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China's Three-North Protective Forest Program (TNP) is the world's most ambitious afforestation project (ongoing from 1978 to 2050), which aims to increase forest coverage through afforestation and reforestation, protect agriculture, reduce soil erosion, and control desertification. Although TNP has been ongoing for 45 years, its rationales and effects remain uncertain. Here, we conducted a range-wide assessment of TNP by analyzing data from >10,000 scenes of satellite images and >50,000 field survey plots. The TNP range and definitions of shelterbelts, arboreal forests, and shrublands were changed during the study period, but we used the initial TNP range (4.07 million km 2 ) and the definitions in 1978 for keeping the consistency, comparability, and comprehensiveness. The TNP increased forest coverage from 5.05% in 1978 to 9.69% in 2022, with arboreal forests, shrublands, and shelterbelts increasing by 42.5%, 184.4%, and 53.6%, respectively. However, only 40.1% of the 471,113 km 2 afforested area was established between 1978 and 2022. The well-established shelterbelts improved crop yield by 4.3%-9.5%, but only 10.2% of all the farmlands in TNP regions (TNR) were protected. The total area of soil erosion due to hydraulic forces was reduced by 447,363 km 2 , with 61% of this reduction attributed to TNP. TNP contributed to the reduction of desertification by 15%, largely due to the low rate of afforestation success and the largely decreased grasslands. The total carbon sequestration from TNP was 1.96 Pg C. Moreover, water storage in TNR showed a decreasing trend, but the contribution rate of TNP was only 7.8%. Our results illustrate that forestry eco-engineering projects are feasible in the management and restoration of arid and semi-arid degraded lands, but attention must be paid to fully considering the ecological carrying capacity of water resources, matching the species to sites, strengthening the post-afforestation management, as well as keeping the balances between composite ecosystems., Competing Interests: Compliance and ethics. The authors declare that they have no conflict of Interest., (© 2024. Science China Press.)

Evaluating the dynamic co-evolution and feedback mechanisms within socio-ecological systems is crucial for determining the resilience and sustainability of environmental governance strategies. The grass-livestock system, as a complex entity encompassing livestock nutrition, foraging behavior, vegetation ecology, pastoralists' economic income, and policy interventions, indicates that any change in a single element may trigger a chain reaction within the system. This paper uses a system dynamics approach to construct a simulation model of the grass-livestock system in alpine pastoral areas, simulating the long-term dynamic co-evolution of the socio-ecological system in the Qilian Mountains region of China. Four optimization schemes were proposed, and the synergistic development of the grass-livestock system in alpine pastoral areas under each scheme was simulated. The results show that, under the premise of sustainable use of grazing-based artificial grassland, the combination of reasonable use of fenced grasslands and cooperative management by pastoralists can effectively control livestock numbers, ensure pastoralists' income, and maintain grassland quality within the next 20 years, thereby achieving coordinated socio-economic and ecological development. Additionally, optimizing feed supply can significantly improve grass production, livestock weight, and income. Therefore, it is recommended that alpine pastoral areas prioritize both grassland ecological management and development, adopt grassland restoration technologies, strengthen the management of artificial grasslands, set reasonable grazing bans, develop pastoralist cooperative organizations and design internal operational mechanisms., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Cai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Land use changes alter the capacity for the stable provisioning of regional ecosystem services, and the rational integration of ecological and economic benefits has become a critical challenge. The values of 11 specific ecosystem service functions and ecosystem service trade-off degrees were estimated. The Pearson correlation coefficient method and spatial autocorrelation were then utilized to investigate the relationship between these variables. The results showed that (1) the value of ecosystem services in Liaoning province increased by a total of 18.08 billion over the last two decades. The contribution of both water bodies and forest land accounted for more than 80% of this growth. Additionally, hydrological and climate regulation emerged as the most important ecosystem service functions. (2) In comparison to the natural development scenario, the tradeoffs in the economic development scenario were somewhat stronger, while the degree and direction of the interactions in the ecological protection scenario were altered, and synergistic relationships were reinforced. (3) 'High-high' aggregation primarily occurred between regulating services, provisioning services, and other ecosystem services, while 'low-low' aggregation occurred between provisioning services and other ecosystem services. These findings provide a scientific framework for Liaoning province to effectively integrate economic development and ecological protection., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

As the pace of enterprise digital transformation accelerates, intellectual capital (IC) has become a core driving force of gaining market competitive advantages and enhancing value creation capabilities. The paper aims to investigate the impact of IC and its components on financial performance of Chinese ecological protection and environmental governance companies during 2018-2021. In addition, the moderating effect of digital transformation between them is examined. IC is measured by the modified value added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model, and the measurement of digital transformation is based on text mining. The results suggest that IC can improve firm financial performance, especially during COVID-19. Physical capital, human capital (HC), and relational capital (RC) positively affect financial performance, while structural and innovation capitals have no significant impact. In addition, digital transformation strengthens the positive relationship between IC and its two elements (HC and RC) and financial performance. Heterogeneous analysis finds that the relationship between RC and innovation capital and financial performance is positive before COVID-19, and it is not significant during COVID-19. For highly leveraged companies, structural capital negatively affects financial performance, and RC has a positive impact. These impacts are not significant for low leveraged companies. This paper provides some new insights for managers who seek new ways to improve firm performance in the process of digital transformation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Yin, Xu. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Influenced by urban expansion, population growth, and various socio-economic activities, land use in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) area has undergone prominent changes. Modifications in land use have resulted in adjustments to ecological structures, leading to subsequent fluctuations in carbon storage. This study focuses on YRD region and analyzes the characteristics of land use changes in the area using land use data from 2000 to 2020, with a 10-year interval. Utilizing InVEST Model's Carbon Storage module in combination with PLUS model (patch-generating land use simulation), we simulated and projected future land use patterns and carbon storage across YRD region under five scenarios including natural development (ND), urban development (UD), ecological protection (EP), cropland protection (CP), and balanced development (BD). Upon comparing carbon storage levels predicted for 2030 under the five scenarios with those in 2020, carbon stocks decrease in the initial four scenarios and then increase in the fifth scenario. In the initial four declining scenarios, CP scenario had the least reduction in carbon storage, followed by EP scenario. The implementation of policies aimed at safeguarding cropland and preserving ecological integrity can efficaciously curtail the expansion of developed land into woodland and cropland, enhance the structure of land use, and mitigate the loss of carbon storage., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Zhou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In recent decades, the escalating frequency of environmental risk events, arising from sources such as industrial accidents, chemical spills, or other anthropogenic activities, has intensified threats to the ecological environment. The targeted identification of high-risk areas, formulation of control lists for key risk sources within regions, and the implementation of differentiated management strategies remain significant challenges. This study employed an administrative region environmental risk assessment and gridded environmental risk analysis method to comprehensively evaluate the environmental risks in the city of Kunming, China. The results indicated a fourfold increase in the number of environmental risk sources from 2012 to 2022. The sources were found to be widely distributed across the entire region but exhibited localized clustering. The environmental risk receptors were primarily concentrated around a local lake, in densely populated counties, and near rivers and drinking water sources. Risk hotspot areas within the target region were identified using the gridded environmental risk analysis method. A list of 29 key control areas was proposed, including nine industrial parks and 20 streets. Measures were proposed for handling unexpected incidents. The findings provide data useful for policy formulation and environmental management in similar regions of mountainous cities.

