This study employs the coupled coordination gravity model to explore the spatial relationship between high-quality development and ecological environmental protection in the Yellow River Basin, using ecosystem service value (ESV) as a key perspective. The research begins by introducing the ecological and developmental context of the Yellow River Basin alongside relevant theoretical foundations. Subsequently, data from nine provinces in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2022 are analyzed. ESV are calculated using established methodologies, and an index system for high-quality development is constructed and evaluated. The coupled coordination gravity model is then applied to analyze the data. The results indicate that the value of ecosystem services in the basin has fluctuated upward over the study period. Spatial development in high-quality development indices is evident across provinces, with Shaanxi and Ningxia achieving the highest levels of coupling and coordination, while Inner Mongolia exhibits relatively lower levels. Based on these findings, policy recommendations include continuing ecological restoration projects, enhancing policy support for central and western regions, fostering synergies between ecological and economic development, and promoting deeper regional cooperation.

Based on a comprehensive review of the research progress in ecological protection and restoration both domestically and internationally, this paper summarizes the objectives and key focuses of the planning indicators and policy monitoring for ecological protection and restoration on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The core objective is to establish an indicator system based on ecosystem quality and ecosystem services, monitor and assess the ecological, economic, and social benefits of implementing ecological protection and restoration policies, and then evaluate the harmonious development of “ecology-production-livelihood” nexus within the social-ecological system. Through a systematic literature review and frequency analysis, this study screens comprehensive benefit assessment indicators for ecological restoration and constructs a monitoring and evaluation system that includes four target layers: ecosystem pattern, ecosystem quality, ecosystem services, and social economic benefits. Subsequently, the paper elaborates on the implementation plan encompassing data acquisition, indicator calculation, and weight determination. In the concluding section, it delves into strategies for conducting adaptive monitoring of the social-ecological system in the context of ecological restoration and presents recommendations for the establishment and enhancement of a long-term monitoring mechanism for ecological protection and restoration monitoring mechanism.

Unreasonable land use practices have led to the imbalance of ecosystem functions and a continuous decline in the supply capacity of ecological products. Ecological restoration zoning serves as an effective spatial solution. Traditional approaches to delineating ecological restoration zones often rely on a single perspective, such as ecological security or risk assessment, while neglecting the interrelationships between ecological security elements and risk-inducing activities, as well as the adaptive capacity of ecosystems themselves. This study focused on the Guangzhou Metropolitan Area, and integrated multidimensional ecosystem services (water, soil, air, biodiversity, carbon) with circuit theory to construct an ecological security pattern featuring optimal corridor widths. Meanwhile, ecological resilience and the intensity of human disturbances were quantified and overlaid to jointly determine the priority order of ecological restoration zones. The results revealed three key aspects of this system. (1) A total of 55 ecological source patches were identified under this framework, covering a total area of 9062.0 km². This study detected 130 ecological corridors with a total length of 653.6 km, and they were classified into 18 high-resistance, 70 medium-resistance, and 42 low-resistance corridors, primarily distributed in the central region. In addition, eight ecological pinch points were identified as critical nodes for restoration. (2) Ecological resilience in the Guangzhou Metropolitan Area shows a spatial pattern of “high in the east and west, low in the south”, although it generally remains at a moderately low level. In contrast, the impact of human disturbances displays a pattern of “high in the central and southern regions, low in the northeast and west”, with a moderately high intensity overall. (3) The Guangzhou Metropolitan Area was zoned into five categories: priority restoration areas, key restoration areas, general restoration areas, secondary restoration areas, and routine restoration areas. The total area of the priority restoration zones is 1051.80 km², and these zones are mainly distributed across districts and counties such as Duanzhou, Gaoyao, Gaoming, Dinghu, Fogang, Conghua, and Zengcheng. By establishing a technical framework of “ecological security pattern-ecological risk assessment-ecological restoration zoning”, this study rationally prioritized restoration efforts, thereby providing actionable insights for advancing ecological civilization and guiding ecological conservation management in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Accurately assessing the value of ecosystem services and establishing an ecological security pattern to identify the future trends and characteristics of changes in the ecological security pattern and maintain regional ecological security is of great significance for promoting regional sustainability. Based on the calculation of the ecosystem service value in Hubei Province, the study identified the ecological source areas in combination with the types of landscape patterns. It selected the resistance factors that fit the characteristics of the study area in combination with previous studies to establish the ecological resistance surface. The MCR model was used to extract the potential ecological corridors in the study area and identify the ecological nodes. Construct the ecological security pattern of Hubei Province from 1992 to 2022 and analyze its spatio-temporal dynamic change characteristics. The research results show that: (1) The value of ecosystem services in Hubei Province has generally shown a fluctuating upward trend from 1992 to 2022. Among the types of ecosystem services, the value of regulatory services accounts for the largest proportion. Among different land use types, the value of ecosystem services provided by forest land types is the highest. (2) A total of 10 ecological sources were extracted in the study. It is mainly distributed in Shennongjia Forestry District, Shiyan City and Enshi City, with a small portion found in the northeastern and southeastern parts of Hubei Province. (3) The 35 potential ecological corridors identified are mainly closed circular structures, presenting a distribution feature of "more in the east and less in the west". (4) Build an ecological security pattern with Jingmen City as the center, connecting Shiyan City, Shennongjia Forestry District, Xianyang City, Huanggang City and Suizhou City. The research put forward optimization suggestions in response to the specific problems existing in the ecological security pattern and the actual ecological conditions of Hubei Province. The research results can provide ideas and methods for the optimization of the ecological security pattern and the high-quality development of the ecosystem in Hubei Province, and at the same time offer reference value for the protection and optimization of ecosystems at other provincial levels.

