Abstract Suichang County, Zhejiang Province, China, boasts a complex geographical setting and a long history, housing 25 national-level traditional villages with distinct spatial morphologies. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the impact of single factors (e.g., terrain) on village spatial morphology. Drawing on cultural ecology, this study selected 25 national traditional villages in the county as subjects and developed an indicator system encompassing 11 environmental, 4 cultural, and 10 spatial morphology indicators. Using methods including spatial design network analysis and Spearman correlation analysis, this study uncovered the mechanisms through which environmental and cultural factors influence the spatial morphology of traditional villages. The results indicate that environmental and cultural elements jointly shape traditional villages’ spatial morphology through distinct pathways. Terrain geomorphology constrains the regularity of architectural clusters and the complexity of alley networks. Climatic characteristics and hydrological conditions drive alley network connectivity and affect the coefficient of variation of direction. Population and transportation elements promote the expansion of traditional villages. The proximity of ancient roads is related to alley network connectivity and betweenness, while the ancestral hall centroid deviation affects the village’s morphological base. These findings provide technical support and planning guidance for the improved protection and utilization of similar traditional village heritage in southwestern Zhejiang.
Satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technologies provide an essential operational capability for the detection and monitoring of environmental damage caused by hydrocarbon spills.
SAR observations allow continuous monitoring independent of weather conditions or daylight, enabling rapid response and detailed characterization of dynamic surface processes.
The case study of the major oil spill that affected the Adriatic Sea on 27 May 2025 demonstrates the effectiveness of multi-temporal SAR data integration and in reconstructing the evolution of the spill over approximately 400 km of coastline. Such operational services are offered by e-GEOS and EMSA, through the SEonSE and CleanSeaNet platforms, respectively. The adoption of SAR-based monitoring frameworks strengthens early warning systems, supports environmental protection authorities, and enhances decision-making capabilities in emergency management and long-term territorial control.
Abstract While certain Brazilian ecosystems attract significant attention from the global scientific community, others - particularly those in mountainous regions, which are both unique and highly vulnerable - remain underexplored and inadequately understood, especially from the ecohydrological perspectives. This article calls for developing robust hydrological and ecohydrological research in the Brazilian mountains, which can contribute to their environmental protection and water resources management. To support this call, I present examples of the Serra da Mantiqueira Range, which is one of the most important Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspots in the World, besides being an important water source for the Southeast Brazil. I do not intend to present an exhaustive approach to the hydrology/ecohydrology of Brazilian mountains, since this is not possible, given their complexity and heterogeneity. Therefore, I propose to debate and illustrate this theme, to point knowledge gaps, and to propose a research agenda to contribute to the understanding of the water/ecosystem interactions in Brazilian mountains.
Introduction: This study investigated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emissions from road traffic at the Surathkal toll plaza, in Karnataka, India. It focuses on two phases: when the toll station operated (Phase 1: January 2020 – March 2020) and when it was inactive (Phase 2: January 2023 – March 2023).
Materials and methods: The research examines Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) concentration, its elemental analysis, and various PAH concentrations in it during both phases. Ultrasonic extraction and Gas Chromatography (GC) analysis were used to study 16 priority PAHs recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA), identifying eight in samples like SPM, soot, and green leaves. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrophotometer (ICPOES) analysed 14 elements in SPM.
Results: Results revealed higher PAH concentration during Phase 2, indicating that the presence of toll structure negatively affects air quality even when inactive. In contrast, SPM and its elements had higher mean concentrations during Phase 1, suggesting an inverse relationship between SPM and PAH levels. PAH diagnostic ratios showed different sources for each phase, including gasoline, diesel, fossil fuel, coal/biomass, and pyrogenic sources. Comprehensive health risk assessment using BaP equivalent concentration (BaPeq) to estimate Inhalation Life-time Cancer Risk (ILCR), revealed an increased risk during both phases (0.045 during Phase 1 and 0.134 during Phase 2), higher than acceptable risk level (1×10-6).
