Due to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, drought damage to trees threatens forestry production and forest ecosystems worldwide. Assessing the site conditions under which trees are vulnerable to drought damage provides key information for the establishment of countermeasures to prevent such damage. This study aimed to clarify the differences in drought vulnerability of young planted forests between regions and species by using forest insurance claims from all over Japan as a damage indicator. We targeted the two most damaged species in two of the most drought-affected regions from 2016 to 2021. Although landform and soil type were found to be influential factors in the Kamikawa Subprefecture of Hokkaido, these factors did not affect the drought damage in Yamaguchi Prefecture. In Kamikawa, the drought damage risk was high for Larix kaempferi on river terraces and for Abies sachalinensis on mountain areas with compacted brown forest soil. Clayey soil, which can prevent plants from absorbing water, has been known to distribute on the terraces and the mountains with compacted soil in Kamikawa. Therefore, our analysis identified clayey soil as a cause of drought vulnerability in Kamikawa. In addition, L. kaempferi was suggested to be especially vulnerable on flat terraces with less permeable clayey soil due to root damage associated with excessive soil moisture before drought. This study demonstrated that forest insurance can be used not only for damage compensation, but also as a source of information for identifying region- and species-specific risk factors for meteorological damage in forests.
{"title":"Identification of region- and species-specific site conditions affecting drought vulnerability of young planted forests: An analysis of forest insurance data in Japan","authors":"Kenta Iwasaki, Satoru Suzuki, Hiroyuki Tobita, Takafumi Katsushima","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113290","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113290","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Due to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, drought damage to trees threatens forestry production and forest ecosystems worldwide. Assessing the site conditions under which trees are vulnerable to drought damage provides key information for the establishment of countermeasures to prevent such damage. This study aimed to clarify the differences in drought vulnerability of young planted forests between regions and species by using forest insurance claims from all over Japan as a damage indicator. We targeted the two most damaged species in two of the most drought-affected regions from 2016 to 2021. Although landform and soil type were found to be influential factors in the Kamikawa Subprefecture of Hokkaido, these factors did not affect the drought damage in Yamaguchi Prefecture. In Kamikawa, the drought damage risk was high for <em>Larix kaempferi</em> on river terraces and for <em>Abies sachalinensis</em> on mountain areas with compacted brown forest soil. Clayey soil, which can prevent plants from absorbing water, has been known to distribute on the terraces and the mountains with compacted soil in Kamikawa. Therefore, our analysis identified clayey soil as a cause of drought vulnerability in Kamikawa. In addition, <em>L. kaempferi</em> was suggested to be especially vulnerable on flat terraces with less permeable clayey soil due to root damage associated with excessive soil moisture before drought. This study demonstrated that forest insurance can be used not only for damage compensation, but also as a source of information for identifying region- and species-specific risk factors for meteorological damage in forests.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113290"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143534413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113274
Jian Tian , Tiankai Xiao , Suiping Zeng
Global warming has led to frequent rainfall and flood disasters. The presence of warm and humid air currents significantly contributes to the intensity of rainfall in piedmont areas, thereby exposing them to heightened risks of waterlogging and flash floods. In response, there is a growing inclination towards adopting nature-based solutions (NbS) for effective flood regulation. This study proposes a kind of NbS for flood management in the piedmont area: using the SCS-CN hydrological model to measure the supply of flood regulation ecosystem service (FRES) in the study area, while employing the random forest model to enhance the accuracy of FRES demand assessment. The matching degree between FRES supply and demand was analyzed at two granularities of sub-catchments and grids. Ultimately, the supply–demand relationship was optimized in terms of both in-situ services and directional services. Taking Fangshan District and Zhuozhou City in China as a case study, the findings demonstrate that: (1) The random forest model can accurately predict the inundation probability across the entire domain using limited data, with areas of highest hazard typically characterized by high construction intensity, low vegetation cover, and low topography. (2) At the sub-catchment granularity, the low supply-high demand areas exhibit a faceted distribution within urban built-up areas and the transition area between mountains and plains. At the grid granularity, the low supply-high demand areas are distributed in a point-like manner in high-intensity development lots. (3) Based on the results of supply–demand matching, a zoning management scheme integrating NbS for ecological protection, restoration, and flood control interventions is proposed. A total of 31 flood regulation service flow corridors were identified along with optimization strategies provided. The results of the study can inform flood resilience planning in piedmont areas from the perspective of promoting a balance between FRES supply and demand.
