadow soils in Azerbaijan

The most widespread soils in the Republic of Azerbaijan are mountain-meadow soils. The aim of the research was a comprehensive and comparative study of morphodiagnostic parameters, physical and chemical properties, as well as the biochemical activity of natural and anthropogenically modified biogeocenoses of the Kedabey region. The area has unique flora and fauna. Surroundings of the villages Gara Murad, Kichik Garamurad, Saratovka and others were investigated. The research was carried out on virgin and cultivated lands in villages. The degree of mineralization of the rivers Zayamchay and Chekhrichay ranges from 140 to 430 mg. The groundwater level in these areas exceeds 2 m, salinization processes are active. A herbarium was collected and the floristic composition of natural cenoses was determined. Invertebrates were also collected and the dominant composition of the fauna of natural cenoses was determined. Of the saprophages in these biocenoses, woodlice of the genus Hemilepisthus and Armadillidium are widely used. The most intensive decomposition of the remains of cereal vegetation is observed in the soil of the coastal strip (65.9%). In the natural cenosis, the rate of destruction of saltwort and salt-tolerant grass vegetation reaches 44.3%. The main role in the destruction of plant remains is played by a group of saprphages, which actively use plant litter. The decomposing material reaches its final stage of microbiological transformation. The duration and amount of CO2 in different soil horizons were also studied. It has been established that with increasing depth, the amount of carbon dioxide decreases. The hydrolytic activity of invertase and urease enzymes in the studied soils can be assessed as very weak. Comparative results of all these agrochemical studies helped to develop virgin soils in agriculture on the plains and achieve high productivity.

Study on Dynamic Changes of Vegetation in Permafrost Region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau —— Take the Area along Qinghai-Tibet Highway as an Example

Global warming leads to the degradation of permafrost in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has an important impact on the growth and distribution of its vegetation. However, the reduction and destruction of vegetation may lead to the degradation or disappearance of frozen soil, which will have a large-scale impact on engineering buildings and frozen soil ecological environment in cold regions. There is serious spatial heterogeneity in vegetation growth and change in permafrost regions of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so it is urgent to quantitatively study the process of surface vegetation change along Qinghai-Tibet Highway. In this study, MODIS data was used to study the characteristics of vegetation growth along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2000 to 2021, and it was found that the vegetation on the east side of the highway was better than that on the west side. On the whole, the vegetation growth from 2000 to 2021 showed a slight upward trend.

Evidence for Gradients of Melipona rufiventris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Genetic Diversity within the Brazilian Semiarid

The species Melipona rufiventris Lepeletier is part of the group of stingless bees native to Brazil, commonly known as uruçu-amarela, whose populations have suffered high losses in recent years by the increasing destruction of native semi-arid vegetation and the predatory collection of honey. This study provides an assessment of the genetic diversity and structure of M. rufiventris populations in the Brazilian semiarid using microsatellite markers, a starting point for assessing spatial a

