Ecosystem services dynamics and their influencing factors: Synergies/tradeoffs interactions and implications, the case of upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia.

Understanding the relationships among ecosystem services (ESs) and their interactions with influencing factors is essential for spatially targeted ecosystem governance. However, classifying the spatial distribution of these diverse interactions still needs improvement. Furthermore, existing studies have insufficiently addressed the specific impacts of bidirectional land cover transitions on ESs.

Characteristics and effects of global sloping land urbanization from 2000 to 2020.

Cities usually expand on flat land. However, in recent decades, the increasing scarcity of available flat land has compelled many cities to expand to sloping land (sloping land urbanization, SLU), and the understanding for global SLU is still unclear. This study, based on the currently available high-precision global Digital Elevation Model (FABDEM) and global land cover dataset (GlobeLand30), investigated the characteristics and impacts of SLU in 26,402 urban residential areas worldwide from 2000 to 2020.

Experiment and Analysis of Variance for Stabilizing Fine-Grained Soils with Cement and Sawdust Ash as Liner Materials.

Due to volume change and low strength, fine-grained soils are problematic in construction. Stabilization with cement and sawdust ash (SDA) by-products can improve engineering properties. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cement and sawdust ash (SDA) in stabilizing fine-grained soils for liner applications.

Insights into Salinity Tolerance in Wheat.

Salt stress has a detrimental impact on food crop production, with its severity escalating due to both natural and man-made factors. As one of the most important food crops, wheat is susceptible to salt stress, resulting in abnormal plant growth and reduced yields; therefore, damage from salt stress should be of great concern. Additionally, the utilization of land in coastal areas warrants increased attention, given diminishing supplies of fresh water and arable land, and the escalating demand for wheat.

Evolution characteristics and multi-scenario prediction of habitat quality in Yulin City based on PLUS and InVEST models.

As a major energy city in China, Yulin City has faced huge challenges to the ecological environment with its rapid economic development and rapid urbanization. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the impact of land use changes on habitat quality. Based on three periods of land use data in Yulin City in 1995, 2005 and 2015, the PLUS model was used to simulate the land use changes in 2015.

A Deep Learning Approach for Chromium Detection and Characterization from Soil Hyperspectral Data.

High levels of chromium (Cr) in soil pose a significant threat to both humans and the environment. Laboratory-based chemical analysis methods for Cr are time consuming and expensive; thus, there is an urgent need for a more efficient method for detecting Cr in soil. In this study, a deep neural network (DNN) approach was applied to the Land Use and Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) dataset to develop a hyperspectral soil Cr content prediction model with good generalizability and accuracy.

Bilateral matching decision-making for rural homesteads withdrawal patterns and types of peasant households' welfare needs: Evidence from China in the context of land spatial planning regulation.

In order to solve the issue of idle rural homesteads and enhance the welfare of peasant households, the Chinese government has implemented various rural homestead withdrawal patterns. In the context of land spatial planning regulation, based on the field survey data from 210 peasant households in Xuzhou City and Ganzhou City, this study constructs a bilateral matching model between rural homestead withdrawal patterns and types of welfare needs of peasant households. This study uses a Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm improved on the 0-1 knapsack strategy to solve the matching model, aiming to find the optimal homestead withdrawal patterns that match the types of peasant households.

The relationship between landscape pattern and plant species diversity in east Dongting lake wetland based on different Eco-environment.

Exploring the impact factors associated with biodiversity and the relationship between them has always been a concerned issue in recent years. However, the previous research mostly focus on theoretical layer. Accordingly, the relationship between landscape pattern and biodiversity is to be analyzed in this research.

The role of vegetation structural diversity in regulating the microclimate of human-modified tropical ecosystems.

Vegetation regulates microclimate stability through biophysical mechanisms such as evaporation, transpiration and shading. Therefore, thermal conditions in tree-dominated habitats will frequently differ significantly from standardized free-air temperature measurements. The ability of forests to buffer temperatures nominates them as potential sanctuaries for tree species intolerant to the increasingly challenging thermal conditions established by climate change.

Unraveling the drivers and impacts of leaf phenological diversity in a subtropical forest: A fine-scale analysis using PlanetScope CubeSats.

Leaf phenology variations within plant communities shape community assemblages and influence ecosystem properties and services. However, questions remain regarding quantification, drivers, and productivity impacts of intra-site leaf phenological diversity. With a 50-ha subtropical forest plot in China's Heishiding Provincial Nature Reserve (part of the global ForestGEO network) as a testbed, we gathered a unique dataset combining ground-derived abiotic (topography, soil) and biotic (taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, functional traits) factors.

Application of multiplatform remote sensing data over East Asia Ocean: aerosol characteristics and aerosol types.

It is important to explore the characteristics and rules of atmospheric aerosol in the East Asian Sea for monitoring and evaluating atmospheric environmental quality. Based on Aerosol Robot Network (AERONET), Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer (VIIRS), and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data, the temporal and spatial variation characteristics and differences of aerosol parameters and types in the East Asian Sea were studied by using figure classification method (FIGCM), aerosol optical depth (AOD)-Angstrom exponent (AE) method (AA1M), and AOD-AE method (AA2M). The results show that the seasonal variation trend of aerosol characteristics and types is obvious in East Asia Sea.

A study of macroinvertebrate community structure and diversity in response to land use type in the Yiluo River Basin.