Escalating anthropogenic pressures are profoundly transforming natural landscapes, resulting in significant declines in vegetation cover and rising habitat fragmentation. These disruptions, driven by increasing human activities such as mining, agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization, confine numerous species to fragmented and degraded environments. This study quantitatively assesses spatio-temporal changes in forest cover and fragmentation in the Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts of Odisha, India, from 2000 to 2024, employing landscape metrics based on Landsat TM and OLI satellite imagery. Our findings reveal a notable decline in forest coverage, which decreased from 30.69% in 2000 to 24.55% in 2024, while non-forest areas expanded from 69.31% to 75.45%. Fragmentation analysis indicates a significant deterioration in forest health, characterized by increasing edge effects and shrinking core habitats—both of which serve as indicators of substantial disturbances within forest ecosystems. Notably, while the number of forest patches increased by 18.6% (rising from 2736 to 3239), the total forest area continues to diminish. The Largest Patch Index (LPI) experienced a substantial reduction of 41.2%, declining from 7.37 to 4.33. Nearly 107654 ha of the core area were lost over 24 years, and the Core Area Percentage of Landscape (CPLAND) decreased from 25.1% to 19.1%. This trend suggests that larger, contiguous forest landscapes are fragmenting into smaller, isolated patches, which impedes wildlife movement and ecological processes. The analysis particularly highlights the Joda and Koida blocks, which are heavily impacted by mining activities and exhibit the most significant alterations in land use and land cover. Additionally, a trend analysis map generated using the Mann-Kendall test visually corroborates these findings, illustrating that the lowest values are concentrated in the most fragmented areas. It underscores the urgent need for stricter regulations governing anthropogenic activities. The implementation of effective forest conservation strategies aimed at preserving the ecological integrity of the region's forests is recommended to enhance the resilience and sustainability of these vital ecosystems.