{"title":"Intelligent identification of flood risks and resilience planning in piedmont areas with nature-based solutions","authors":"Jian Tian , Tiankai Xiao , Suiping Zeng","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113274","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113274","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global warming has led to frequent rainfall and flood disasters. The presence of warm and humid air currents significantly contributes to the intensity of rainfall in piedmont areas, thereby exposing them to heightened risks of waterlogging and flash floods. In response, there is a growing inclination towards adopting nature-based solutions (NbS) for effective flood regulation. This study proposes a kind of NbS for flood management in the piedmont area: using the SCS-CN hydrological model to measure the supply of flood regulation ecosystem service (FRES) in the study area, while employing the random forest model to enhance the accuracy of FRES demand assessment. The matching degree between FRES supply and demand was analyzed at two granularities of sub-catchments and grids. Ultimately, the supply–demand relationship was optimized in terms of both in-situ services and directional services. Taking Fangshan District and Zhuozhou City in China as a case study, the findings demonstrate that: (1) The random forest model can accurately predict the inundation probability across the entire domain using limited data, with areas of highest hazard typically characterized by high construction intensity, low vegetation cover, and low topography. (2) At the sub-catchment granularity, the low supply-high demand areas exhibit a faceted distribution within urban built-up areas and the transition area between mountains and plains. At the grid granularity, the low supply-high demand areas are distributed in a point-like manner in high-intensity development lots. (3) Based on the results of supply–demand matching, a zoning management scheme integrating NbS for ecological protection, restoration, and flood control interventions is proposed. A total of 31 flood regulation service flow corridors were identified along with optimization strategies provided. The results of the study can inform flood resilience planning in piedmont areas from the perspective of promoting a balance between FRES supply and demand.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113274"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143511202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113307
Haowei Xu , Fei Zhang , Chi Yung Jim , Ngai Weng Chan , Mou Leong Tan , Lifei Wei , Xinwen Lin , Guanghui Hu , Shuting Wang , Qinghua Qiao
Lakes indicate and regulate global environmental changes and regional climate. China’s highly uneven lake distribution and pronounced spatial variations in lake-area changes have remained unclear. The study aimed to understand the patterns and underlying drivers of lake-area changes in China over the past 34 years, focusing on regional variations influenced by climatic (temperature, precipitation, and climate water deficit), hydrological (runoff, snow water equivalent, palmer drought severity index, and soil moisture content), and human (farmland area, building area, fractional vegetation cover, population, gross value of industrial output, total output value of primary production, and gross domestic product) factors. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Landsat series remote sensing images were enlisted. Catering to regional variations in natural and cultural traits, five water indices extracted the areas of lakes and reservoirs larger than 50 km2 in China’s five major lake regions. Factor analysis and Mann-Kendall trend analysis identified relevant drivers. Mann-Kendall trend analysis explored the influence of factors on abrupt changes in lake area. Based on the correlation strength identified through factor analysis, factors weakly correlated with lake area were excluded, thereby reducing redundancy in the input for PLS-SEM. Finally, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) quantitatively investigated the complex relationships and interactions among the potential factors. The results indicated differential extraction effectiveness of the five water indices for the lake regions. MNDWI effectively extracted lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Lake Region (QTP_LR) and Northeast Plain and Mountain Lake Region (NPM_LR). NDWI, WI2019, and AWEI performed the best in the Eastern Plain Lake Region (EP_LR), Mong-Xin Plateau Lake Region (MXP_LR), and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Lake Region (YGP_LR), respectively. From 1990 to 2023, the trends in lake-area changes varied across regions. EP_LR shrank continually, whereas MXP_LR and QTP_LR expanded significantly. NPM_LR initially shrank and then expanded, whereas YGP_LR remained relatively stable. The responses of lake-area changes to drivers varied notably across regions, necessitating variable screening to reduce SEM model redundancy. The influence of natural (climatic and hydrological) and human factors on lake areas differed among regions. QTP_LR responded strongly to climatic factors, while other regions were more sensitive to human factors. The findings offered a theoretical foundation for lake management practices in different regions to facilitate the formulation of regional water use and conservation policies.