Conclusion: This research underscores the toll plaza's significant influence on air quality and calls for the development of mitigation measures.
With the gradual prominence of global water shortage and other problems, evaluating and predicting the impact of land use change on regional water conservation function is of great reference significance for carrying out national spatial planning and environmental protection, and realizing land intelligent management. We first analyzed 8,416 remote sensing images in the upper reaches of the Hanjiang River Basin (URHRB) by GEE platform and obtained the land use and land cover (LULC) results of fours periods. Through our field investigation, the accuracy of remote sensing image interpretation is obviously higher than that of other comprehensive LULC classification results. Then, through the coupling of InVEST-PLUS model, not only the results of URHRB water conservation from 1990 to 2020 were calculated and the accuracy was assessed, but also the LULC results and water conservation of URHRB under different development scenarios in 2030 were predicted. The results showed as follows: From 1990 to 2020, the forest area of URHRB increased by 7152.23 km2, while the area of cropland, shrub and grassland decreased by 3220.35 km2, 1414.72 km2 and 3385.39 km2, respectively. The InVEST model reliably quantifies the water yield and water conservation of URHRB. In the past 30 years, the total amount of water-saving in China has shown a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. From the perspective of vegetation types, URHRB forest land is the main body of water conservation, with an average annual water conservation depth of 653.87 mm and an average annual water conservation of 472.10×108 m3. Under the ecological protection scenario of the URHRB in 2030, the maximum water conservation in the basin is 574.92×108 m3, but compared with the water conservation in 2010, there is still a gap of 116.28×108 m3. Therefore, through the visualization analysis of the LULC changes of URHRB and water conservation function, it is found that the land and resources department should pay attention to the LULC changes of water sources and adjust the territorial spatial planning in time to cope with the huge water conservation gap in the future.
Hooshang Jaderi, Davood Jahani, Hamid Reza Peyrowan
et al.
Introduction: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are introduced into the environment by human activities and are deposited in the river bed. These compounds are among environmental pollutants and are extremely harmful to human health and other living things even in very small amounts. For this reason, determining the concentration of these pollutants is very important to evaluate the quality of river water. About a hundred compounds of PAHs that have been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency. They have 16 major harmful and pathogenic compounds, and for this reason, they have been introduced as pioneering pollutants. For this purpose, in the present study, the concentrations of PAHs were determined in the Karun River.Materials and Methods: In this study, 19 samples of PAHs were collected along the Karun River from Cham Golak in the north of Khuzestan to Choibedeh in the south of Khuzestan in 2022. The collected samples were immediately stored in glass bags at a temperature of -10°C and transported to the laboratory. Until the time of extraction, the samples were dried in a freeze dryer and then kept in a freezer at -50°C. Before the extraction operation, all the samples were powdered and passed through a sieve with mesh less than 0.63. After determining the amounts of each of the desired PAHs, using Dionex™ ASE™ 3, it was determined whether the PAHs has fuel or petroleum origin. Finally, the concentrations of the obtained PAHs were compared with the American Sediment quality guidelines. In this standard, two risk categories, ERL and ERM, are considered for sediment pollution.Results: Based on the average concentration of studied PAHs, Benzo (b) fluoranthene and phenanthrene were the most polluted in proportion to concentration among all studied PAHs. The concentration of Benzo (k) fluoranthene, Fluorene, Pyrene and Indeno (1,2,3-c,d) pyrene was also more than 1 μg.kg-1 of sediment, which was high compared to the average concentration of other PAHs. Other PAHs had an average concentration of less than 0.80 μg.kg-1. The minimum concentration of hydrocarbons varied between 0.01-2.15 μg.kg-1 and their maximum concentration between 0.05-8.97 μg.kg-1 of sediment. The results of skewness (-0.75<SKW<3.0) showed that there were many spatial variations for all pollutants, but Anthracene with a skewness of 0.3 has the most spatial changes, with the highest concentration in the south of the Karun River, and Benzo (b) fluoranthene has the skewness equal to -0.75, then, the highest pollutant concentration was in the north of Karun River. Except for the four hydrocarbons Benzo (b) fluoranthene, Benzo (k) fluoranthene, Indeno (1,2,3-c,d) pyrene and Benzo (g,h,i) perylene, the concentration of the other pollutants in the Karun River is lower than the Sediment Management Standard (SQS) limits ( Discussion: The origin of the pollutant’s evaluation showed that in the north of the Karun River, there was more fuel pollution, but in the center and south of this river, both fuel and oil sources were observed. These results showed that air pollution had a greater effect on increasing the concentration of hydrocarbons in the sediments of this river. In addition, the fuel of boats in the Ahvaz to Abadan area can be an important factor in increasing PAHs pollution with fuel origin. Therefore, although PAHs pollution was observed in this river, it was not at a critical level in terms of concentration.