生态脆弱区农村居民点布局优化对区域生态系统服务功能的影响——以四川省西昌市为例

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 生态脆弱区农村居民点布局优化对区域生态系统服务功能的影响——以四川省西昌市为例 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202107201956 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: “十三五”国家重点研发计划课题项目（2019YFD1100801） Impact of layout optimization of rural settlements in ecologically fragile areas on the regional ecosystem service function:a case study of Xichang City, Sichuan Province Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:我国是世界上生态脆弱区分布面积最大、类型最多、脆弱性表现最明显的国家之一。农村居民点作为生态脆弱区中主要人类活动区，成为导致生态脆弱区生态环境质量下降的重要干扰源。以四川省西昌市为例，分别利用InVEST模型中的生境质量评估模块、沉积物持留率分析模块、养分输出率分析模块评估了生态脆弱区农村居民点布局优化对区域生态系统服务功能的影响。研究结果表明：西昌市通过农村居民点布局优化，生境质量平均得分提高22.4%，土壤输出量下降4.6%，氮(N)、磷(P)输出量下降13.1%与8.2%，所以农村居民点布局优化有利于生态环境脆弱区生态系统服务功能的提升。农村居民点布局优化后，农村居民点数量与面积的减少，降低了森林火灾、土地开垦等植被破坏事件发生的频次，成为促使西昌市生境质量提升的主要原因；而农村居民点与农田面积下降，林地面积的增加是导致西昌市土壤输出量与N、P输出量下降的主要原因。农村居民点数量减少，可降低垃圾回收成本与污水处理成本，从而促使 N、P输出量进一步下降。 Abstract:China is one of the countries with the largest distribution area, the most types and the most obvious vulnerability of ecologically fragile areas in the world. As the main human activity area in the ecologically fragile area, the rural settlements have become an important source of interference that leads to the deterioration of the ecological environment. In this study, taking Xichang City, Sichuan Province as an example, the habitat quality model, sediment delivery ratio model, and nutrient delivery ratio model were used to evaluate the impact of layout optimization of rural settlements on the regional habitat quality, soil output and N-P output. The results indicate that the average score of habitat quality increased by 22.4%, soil output decreased by 4.6%, and N-P output decreased by 13.1% and 8.2% after layout optimization of rural settlements in the Xichang City. Therefore, layout optimization of rural settlements is beneficial to the improvement of the ecosystem service function in the Xichang City. After the layout optimization of rural settlements, the reduction in the number and area of rural settlements reduced the probability of forest fires, land reclamation and other vegetation destruction events, which become the main reason for the improvement of habitat quality. The decline in the area of rural settlements and farmland, and the increase in the area of woodland are the main reasons for the decline in soil output and N-P output. The decrease in the number of rural settlements will gradually reduce the cost of waste recycling and sewage treatment in rural areas, thereby further reducing the output of N-P. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Nonlinear Characteristics of NPP Based on Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition from 1982 to 2015—A Case Study of Six Coastal Provinces in Southeast China

Monitoring vegetation net primary productivity (NPP) is very important for evaluating ecosystem health. However, the nonlinear characteristics of the vegetation NPP remain unclear in the six provinces along the Maritime Silk Road in China. In this study, using NDVI and meteorological data from 1982 to 2015, NPP was estimated with the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model based on vegetation type dynamics, and its nonlinear characteristics were explored through the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method. The results showed that: (1) The total NPP in the changed vegetation types caused by ecological engineering and urbanization increased but decreased in those caused by agricultural reclamation and vegetation destruction, (2) the vegetation NPP was dominated by interannual variations, mainly in the middle of the study area, while by long-term trends, mainly in the southwest and northeast, (3) for most of the vegetation types, NPP was dominated by the monotonically increasing trend. Although vegetation NPP in the urban land mainly showed a decreasing trend (monotonic decrease and decrease from increase), there were large areas in which NPP increased from decreasing. Although vegetation NPP in the farmland mainly showed increasing trends, there were large areas that faced the risk of NPP decreasing; (4) dynamical changes of vegetation type by agricultural reclamation and vegetation destruction made the NPP trend monotonically decrease in large areas, leading to ecosystem degradation, while those caused by urbanization and ecological engineering mainly made the NPP increase from decreasing, leading to later recovery from early degradation. Our results highlighted the importance of vegetation type dynamics for accurately estimating vegetation NPP, as well as for assessing their impacts, and the importance of nonlinear analysis for deepening our understanding of vegetation NPP changes.

Investigation of Vegetation Changes in Different Mining Areas in Liaoning Province, China, Using Multisource Remote Sensing Data