Land use types have a significant impact on river ecosystems. The Yiluo River is the largest tributary below Xiaolangdi Reservoir in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and is one of the important water conservation areas in the Yellow River Basin. Studying the ecological status of the Yiluo River under varied land use types in this basin is crucial for both ecological protection and the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

Source-oriented health risk assessment of groundwater nitrate by using EMMTE coupled with HHRA model.

Conventional concentration-oriented approaches for nitrate risk diagnosis only provide overall risk levels without identifying risk values of individual sources or sources accountable for potential health risks. Therefore, a hybrid model combining the end-member mixing model tool on Excel™ (EMMTE) with human health risk assessment (HHRA) was developed to assess the source-oriented health risks for groundwater nitrate, particularly in the Poyang Lake Plain (PLP) region. The results indicated that the EMMTE and the Bayesian stable isotope mixing model (MixSIAR) exhibited remarkable consistency in source apportionment of groundwater nitrate.

The effects of trade liberalization on inequality in nutrition intake: empirical evidence from Indian districts.

Background: Despite the positive impact of trade liberalization on food availability in India, severe inequality in nutrition consumption at the district level persists. Empirical evidence on the relationship between trade liberalization and nutrition consumption inequality often offers a country-level perspective and generates disputed outcomes. The study aimed to explore the effects of trade liberalization on inequality in nutrition consumption at the district level in India and to examine the heterogeneity of the impact on different nutrition consumption.

Source identification and driving factor apportionment for soil potentially toxic elements via combining APCS-MLR, UNMIX, PMF and GDM.

The contamination and quantification of soil potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contamination sources and the determination of driving factors are the premise of soil contamination control. In our study, 788 soil samples from the National Agricultural Park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province were used to evaluate the contamination degree of soil PTEs by pollution factors and pollution load index. The source identification of soil PTEs was performed using positive matrix decomposition (PMF), edge analysis (UNMIX) and absolute principal component score-multiple line regression (APCS-MLR).

Temporal and spatial variations of terrestrial water storage in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau retrieved by GNSS observations.

The variation of solid Earth's hydrologic loading could cause the elastic vertical deformation of the crust, and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) could effectively monitor the vertical displacement of surface loads. However, the widely used Green's function method does not work well in areas where GNSS sites are sparse. Here, the vertical displacement time series of GNSS stations and the Slepian basis function method have been applied to convert displacement signals into spatial spectrum signals.

Epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in children of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Objectives: In Pakistan, cutaneous leishmaniasis is an emerging tropical disease and a very high number (>70%) of children are afflicted by this marring infection. This study aimed to scrutinise the prevalence, spatial distribution and socio-demographic and behavioural risk factors associated with cutaneous leishmaniasis in children aged <5-15  years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Methods: A total of 1, 559 clinically confirmed records of children diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis (January-December) from 2020 and 2022 were obtained from selected district hospitals.

Analysis of landscape pattern vulnerability in Dasi river basin at the optimal scale.

Since the reform and opening up in 1978, the Dasi River Basin within Jinan's startup area from replacing old growth drivers with new ones (startup area) has experienced rapid urbanization and industrialization, and the landscape pattern has changed significantly, resulting in a series of eco-environmental problems. In order to more accurately identify the vulnerable areas of landscape pattern, understand their cause mechanism and changing laws, and provide a theoretical basis for the implementation of sustainable landscape pattern planning and management in the region. Four Landsat images of 2002, 2009, 2015 and 2020 were taken as data sources, and the optimal granularity of landscape pattern analysis was determined from the perspective of landscape level and class level by using the coefficient of variation method, granularity effect curve and information loss model, and the optimal amplitude was determined by using the grid method and semi-variance function.

Phylogenomic insights into the diversity and evolution of Palearctic vipers.

Despite decades of molecular research, phylogenetic relationships in Palearctic vipers (genus Vipera) still essentially rely on a few loci, such as mitochondrial barcoding genes. Here we examined the diversity and evolution of Vipera with ddRAD-seq data from 33 representative species and subspecies. Phylogenomic analyses of ∼ 1.

The Effects of the Built Environment on the Mental Health of Older Adults: A Case Study in Hangzhou, China.

Background And Objectives: This study examines the association between the built environment and mental health among older adults by exploring the potential pathways through the perceived built environment, social interaction, and environmental pollution.

Research Design And Methods: Research data were collected from 1 405 older adults aged 60 years and older in 30 residential neighborhoods of Hangzhou, China, in 2022. The participants' evaluation of the perceived built environment, social interaction, and environmental pollution were assessed.

Integrated Approach to Hydrogeochemical Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Major Industrial Zone of Punjab, Pakistan.

Groundwater contamination with arsenic (As) is a significant concern in Pakistan's Punjab Province. This study analyzed 69 groundwater samples from Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, and Multan to understand hydrogeochemistry, health impacts, contamination sources, and drinking suitability. Results revealed varying as concentrations across districts, with distinctive cation and anion orders.

Bioaccessibility and human health risks of arsenic from geological origin in lateritic red soil on construction land.

Current human health risk assessments of soil arsenic (As) contamination rarely consider bioaccessibility (IVBA), which may overestimate the health risks of soil As. The IVBA of As (As-IVBA) may differ among various soil types. This investigation of As-IVBA focused As from geological origin in a typical subtropical soil, lateritic red soil, and its risk control values.