Human society is facing many severe natural disasters due to rapid global warming. Recently, extreme weather and frequent droughts have significantly and negatively impacted urban rivers, and those impacts are difficult to effectively mitigate in the short run. Relying solely on the efforts of governments and environmental organizations is insufficient; therefore, the previously neglected bottom-up environmental behavioural approach is receiving increasing attention from scholars and policymakers. This study adds the three commonly used extension factors of environmental concern, environmental responsibility, and policy influence, and two new factors of disaster perception and influence, thereby extending the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to further explain the paths of influence on the environmental intentions and behaviours of residents. The newly constructed extended theoretical model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling on 709 participants from Wuhan. The results show that environmental awareness and policies significantly influence people's subjective norms, attitude toward behaviours, and perceived behavioural control, which indirectly affect their environmental protection intentions and behaviours. In addition, disaster perceptions and impact significantly influence people's environmental intentions and behaviours. These findings have several implications for the development and implementation of Yangtze River protection policies and programs by the Wuhan government and can serve as a foundation for similar environmental protection studies in the future.

Preserving the soil quality of the siltated back area in the lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin is the key to the sustainable ecological development of the Yellow River Basin. Soil quality has gradually become an important part of the ecological landscape construction, so the evaluation of soil quality in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is helpful for the rational utilization of soil resources, and can effectively guide the actual development and construction of the silt back area. After collecting the siltated soil under three different utilization modes in the Gaoqing County section of the lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin, 16 soil physical and chemical properties were used as evaluation indexes. The principal component analysis method was used to combine the correlations between the indexes, and the suitable soil indexes were selected to establish a minimum data set for comprehensively evaluating the soil quality of the silt back soil. The results show three key aspects of this system. (1) The minimum dataset for the quality evaluation of siltated soil in the siltation area of the lower reaches of the Yellow River comprised six indexes: capillary water holding capacity, available phosphorus, water content, water-stable macroaggregate content, available potassium and alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen. The soil quality index SQI-MDS was 0.421, the overall soil quality level was low, and the soil nutrient content was generally “nitrogen deficiency and potassium deficiency”. (2) The linear fitting R²=0.82737 between the full dataset and the minimum dataset indicated a positive correlation, so the minimum dataset can accurately evaluate the quality of the soil in the silt back area. (3) The soil quality index values of bare land, forest land and cultivated land were 0.321, 0.581 and 0.360, respectively, with the highest soil quality in forest land and the lowest soil quality in bare land. The findings of this paper can provide a theoretical basis and reference for the rational utilization and sustainable development of sedimentary soil in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Oxalic acid plays a crucial role in many soil processes, yet its spatial and temporal patterns in soil remain poorly understood. Most research on oxalic acid exuded from roots in the short-term rhizosphere involves exudate extraction or soil sampling followed by instrumental analysis, leaving significant uncertainties regarding how these exudates influence microbial activity in natural, intact soil systems. A novel approach—catalytic fluorescence imaging—was explored to detect in situ oxalic acid content in soil, combined with soil zymography to reveal the interplay between oxalic acid and acid phosphatase activity (ACPa). We observed a misalignment between zones of high oxalic acid content and hotspots of ACPa (i.e., areas of most intensive enzyme activity) in the rhizosphere. In different physiological zones around the root tip, the distribution of oxalic acid and its relationship with ACPa showed significant variation. In the root elongation zone, oxalic acid positively correlates with ACPa, suggesting that increased oxalic acid exudation stimulates microbial growth. Conversely, in the root cap and meristematic zone, oxalic acid decomposes up to 50 times faster than in bulk soil, accompanied by much higher ACPa. The protocols outlined in this study can be adapted for in situ studies of other organic acids (OAs) in soil. Our findings suggest that integrating non-destructive imaging techniques with multi-imaging approaches can significantly enhance our understanding of the interactions between biochemical processes in the rhizosphere.

Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is a promising new proxy for global carbon cycle monitoring. Although many studies consider SIF to be linearly correlated with gross primary production (GPP), the relationship between SIF and GPP is jointly influenced by instantaneous radiation, canopy structure, and plant physiological factors, and their complex interactions lead to intricate SIF-GPP dynamics. Current research on SIF and GPP in subtropical evergreen mixed forests remains limited, primarily due to the lack of observational data from forest flux sites. Based on observations from the Dabie Mountain subtropical evergreen forest flux station from 2023 to 2024, we investigated the relative contributions of the radiative, structural, and physiological components of SIF to the SIF-GPP relationship at different temporal scales. The results revealed that: (1) At both seasonal and diurnal scales, SIF effectively tracks the changes in GPP; (2) The radiative component of SIF dominates the SIF-GPP linear relationship, with canopy structural variations driving its seasonal-scale dynamics while physiological response mechanisms reduce the correlation at hourly scales; and (3) During the growing season, as the time scale increased from half-hourly to daily, the SIF-GPP correlation strengthened (R² rising from 0.36 to 0.44), while the radiative component contribution decreased slightly and the physiological component contribution weakened. Understanding the influences of these different factors on the SIF-GPP relationship can contribute to the development of more accurate models for GPP estimation using SIF.

Global climate extremes are increasingly acting as a key constraint on wheat development and yield. Dwarf breeding is an important strategy for coping with climate change that has been applied to breeding new wheat varieties with strong adaptability to adversity and high productivity. This study investigated the spatial variability of plant height and its correlations with climatic factors in wheat varieties selected from different regions of China, with a view to providing a scientific basis for breeding wheat with adversity adaptation. Using high-density planting and low-nutrient stress test methods, this study measured the plant heights of 229 wheat varieties from 31 cities in 13 provinces across China, and analyzed the correlations between the average annual air temperature, average annual precipitation, average monthly wind speed, average monthly sunshine hours and average annual air ventilation coefficient and the plant heights of wheat in combination with the meteorological data from the sources of the varieties. The average plant height of wheat in China was 54.88 cm, with Kunming having the highest average plant height of 69.67 cm, and Zhoukou in Henan having the lowest average plant height of 44.44 cm. A clustering analysis of plant heights allowed us to classify the wheat varieties into five different clusters, with the most representative regional clusters including the high-culm cluster represented by Kunming (Yunnan) and Nanyang (Henan), the medium-culm cluster represented by Xingtai (Hebei), and the short-culm cluster represented by Zhumadian (Henan). The climatic indicators could explain 56.25% of the wheat plant height difference characteristics of these three major groups in two ways. (1) The greater the wind speed or the better the air circulation in a region, the lower the plant height of the selected wheat varieties; and sunshine conditions in the region of selected wheat varieties were associated with a relatively high plant height. (2) The extreme deviation and coefficient of variation in the plant heights of wheat varieties selected from high temperature and high humidity areas were larger, while the coefficient of variation for plant heights of wheat varieties selected from better sunshine areas was smaller. This study clarifies the appropriate plant height types in different climatic regions, which provides a theoretical basis for the development of regionalized dwarfing breeding strategies and the selection and breeding of new wheat varieties with high lodging resistance and high yield that are adapted to specific climatic conditions. These issues are of great significance for ensuring high and stable wheat yields and food security in the context of climate change.

Four-horned antelope is a cryptic species endemic to Nepal and India. But having low density and with little national and global emphasis, very less importance is given in the study of the species and so, the species has very little scientific information virtually. This study signifies outset study of habitat suitability of four-horned antelope in Banke National Park. Vegetation analysis, habitat modelling by MaxEnt and threats assessment by Friedman test were done. The result from vegetation analysis showed that Shorea robusta, Bauhinia vahlii, and Imperata cylindrica were the most dominant tree, shrub, and grass species in the park with the highest IVI of 96.70, 84.06 and 94.16, respectively. Habitat suitability analysis showed that of the total area of 893 km² of the park, only 119.44 km² was highly suitable, 160.57 km² was moderately suitable, whereas the remaining 612.99 km² was less suitable habitat for FHA. Threats assessment indicated a lack of water resources to be the major threat to the species, with χ²=69.312 and P<0.001. The wildlife in the park had very little access to water, so the park management should focus on the construction and management of conservation ponds in drier areas.