{"title":"Regional variations in lake areas in China due to human and natural environmental factors since 1990","authors":"Haowei Xu , Fei Zhang , Chi Yung Jim , Ngai Weng Chan , Mou Leong Tan , Lifei Wei , Xinwen Lin , Guanghui Hu , Shuting Wang , Qinghua Qiao","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113307","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113307","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lakes indicate and regulate global environmental changes and regional climate. China’s highly uneven lake distribution and pronounced spatial variations in lake-area changes have remained unclear. The study aimed to understand the patterns and underlying drivers of lake-area changes in China over the past 34 years, focusing on regional variations influenced by climatic (temperature, precipitation, and climate water deficit), hydrological (runoff, snow water equivalent, palmer drought severity index, and soil moisture content), and human (farmland area, building area, fractional vegetation cover, population, gross value of industrial output, total output value of primary production, and gross domestic product) factors. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Landsat series remote sensing images were enlisted. Catering to regional variations in natural and cultural traits, five water indices extracted the areas of lakes and reservoirs larger than 50 km2 in China’s five major lake regions. Factor analysis and Mann-Kendall trend analysis identified relevant drivers. Mann-Kendall trend analysis explored the influence of factors on abrupt changes in lake area. Based on the correlation strength identified through factor analysis, factors weakly correlated with lake area were excluded, thereby reducing redundancy in the input for PLS-SEM. Finally, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) quantitatively investigated the complex relationships and interactions among the potential factors. The results indicated differential extraction effectiveness of the five water indices for the lake regions. MNDWI effectively extracted lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Lake Region (QTP_LR) and Northeast Plain and Mountain Lake Region (NPM_LR). NDWI, WI2019, and AWEI performed the best in the Eastern Plain Lake Region (EP_LR), Mong-Xin Plateau Lake Region (MXP_LR), and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Lake Region (YGP_LR), respectively. From 1990 to 2023, the trends in lake-area changes varied across regions. EP_LR shrank continually, whereas MXP_LR and QTP_LR expanded significantly. NPM_LR initially shrank and then expanded, whereas YGP_LR remained relatively stable. The responses of lake-area changes to drivers varied notably across regions, necessitating variable screening to reduce SEM model redundancy. The influence of natural (climatic and hydrological) and human factors on lake areas differed among regions. QTP_LR responded strongly to climatic factors, while other regions were more sensitive to human factors. The findings offered a theoretical foundation for lake management practices in different regions to facilitate the formulation of regional water use and conservation policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113307"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143534334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113293
Anouk von Meijenfeldt , Francesco Chianucci , Francesca Rigo , Jente Ottenburghs , Andreas Hilpold , Marco Mina
Understory is a key component of forest biodiversity. The structure of the forest stand and the horizontal composition of the canopy play a major role on the light regime of the understory, which in turn affects the abundance and the diversity of the understory plant community. Reliable assessments of canopy structural attributes are essential for forest research and biodiversity monitoring programs, as well as to study the relationship between canopy and understory plant communities. Canopy photography is a widely used method but it is still not clear which photographic techniques is better suited to capture canopy attributes at stand-level that can be relevant in forest biodiversity studies. For this purpose, we collected canopy structure and understory plant diversity data on 51 forest sites in the north-eastern Italian Alps, encompassing a diversity of forest types from low-elevation deciduous, to mixed montane stands to subalpine coniferous forests. Canopy images were acquired using both digital cover (DCP) and hemispherical (DHP) photography, and analysed canopy structural attributes. These attributes were then compared to tree species composition data to evaluate whether they were appropriate to differentiate between forest types. Additionally, we tested what canopy attributes derived from DCP and DHP best explained the species composition of vascular plants growing in the understory. We found that hemispherical canopy photography was most suitable to capture differences in forest types, which was best expressed by variables such as leaf inclination angle and canopy openness. On our sites, DHP-based canopy attributes were also able to better distinguish between different conifer forests. Leaf clumping was the most important attribute for determining plant species distribution of the understory, indicating that diverse gap structures create different microclimate conditions enhancing diverse plant species with different ecological strategies. This study supports the reliability of canopy photography to derive meaningful indicators in forest and biodiversity research, but also provide insights for increasing understory diversity in managed forests of high conservation value.
