Freshwater ecosystems are increasingly under threat as they are confronted with multiple anthropogenic impairments. This calls for comprehensive management strategies to counteract, or even prevent, ...long-term impacts on habitats and their biodiversity, as well as on their ecological functions and services. The basis for the efficient management and effective conservation of any ecosystem is sufficient knowledge on the state of the system and its response to external influence factors. In freshwater ecosystems, state information is currently drawn from ecological assessments at the reach or site scale. While these assessments are essential, they are not sufficient to assess the expected outcome of different river restoration strategies, because they do not account for important characteristics of the whole river network, such as habitat connectivity or headwater reachability. This is of particular importance for the spatial prioritization of restoration measures. River restoration could be supported best by integrative catchment-scale ecological assessments that are sensitive to the spatial arrangement of river reaches and barriers. Assessments at this scale are of increasing interest to environmental managers and conservation practitioners to prioritize restoration measures or to locate areas worth protecting. We present an approach based on decision support methods that integrates abiotic and biotic ecological assessments at the reach-scale and aggregates them spatially to describe the ecological state of entire catchments. This aggregation is based on spatial criteria that represent important ecological catchment properties, such as fish migration potential, resilience, fragmentation and habitat diversity in a spatially explicit way. We identify the most promising assessment criteria from different alternatives based on theoretical considerations and a comparison with biological indicators. Potential applications are discussed, particularly for supporting the strategic, long-term planning and spatial prioritization of restoration measures.
Display omitted
•River restoration planning profits from assessment at the catchment-scale.•The assessment is based on spatially-explicit reach-scale information.•Spatial criteria are used to aggregate the assessment from reach to catchment-scale.•Spatial criteria account for ecological network properties such as connectivity.•The approach is tested in four different catchments of the Swiss plateau.
Intensifying wildfire activity and climate change can drive rapid forest compositional shifts. In boreal North America, black spruce shapes forest flammability and depends on fire for regeneration. ...This relationship has helped black spruce maintain its dominance through much of the Holocene. However, with climate change and more frequent and severe fires, shifts away from black spruce dominance to broadleaf or pine species are emerging, with implications for ecosystem functions including carbon sequestration, water and energy fluxes, and wildlife habitat. Here, we predict that such reductions in black spruce after fire may already be widespread given current trends in climate and fire. To test this, we synthesize data from 1,538 field sites across boreal North America to evaluate compositional changes in tree species following 58 recent fires (1989 to 2014). While black spruce was resilient following most fires (62%), loss of resilience was common, and spruce regeneration failed completely in 18% of 1,140 black spruce sites. In contrast, postfire regeneration never failed in forests dominated by jack pine, which also possesses an aerial seed bank, or broad-leaved trees. More complete combustion of the soil organic layer, which often occurs in better-drained landscape positions and in dryer duff, promoted compositional changes throughout boreal North America. Forests in western North America, however, were more vulnerable to change due to greater long-term climate moisture deficits. While we find considerable remaining resilience in black spruce forests, predicted increases in climate moisture deficits and fire activity will erode this resilience, pushing the system toward a tipping point that has not been crossed in several thousand years.
The evaluation of estuarine wetland ecosystem health (EWEH) is vital and difficult due to complex influencing factors and their spatial heterogeneities. An EWEH evaluation model was established in ...this study on the basis of the typical features of estuarine wetland ecosystems with focus on spatial heterogeneity. The index system comprises external factors, internal factors, and ecological state, and covers all aspects of the natural and anthropogenic factors, with each index possessing its own spatial heterogeneity. The Yellow River Delta, a typical estuarine wetland in China, was selected as the study area to demonstrate the model. Results indicated that the present EWEH in the entire study area was in good status with distinct spatial heterogeneity. Ecosystem productivity, seawater intrusion, human interference, and Yellow River input were the most relevant indexes of EWEH. The temporal variations of EWEH fluctuated from 1987 to 2016. The decrease in the Yellow River input and the increase in human activity intensity deteriorated EWEH, whereas the alongshore embankment and nature reserve construction improved EWEH in certain parts. The influence of natural factors continuously decreased, and human activity became the main driving factor of the EWEH spatial variation. Our model was proven to possess comprehensive reflections of estuarine wetland ecological characteristics, full exhibitions of spatial heterogeneity, and high applicability; therefore, it can be widely used to evaluate EWEH in different areas.
