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Coastal wetlands are important ecosystems that support biological communities and human populations. Anthropogenic activities have over the years affected these coastal wetlands globally leading to a loss of about 50% of these areas. There have therefore been calls to conserve these wetlands in order to sustain future generations. However, data to support conservation efforts on most of these ecosystems is lacking. The ecological health status of an aquatic system is one indicator that can form the basis of conservation or restoration actions. In Ghana, the Brenu Lagoon in the Central Region has been neglected in terms of ecological health research over the years. This study therefore aimed at assessing the ecological health of the Brenu lagoon using benthic macroinvertebrates. The study showed that the lagoon is hypersaline and moderately polluted with a dominance of two stress-tolerant species – Capitella Capitata and Ampithoe sp. The current state of pollution of the lagoon may be associated with waste disposal and agricultural activities within the catchment of the lagoon. Further studies are required to establish the linkage between these activities and the state of the lagoon on the basis of which remedial actions can be taken.

The biological condition gradient (BCG), a scientific framework that describes the change in ecosystem characteristics in response to human-induced levels of stressors, was modified and used to characterize watershed habitats in the Upper Tana River watershed, Kenya. The inbuilt utilities of BCG, including its simplicity, versatility, and its robust nature, allowed its use by seven taxonomic groups of macroinvertebrates, diatoms, fish, herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles), plants, macrofungi, and birds to assess and monitor landscape conditions in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The biological data were described using taxa abundance distribution measures followed by multivariate analyses to determine their relationship with water or soil quality and thereafter assessment of taxa tolerant levels in response to environmental stress and disturbances. Preliminary findings reported that the taxonomic groups complemented each other, with each taxonomic group reliably assessing ecological conditions to a certain degree that supported assigning all 36 sampled sites into BCG tiers. The BCG models developed for all taxonomic groups assisted in the identification and selection of taxa indicating varying levels of landscape conditions. These taxa, referred to as flagship or indicator taxa, assist in simplifying the BCG model and, hence, are possible for use by parataxonomists or ordinary citizens to assess and monitor the ecological health of habitats under consideration. Furthermore, the capability of BCG models to assess landscape conditions shows how they can be used to identify important habitats for conservation, direct investment for restoration, and track progress.

The bacteria (including pathogenic bacteria) attached to road deposited sediments (RDS) may interrelate with the microbe in the atmosphere, soil and water through resuspension and wash-off, and is of great significance to human and ecological health. However, the characteristics of bacterial communities with different time scale on RDS were unknown to dates. Climate change prolonged the dry days between rain events in many areas, making the varied trend of bacterial communities might be more significant in short term. This study revealed the characteristics of bacterial communities on RDS in urban and suburban areas through seasonal and daily scale. The correlations between other factors (land use, particle size, and chemical components) and the bacterial communities were also analyzed. It was found that the season showed a higher association with the bacterial community diversity than land use and particle size in urban areas. The bacterial community diversity increased substantially throughout the short-term study period (41 days) and the variation of dominant bacteria could be fitted by quadratic function in suburbs. In addition, urbanization notably increased the bacterial community diversity, while the potential pathogenic bacteria were more abundant in the suburban areas, coarse RDS (>75 μm), and in spring. The chemical components on RDS showed special correlations with the relative abundance of dominant bacteria. The research findings would fill the knowledge gap on RDS bacterial communities and be helpful for the future research on the assembly process of bacterial communities.

There are increasing concerns for the ecological health of rivers, and their ability to provide important ecosystem services. Frameworks describing the character and condition of rivers have been developed in many parts of the world but rarely include river ecosystem services. South East Asia is a region with some of the world’s great rivers—Mekong, Salween and Ayeyarwady—running through six different countries, but data on river ecological character and condition is patchy and inconsistent. Development pressures on these rivers has never been higher, and ecosystem services may be lost before being described and valued. The development of a framework of ecological importance is envisaged, which maps out the relative contributions of river reaches to a wide range of ecosystem services. This could be a tool for river basin planning and water resource management, baseline information for impact assessment of infrastructure (for example, hydropower and irrigation), and for protecting ecologically important areas. We asked a diverse group of 109 river basin planners, and water and natural resource management professionals in the region whether a framework of ecological importance would support their activities, and which river ecosystem services are most important to be assessed. Our findings allow prioritisation of river ecosystem services to be assessed and mapped according to importance in different river reaches and sub-basins within the region. The locations of ranked threats and pressures on the river systems allow indication of river health and integrity in these sub-basins. We consider the feasibility of measuring ecosystem services and pressures through the identification of appropriate indicators, methods, and availability of global, regional, and national data.