{"title":"Reliability of canopy photography for forest ecology and biodiversity studies","authors":"Anouk von Meijenfeldt , Francesco Chianucci , Francesca Rigo , Jente Ottenburghs , Andreas Hilpold , Marco Mina","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understory is a key component of forest biodiversity. The structure of the forest stand and the horizontal composition of the canopy play a major role on the light regime of the understory, which in turn affects the abundance and the diversity of the understory plant community. Reliable assessments of canopy structural attributes are essential for forest research and biodiversity monitoring programs, as well as to study the relationship between canopy and understory plant communities. Canopy photography is a widely used method but it is still not clear which photographic techniques is better suited to capture canopy attributes at stand-level that can be relevant in forest biodiversity studies. For this purpose, we collected canopy structure and understory plant diversity data on 51 forest sites in the north-eastern Italian Alps, encompassing a diversity of forest types from low-elevation deciduous, to mixed montane stands to subalpine coniferous forests. Canopy images were acquired using both digital cover (DCP) and hemispherical (DHP) photography, and analysed canopy structural attributes. These attributes were then compared to tree species composition data to evaluate whether they were appropriate to differentiate between forest types. Additionally, we tested what canopy attributes derived from DCP and DHP best explained the species composition of vascular plants growing in the understory. We found that hemispherical canopy photography was most suitable to capture differences in forest types, which was best expressed by variables such as leaf inclination angle and canopy openness. On our sites, DHP-based canopy attributes were also able to better distinguish between different conifer forests. Leaf clumping was the most important attribute for determining plant species distribution of the understory, indicating that diverse gap structures create different microclimate conditions enhancing diverse plant species with different ecological strategies. This study supports the reliability of canopy photography to derive meaningful indicators in forest and biodiversity research, but also provide insights for increasing understory diversity in managed forests of high conservation value.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113293"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143529711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113285
Wei Jiang, Zhongguo Shu, Yihe Lv, Xukun Su, Xing Wu, Cong Wang, Kai Wang, Siqi Sun, Guohua Liu
Quantitatively analyzing the impacts of climate and land use changes on ecosystem services has drawn increasing attention over the past decade. However, the assessment approach in the existing studies highly depended on scenarios and modeling, which is unable to distinguish the influences of different land use types and different climate characteristics and to quantify the absolute influence levels of multiple driving factors. Here, we adopted the partial correlation analysis for quantifying relationships between ecosystem services and the seemingly unrelated regression model for assessing impacts of climate and land use changes on ecosystem services. Taking Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province in China from 2000 to 2019 as a case study, we focused on four ecosystem services including material provisioning, climate regulation, water regulation, and soil protection and five driving factors including precipitation, temperature, cropland area, forest area, and grassland area. The results identified the positively dominant driving factor of precipitation on material provisioning, water regulation, and soil protection, and the negatively dominant driving factor of cropland area on material provisioning, climate regulation, and water regulation. The synergy relationships were found between material provisioning and climate regulation, between climate regulation and water regulation, and between water regulation and soil protection, while the trade-off relationships were found between material provisioning and water regulation, and between material provisioning and soil protection. These findings support local policy-making, suggesting that management of climate-related risks and land use plan with a restriction on cropland expansion are expected.