Emma Jane Rendle, Emily Louise Hunt, Anthony William James Bicknell
The extent of seabed licensed for offshore renewables is being expanded with the global requirement to reduce carbon emissions. The opportunity for Nature-based Solutions for restoration, conservation, mariculture, infrastructure protection, and carbon sequestration initiatives are being explored internationally. Co-location of marine renewable or structures with conservation initiatives offers the opportunity to support populations of threatened species and contribute to wider ecosystem services and benefits. Building on experience from a North Sea project, we explore the feasibility to co-locate bivalve species at offshore wind farms. We present a three-step approach to identify offshore wind farm sites with the potential to co-locate with compatible species within a marine licensed area, based on environmental and physical conditions and biological tolerances. These steps are, (1) information collection and data synthesis, (2) data analysis through site suitability and species compatibility assessments, and (3) numerical modelling approaches to test the feasibility of pilot studies and scale-up planned operations. This approach supports feasibility assessment by identification of sites where Nature-based Solution project success is more likely or certain, thereby reducing project costs and risk of failure. An example case study is provided using Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm (southeast England) and the restoration and conservation of the commercially valuable European Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis).
Andrzej Skwiercz, Tatyana Stefanovska, Miloslav Zouhar
et al.
During a survey of plant parasitic nematodes associated with Miscanthus × giganteus which was carried out in Ukraine in 2016–2017, an occurrence of Rotylenchus agnetis Szczygieł, 1968, Rotylenchus pumilus Perry, 1959 and Paratylenchus nanus Cobb, 1923 was found. To the best of our knowledge this is the first record of a parasite species which can damage M. × giganteus. The species were described morphologically and using molecular tools. Further profound study on pathogenicity of those species is needed.
Antonis Ampatzoglou, Antonis Ampatzoglou, Agnieszka Gruszecka-Kosowska
et al.
Three areas of relevance to the gut microbiome in the context of One Health were explored; the incorporation of the microbiome in food safety risk assessment of xenobiotics; the identification and application of beneficial microbial components to various areas under One Health, and; specifically, in the context of antimicrobial resistance. Although challenging, focusing on the microbiota resilience, function and active components is critical for advancing the incorporation of microbiome data in the risk assessment of xenobiotics. Moreover, the human microbiota may be a promising source of beneficial components, with the potential to metabolize xenobiotics. These may have possible applications in several areas, e.g., in animals or plants for detoxification or in the environment for biodegradation. This approach would be of particular interest for antimicrobials, with the potential to ameliorate antimicrobial resistance development. Finally, the concept of resistance to xenobiotics in the context of the gut microbiome may deserve further investigation.