The lower reaches of the Yellow River is known for the rapid development of industry and agriculture, which has also led to some pollution. However, information about the level of toxic contaminants in the surface waters is lacking in this area. Therefore, five sampling points were set in the lower Yellow River to investigate the distribution of various pollutants and analyze the potential risks. The presence of heavy metals (Heavy metals tested for in this study were: Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr), and Zinc (Zn)) and antibiotics (Antibiotics tested for in this study were: Enrofloxacin (ENR), Ciprofloxacin (CIP), and Norfloxacin (NOR)) in water samples taken from the lower Yellow River were measured to reveal the spatial distribution and risk potential of the compounds. Various water quality parameters (Water quality parameters used in this study were: chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN)) were also tested. Study results showed the main surface water pollution components were COD, BOD5, TN, and TP. The average levels were 37.79 mg/L, 16.64 mg/L, 4.14 mg/L, and 0.42 mg/L, respectively. Among the detected metals from the water samples, Hg (LOD-0.1 μg/L) levels were only in line with the surface water class III or worse. Both fish and water samples contained antibiotics. According to an ecological risk assessment conducted along the river, the distribution of pollutants in the waters exhibited a spatial relationship with the land-use pattern in the study region and the Kenli site was the most polluted. Research shows that up-to-date data on the residual levels and distribution characteristics of pollutants in the lower Yellow River could provide valuable baseline data and technical support for relevant government departments and their management going forward.

With the continuous development of society, people have entered a new era. People’s material needs have been basically met, and people are paying more and more attention to spiritual life and ecological health. After the problem of food and clothing was solved, people began to pursue leisure sports, which is a brand new direction of consumption. The coastal area has taken the lead in developing the exciting experience of leisure sports. The leisure environment in this area is very romantic and can also bring people a very exciting experience. In recent years, many people have gone to the coastal area to experience this kind of leisure sports, which has also promoted tourism. The economic development of the city in the coastal area has promoted the change of its development mode. We monitor rainfall in coastal areas, which plays an important role in the development of leisure sports. If we can predict the weather changes in advance, we can make timely countermeasures, make reasonable plans for sports time, and make reasonable arrangements for sports content. In this paper, the relationship between cloud cover changes and rainfall data is obtained by monitoring remote sensing cloud images, and a corresponding model is established. This paper also designs some cloud image parameters, uses the corresponding algorithm to explore the relationship between cloud image and rainfall, improves and optimizes the algorithm combined with matrix characteristics, and finally proposes a more efficient algorithm. After a series of experiments, it is proved that the algorithm proposed in this paper has higher timeliness and better accuracy. The research results of this project have been applied to the forecast of rainfall trends in coastal areas. At the same time, certain suggestions and strategies have been put forward for the development of leisure sports activities in coastal areas, which also laid the foundation for the development of subsequent leisure activities.