{"title":"Quantifying impacts of climate and land use changes on ecosystem services from statistic perspective","authors":"Wei Jiang, Zhongguo Shu, Yihe Lv, Xukun Su, Xing Wu, Cong Wang, Kai Wang, Siqi Sun, Guohua Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113285","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113285","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantitatively analyzing the impacts of climate and land use changes on ecosystem services has drawn increasing attention over the past decade. However, the assessment approach in the existing studies highly depended on scenarios and modeling, which is unable to distinguish the influences of different land use types and different climate characteristics and to quantify the absolute influence levels of multiple driving factors. Here, we adopted the partial correlation analysis for quantifying relationships between ecosystem services and the seemingly unrelated regression model for assessing impacts of climate and land use changes on ecosystem services. Taking Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province in China from 2000 to 2019 as a case study, we focused on four ecosystem services including material provisioning, climate regulation, water regulation, and soil protection and five driving factors including precipitation, temperature, cropland area, forest area, and grassland area. The results identified the positively dominant driving factor of precipitation on material provisioning, water regulation, and soil protection, and the negatively dominant driving factor of cropland area on material provisioning, climate regulation, and water regulation. The synergy relationships were found between material provisioning and climate regulation, between climate regulation and water regulation, and between water regulation and soil protection, while the trade-off relationships were found between material provisioning and water regulation, and between material provisioning and soil protection. These findings support local policy-making, suggesting that management of climate-related risks and land use plan with a restriction on cropland expansion are expected.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113285"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113270
Bingyan Chen , Yao Lu , Muhammad Imran , Nawal Abdalla Adam , Jin Jang
Urban wetland parks serve as essential green spaces that provide cultural ecosystem services, yet their social value remains insufficiently studied. This research evaluates and transfers the social value of ecosystem services in urban wetland parks using the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) model, offering a deeper understanding of how environmental factors shape human perceptions. The study focuses on three wetland parks in China: Nanhai National Wetland Park (NNWP) in Guangdong, Donghu Wetland Park (DWP) in Wuhan, and Qinglonghu Wetland Park (QWP) in Beijing. Data were collected through on-site surveys conducted at DWP between March 2021 and December 2023, incorporating visitor preferences and spatial analysis. The results indicate that scenic beauty, recreation, and cultural heritage values are the most prominent, with social values strongly correlated with proximity to water bodies, green spaces, and pedestrian pathways. Gender and age significantly influenced perceptions, with younger respondents placing higher emphasis on recreational benefits, while older individuals valued spiritual and therapeutic aspects. The application of the social value transfer model demonstrated high reliability, successfully predicting ecosystem service values at NNWP and QWP. These findings highlight the importance of integrating ecological and cultural elements in wetland park design to enhance visitor experience and conservation efforts. This study provides a scientific foundation for urban planners and environmental policymakers to develop strategies that maximize the social benefits of wetland parks, ensuring their sustainability in rapidly urbanizing regions.
{"title":"Evaluating and transferring social value of ecosystem services in urban wetland parks using the SolVES model","authors":"Bingyan Chen , Yao Lu , Muhammad Imran , Nawal Abdalla Adam , Jin Jang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113270","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113270","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban wetland parks serve as essential green spaces that provide cultural ecosystem services, yet their social value remains insufficiently studied. This research evaluates and transfers the social value of ecosystem services in urban wetland parks using the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) model, offering a deeper understanding of how environmental factors shape human perceptions. The study focuses on three wetland parks in China: Nanhai National Wetland Park (NNWP) in Guangdong, Donghu Wetland Park (DWP) in Wuhan, and Qinglonghu Wetland Park (QWP) in Beijing. Data were collected through on-site surveys conducted at DWP between March 2021 and December 2023, incorporating visitor preferences and spatial analysis. The results indicate that scenic beauty, recreation, and cultural heritage values are the most prominent, with social values strongly correlated with proximity to water bodies, green spaces, and pedestrian pathways. Gender and age significantly influenced perceptions, with younger respondents placing higher emphasis on recreational benefits, while older individuals valued spiritual and therapeutic aspects. The application of the social value transfer model demonstrated high reliability, successfully predicting ecosystem service values at NNWP and QWP. These findings highlight the importance of integrating ecological and cultural elements in wetland park design to enhance visitor experience and conservation efforts. This study provides a scientific foundation for urban planners and environmental policymakers to develop strategies that maximize the social benefits of wetland parks, ensuring their sustainability in rapidly urbanizing regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113270"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113300