The study of land cover dynamics and the valuation of ecosystem services in coastal cities is pivotal for guiding sustainable urban development and conserving natural resources amidst the unique challenges posed by their geographical and ecological contexts. This study utilizes a 30 m × 30 m land use/cover change (LUCC) dataset to elucidate the spatiotemporal evolution of LUCC and ecosystem service value (ESV) and the trade-offs and synergistic relationships among ecosystem services in the coastal city of Qingdao under three different scenarios over the past 35 years and in the future based on the dual perspective of the past-future by using the equivalent factor approach (EFA), the PLUS model, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The findings reveal a pronounced expansion in built-up areas in Qingdao from 1985 to 2020, with a concomitant significant reduction in cropland, leading to a fluctuation in the total ESV, which initially increased and then declined. This indicates the intense pressure Qingdao faces in terms of agricultural development and ecological conservation. By 2030, under scenarios of natural development, cropland protection, and ecological protection, Qingdao is projected to experience varied degrees of ESV decline, amounting to 1.989 billion, 0.803 billion, and 0.142 billion yuan respectively, with the natural development scenario showing a rapid decrease in ESV around the Jiaozhou Bay area. The spatial ESV patterns under the cropland protection and ecological protection scenarios remain largely consistent with those of 2020, as does the spatial configuration of land use across all scenarios. The ecological protection scenario, demonstrating the least reduction in ESV, emerges as the optimal strategy for balancing urban development with ecological sustainability, advocating it as the preferred pathway for Qingdao's future urban planning. Over the past 35 years, Qingdao's ecosystem services have primarily exhibited synergies, although significant trade-offs remain between agricultural expansion and water supply. Additionally, there are some trade-offs between gas regulation and nutrient cycling with water supply. Under different scenarios for 2030, while the trade-off between agricultural output and water resource conservation persists, the ecological protection scenario significantly enhances synergies among all service categories. This study provides an EFA-PLUS-ESV framework that offers innovations for modeling future ecosystem service values and their trade-offs and synergistic relationships., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interest: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Saussurea medusa is a rare alpine plant with significant medicinal value. To better understand the changes in its habitat in the context of climate change, this study used an optimized MaxEnt model to predict the current and future habitat of S. medusa under four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) across three time periods (current, mid-century, and end-century) based on three climate system models. The results showed that the suitable habitat of S. medusa is mainly located in the southern and eastern parts of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QXP), exhibiting a fragmented distribution pattern. The future suitable area of S. medusa is projected to decrease significantly by 42.5% to 96.7%, accompanied by a southward shift in its centroid and an upward shift in altitude. The study found that the highest temperature in the warmest month is the most important environmental factor affecting the distribution of S. medusa. This species is highly sensitive to climate change and requires urgent protection measures. Priority should focus on strengthening habitat protection in the southeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, where some stable habitats remain outside protected areas. Expanding population monitoring, promoting ex-situ conservation, enhancing public education, and encouraging community involvement are essential. Additionally, as a medicinal plant, alternative strategies are needed to curb overharvesting of wild resources., Competing Interests: Declarations: All authors have read, understood, and have complied as applicable with the statement on “Ethical responsibilities of Authors” as found in the Instructions for Authors. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The preservation of Chinese traditional villages plays a crucial role in promoting the sustainable development of rural natural, cultural, and ecological environments. It is also a key strategy for achieving rural revitalization. Current research on traditional villages predominantly focuses on the realm of cultural landscapes, with an emphasis on preserving the cultural ecological value of these communities. In comparison, discussions on the quality of the ecological environment of villages from the perspectives of natural environment, economic environment, and the social organizational environment within regional development are relatively scarce. Our study employed GIS and RS technology and refers to the Technical Criterion for Ecosystem Status Evaluation. Several sub-indices of the ecological environment status, including the biological richness index, vegetation coverage index, water network density index, and land stress index, were selected to construct an ecological environment assessment model. This model was used to analyze the spatial-temporal changes in the ecological environment status of each county, county-level city, and traditional village within the jurisdiction of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and its surrounding areas from 2010 to 2020. The study quantitatively evaluated the ecological environment status of each county, county-level city, and village in Enshi before and after the implementation of traditional village preservation policies. Through comparative analysis, the study revealed the impact of these policies on the natural ecological environment of the study area. The results indicated the following: (1) From 2010 to 2020, the ecological index (EI) values in the villages of Enshi Prefecture exhibited a similar trend to the EI values in the respective counties and county-level cities they are located in, although significant differences in magnitude of change were observed. (2) The EI values in the counties, county-level cities, and villages demonstrated greater variation in the latter five years of the decade (2015-2020) compared to the previous five years (2010-2015). (3) In 2020, the EI value of the villages experienced more significant changes compared to 2010, whereas the overall EI value of the counties and county-level cities showed less pronounced changes. The findings of this study suggest that the traditional village preservation policies implemented in Enshi Prefecture have both positive and negative impacts on the ecological environment of the surrounding areas of protected villages, and these impacts become increasingly evident over time. By comparing and analyzing the ecological changes in the surrounding areas of traditional villages in Enshi Prefecture with the overall ecological changes in the respective counties and county-level cities, our study employs quantitative analytical methods to delve into the impact of traditional village conservation policies on the natural ecological environment. It assesses the effects of policy implementation on the natural ecological environment of traditional villages, analyzing both the positive and negative impacts brought about by the execution of these policies, with the aim of effectively guiding the natural ecological conditions of traditional villages towards a more healthy trajectory of development., Competing Interests: Declarations. Consent to publish: All authors agreed to publish this article. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Habitat requirements and species' ecological suitability are essential conditions for species conservation and management. Under the influence of different environmental variables, assessing the habitat quality of medicinal plants is an important issue to ensure the quality of medicinal plants and protect biodiversity. This study explores the impact of environmental variables on the distribution of Astragalus mongholicus Bunge (A. bunge) and the content of effective secondary metabolites (SMs). Combining the Biomod2 model, we constructed a Comprehensive Geospatial Quality Model (CGQM) for A. bunge under current environmental conditions, obtaining a high-quality comprehensive suitable area for A. bunge. The results indicate that the area of the comprehensive high-suitable zone is 4.53 × 10 5 km 2 , accounting for 21.91% of the suitable area for A. bunge. It is mainly distributed in the eastern and western parts of Shanxi, the northwest of Shaanxi, the southern part of Ningxia, the southeast of Gansu, the northern part of Hebei, the eastern part of Beijing, the northeastern part of Jilin, the central and southern parts of Inner Mongolia, and a very small part of Xinjiang., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Data availability: Data is provided within the supplementary information files., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Masson pine ( Pinus massoniana Lamb.) and Chinese fir ( Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.) are important coniferous species commonly found in southern China and play crucial ecological and economic roles. Understanding how regionally variable conditions influence their growth patterns can support effective forest management strategies and conservation efforts. Here, we used the Richards growth equation to comprehensively analyze their volumetric growth processes through multiple diverse regions in southern China, representing a pioneering large-scale application of unified modeling techniques. This work provides theoretical and technical knowledge to support the sustainable stewardship of these vital forest ecosystems. We found that: (1) The highest per-hectare volume accumulation occurs in southwestern China, at 97.455 m 3  hm -2 for P. massoniana and 85.288 m 3  hm -2 for C. lanceolata . These values are higher than in the southeastern (71.424 m 3  hm -2 and 79.520 m 3  hm -2 , respectively) or south-central regions (70.697 m 3  hm -2 and 65.647 m 3  hm -2 ), predominantly due to varying stand maturity across these regions. (2) Both species exhibit age-dependent growth patterns in the first 100 years of forest development, characterized by rapid early growth and transitioning into slower, stable phases. The highest total volume growth for P. massoniana occurred in the southwest, followed by the southeast and south-central regions. Conversely, C. lanceolata growth is highest in the southeast, followed by south-central and the southwest. (3) Quantitative maturity for P. massoniana ranges from 27 to 29 years (average: 30 years) whereas C. lanceolata matures earlier, between 16 to 19 years (average: 20 years). Climate and soil factors significantly influence their growth dynamics, with precipitation, temperature variation, and soil characteristics driving differences in suitability and growth potential across distinct regions in southern China. Tailored management practices that align with local climatic and environmental conditions are recommended to optimize growth and ensure sustainable management and development of P. massoniana and C. lanceolata forests., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2025 Chen and Chai.)

Scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of ecological restoration could provide support for sustainable management and protection of wetlands. However, due to the multiple and difficult to quantify factors affecting wetlands, commonly used spatiotemporal evaluation methods were difficult to scientifically reflect the actual effectiveness of ecological restoration. This paper took Tianjin Qilihai Wetland, a representative wetland in northern China, as the research object. Two representative time points, 2017 (before the start of the 2-year restoration project) and 2023 (4 years after the completion of the restoration project), were selected to construct a three-level monitoring and evaluation index system containing eight specific indicators from three aspects-water environment, biological community, and landscape topography. And then, a model based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was developed to systematically evaluate the ecological restoration effect. The evaluation results showed that after implementing a series of measures, the comprehensive evaluation index of wetland ecological environment increased by 37.68%. In addition, it was also found that compared to the water environment, the restoration of the ecosystem had a certain lag. It was recommended to further strengthen the follow-up and continuous monitoring and evaluation, as well as the monitoring and control of the stability of external water source quality. The method and model adopted in this paper further improved the theoretical and methodological system for evaluating the effectiveness of wetland ecological restoration., Competing Interests: Declarations. All authors have read, understood, and have complied as applicable with the statement on "Ethical responsibilities of Authors" as found in the Instructions for Authors. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The scientific establishment of the Ecological Security Pattern (ESP) is crucial for fostering the synergistic development of ecological and recreational functions, thereby enhancing urban ecological protection, recreational development, and sustainable growth. This study aimed to propose a novel method of constructing ESP considering both ecological and recreational functions, and to reconstruct ESP by weighing the relationship between ecological protection and recreational development. Utilizing Fuzhou City as a case study, a comprehensive application of methodologies including Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA), landscape connectivity analysis, ArcGIS spatial analysis, social network analysis (SNA), and circuit theory is employed to develop both the ESP and the Recreational Spatial Pattern (RSP). A trade-off matrix is created to facilitate the reconstruction of the ESP, delineate functional zones, and identify strategic points, followed by a thorough optimization and development strategy. The analysis revealed 36 ecological source areas (ESAs) within Fuzhou City, encompassing a total area of 5807.90 km², predominantly situated in the western and northern regions. Additionally, 98 ecological corridors (ECs) were identified, extending over 2500.55 km, alongside 100 ecological pinch points (EPPs) and 146 ecological barrier points (EBPs). The city also contains 57 recreational nodes (RNs),, which display a spatial distribution characterized by a "dense in the east, sparse in the west" pattern. Furthermore, 165 recreational corridors (RCs) were extracted, covering a distance of 3795.21 km. Based on the trade-off matrix, Fuzhou City was categorized into eight functional zones: ecological core zone, ecological important zone, eco-recreation key trade-off zone, eco-recreation secondary trade-off zone, recreational core zone, recreational important zone, recreational development zone, and elastic development zone.The study identified 95 key strategic points and 475 sub-strategic. A multifunctional and complex ESP was constructed, characterized by "one core, five districts, six corridors, and seven wedges", and a tailored ecological and recreational planning and development strategy for Fuzhou City was proposed. This research contributes a theoretical framework for the construction and optimization of a multifunctional ESP and supports the coordinated high-quality development of ecological protection and recreational activities in urban environments., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Arabica coffee, as one of the world's three native coffee species, requires rational planning for its growing areas to ensure ecological and sustainable agricultural development. This study aims to establish a decision-making framework using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), with a focus on assessing the habitat suitability of Arabica coffee in Yunnan Province, China. The impacts of climate, topography, soil, and socio-economic factors were considered by selecting 13 criteria through correlation analysis. Indicator weights were determined using the Best-Worst Method (BWM), while weighted processing was conducted using the Base-Criterion Method (BCM). Sensitivity analysis was performed to verify the accuracy and stability of the model. Additionally, several decision models were evaluated to investigate regionalizing Arabica coffee habitats in Yunnan. The results highlighted that minimum temperature during the coldest month is crucial for evaluation purposes. The BWM-GIS model identified suitable areas comprising 13.55% of the total area as most suitable, 27.46% as suitable, and 59.00% as unsuitable, whereas corresponding values for the BCM-GIS model were 9.97%, 30.43%, and 59.59%. Despite employing different decision-making methods, both models yielded similar and consistent results. The suitable areas mainly encompass Dehong, Pu'er, Lincang, Xishuangbanna, Baoshan, southern Chuxiong, eastern Honghe, southern Yuxi, and parts of Wenshan. BWM-GIS achieved an area under curve (AUC) value of 0.891, while BCM-GIS obtained an AUC value of 0.890, indicating the stability and reliability of the models. Among them, the evaluation process of BCM-GIS was simpler and more realistic. Therefore, it has high feasibility and practical value in practical application. The findings from this study provide a significant scientific foundation for optimizing Yunnan Province., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Protected areas are refugia for wildlife and play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, especially in the restoration of rare and endangered species. However, little attention has been paid to the long-term contribution of protected areas to rare species population rejuvenation. To identify the population growth of milu deer (Elaphurus davidianus)in protected areas and unprotected areas, we fitted the population dynamics curve of reintroduced free-ranging and wild populations based on long-term monitoring data in four protected areas: Jiangsu Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve, Hubei Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve, Hunan East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve, and Jiangxi Poyang Lake area. We also examined population dynamics in two unprotected areas: Yangbotan wetland and Sanheyuan wetland in Shishou County, Hubei province. We analyzed the habitat characteristics (coastal marshy wetland, riverine wetlands, and lake wetlands)in all these areas. The results showed that: (1) population growth in Dafeng, Shishou, Dongting, Sanheyuan and Yangbotan all followed an S-curve (p < 0.001); while population growth around Poyang Lake was linear (p < 0.001); (2) the population growth rate of Yangbotan wetland was significantly higher than that of Dongting Nature Reserve (p < 0.05); and (3) the two unprotected areas, Yangbotan and Sanheyuan wetlands, are important for the conservation of milu, as they have been facing the threats of urbanization and fragmentation in recent years. Our studies indicate that long-term conservation in protected areas has played an irreplaceable role in the reconstruction and rejuvenation of wild populations of milu deer over the past 30 years, and multiple reintroductions are an effective way to quickly restore wild milu populations in China., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Global ecosystem services (ESs) are experiencing a significant decline, necessitating the development of robust environmental governance policies. To address the lack of integrated planning with heavy industry as the research object and a lack of knowledge of ES trade-offs and synergies in China's ecological and environmental governance. In this study, the spatial and temporal variations of four ESs (water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), carbon storage (CS), and habitat quality (HQ)) were determined in the study area of Liaoning Province. Explore the mechanisms that shape ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies and the factors that influence them. Spearman's correlation and difference analyses were proposed to determine the spatial and temporal distributions of trade-offs and synergistic relationships among ESs. In addition, we constructed a multiscale geo-weighted regression (MGWR) model to investigate driver spatial heterogeneity affecting trade-offs and synergies. The results revealed that (1) In the study area, ESs were on the rise in Liaoning Province. (2) Temporally, ESs were overwhelmingly dominated by synergies; at the spatial scale, ESs were dominated by trade-offs of varying degrees, with the area of synergy between WY and SC being the highest. (3) ESs demonstrated spatial heterogeneity in intensity and were more impacted by natural factors such as vegetation cover, elevation, and precipitation than by characteristics related to human activity. This study helps improve understanding of the interactions and dependencies among ESs and can provide a reference for ecological governance and improvements in Liaoning Province., Competing Interests: Compliance with Ethical Standards. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Limiting adverse consequences of mining activities requires ecosystem restoration efforts, whose arrangement around mining areas is poorly designed. It is unclear, however, where best to locate ecological projects to enhance ecosystem services cost-effectively. To answer this question, we conducted an optimized ecological restoration project planning by the Resource Investment Optimization System (RIOS) model to identify the restoration priority areas in the Pingshuo Opencast Coal Mine region in Shanxi Province. This region features notable mining activity, agricultural land use, and urban development. We found that the land use changes were primarily influenced by human activities such as mining and urbanization, as well as ecological interventions from 1986 to 2022, during which the area of industrial and construction land continuously expanded. The RIOS model was configured using input data such as land use, digital elevation models (DEM), and biophysical coefficients. Ecological restoration objectives were selected, including Erosion Control for Drinking Water Quality, Erosion Control for Reservoir Maintenance, Nutrient Retention, and Baseflow. Investment optimization scenario simulations revealed that over 90% of ecological projects in the Pingshuo Opencast Coal Mine are distributed in the low-slope areas (0°-15°). Four types of technical reclamation and ecological restoration projects, i.e., agroforestry, grass strips, riparian management, and terracing, exhibit strong preferences for specific locations. Riparian management and agroforestry tend to be distributed on soil dumps; terracing and grass strips tend to be distributed in the upstream agricultural areas of rivers and junctions of watershed gullies and slopes. The model prioritized areas based on ecological restoration goals and stakeholder interests, optimizing locations that would maximize ecological benefits while addressing the objectives. Moreover, depending on the different goals of ecological restoration in the mining area, investment plans that maximize benefits for stakeholders should range between 3 and 6 million dollars. While the restoration strategies in this study were designed for the Pingshuo region, they hold potential for other mining areas with similar biophysical conditions, surrounding ecosystems, and mining scales. The RIOS model adjusts its recommendations based on specific input data, making it adaptable and broadly applicable to other mining area. The results of this study positively contribute to alleviating the conflict between ecosystem protection and socioeconomic development in mining areas, scientifically regulating ecological restoration activities, and enhancing ecosystem services. Our results provide evidence that ecological restoration interventions contribute measurably to restore the degraded ecosystems in the mining areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Ecosystem health is an important approach to measuring urban and regional sustainability. In previous studies, the spatiotemporal changes of ecosystem health have been addressed using comprehensive assessment index system. However, the quantitative contribution of human activities and climate change to ecosystem health was less examined. In this study, Shuozhou City, a coal resource-based city, was chosen to explore the response of ecosystem health to human activities using the Geographically Weighted Artificial Neural Network (GWANN) model. The results showed a distinct improvement of ecosystem health in Shuozhou City from 1990 to 2020. The contribution of human activities increased during the study period, while the contribution of climate change decreased as a consequence of coal mining expanding. By 2020, human activities contributed 76% to ecosystem health compared with 24% of climate change. The direct impact of coal mining on ecosystem health occurred mainly in the surrounding areas within a radius of 6 km and 17 km under low and high mining intensity respectively. Ecosystem health will further decline by 2030 based on the scenario in which current coal mining is continued. However, only stopping mining activities in small coal mining areas for ecological restoration but keeping large coal mining areas in production, will realize 92.6% of restoration effects on ecosystem health as compared to ceasing all mining activities. This study examines the effects of coal mining on ecosystem health in resource-based cities, and underscores the importance of large coal mining sites in ecological restoration., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Regreening efforts in deserts have been implemented globally to combat land degradation and desert expansion, but how they affect above- and belowground community succession and assembly processes remains unknown. Here, we examined variations in plant and soil microbial community attributes along a 53-year restoration chronosequence following the establishment of straw checkerboard barriers (SCBs) in the Tengger Desert of China. This approach is a combination of fixing shifting sand and adding organic material (straw) simultaneously to expedite vegetation restoration by enhancing the success of plant establishment. Our findings revealed that the establishment of SCBs significantly triggered plant and soil microbial communities to gradually approximate those of the natural community along restoration duration. We observed positive and negative bidirectional shifts in plant and soil microbial community composition. Critical temporal threshold zones for relatively rapid changes in community composition were identified, with 2-15.5 years for plants, 0.5-8.5 years for bacteria, and 2-8.5 years for fungi. This suggests a delayed response of plant communities to restoration efforts compared with soil microbial communities. Both stochastic and deterministic processes regulated plant and soil microbial community assembly. Stochastic processes played a more important role in plant and fungal community succession, whereas deterministic processes primarily governed bacterial succession. In terms of deterministic processes, temporal variations in community composition mainly resulted from the intrinsic correlations among plant, bacterial, and fungal communities, as well as an increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) with restoration duration. Thus, temporal patterns and functional contributions of bacterial communities appear to be more predictable than those of plant and fungal communities during desert ecosystem restoration. This study emphasizes that plant-bacteria-fungi correlations and increasing SOC content are critical for accelerating community succession and promoting dryland restoration. Future studies should explore and integrate temporal variations and restoration effects of multiple ecosystem functions to better predict dryland development and resilience to global climate changes over a large temporal scale., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Livestock farming system (LFS) is an important pillar of the agri-food system. With global environmental problems severer, exploring how to improve the eco-environment of LFS through institutional change is receiving increasingly concern. Based on macro and micro data from Inner Mongolia, this study examines the impacts of land titling on the eco-environment of LFS, explores the potential mechanisms, and analyzes the heterogeneity in terms of farm size by applying GIS spatial analysis and time-varying difference-in-difference (TV-DID) model. Main results showed that overall land titling significantly improved the eco-environment represented by GVC. (1) The GIS spatial analysis indicated that land titling considerably increased GVC. The TV-DID model results further verified that land titling increased the GVC by 0.306 grade, and increased vegetation height by 1.27 cm on average; (2) The effects varied across farm sizes, with the GVC increased by 0.745 grade on farms larger than 373 ha and 0.230 grade otherwise; (3) The effects were mainly induced by the enhancement of farmers' attitudes, management capacities and land use behaviors after land titling. These three effects indicate the net effect, scale effect and security effect of land titling on the eco-environment of LFS, respectively. The study highlights that appropriate institutions are conducive to the sustainable management of livestock farming system, and beneficial for the natural resource-based poor worldwide., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

To offer a foundational science for the land spatial planning of Beijing Tianjin sandstorm source area, the remote sensing images of Duolun County in Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2020 were used to obtain the spatial information of production, living and ecological space(PLES). In order to construct the index system of the carrying capacity of the PLES, 24 indicators were chosen from the perspectives of ecological space, living space, and production space. AHP method, TOPSIS Model with entropy combination weight, coupling coordination model and obstacle degree model are used to analyze the coupling coordination scheduling and obstacle degree of the PLES carrying capacity. The findings exhibited that (1) the distribution area of ecological space and production space decreased, while the living space area increased slightly; (2) The carrying capacity of production space showed a weak growth trend, the carrying capacity of production space, living space and the PLES space showed a weak downward trend; (3) The coupling degree and coupling coordination degree between two spaces show a slow downward trend; (4) The obstacle degree of the carrying capacity of production space and living space has increased, while the carrying capacity of ecological space is decreasing. Livestock carrying capacity is the most important obstacle restricting the carrying capacity of production space. The scale of construction land has the greatest obstacle to the carrying capacity of living space, the degree of desertification has the greatest obstacle to the carrying capacity of ecological space, and soil organic matter has the greatest obstacle to the comprehensive carrying capacity of the PLES., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 ruhan, Liu. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Vernacular architecture, optimized over centuries to create comfortable thermal environments using sustainable design strategies and local materials, can offer valuable insights for contemporary eco-friendly architectural design. This research investigates the sustainable design strategies of vernacular architecture in southwest Hubei, focusing on the First Granary of Xuan'en County as a representative case study. Through field investigations of indoor environments, this study explores how traditional architectural practices have addressed the region's complex mountainous terrain and hot, humid climate. Major sustainable design strategies include rational site selection and layout adapted to the terrain, building forms and spatial organizations tailored to the environmental conditions, and the use of a "double-skin" envelope structure to enhance thermal insulation and ventilation. The results demonstrate that the average temperature of the grain depot does not exceed 25°C without active means, meeting the quasi-low temperature storage standard. Through comprehensive field research and analysis, this study demonstrates how these traditional design strategies not only improve indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency but also align with local economic levels and modern living requirements. By leveraging passive design techniques rooted in local cultural and environmental contexts, this research provides a framework for integrating these strategies into contemporary sustainable architecture., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Xu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Green development is related to the long-term sustainable development of enterprises, but there is little literature on the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) investment on green development of enterprises. To fill this gap, based on the sample of A-share high-polluting industry enterprises in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2007 to 2019, this paper uses the dynamic panel threshold model to deeply study the non-linear impact of ICT investment on green development. This paper found that: (1) there is a threshold effect on the impact of ICT investment on green development of enterprises in high-polluting industries, and when ICT investment breaks through the threshold value, it can promote green development. This conclusion remains robust after the estimation of Multi-period DID model and instrumental variable; (2) ICT investment mainly promotes green development of enterprises by improving production efficiency and promoting green technology innovation; (3) ICT investment has a significant impact on green development of enterprises with higher management level, heavy industrial enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises, but has no significant impact on green development of enterprises with lower management level, light industrial enterprises and state-owned enterprises. And digital technology investment has a stronger role in promoting green development than traditional ICT investment. This paper proposes that enterprises in high-pollution industries can increase ICT investment to promote green development., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Li. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Rational utilization of natural resources is crucial in arid and semi-arid areas due to their vulnerable ecosystems and low resource resilience. Achieving a balance between grassland production and livestock grazing, known as the pasture-livestock balance, is essential for the sustainable development of grassland resources on the Mongolian Plateau (MP). This study focuses on the grassland regions of 8 provinces in eastern Mongolia (MNG) and 7 leagues in Inner Mongolia (IMNG), China, during the period from 2018 to 2022. Machine learning methods were employed for land cover classification and above-ground biomass (AGB) estimation. The grassland carrying capacity was assessed using the grassland carrying capacity index (GCC). The results indicate that: (1) The grassland classification accuracy on the MP exceeds 95%, with grassland area accounting for approximately 47% of the total.(2)The AGB of the grasslands exhibits a clear spatial heterogeneity, increasing from southwest to northeast. Additionally, nearly 80% of the grassland productivity is of high quality, reaching up to 250 g/m 2 .(3) Between 2018 and 2022, the MP exhibited a relatively high grassland carrying capacity, with an average of 1.8 SU/ha. However, the overall grassland carrying condition has gradually deteriorated, primarily due to factors such as grassland fires and an increase in livestock numbers. Based on the varying degrees of grassland degradation, different policy recommendations have been proposed. This study approach, findings and policy suggestions are significant for the development of livestock farming and grassland management on the MP., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Vegetation restoration can be effective in containing gully head advance. However, the effect of vegetation restoration type on soil aggregate stability and erosion resistance at the head of the gully is unclear. In this study, five types of vegetation restoration-Pinus tabulaeformis (PT), Prunus sibirica (PS), Caragana korshinskii (CKS), Hippophae rhamnoides (HR), and natural grassland (NG, the dominant species is Leymus chinensis)-in the gully head were studied. Soil aggregate composition and nutrient contents in the 0-20, 20-40, and 40-60 cm soil layers were also determined, and the soil stability parameters were used to evaluate the soil conditions. The soil erodibility (K) was then determined by measuring the granulometric composition and organic matter. The results showed that the particle size of soil aggregates under different vegetation restoration types was mainly < 0.25 mm, and the percentage of aggregate disruption (PAD) was 22.08-76.07%. This further indicated that in Loess hilly and gully regions, water-stable aggregates were more reflective of the stability of soil aggregates in a gully head under vegetation restoration. The > 0.25 mm aggregates (R > 0.25 mm ), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and mean weight diameter (MWD) values of the three soil layers were the highest in PT and the lowest in NG, while the opposite was true for fractal dimension (D) and the percentage of aggregate disruption (PAD). The K ranged from 0.052 to 0.065 t·hm 2 ·h·MJ - 1 mm - 1 ·hm - 2 . GMD can be used to characterize the anti-erosion ability of soil, and increasing the soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and clay content can effectively reduce soil erodibility. The comprehensive analysis indicated that the soil aggregates of arbors planted in the gully head had the highest stability and anti-erodibility, followed by shrubs and grasslands, and can be used to evaluate vegetation restoration measures in gully heads., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Sustainable development is a hot topic of global concern and sustainable human settlements (HS) are crucial to people's happiness. Thus, strengthening the construction of HS will help enrich human settlements geography with theories of HS interactions, clarify the existing problems of the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration (CC), promote the harmonization of the human-land relationship, and realize the SDGs. The results were as follows. (1) the quality of HS exhibited an upward trend with diminishing disparities in PLE functions. (2) A spatial layout featuring the high quality of HS in the east and west and low quality in the central areas was identified, with Chengdu and Chongqing serving as two high-value core areas. (3) The evolution of the quality of HS levels to achieve a leapfrog shift was challenging and the spatial spillover effect and phenomenon of "club convergence" were evident. (4) Living function was a primary obstacle at the criterion layer and indicators within production function became major obstacle factors at the element layer. These findings have enriched the research scope of human settlements geography from the scale of urban agglomerations, and provided scientific decisions for the SDGs., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

As environmental issues become more acute, green innovation has become a key driver in advancing environmental sustainability and a comprehensive green transition, paving the way towards a future of 'clear waters and blue skies' and enhanced environmental quality. In this vein, financial support is deemed an important facilitator of green innovation. Nonetheless, traditional financial institutions often restrict investment in such projects due to biases surrounding the returns of green projects and difficulties in risk assessment. The rise of digital inclusive finance offers new insights into addressing this challenge. Drawing on data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2014 and 2019 and employing a multidimensional fixed-effect model, this paper systematically investigates the impact and mechanisms of action of digital inclusive finance on corporate green innovation. The study finds that digital inclusive finance significantly spurs green innovation within enterprises; this finding remains robust following a series of robustness checks and the addressing of endogeneity concerns. The facilitative effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises and areas with stricter environmental regulations. Digital inclusive finance supports green innovation mainly through two pathways: 'funding effects,' related to easing financing constraints and reducing transaction costs, and 'responsibility effects,' pertaining to the enhancement of corporate social responsibility. Additionally, green innovation driven by digital inclusive finance further improves the quality of the ecological environment, leading to increased total factor productivity and overall corporate performance. This paper enriches the externalities research of digital inclusive finance, providing theoretical foundations and practical insights to foster the synergistic development of digital inclusive finance and green innovation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

To achieve a more precise delineation of ecosystem sensitivity control areas, this study examines the Mentougou District in Beijing and introduces the Ecosystem Sensitivity Control Area Classification Method (ESCACM). This novel approach combines single-factor sensitivity analysis, multi-factor comprehensive sensitivity assessments, and strategies for zoning based on various ecological scenarios. The study categorizes the region into three specific zones: first-level management and control areas, second-level management and control areas, and non-management and control areas. The key findings are: (1) By systematically categorizing relevant factors, the method creates independent, non-overlapping groups, effectively reducing dimensionality. (2) After conducting a comprehensive sensitivity assessment using multiple factors, scientifically quantified values are assigned to each zone. These values are processed through mathematical overlay algorithms, which generate composite results with different sensitivity levels. This method places a strong emphasis on quantitative analysis, thereby enhancing the objectivity and precision of the results. (3) The use of multi-scenario ecosystem sensitivity zoning strategies enhances the adaptability and flexibility of the zoning process. This method significantly improves the accuracy and scientific credibility of ecosystem sensitivity zoning, providing a versatile approach to meet the varied zoning needs of different regions. This model serves as a valuable framework for promoting ecological protection efforts in support of sustainable urban development objectives., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Guizhou Province has abundant forest resources, and it has great economic value and social benefits to explore the practical path of forestry carbon sequestration. Based on the current situation of forestry carbon sequestration development in Guizhou Province, this paper innovatively integrates forestry carbon sequestration indicators into the existing Environmental, Social and Governance(ESG) evaluation system using an evolutionary game model. It analyzes the factors restricting forestry carbon sequestration and explores the influencing factors of forestry carbon sequestration benefit sharing bodies in Guizhou. Through regression analysis, the paper discusses the impact of enterprise ESG scores, government subsidy amounts, and forestry carbon sequestration costs on forestry carbon sequestration purchase volume. The research results show that enterprise ESG scores and government subsidy amounts have a significant positive impact on enterprise forestry carbon sequestration purchase volume, while forestry carbon sequestration costs have a significant negative impact. The results have passed the robustness test in different industries. The simulation analysis results show that the stable point of the evolutionary game is (1,0,1) and (1,1,0), which verifies that the ESG rating system with forestry carbon sequestration integration can promote enterprises to purchase more forestry carbon sequestration, i.e., the effectiveness of forestry carbon sequestration in activating the ESG rating system mechanism. Based on the research conclusions, the paper puts forward policy implications: the government should accelerate the construction of localized ESG rating systems, improve enterprise information disclosure and supervision, increase subsidies and reduce forestry carbon sequestration costs, and optimize carbon quota design., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Yang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Accelerating green technology innovation is essential for promoting economic transformation and achieving sustainable development. Environmental information disclosure (EID) at the city level, as a crucial component of the environmental governance system, provides new opportunities to drive enterprise green technology innovation. This study utilizes the Pollution Source Supervision Information Disclosure Index (PITI), implemented in China since 2008, as a quasi-natural experiment for EID. By integrating data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning the period from 2003 to 2020, a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model