Mining can provide necessary mineral resources for humans. However, mining activities may cause damage to the surrounding ecology and environment. Vegetation change analysis is a key tool for evaluating damage to ecology and the environment. Liaoning is one of the major mining provinces in China, with rich mineral resources and long-term, high-intensity mining activities. Taking Liaoning Province as an example, vegetation change in six mining areas was investigated using multisource remote sensing data to evaluate ecological and environmental changes. Based on MODIS NDVI series data from 2000 to 2019, change trends of vegetation were evaluated using linear regression. According to the results, there are large highly degraded vegetation areas in the Anshan, Benxi, and Yingkou mining areas, which indicates that mining activities have seriously damaged the vegetation in these areas. In contrast, there are considerable areas with improved vegetation in the Anshan, Fushun, and Fuxin mining areas, which indicates that ecological reclamation has played a positive role in these areas. Based on Sentinel-2A data, leaf chlorophyll content was inferred by using the vegetation index MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) after measurement of leaf spectra and chlorophyll content were carried out on the ground to validate the performance of MTCI. According to the results, the leaf chlorophyll content in the mines is generally lower than in adjacent areas in these mining areas with individual differences. In the Yingkou mining area, the chlorophyll content in adjacent areas is close to the magnesite mines, which means the spillover effect of environmental pollution in mines should be considerable. In the Anshan, Benxi, and Diaobingshan mining areas, the environmental stress on adjacent areas is slight. All in all, iron and magnesite open-pit mines should be monitored closely for vegetation destruction and stress due to the high intensity of mining activities and serious pollution. In contrast, the disturbance to vegetation is limited in resource-exhausted open-pit coal mines and underground coal mines. It is suggested that land reclamation should be enhanced to improve the vegetation in active open-pit mining areas, such as the Anshan, Benxi, and Yingkou mining areas. Additionally, environmental protection measures should be enhanced to relieve vegetation stress in the Yingkou mining area.

Peces endémicos de sistemas fluviales de la Selva Atlántica en la Argentina: Áreas prioritarias para su conservación

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened by human activities and climate change; so, their conservation is a priority. The province of Misiones has the highest rate of fish endemisms of all the ictic areas of Argentina. Our objective was to establish the status and conservation priorities of the interior river courses of the Atlantic Forest in Argentina in relation to the presence of endemic and distribution-restricted fish in Misiones, evaluating their representativeness in the system of protected areas and determining gaps in conservation. The ecological integrity of the river systems was analyzed according to the degree of modifications calculated by means of the rapid index for the evaluation of the quality of riverside ecosystems (QBR). Their degree of protection was estimated by the percentage of the river course outside, inside or marginal to protected areas. Streams that efficiently include all endemic species were prioritized. Thirty-six watercourses are home to 79 endemic fish species; 22 streams appear a priority for conservation because they would protect all endemic species. However, more than half of these streams are not currently protected and suffer alterations such as destruction of marginal vegetation, dams, pollution and introduction of exotic species. The highest priority for conservation was assigned to the Iguazú, Yabotí and Urugua-í watercourses with their tributaries.

Comparison of Tree-Structured Parzen Estimator Optimization in Three Typical Neural Network Models for Landslide Susceptibility Assessment

Landslides pose a constant threat to the lives and property of mountain people and may also cause geomorphological destruction such as soil and water loss, vegetation destruction, and land cover change. Landslide susceptibility assessment (LSA) is a key component of landslide risk evaluation. There are many related studies, but few analyses and comparisons of models for optimization. This paper aims to introduce the Tree-structured Parzen Estimator (TPE) algorithm for hyperparameter optimization of three typical neural network models for LSA in Shuicheng County, China, as an example, and to compare the differences of predictive ability among the models in order to achieve higher application performance. First, 17 influencing factors of landslide multiple data sources were selected for spatial prediction, hybrid ensemble oversampling and undersampling techniques were used to address the imbalanced sample and small sample size problem, and the samples were randomly divided into a training set and validation set. Second, deep neural network (DNN), recurrent neural network (RNN), and convolutional neural network (CNN) models were adopted to predict the regional landslides susceptibility, and the TPE algorithm was used to optimize the hyperparameters respectively to improve the assessment capacity. Finally, to compare the differences and optimization effects of these models, several objective measures were applied for validation. The results show that the high-susceptibility regions mostly distributed in bands along fault zones, where the lithology is mostly claystone, sandstone, and basalt. The DNN, RNN, and CNN models all perform well in LSA, especially the RNN model. The TPE optimization significantly improves the accuracy of the DNN and CNN (3.92% and 1.52%, respectively), but does not improve the performance of the RNN. In summary, our proposed RNN model and TPE-optimized DNN and CNN model have robust predictive capability for landslide susceptibility in the study area and can also be applied to other areas containing similar geological conditions.