Yu Wang , Qiang Yu , Buyanbaatar Avirmed , Jikai Zhao , Weijie Sun , Yilin Liu , Huanjia Cui , Mookhor Khishigjargal , Sharavjamts Oyuntuya , Naranbat Dambadarjaa , Ganbold Bayanmunkh
China’s arid and semi-arid regions are facing severe land degradation. To combat desertification, China has launched large-scale ecological engineering, such as the Three-North Shelterbelt Program (TNSP). This study aims to uncover the feedback mechanisms of ecological spatial networks on ecological engineering effectiveness and analyze the spatial patterns of ecological sources and their ecosystem service responses. It also optimizes techniques for sand fixation, carbon sequestration, and desertification prevention. This study uses multi-source remote sensing and vector data (1986–2021) and complex network theory to extract ecological spatial networks and analyze TNSP’s spatiotemporal trends. The network motif discovery algorithm identifies spatial patterns and explores the relationships between pattern structure, distribution, and topological properties. Finally, it analyzes the response mechanisms between spatial patterns and ecosystem functions. The results show that since the TNSP’s implementation, the number of ecological sources (up by 653, with an area increase of 78,014 km2) and corridors (up by 1,579, with a length increase of 29,591 km) have increased. Spatiotemporal changes in ecological networks reflect ecological engineering effectiveness and guide future optimization. The star, core-linked loop, and triangle patterns can enhance network stability. The star pattern exhibits the highest degree (4.66) and betweenness centrality (53,086), while the triangle and core-linked loop patterns have higher clustering coefficients of 0.315 and 0.250, respectively. Forests demonstrate the strongest sand fixation and carbon sequestration capacities across different patterns. Shrub sources under linear and star patterns significantly enhance ecological value and network stability.
{"title":"The response of ecosystem services to ecological spatial network patterns in China’s arid and semi-arid regions","authors":"Yu Wang , Qiang Yu , Buyanbaatar Avirmed , Jikai Zhao , Weijie Sun , Yilin Liu , Huanjia Cui , Mookhor Khishigjargal , Sharavjamts Oyuntuya , Naranbat Dambadarjaa , Ganbold Bayanmunkh","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113300","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113300","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China’s arid and semi-arid regions are facing severe land degradation. To combat desertification, China has launched large-scale ecological engineering, such as the Three-North Shelterbelt Program (TNSP). This study aims to uncover the feedback mechanisms of ecological spatial networks on ecological engineering effectiveness and analyze the spatial patterns of ecological sources and their ecosystem service responses. It also optimizes techniques for sand fixation, carbon sequestration, and desertification prevention. This study uses multi-source remote sensing and vector data (1986–2021) and complex network theory to extract ecological spatial networks and analyze TNSP’s spatiotemporal trends. The network motif discovery algorithm identifies spatial patterns and explores the relationships between pattern structure, distribution, and topological properties. Finally, it analyzes the response mechanisms between spatial patterns and ecosystem functions. The results show that since the TNSP’s implementation, the number of ecological sources (up by 653, with an area increase of 78,014 km<sup>2</sup>) and corridors (up by 1,579, with a length increase of 29,591 km) have increased. Spatiotemporal changes in ecological networks reflect ecological engineering effectiveness and guide future optimization. The star, core-linked loop, and triangle patterns can enhance network stability. The star pattern exhibits the highest degree (4.66) and betweenness centrality (53,086), while the triangle and core-linked loop patterns have higher clustering coefficients of 0.315 and 0.250, respectively. Forests demonstrate the strongest sand fixation and carbon sequestration capacities across different patterns<strong>.</strong> Shrub sources under linear and star patterns significantly enhance ecological value and network stability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113300"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-26DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113280
Lisa Maria Reiss , Axel Hochkirch
Central European forestry is currently facing a challenging situation, striving against climate change impacts. Forest restoration is crucial but monitoring the impact of forest management on biodiversity is needed to incorporate this factor into management decisions. In open-land habitats, Orthoptera are well-known indicators of land use intensity, succession states, and biodiversity. We therefore hypothesized that forest-dwelling Orthoptera may also serve as indicators in temperate forests. We studied the habitat requirements of the common saw bush-cricket, Barbitistes serricauda. As Orthopterans typically depend upon a specific vegetation structure, we assessed canopy structure via hemispherical photography, as well as understory structure and plant diversity via Braun-Blanquet analysis on forest plots with and without the species’ presence. We conducted the study in several forest types. Forest type did not have an overall effect on its presence, but it was less frequent in alluvial forests. When analyzing habitat parameters in detail, the occurrence of the species was significantly associated with canopy openness, light radiation, vertical vegetation structure and herbaceous plant diversity. We calculated its indicator value for these variables, resulting in a significant indication potential for vertical connectivity and gaps in canopy openness. As these parameters have been shown to benefit many other arthropod species, we conclude that Barbitistes serricauda is a suitable indicator for well-structured forest habitats that can promote diversity. Due to its lack of specialization on certain tree species, it may be used in various forest types and under different management strategies.