is employed to identify the influence of EID. The findings indicate a positive association between EID and enterprise green technology innovation, resulting in concurrent enhancements in both quantity and quality. The robustness of the conclusions remains intact even after addressing endogeneity concerns. Mechanism analysis reveals that EID stimulates environmental governance by facilitating public participation-based, command-control, and market-incentive environmental regulation, thereby fostering enterprise green technology innovation. In addition, the impact of EID on enterprise green technology innovation is heterogeneous, with the policy effect being more pronounced in highly marketized and resource-rich samples. Finally, combining theoretical analyses and empirical results, relevant suggestions are made for formulating more flexible environmental regulatory policies and building a diversified environmental governance system., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Ensuring the sustainability of energy is pivotal for achieving a harmonious balance between environmental conservation and economic growth. The mechanical behavior of deep shale reservoir rocks is intricate, presenting challenges in ascertaining their brittleness characteristics. To address this, the study employed a suite of evaluation techniques, encompassing analyses of stress-strain curve attributes, energy dissipation patterns, and mineral composition profiles. The overarching goal was to delineate the variations in deep shale brittleness as a function of depth. The findings indicate a general trend of decreasing shale brittleness with increasing depth. However, the brittleness indices derived from the three distinct evaluation methods varied, with the mineral composition approach yielding the most scattered results. This disparity underscores the heterogeneity of deep shale, likely due to its varied diagenetic history compared to shallower formations. In response to these observations, the study leveraged the principle of weighted averaging to devise a composite brittleness evaluation method. This innovative approach not only integrates the effects of multiple influencing factors but also accounts for the differential impact and weight of each method on the overall brittleness assessment. By doing so, it offers a more nuanced and holistic understanding of shale brittleness. The paper's exploration of deep shale's brittleness characteristics contributes valuable insights for the exploration and development of deep shale reservoirs, enhancing the strategic and operational frameworks within the energy sector. This comprehensive evaluation method serves as a foundation for more informed decision-making, ensuring that energy extraction is conducted in a manner that is both economically viable and environmentally responsible., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright: © 2024 Zeng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Informal green spaces (IGS) are a hot topic in urban biodiversity studies, but overlooked in urban biodiversity conservation or management, especially in tropical coastal cities, where comprehensive assessments remain scarce. Most existing research has been limited to species diversity (α-diversity), with few studies addressing functional and phylogenetic diversity as aspects of α-diversity, and species turnover (β-diversity) across multiple IGS types. This study bridges these gap by conducting a detailed vegetation survey in Jiangdong New Area of Haikou City, establishing 213 sites. Within these sites, we examined 343 IGS sample plots and 274 formal green spaces (FGS) sample plots. We assessed species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity using α and β diversity metrics and analyzed the influence of environmental factors with generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). The results recorded 235 species of herbaceous plants from 179 genera and 54 families in IGS, including 215 spontaneous species, compared to 154 spontaneous species in FGS. Our findings indicate that IGS exhibited higher species richness and functional richness compared to FGS, though differences in phylogenetic diversity were less pronounced. Key environmental factors like relative humidity, trampling intensity, and proximity to urban areas significantly influenced species richness and abundance in IGS. These findings underscore the critical role of IGS in enhancing biodiversity and resilience in tropical coastal cities, emphasizing the need to integrate IGS into urban planning strategies for sustainable urban ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Globally, massive resource inputs and undesired outputs hindered the further development of the dairy industry. This study proposed a method applying data envelopment analysis to the water-energy-labor-food nexus to assess the eco-efficiency of the milk production system (MEE) from a systemic perspective. Using national statistics on scale farms for the period 2014-2021, we illustrated the effects of scale and intensification on MEE in China. In the study period, the production cost increased by 23 % and milk production rose by 30 % at the same time. Despite the increases in both water and energy inputs, the rise in milk production weakened the resource burdens and thus lifted MEE by 24 %. The resource investment pattern shifted from water- and labor-oriented to energy-oriented. Under current conditions, production technology and system management were at higher superiority to advance than farm scale, while mechanization and on-farm clean energy production are the keys to further lifting MEE., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Urban biodiversity faces threats from habitat loss, landscape fragmentation, and human disturbances. Ecological networks (ENs) can enhance habitat connectivity and bolster population resilience to disruptions. To safeguard the biodiversity of Nanjing's urban area, this study selected understory insectivorous birds as indicator species for biodiversity, employing a comprehensive approach integrating the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model and the area threshold method to delineate ecological source areas. Key indicators directly linked to the species distribution were extracted based on the habitat suitability assessment results, and an ecological resistance surface was crafted using spatial principal component analysis. Subsequently, the circuit theory model was applied to pinpoint ecological corridors, pinch points, and barrier points. The findings unveiled the following: (1) The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), human activities (HA), and canopy height (CH) were critical indicators influencing biodiversity. The response curves of the NDVI and CH were positively correlated with the probability distribution of indicator species, while the response curve of the HA showed an overall negative correlation with the same distribution. (2) The spatial distribution characteristics of the ecological network revealed a 'one axis, two cores, intersecting' pattern. Ecological sources were supported by mountainous forests and riverside green spaces, symmetrically distributed on both sides of the Yangtze River. Ecological corridors were forming continuous tree belts along highways and riverways, predominantly concentrated on the eastern side of the Yangtze River. Ecological pinch points and barriers were primarily located at the intersections of fragmented green spaces and developed areas in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the study area. (3) This study finally identified 30 ecological source areas, 65 ecological corridors, 8 pinch points, and 8 barrier points. This study presents a construction paradigm for urban ENs from the vantage point of biodiversity conservation, including both regional specificity and universal applicability, providing vital theoretical underpinnings and pragmatic insights for urban sustainability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Digital technology development provides new opportunities for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance research to better evaluate firm ESG performance, improve decision-making efficiency, and enhance firm competitiveness. Therefore, under the background of digital economy, studying digitization mechanisms on ESG performance is of great theoretical and practical significance, which can help firms achieve better sustainable development and create more value for stakeholders. We use 3,827 listed A-share companies in China from 2003 to 2021 as the sample for our empirical research. Results show that digitization significantly improves ESG performance, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Through mechanism analysis, we find that digitization improves ESG performance through organizational resilience and further reveal that organizational redundancy has a positive moderating effect between organizational resilience and ESG performance. According to our heterogeneity analysis, the marginal effects are stronger among listed firms with high market competition, in the East-Central region, in non-heavily polluting industries, and with standard audit opinions, without significant heterogeneity across the nature of equity. Our research provides a theoretical basis for digitization to drive ESG performance and ideas on how to improve the ESG performance of Chinese companies in the digital era., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Human interventions, such as farmland management, have long been considered crucial for soil carbon sequestration, but little is known about the exact impact of these interventions on the net carbon flux, represented by net ecosystem productivity (NEP). Here, using multiple long-term, large-scale data and statistical data, we reveal that 75.54% of farmland NEP in China experiences an increase, with northern regions showing the greatest potential for future farmland carbon sequestration. This growth is primarily attributed to the role of farmland management, especially the enhancement of no-tillage, land consolidation and multiple cropping level (17.02%, major grain-producing areas in 2020). Notably, the current unreasonable practices of mechanized straw returning and irrigation have a negative impact on farmland NEP. Our results show that it is imperative to acknowledge the crucial role of human interventions on farmland NEP to strike a balance between food security and farmland carbon sequestration., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Constructing bird habitat networks (BHNs) is crucial for maintaining the health and service equilibrium of urban ecosystems, especially in large metropolitan areas where the pressure of urbanization is intense. However, most existing BHNs fail to account for the dynamic changes and unique requirements of local species, leading to homogenized construction outcomes and ecological corridor objectives. This study employs a comprehensive approach to identify bird habitat patches using multiple high-quality sources, then utilize circuit theory and complex network theory to construct and assess the resilience of BHN. Our key findings showed: (1)93 bird habitat sources were identified, predominantly situated in the continuous green spaces of southern and southeastern Shanghai, whereas habitat sources in the city center and other densely built-up areas are more dispersed, highlighting them as prime targets for future ecological restoration efforts. (2) The distribution of bird habitat corridors exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity, with primary corridors