While there have been various studies on global vegetation dynamics, limited studies have been conducted to understand vegetation changes in arid areas. Vegetation distribution patterns can be affected by multiple factors, so understanding their interactions can help improve the capability of predicting future vegetation dynamics. This study, therefore, analyzed the dynamic vegetation changes in Alxa League, China, using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset (2000–2019), with the consideration of land cover types, digital elevation model, air temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, total evaporation, and air quality. The results show that the NDVI in Alxa League is small. Before 2012, the NDVI value fluctuated, while after 2012, the NDVI value dropped sharply and then slowly recovered after 2015. High NDVI values were found in areas with high and frequent human activities (city centers). The NDVI in the northwest region showed a slight degradation trend, and the southeast showed a slight improvement trend. According to the land cover type analysis, the NDVI value was the largest when the land cover type was tree cover, and the NDVI value was the smallest when the land cover type was bare/sparse vegetation. Alxa League was dominated by a bare/sparse vegetation distribution. The terrain analysis indicates that when the height was between 1800 and 3492 m, the NDVI value was the highest, and high NDVI values were mainly distributed in the area with a slope > 25°. When the slope was flat, the NDVI value was the smallest. Considering climate factors, the NDVI was negatively correlated with air temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and total evaporation in space, and only precipitation and soil moisture were positively correlated in time. Moreover, the population size has a strong positive correlation with the NDVI in this area. The monthly variation of the NDVI and absorbable particulate matter (PM10) was negatively correlated, i.e., strongly negatively correlated in spring, summer, and autumn, but only weakly positively correlated in winter. The seasonal variation of the NDVI was as follows: summer > autumn > spring > winter, and the seasonal variation of PM10 was spring > winter > summer > autumn. The interannual variation of the NDVI and PM10 was positively correlated. This suggests that the absorbable particulate matter (PM10) may be an essential factor for the normalized vegetation index to underestimate the dynamic changes of vegetation in arid regions. This study provides a theoretical basis for the dynamic changes of vegetation in the dry Alxa League.
Katarzyna Dębkowska, Łukasz Dymek, Krzysztof Kutwa
et al.
The aim of this article was to assess the efficiency of the utilization of public funds for climate neutrality. It was concluded that the data gathered in public statistics are not adapted to current challenges and hinder the direct measurement of climate policy objective implementation progress. Due to that, an innovative approach to public intervention efficiency analysis was proposed for the sake of decreasing CO<sub>2</sub> emission in 27 European Union (EU) countries, based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method and soft modeling. Statistical data are derived from the Eurostat database and pertain to the years 2005–2019. It was demonstrated that activity efficiency of the particular EU countries on climate neutrality varied and that together with the increase in public funds spent on environmental protection, the growth of effects in the field of reaching climate neutrality objectives was not observed. The greatest positive impact on achieving climate neutrality objectives was revealed for activities connected with building renewable sources of energy (RES) and there was no correlation detected for expenditures connected with transport infrastructure, which means that public funds used for their construction did not influence climate neutrality. It was established that, in the analyzed period, the decisions on allocating public funds were not taken on the basis of the expected amount of reduction in relation to the volume of outlays. In order to track the reasons for detected inefficiency, 52 projects were analyzed within the case study, which covered 3738 investments in the replacement of heating sources in one region of Poland. It was revealed that the efficiency of those investments varies; however, due to the full availability of data of the acquired results and outlays devoted to them, a synthetic index of efficiency measurement was established that presents the amount of CO<sub>2</sub> reduction for EUR 1. When comparing the analyses carried out on macro and micro scales, it was observed that on the scale of the EU, there is a lack of uniform measurements or benchmarks of projects in the field of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions reduction. Meanwhile, from the whole EU’s perspective, it should be reasonable to undertake projects with the highest economic efficiency, irrespective of political and geographical aspects. The results obtained should be utilized by decision-makers to elaborate reference methodologies and good practices in order to successfully implement climate objectives and especially the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). What should be established are universal, on the EU scale, measurements and rules for gathering and counting data as well as benchmarks for the particular project types.