{"title":"Testing the potential of a bush-cricket as an indicator for structure- and species-rich forests","authors":"Lisa Maria Reiss , Axel Hochkirch","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113280","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113280","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Central European forestry is currently facing a challenging situation, striving against climate change impacts. Forest restoration is crucial but monitoring the impact of forest management on biodiversity is needed to incorporate this factor into management decisions. In open-land habitats, Orthoptera are well-known indicators of land use intensity, succession states, and biodiversity. We therefore hypothesized that forest-dwelling Orthoptera may also serve as indicators in temperate forests. We studied the habitat requirements of the common saw bush-cricket, <em>Barbitistes serricauda</em>. As Orthopterans typically depend upon a specific vegetation structure, we assessed canopy structure via hemispherical photography, as well as understory structure and plant diversity via Braun-Blanquet analysis on forest plots with and without the species’ presence. We conducted the study in several forest types. Forest type did not have an overall effect on its presence, but it was less frequent in alluvial forests. When analyzing habitat parameters in detail, the occurrence of the species was significantly associated with canopy openness, light radiation, vertical vegetation structure and herbaceous plant diversity. We calculated its indicator value for these variables, resulting in a significant indication potential for vertical connectivity and gaps in canopy openness. As these parameters have been shown to benefit many other arthropod species, we conclude that <em>Barbitistes serricauda</em> is a suitable indicator for well-structured forest habitats that can promote diversity. Due to its lack of specialization on certain tree species, it may be used in various forest types and under different management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113280"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143488086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113257
Pere Miquel Mir-Rosselló , Marcello Dante Cerrato , Iván Cortés-Fernández , Carles Cardona , Lluís Salom-Vicens , Arnau Ribas-Serra , Llorenç Sáez , Dessiré Sicilia , Llorenç Gil
Mediterranean coastal dune morphology and dynamics are affected by a complex set of biotic and abiotic factors, from both natural and anthropogenic sources. These ecosystems are heavily degraded and endangered nowadays, making monitoring and management actions urgent. Despite their ecological relevance, bryophytes and lichens remain understudied in these ecosystems. This study aims to characterize the cryptogam communities in Balearic coastal dunes and evaluate their potential as bioindicators in Mediterranean dunes. A total of 335 relevés were conducted in 17 dune systems across the Balearic Islands. Plots were grouped in different cryptogam communities, which were characterized by their species composition and different environmental factors measured in the field. Plots could be grouped in a total of five cryptogam communities, which differed in species composition, richness and abundance, and in ecological preferences as indicated by the measured environmental variables. A zonation of communities was not clearly detected, and microsite variables seemed to play an important role. At least two of the cryptogam communities could be considered for monitoring dune system health. A community associated with Bryum dichotomum was related to ruderalization. A second community, characterized by the presence of Ptychostomum torquescens, could indicate an excessive stabilization of mobile dunes by human management. We propose cryptogam communities as bioindicators of Mediterranean coastal dunes health, which should be considered when planning monitoring and management actions.