predominantly spanning the southwestern and eastern parts of the study area, while secondary corridors are more abundant in the western and northern parts, forming a denser network, whereas the central area shows fewer and more isolated corridors. (3) The decline in structural and functional resilience was notably more rapid under targeted attacks than under random attacks, underscoring the need to prioritize crucial bird habitat sources on the city's periphery, especially near highly urbanized areas, in urban planning and biodiversity conservation efforts to sustain ecological balance and biodiversity. These insights provide a crucial scientific basis for urban planners, emphasizing the integration of biodiversity conservation into urban development strategies by optimizing ecological sources and corridors to balance development with ecological preservation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Large trees are essential for carbon storage and biodiversity conservation. While an increasing number of studies have focused on large trees in primary forests, little is known about them in secondary and planted forests. We surveyed 86,936 trees in secondary forests and 91,294 trees in planted forests in Zhejiang, China, to investigate the distribution patterns and determinants of large trees in these forests. We found a mean density of large trees (DBH ≥ 30 cm) of 15 ± 13 stems ha -1 in secondary forests and 11 ± 9 stems ha -1 in planted forests. Moreover, the mean density of trees with DBH ≥ 60 cm was 0.36 stems ha -1 , indicating that large trees are particularly rare in secondary and planted forests. These large trees were primarily occurred in secondary forests that living in high-elevation area with less human exploitation and colder and wetter climates, and in planted forests with higher species richness and lower tree density. In addition, the density of large trees in these forests significantly increased with tree species richness and decreased with increasing tree density. These results indicate that the sparse large trees were the legacy of historical human activities in the studied area, but currently, the development of large trees is still limited by the improper forest structure characterized by low species diversity and high tree density. To better conserve large trees, there is an urgent need for enhanced conservation policies for secondary forests, such as establishing forest parks for forests with large trees, and implementing near-natural forest management practices for planted forests, which include planting mixed native tree species and maintaining moderate tree density., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With complex topography and geomorphology, mountainous cities possess abundant natural resources. They are constrained by ecological environment and topographic conditions, leading to a prominent contradiction between urbanization development and ecological protection. As a result, ecosystem services (ESs) are under greater regulatory pressure. The identification of ecosystem services bundles (ESBs) can be the foundation for developing zonal ecological protection planning policies. We took Chongqing as a case study, investigated the impact mechanisms of socio-ecological factors on the level of ES supply in each ESB. The findings reveal that: (1) The quantitative assessment of ESs for 2000, 2010, and 2020 showed that ESs were temporally stable and spatially heterogeneous. Areas with high supplies of food production (FP) and water yield (WY) were predominantly found in the northwestern cropland and urban built-up regions, whereas high supply areas for the other four ESs were primarily located in the northeastern Dabashan Mountains and the southern Wuling Mountains. (2) The quantification of trade-offs and synergies between ESs showed that FP had a trade-off effect with all five other ESs, while most other ES pairs exhibited synergistic effects. It was found that the interrelationships produced changes over time. (3) Then, three types of ESBs were identified. After examining the influence mechanisms of socio-ecological factors across the three ESBs, individual ESs were found to have essentially the same types of main impact factors in three ESBs, but varies in impact. (4) Finally, with reference to changes in ES levels and interrelationships and the driving mechanisms of socio-ecological factors in each zone, this study proposed zonal strategies for managing ecosystem services and optimizing territorial space based on the geographic characteristics and socio-economic development in different ESBs, with the goal of attaining sustainable urban development and improving human welfare., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Vegetation restoration is an effective and important measure for controlling soil erosion in arid and -arid regions. Both its aboveground and underground parts play a crucial role in controlling surface runoff and soil detachment on slopes. But how much the parts of vegetation contribute to the runoff and sediment reducing benefits of rill erosion on slopes is unclear. We used grassland slopes at four successional stages for simulated scouring experiments to observe how successional vegetation community structures, root characteristics, and soil structures contribute to erosion and sand production. Initial flow production time increased, and total runoff decreased. Under the scour intensities, the 11-year slope had the lowest flood peak and volume and the greatest runoff reduction benefit. The 25-year slope had the lowest sand peak and volume and the greatest sediment reduction benefit. As scour intensity increased, runoff reduction effect of vegetation at the successional stages decreased; the sediment reduction benefit remained high. PLS-PM analysis showed that the indirect effects of the aboveground and underground parts of vegetation on sand production were -0.364 and -0.439, respectively. Aboveground parts mainly embodied the regulation of runoff, in which stem count, humus mass, and biomass were the main factors affecting runoff and sand production. Underground parts mainly reflected their soil structure improvement, in which root volume density, root surface area density, and root mass density are the main explanatory variables. The direct effects of runoff and soil structure on slope rill erosion were 0.330 and -0.616, respectively, suggesting the stability of soil structure is the primary factor affecting the sand production, not erosion energy. The results provide a reference for scientific assessment of the key role of natural vegetation restoration in regional soil erosion control and the development of biological measures for soil and water conservation on the slopes of the Loess Plateau., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest This manuscript has not been published or presented elsewhere in part or in entirety and is not under consideration by another journal. We have read and understood your journal's policies, and we believe that neither the manuscript nor the study violates any of these. There are no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Spanning both temperate and sub-frigid zones, Northeast China boasts typical boreal forests and abundant wetland resources. Because of these attributes, the region is critically significant for global climate regulation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity preservation. While existing research explores the ecosystem service (ESs) functions of different land cover types, a thoroughly in-depth investigation into the ESs of detailed forest and wetland types is essential. This study addresses this deficiency by combining remote sensing and deep learning techniques, employing a lightweight convolutional neural network (CNN) model and a decision tree for the large-scale classification of forests and wetlands. The ESs of various forest and wetland types-encompassing habitat quality, carbon stock, and soil retention-were assessed during two periods (2008 and 2018) in Heilongjiang Province. Key factors determinants of ESs were identified using the Geodetector tool. The results indicated an overall accuracy of 0.77 in 2008 and 0.78 in 2018 for forest type classification, and 0.88 in 2008 and 0.87 in 2018 for wetland type classification. In particular, the transition from mixed broadleaf forests to mixed coniferous-broadleaf forests dominated changes from 2008 to 2018, probably due to natural succession. Among forest types, Mongolian oak forests exhibited the highest carbon stock and soil retention capacity owing to their rapid growth and deep root systems. Mixed broadleaf forests exhibited superior habitat quality, suggesting minimal disturbance. Habitat quality, carbon stock, and soil retention were found to be significantly influenced by human activity, atmospheric quality, and topographic factors, respectively. By leveraging remote sensing and deep learning methodologies, this study offers a comprehensive analysis of forests and wetlands, elucidating the nuanced ecosystem roles of specific forest and wetland types., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Against the backdrop of water resource depletion in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, water conservation services (WCS) have emerged as critical ecosystem services warranting attention. Adjusting the ecological network (EN) structure and optimizing topological relationships among landscape elements are instrumental in facilitating ecological processes, constituting an effective approach for enhancing WCS. We employed the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs model to simulate the WCS value in the Nianchu River Basin and used the Minimum Cumulative Resistance model in combination with the Linkage Mapper to construct an EN. Through topological analysis based on complex network theory, we examined the EN topology and identified ecological pinch points and barriers by applying circuit theory. According to the correlation between EN topology and WCS, and taking into account local vegetation restoration potential, we ultimately optimized the EN to enhance the WCS value. The results revealed a positive correlation between the WCS value and betweenness centrality (r = 0.86, p < 0.01) of forest patches, as well as with the clustering coefficient of grassland patches (r = 0.44, p < 0.05). Following the optimization of key areas with restoration potential, we enhanced the EN structure by adding six new patches, eliminating four redundant corridors, and establishing 11 new corridors. The optimized EN demonstrated enhanced stability in robustness tests, indicated by a reduced slope of edge recovery against malicious attacks (from -0.0224 to -0.0199) and an increase in the WCS value of 630,311.6 m³. This study highlights the importance of landscape spatial structure in enhancing ecosystem services, providing valuable insights for sustainable water resource management in the ecologically sensitive regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although green finance policy is essential for sustainable development, its impact on green development is often underestimated. Using city-level data in China from 2009 to 2022, this study identifies the causal effect of green finance policy on green total factor productivity (GTFP) through an improved synthetic control method. The findings are as follows: First, green finance positively influences GTFP growth, and this effect increases over time. Second, the baseline results remain robust when tested using alternative estimation methods and information criteria. Third, the mechanism analysis shows that green finance policy