Display omitted
•An estuarine wetland ecosystem health (EWEH) evaluation model was established.•The model covered all aspects of the natural and anthropogenic factors.•Each factor in the model possesses its own spatial heterogeneity.•The spatial heterogeneity of EWEH in the Yellow River Delta was evaluated.•The model can be widely used to evaluate EWEH because of its high applicability.
The article presents the results of an analysis of snow cover pollution in different parts of the Kirovsky district of Saratov. A comparison of the obtained data with the 1992 indicators was carried ...out. The connection between transport hubs with the highest dust load values and an increase in the number of cars was determined. Current spatial and temporal trends in snow cover pollution have been identified. The fact was confirmed that the highest concentration of dust in the snow cover is detected in areas with high traffic load. Determining the relationship between the increase in dust load in the study areas and the increase in the number of cars over a period of 30 years confirms the significant impact of transport on the ecological state of the environment in urbanized areas.
As part of a plant Group, species with different limits of individual tolerance coexist. According to the principle of emergence, in synecological studies, it is advisable to evaluate the response of ...biocenoses as an integral structure to changes in environmental parameters. To reveal the organizational structure of groups, their functional activity allows the study of the relationships of various hierarchical levels, as a result of which ectomorphic matrices are formed that reflect the general emergent properties of ecological groups (for example, trophic, topical their structure) since the organizational structure of groups is environmentally determined. The study of plants of cultivated species at various ecological levels allows us to obtain information on plant viability strategies that are important in managing and expanding the functionality of species and varietal diversity and harmonizing vegetation with environmental conditions. The systematic approach of plant research makes it possible to fully realize the genetic potential of productivity, establish the limits of environmental tolerance, stability, genetic flexibility, etc. So, for a complex study of a cultural plant species (variety, line, Hybrid), a systematic approach of research involves the study of plants at different levels of integration of living matter (genetic-molecular, cellular, tissue, morphological, organizational), as well as Dem -, son - and ecosystem. Given that most of the characteristics, properties, and characteristics of plant organisms are determined not only genetically, but also ecologically, it is important to study plant organisms under changing conditions in Sita, revealing the Out -, Dem -, synecological, and ecosystem levels.
From June 13 to 15, 2023, in Trabzon, Turkey, the 3rd General Assembly of the international project "Developing Optimal and Open Research Support for the Black Sea (DOORS)" took place. The current ...project results discussed during the assembly deserve to be made public. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to inform the readers of the journal and the general public about the progress of one of the relevant projects under the Horizon – 2020 framework program. It is also an opportunity to highlight the contemporary issues of the Black Sea and its adjacent land, as well as to showcase how these issues can be addressed.
•We propose an indicator development framework based on a systematic review, which:•Consists of 12 well-justified criteria linked to the steps in an expert process.•Distinguishes ecosystem ...characteristics and their indicators.•Is applicable in many fields of ecological/environmental/sustainability indicators.•Finally we identify two critical knowledge gaps for SEEA applications.
The UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) aims at regular and standardised stocktaking of the extent of ecosystems, their condition, and the services they provide to society. Recording the condition of ecosystems is one of the most complex pieces in this exercise and needs to be supported by consistent guidelines. SEEA EA defines the condition of an ecosystem as its overall quality, measured in terms of quantitative metrics describing its abiotic and biotic characteristics. One of the key challenges lies in identifying the most appropriate metrics for each ecosystem type that capture these essential characteristics.
The objective of this paper is to create a well-defined framework for transparent and operative development of ecosystem condition indicators, which can be used in ecosystem accounting and ecosystem assessment studies. Starting from the SEEA EA documentation and a small targeted systematic review, we identified 12 key criteria, which we grouped according to their roles during the indicator development process. Five conceptual criteria (intrinsic relevance, instrumental relevance, sensitivity, directional meaning, and framework conformity) outline the priorities for identifying relevant characteristics of the ecosystems. Five practical criteria (validity, reliability, availability, simplicity, and compatibility) provide guidance on identifying concrete quantitative metrics for the selected characteristics. Finally, two ensemble criteria (comprehensiveness, and parsimony) ensure the completeness and complementarity of the final set of metrics.
To tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, the condition of ecosystems needs to be better recognized in national economic planning. The proposed framework supports the selection of a concise set of salient and credible ecosystem condition indicators through a transparent, repeatable and scientific process. This can make the compilation of ecosystem condition accounts more accessible and more standardised on a global level, which is a key prerequisite for the success of SEEA EA. Additionally, the framework presented in this paper may be useful in other contexts where ecological, environmental, or sustainability indicators need to be identified.
Artificial aeration, a widely used method of restoring the aquatic ecological environment by enhancing the re-oxygenation capacity, typically relies upon empirical models to predict ecological ...dynamics and determine the operating scheme of the aeration equipment. Restoration through artificial aeration is involved in oxic-anoxic transitions, whether these transitions occurred in the form of a regime shift, making the development of predictive models challenging. Here, we confirmed the existence of alternative states in microbial communities during artificial aeration through aeration incubation experiment for the first time and considered its existence in neural network modeling in order to improve model performance. By aeration incubation experiment, it was confirmed that the alternative states exist in microbial communities during artificial aeration by two independent approaches, potential analysis and "enterotyping" approach. Comparing neural network models with and without considering the existence of alternative states, it was found that considering the existence of alternative states in modeling could improve the performance of neural network model. Our study provides a reference for the prediction of systems containing time series data where the current state will have an impact on later states. The developed model could be used for optimizing the operating scheme of the artificial aeration.
With the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), the member states have to classify the ecological status of surface waters following standardised procedures. It was a matter of ...some surprise to lake ecologists that zooplankton were not included as a biological quality element (BQE) despite their being considered to be an important and integrated component of the pelagic food web. To the best of our knowledge, the decision of omitting zooplankton is not wise, and it has resulted in the withdrawal of zooplankton from many so-far-solid monitoring programmes. Using examples from particularly Danish, Estonian, and the UK lakes, we show that zooplankton (sampled from the water and the sediment) have a strong indicator value, which cannot be covered by sampling fish and phytoplankton without a very comprehensive and costly effort. When selecting the right metrics, zooplankton are cost-efficient indicators of the trophic state and ecological quality of lakes. Moreover, they are important indicators of the success/failure of measures taken to bring the lakes to at least good ecological status. Therefore, we strongly recommend the EU to include zooplankton as a central BQE in the WFD assessments, and undertake similar regional calibration exercises to obtain relevant and robust metrics also for zooplankton as is being done at present in the cases of fish, phytoplankton, macrophytes and benthic invertebrates.
•An ecological equation of state (EESR) was published in 2012.•A 2nd ecological equation of state (EESH), ignoring the first one, published in 2022.•Collating EESHvs. EESR, references, theoretical ...principles, and empirical evidences.•EESH: weak patterns, far from physical models, not fit for ecological principles.•EESH cannot be considered an ecological equation of state.
The goal of testing the theoretical fruitfulness and empirical utility of the links between ecology and thermodynamics has been elusive. This could explain the breakdown of ecology into multiple branches, some of them intended to develop models in agreement with the principles of physics. The maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) is one of the most frequently mentioned topics in this field. Within the MaxEnt framework, a quantitative relationship between various ecological parameters has recently been proposed as a seeming ecological equation of state (EESH; Harte et al. 2022. An equation of state unifies diversity, productivity, abundance and biomass. Commun. Biol. 5: 874). We analyze the EESH from the interdisciplinary perspective of Organic Biophysics of Ecosystems (OBEC). Consistent with this analysis, the EESH neglects the analytical similarity between key ecological variables and statistical mechanical variables, it does not include any intensive variable useful to determine the distance of ecological systems from equilibrium, it does not involve any constant useful to define the statistical range within which the system can be considered out of danger despite widespread effects of anthropogenic impact, and its general structure bears no resemblance to previous equations of state because it is based on a subjective approach devoid of physical content that is only useful as a tool for statistical inference. So, our conclusions are: (i) the EESH does not withstand comparison with prior knowledge and empirical evidence from both ecology and physics, and (ii) it cannot be considered an ecological equation of state.
PDF