{"title":"Cryptogam communities in Mediterranean coastal dunes as indicators of microhabitat effect and human influence","authors":"Pere Miquel Mir-Rosselló , Marcello Dante Cerrato , Iván Cortés-Fernández , Carles Cardona , Lluís Salom-Vicens , Arnau Ribas-Serra , Llorenç Sáez , Dessiré Sicilia , Llorenç Gil","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113257","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113257","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mediterranean coastal dune morphology and dynamics are affected by a complex set of biotic and abiotic factors, from both natural and anthropogenic sources. These ecosystems are heavily degraded and endangered nowadays, making monitoring and management actions urgent. Despite their ecological relevance, bryophytes and lichens remain understudied in these ecosystems. This study aims to characterize the cryptogam communities in Balearic coastal dunes and evaluate their potential as bioindicators in Mediterranean dunes. A total of 335 relevés were conducted in 17 dune systems across the Balearic Islands. Plots were grouped in different cryptogam communities, which were characterized by their species composition and different environmental factors measured in the field. Plots could be grouped in a total of five cryptogam communities, which differed in species composition, richness and abundance, and in ecological preferences as indicated by the measured environmental variables. A zonation of communities was not clearly detected, and microsite variables seemed to play an important role. At least two of the cryptogam communities could be considered for monitoring dune system health. A community associated with <em>Bryum dichotomum</em> was related to ruderalization. A second community, characterized by the presence of <em>Ptychostomum torquescens</em>, could indicate an excessive stabilization of mobile dunes by human management. We propose cryptogam communities as bioindicators of Mediterranean coastal dunes health, which should be considered when planning monitoring and management actions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113257"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143479773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113277
Jiaxuan Tang , Qin Yang , Qinghui Zeng , Peng Hu , Long Yan , Baolong Zhao , Fengbo Zhang , Kang Zhao , Jinliang Zhang
The drift of benthic invertebrates is closely linked to the stability of their community structure, exerting a direct influence on other aquatic biota and ecosystem functions. Driven by the growing demand for clean hydropower, dam construction and operation have disrupted riverbed structures, changed water properties, and affected flow regimes, leading to alterations in the natural drift pattern and significant loss of benthic invertebrate biomass. Therefore, this review summarizes, for the first time, the responses of benthic invertebrate drift to these changes, including habitat shift, sediment deposition, elevated water temperature, decreased dissolved oxygen levels, and, most importantly, flow fluctuations observed in both regulated rivers and experimental flumes. Furthermore, the development and procedure of a numerical simulation of invertebrate drift are summarised. Based on these processes, we suggest that future field sampling research on benthic invertebrate drift should be expanded to include Asian and high-altitude large regulated rivers. Invertebrate drift simulations could benefit from drawing on fish movement simulations and incorporating biomimetic techniques and tools, such as agent-based models.
{"title":"Effects of reservoir regulation on downstream benthic invertebrate drift in dammed rivers: A review","authors":"Jiaxuan Tang , Qin Yang , Qinghui Zeng , Peng Hu , Long Yan , Baolong Zhao , Fengbo Zhang , Kang Zhao , Jinliang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113277","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113277","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The drift of benthic invertebrates is closely linked to the stability of their community structure, exerting a direct influence on other aquatic biota and ecosystem functions. Driven by the growing demand for clean hydropower, dam construction and operation have disrupted riverbed structures, changed water properties, and affected flow regimes, leading to alterations in the natural drift pattern and significant loss of benthic invertebrate biomass. Therefore, this review summarizes, for the first time, the responses of benthic invertebrate drift to these changes, including habitat shift, sediment deposition, elevated water temperature, decreased dissolved oxygen levels, and, most importantly, flow fluctuations observed in both regulated rivers and experimental flumes. Furthermore, the development and procedure of a numerical simulation of invertebrate drift are summarised. Based on these processes, we suggest that future field sampling research on benthic invertebrate drift should be expanded to include Asian and high-altitude large regulated rivers. Invertebrate drift simulations could benefit from drawing on fish movement simulations and incorporating biomimetic techniques and tools, such as agent-based models.</div><div>Abbreviations: DO, dissolved oxygen; ABM, agent-based model.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 113277"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143479774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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