enhances GTFP through the optimization of energy structure and technological innovation. This study provides new evidence that green finance promotes green development and contributes to addressing global climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Extensive forest restoration is a key strategy to meet nature-based sustainable development goals and provide multiple social and environmental benefits 1 . Yet achieving forest restoration at scale requires cost-effective methods 2 . Tree planting in degraded landscapes is a popular but costly forest restoration method that often results in less biodiverse forests when compared to natural regeneration techniques under similar conditions 3 . Here we assess the current spatial distribution of pantropical natural forest (from 2000 to 2016) and use this to present a model of the potential for natural regeneration across tropical forested countries and biomes at a spatial resolution of 30 m. We estimate that an area of 215 million hectares-an area greater than the entire country of Mexico-has potential for natural forest regeneration, representing an above-ground carbon sequestration potential of 23.4 Gt C (range, 21.1-25.7 Gt) over 30 years. Five countries (Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico and Colombia) account for 52% of this estimated potential, showcasing the need for targeting restoration initiatives that leverage natural regeneration potential. Our results facilitate broader equitable decision-making processes that capitalize on the widespread opportunity for natural regeneration to help achieve national and global environmental agendas., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Weakening wetland ecosystem services (ES) significantly hinders the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is essential to combine multiple methods for evaluating wetland ecosystem services value (ESV) and to clearly depict the spatial distribution of ESVs. Based on the local conditions of the Pearl River Delta (PRD), this study proposed a monetary evaluation system for wetland ESV, developed a method for spatially allocating individual ESVs, and identified the dominant wetland functions across different cities and types of wetlands. The results yielded the following findings: (1) The wetland ESV system effectively identifies differences in ESV across cities and wetland types. The PRD's ESV increased by 23.29% between 2000 and 2020. (2) The new spatial allocation method analyzed individual ESVs to provide spatial references for improving wetland ESV. Fishery products and flood control and water storage are the two largest wetland functions in the PRD. All ESVs increased except for temperature regulation and water purification. (3) The identification and classification of dominant wetland functions provide insights into site-specific management of urban wetlands informed by ESV. These results provide a reference for assessing wetland ESV in other delta regions facing high population density and wetland degradation pressures. Understanding the role of wetland ESs in supporting the SDGs and how they interconnect and contribute to their achievement will be a key future research topic., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Urban areas' performance in water, energy, infrastructure, and socio-economic sectors is intertwined and measurable through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6-13. Effective synergy among these is critical for sustainability. This study constructs an indicator framework that reflects progress towards these urban SDGs in China. Findings indicate underperformance in SDGs 8-11, suggesting the need for transformative actions. Through network analysis, the research reveals complementarities among these SDGs. Notably, the SDG space divides into socio-economic and ecological clusters, with SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) central to both. Additionally, SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) act as bridges, while greater synergies exist between SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). An in-depth view at the indicator-level shows a core-periphery structure, emphasizing indicators like SDG 6.2 (Wastewater Treatment Rate) and SDG 6.6 (Recycled Water Production Capacity per capita) as pivotal. This study confirms the urban SDG space's stability and predictiveness, underscoring its value in steering well-aligned policy decisions for sustainable growth., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Landsat images were extracted using Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and optimized by Savitzky-Golay (SG) filtering. The Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) method was used to analyze the eco-environmental quality in Sichuan Province in recent 20 years. In addition, Theil-Sen median method and Mann-Kendall (MK) test were used to test the change trend of eco-environmental quality. Furthermore, drivers were evaluated by partial correlation analysis, 2D scatter plots, and t tests. The results showed that (1) in the past 20 years, the eco-environmental quality of Sichuan Province was on the rise, and the eco-environmental quality in the western region was better than that in the eastern region. The eco-environmental quality was positively correlated with forest and grassland types, and negatively correlated with cultivated land and urban and rural construction land types. (2) The eco-environmental quality of Sichuan Province is linearly correlated with the digital elevation model, but poorly correlated with slope and slope direction. In the range of slope 0° ~ 9° and southeast direction, the eco-environmental quality is the worst. (3) The eco-environmental quality of Sichuan Province was most significantly affected by soil moisture and sunshine hours. The study can help us to understand and assess the health of ecosystems in Sichuan Province, provide a scientific basis for protecting and improving the environment, and guide the formulation and implementation of environmental protection policies., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interest: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

China is the world's largest renewable energy installer with a capacity of 1020 gigawatts in 2021. This study aims to analyze the public discourse around China's green energy and green technology and the paths to sustainable development by comparing public policy. The public discourse analysis approach and Grey Prediction Model are applied to analyze the motives for the distinct inferences being reached over the influences of renewable energy initiatives (REIs). The findings show that the modeling and assumptions are found different in theoretical perspectives, especially in the case of economic and environmental sustainability. The results are close to the other jurisdictions following REIs, including feed-in-tariff, standards and renewable liabilities. Based on statistics during 2012-2021 Five-year plan period, three major renewables are forecasted under base, reference and aggressive scenarios with interesting results. The wind would rise by 109 terawatt hours in an aggressive scenario while solar will rise from 83-99% with a rise of four times in the next decade. Finally, China's current energy policy has been proven to be a series of effective public policies by making the discourse analysis, which can energetically widen the subsidy funds' sources, discover miscellaneous financing techniques, standardized the subsidy process, supervise in applying the renewable energy technologies, and enhance the feed-in-tariff attraction of consumers and private investors., Competing Interests: Authors declare there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Jiang, Raza. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study employs an improved Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model to calculate the Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of Spartina alterniflora (SA) and various other land use/land cover types (LULC) across coastal China over multiple years. The research aims to provide significant theoretical and practical insights into carbon sink research in coastal zones, sustainable development, and resource management. Key findings include identifying the first ε max value of 2.219 g C/MJ for SA, addressing a critical data gap in CASA modeling research on invasive plants. SA's NPP exhibited higher values in Shanghai and Zhejiang due to factors such as genetic diversity, invasion duration, and tidal dynamics. In contrast, other LULC exhibited higher NPP values in southern and inland regions, characterized by greater vegetation cover and favorable growing conditions. In 2020, SA and other LULC sequestered 16.352 kt C and 0.821*10 6 kt C, respectively. From 2000 to 2020, the average annual NPP and total carbon storage of SA and other LULC increased significantly, primarily driven by Shanghai and deciduous needleleaf forests, respectively. Seasonal NPP trends followed summer> spring> autumn> winter, influenced by climate conditions and plant life activities. Economic assessments in 2020 estimated SA's carbon storage value at RMB0.409 billion (Market Value method) or RMB5.562 billion (Carbon Tax method), with RMB2.054 billion attributed to oxygen release values, underscoring its economic and ecological potential. Among other LULC, evergreen broadleaf forests showed the highest carbon storage value (RMB183.463 billion). The study emphasizes the critical role of all LULC in carbon storage and oxygen release, advocating for targeted conservation and land management strategies. It suggests that managing SA should balance stringent control in high-risk areas, lenient measures in low-risk areas, eradication of scattered populations, and maximizing ecological benefits in retention areas, with continuous monitoring and adaptive management strategies to balance conservation and development efforts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

China has made enormous strides to achieve high-quality development and biodiversity conservation, and the establishment of nature-protected areas is one of the essential initiatives. Caizi Lake involves a natural reserve and two national wetland parks, accommodating winter migratory waterfowl over the middle and lower Yangtze River basin in China. However, the water transfer from the Yangtze River to the Huai River (YR-HR water transfer) has modified the winter hydrological conditions of Caizi Lake, negatively affecting wintertime waterfowl habitats. Hence, conserving wintertime waterfowl habitats necessitates knowledge of the dynamical mechanisms behind the impacts of YR-HR water transfer on wintertime waterfowl habitats and adaptive measures. Here we developed a machine learning model, the normalized difference vegetation index, and on-spot observatory datasets such as the spatial distribution of waterfowl species and underwater topography of Caizi Lake. We found that the rising winter water level of Caizi Lake encroaches on winter waterfowl habitat with extremely high suitability. Meanwhile, rising water levels reduced waterfowl food sources. Thus, rising water levels due to YR-HR water transfer deteriorated waterfowl living conditions over Caizi Lake. Therefore, we proposed adaptive measures to alleviate these negative effects, such as water level regulation, artificial feeding of waterfowls, restoration and reconstruction of contiguous mudflats, grass flats. This study highlights human interferences with waterfowl habitats, necessitating biodiversity conservation at regional scales., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)