In this study, we assess the potential of ants as bioindicators of riparian ecological health in two river types (upland and lowland type) located in the Catalonian region. We proposed to understand to what extent do metrics based on ant responses provide useful information that cannot be presented by traditional biophysical assessments while attempting an approach to creating an ant-based multimetric index (ant-based MMI) of the riparian ecological health. A total of 22 ant species were identified, and 42 metrics related to ant foraging activity, species richness, and functional traits were evaluated as potential core metrics of the index. Riparian features and proximal land use land cover (LULC) were used to distinguish disturbed from less disturbed sites. We found that ant communities strongly responded to human disturbance. When compared with an exclusively physical-based index for the assessment of the riparian health, the ant-based MMI was more sensitive to human disturbance, by also reacting to the effects of the surrounding LULC pressure. This study provides a preliminary approach for an ant-based assessment tool to evaluate the health of riparian corridors although additional research is required to include other river types and a wider stressor gradient before a wider application info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The year 2021 offers a critical opportunity for concerted action to influence the future of freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. The United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011–2020 has ended, and governments around the world are reviewing major international agreements relevant to biodiversity conservation, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)1, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)2, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)3. A Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework4 is under development, with the grand mission to “Halt the loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity by 2030; restore and recover biodiversity to ensure a world of people “living in harmony with nature' by 2050”. Freshwater ecologists have acted quickly to draw attention to the global dimensions of the freshwater biodiversity crisis and address the lack of a comprehensive framework to guide policy responses (Bunn, 2016; Darwall et al., 2018). An Emergency Recovery Plan for freshwater biodiversity, published by 25 authors from 14 organizations (Tickner et al., 2020), sets out six major priorities for global action and policy development to “bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss.” It has been submitted to the working committees of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and further promoted as a dramatic OUPblog “Bring living waters back to our planet5” Comprehensive reviews have since enumerated many research questions, actions and policy refinements needed to “bend the curve” and protect the world's freshwater ecosystems (van Rees et al., 2020; Buxton et al., 2021; Harper et al., 2021; Maasri et al., 2021). Each review cuts across important scientific, societal, management and policy issues. The purpose of this brief challenge paper is, likewise, to strengthen and support the Emergency Recovery Plan, but in a different way, by advocating a broader package of strategic activities that too often operate in silos, with patchy coverage of the world's freshwater ecosystem types and biogeographic diversity. This package presents traditional areas of scientific and societal activity that require more strategic, integrated and collaborative global effort to deliver evidence-based freshwater conservation outcomes, conjoined with terrestrial and estuarine/marine conservation, depending on context: (i) inventory, evaluation and research; (ii) restoration and rehabilitation; (iii) protected area design and management; and (iv) socio-ecological science and governance. The paper is intended to motivate greater interest, commitment and collaboration of all stakeholders in the most urgent and ambitious conservation enterprise of the next decade—to protect and sustain freshwater biodiversity in the socio-ecological systems of the Anthropocene.

We are seemingly locked into a downward spiral of ecological degradation, biodiversity loss, and a climate emergency. Ecological restoration aims to improve the ecological trajectory of degraded ecosystems. Ecosystem declines threaten human health. Dramatic changes in human behavior and government policy are essential, but will only occur through a profound paradigm shift explicitly linking human and ecological health. We outline the case for ecological restoration as a ‘public health intervention’, and provide an action plan that enables the required paradigm shift.

Accelerated soil erosion is one of the most important detrimental factors affecting the quality of the watershed health. Due to different environmental pressures and drivers, the effort is needed for ecological health and resilience assessment in regards to erosion changeability. However, this important subject has not been adequately studied yet. Towards this, in the present research, an innovative approach was developed for conceptualizing the watershed health dynamics in viewpoint of soil erosion. A risk-based study was conducted to quantitatively characterize the spatiotemporal variability of erosion-based health in an industrialized watershed i.e., the Shazand Watershed using the conceptual reliability, resilience and vulnerability (RelResVul) framework for four node years of 1986, 1998, 2008 and 2014. To this end, the soil erosion was estimated at monthly scale in 24 sub-watersheds by applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The RelResVul indicators were then computed according to the threshold defined for the study watershed. A geometric mean was used to combine the three risk indicators and the erosion-based watershed health index was ultimately calculated for each study sub-watershed. Additionally, the change detection analysis was conducted over the years of 1986 to 2014. According to the results of erosion-based the RelResVul indices, very healthy, healthy, moderately healthy, unhealthy and very un-healthy conditions in the Shazand Watershed were respectively distributed over some 67, 25, zero, zero and eight percent for 1986; 50, 13, eight, zero and 29 % for 1998; 71, eight, 83, zero, zero and eight percent for 2008 and finally 71, zero, 17, zero and 12 % for 2014. The results of change detection revealed an oscillating trend of erosion-based watershed health index during the whole study period (1986 -2014). So that, during periods of 1986-1998, 1986-2008 and 1986-2014, the watershed health decreased at tune of 23, 13 and six percent, respectively. Whilst, the watershed health improved during study periods of 1998-2008 (13 %), 2008-2014 (eight percent) and 1998-2014 (22 %). The results also identified ‘hot spots’ of the most important index of land degradation and ‘bright spots’ of land improvement in the Shazand Watershed.The proposed approach would provide a sustainable framework supporting decision makers to comprehend health-related soil erosion targets according to the integrated watershed management plans.