The emergence of widespread insecticide resistance and the potential environmental problems associated with synthetic pesticides have indicated more interest for bio-pesticide usage in pest control. This study investigates the efficacy of a bio-pesticide formulation based on the aqueous extract of five plants namely Ocimum gratissimum, Piper nigrum, Xylopia aethiopica, Azadirachta indica, and Zingiber officinale in reducing cowpea leaf damage in event of bean beetle attach. Cowpea seeds were sown in four (4) different pots containing loamy soil and kept separately in the field at a distance of 10meters. Seven 7 days after foliage production, pots 1 and 2 were treated with 250ml of the formulations daily for 7 days, while pot 3 and 4 were not treated. From observations, the treated Cowpea plants were not attacked by bean beetle, while the untreated Cowpea plants were attacked by bean beetle, causing great damage on the foliage and this can lead to wilting, chlorosis and other fungal and bacterial diseases. Synthetic pesticides used for pests control, have adverse effects on crops and environment, but bio-pesticides formulated in this research is environmentally friendly, target specific and biodegradable. The extracts showed significant effect at p<0.05.
Keywords: Bio-pesticide, Vigna unguiculata Protection, Insect, Wasteland Weed
Human activities are recognized as an increasingly significant effect on the Earth’s environment. Environmental protection is any activity to maintain the quality of environmental media on individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the natural environment and humans. Environmental protection is the primary concern of the future of humanity. Public awareness of the environment is the ability to understand the surrounding world, including understandings to all the changes occurring in the environment, understanding of cause-and-effect relationships between the quality of the environment and human behavior, and a sense of responsibility of preserving them to next generations. The future will be powered by concerning public awareness discipline, giving students and graduates insights into most aspects of the human world to environment and the social sciences. The knowledge of Environmental public awareness acquired during school education and then systematically improved in adulthood, is an essential factor in quickening the environmental awareness of an individual. This study is to determine the factors that affecting the public awareness on university environment of 100 undergraduate students. The overall opinions showed that the students’ public awareness was high level. Furthermore, the key factors that influences on public awareness concerning university environment are knowledge and daily behavior.This investigation will shed light on the public awareness on university environment. Moreover, the students’ feedback showed the highly positive attitude in concerning environment.
Vladimir Marković, Djordjije A. Vasliljević, Tamara Jovanović
et al.
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) have greatly expanded in both distribution and abundance
during the last few decades, and are the most abundant cervids in Europe today. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that have the most considerable impact on roe deer numbers in the Vojvodina region (North Serbia). Environmental (area in ha, total area of forest and total area of meadows and pastures in hunting ground) and anthropogenic (number of registered hunters, number of hunting sections, number of gamekeepers and roads in km on 1,000 ha) factors had been shown to influence the number of roe deer in Vojvodina region. A multiple regression analysis was carried out as the main statistical approach. The mapping of certain parameters was done using ArcGIS 9.2 software in order to establish the relation between the roe deer population and the different environmental and anthropogenic conditions. The results signify that the roe deer number dependency in the Vojvodina region is a very complex and multi-factorial phenomenon, strongly influenced by human induced modifications.
Sokolewicz Marius, Wijma Eisse, Nomden Harm
et al.
Canal del Dique is a man-made distributary of Rio Magdalena. After its widening in 1980’s environmental degradation caused by abundant sediment load and changes to hydrology took a catastrophic form. In 2010, the Canal’s dike breached and 35,000 ha of land were flooded. In 2013 a huge effort to restore the environment in the Canal del Dique system and to flood-proof the villages was started. An integrated approach was adopted to provide an optimal solution for flood control, environment, fresh water supply and navigation. In order to prepare restoration plans, an extensive hydrologic and hydraulic assessment was carried out. 1D, 2D and 3D numerical models were developed to answer different questions, to evaluate different alternatives and to enable selection of optimal solutions. To assess the flood risk, a hindcast of 2010 flood was carried out. A solution was designed in which the inlet of water from the Magdalena River is regulated by a control structure, managed by an automated system based on SCADA and Delft-FEWS flood forecasting software and advanced statistics.
Segetal flora of cereal crop agrocenoses in the Suwałki Landscape Park was studied in between the years 2012 and 2013. One hundred phytosociological Braun-Blanquet releves were taken, documenting the occurrence of 152 species of vascular plants that represented 29 botanic families. Analysis of the contributions of geographic-historical groups revealed the dominance of the native species, apophytes (87 species, making 57.2%), over anthropophytes (65 species, 42.8%). The number of short-lived species was twice greater (103 species, 67.8%) than the perennial ones (49 species, 32.2%). As regards the lifeforms, the therophytes were dominant (96 species, 63.2%) over hemicryptophytes (44 species, 28.9%) and geophytes (12 species, 7.9%). Among the species of segetal flora in the area studied, 23 valuable species classified to different categories of protection, were identified. The presence of Consolida regalis, Centaurea cyanus and Bromus secalinus, belonging to threatened species in other regions of Poland, was abundant. Also the species: Anthemis tinctoria, Echium vulgare and Anchusa officinalis were met with high frequency. The species: Agrostemma githago, Papaver argemone and Papaver dubium were represented by single plants, which can suggest their dying out. In the Park area, expansive species, threatening the biodiversity, such as Myosotis arvensis, Viola arvensis, Galeopsis tetraehit, Stellaria media, Artemisia vulgaris, Galinsoga parviflora, Elymus repens, Capsella bursa pastoris, Erodium cicutarium, Chamomilla recutita, Matricaria maritima subsp. inodora, Convolvulus arvensis, Polygonum persicaria, Polygonum lapathifolium subsp. pallidum and Polygonum lapathifolium subsp. lapathifolium, were commonly seen in the crop land.
A statistical framework for evaluation of climate model simulations by
comparison with climate observations from instrumental and proxy data (part 1
in this series) is improved by the relaxation of two assumptions. This allows
autocorrelation in the statistical model for simulated internal climate
variability and enables direct comparison of two alternative forced
simulations to test whether one fits the observations significantly better than
the other. The extended framework is applied to a set of simulations driven
with forcings for the pre-industrial period 1000–1849 CE and 15
tree-ring-based temperature proxy series. Simulations run with only one
external forcing (land use, volcanic, small-amplitude solar, or
large-amplitude solar) do not significantly capture the variability in the
tree-ring data – although the simulation with volcanic forcing does so for
some experiment settings. When all forcings are combined (using either the small- or large-amplitude solar forcing), including also
orbital, greenhouse-gas and non-volcanic aerosol forcing, and additionally
used to produce small simulation ensembles starting from slightly different
initial ocean conditions, the resulting simulations are highly capable of
capturing some observed variability. Nevertheless, for some choices in the
experiment design, they are not significantly closer to the observations than
when unforced simulations are used, due to highly variable results between
regions. It is also not possible to tell whether the small-amplitude or
large-amplitude solar forcing causes the multiple-forcing simulations to be
closer to the reconstructed temperature variability. Proxy data from more
regions and of more types, or representing larger regions and complementary
seasons, are apparently needed for more conclusive results from model–data
comparisons in the last millennium.
It has been reported that productivity developments in construction are slow compared to other sectors. Measuring productivity is however not easy and it might have been underestimated due to deficiencies in the index that is used when the value added in current prices is converted into value added at constant prices. A central problem when deflating nominal prices is that the deflation should only take away price changes for identical products and not price changes related to quality changes and improvements necessitated by new environmental conditions and legislation as well as demand for higher safety. The aim of this project is to help fill this gap by looking at the quality changes over time in road construction. A combination of comparative studies and interviews with practitioners from public and private sectors that are involved in road construction projects were conducted. It was found that there had been both direct quality changes in the roads, primarily to improve safety on the roads and for noise protection, and indirect quality changes related to building in more difficult circumstances because of giving higher weight to other social objectives, especially environmental objectives. As these quality increases are not taken into account when productivity is measured, productivity improvements could be underestimated by around 1% per year.