Sustainable urban development at the global level results from sustainable actions undertaken at city, neighbourhood and household levels with the right balance of environmental, economic and social aspects, achieved through initiatives such as water sensitive cities, sponge cities and “active, beautiful and clean waters ” (ABC waters). Green infrastructure (GI) including parks, green roofs, green walls, rain gardens and swales contribute to sustainable development of cites. Even when the overall selection of GI based on life cycle analysis and life cycle costs is satisfactory, the selection of suitable plant species is a challenge as the theory and practice of selecting plants for GI is poorly understood and lacking. Thirty eight out of fifty one plants species used in Singapore GI are not native species and eighteen are weeds. Although not necessarily sustainable these plant species contribute to make Singapore attractive and clean. This research focused on developing a comprehensive plant selection criteria “Criteria for green infrastructure Sustainable Outcomes in Urban Precincts” (CgreenSoup) for sustainable GI based on social, environmental, economic and engineering aspects. The ecological aspects of plant species also comprise the criteria prevalent in allelopathic and toxicological assessment of plants in countries such as Australia, Singapore and USA. The relevance of CgreenSoup was tested by assessing the plant composition of the GI implemented through the Active, Beautiful and Clean Waters Features program (ABC Waters) in Singapore. Based on the outcomes in the Singapore context, the methodology developed in Cgreensoup can be used for the selection of plant in contexts such as sponge cities, to avoid negative ecological impacts and achieve benefits that are more sustainable. From this, it is strongly recommended that a set of selection criteria collectively contributing to ecological health should be used for the selection of plants as part of GI for ensuring sustainable outcomes in urban landscapes.

In an era of environmental anxiety, “re-wilding” has emerged as an ecological health and resiliency strategy across scales in the Anthropocene, from the human body to the planet. At the scale of the body, this has meant a reevaluation of dietary, consumption, and lifestyle behaviors among concerned consumers seeking to create healthy, resilient bodily ecosystems. Recent health trends including the Paleo Diet and Ancestral Health movements call upon an evolutionary perspective for insight as to how to re-wild one’s bodily ecosystem in the face of ecological crisis across scales, using the Paleolithic era as a benchmark for dietary and behavioral re-wilding. This paper draws upon interviews with individuals adhering to a Paleo Diet to better understand whether and how the evolutionary discourse of Paleo influences their beliefs about healthy diet and lifestyles, and how they grapple with re-wilding in an urban context. This paper elucidates the paradoxical “ancestral futurism” of the Paleo movement, where re-wilding bodies and lifestyles in the name of health and sustainability is predicated upon the same technologies, spaces, political-economic structure, and human agency that created the messy ecological uncertainty of the Anthropocene.

A Flow duration Curve (FDC) and eco-metrics are one of the principal techniques employed to study the changes in flow regimes and flow discharge in any river basin. Stream flows vary widely over a year and this variability can be assessed by using FDC’s which is a curve plotting stream flows (Q) on the vertical axis and the percent of time the flow is equalled or exceeds (P) a critical discharge threshold on the horizontal axis for a particular river basin. Flow Duration curves (FDCs) are imperative instruments which are fundamental for water asset distribution and administration, which can further be analysed to get a great deal of hydrological data to understand the impact of climate changes on water asset frameworks. Results got from the flow duration curves are required by hydrologists and specialists associated with various water asset ventures such as assessing the hydropower capabilities of a waterway, stream health, surge control examines such as recurrence outlines, runoff estimations, figuring the dregs stack and broken down solids of a stream, and contrasting the adjacent catchments. Apart from these classical uses, the FDCs can also be used to survey the health status of the streams in terms of its ecological status. The present study has been undertaken with an objective to identify the ecological health status of the Tawi River, based on ecoflow metrics. Eco-surplus and eco-deficit are known as the indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) and are used to study intra and inter annual variations in river flows. The daily stream flow data at Gulab Singh Bridge, Jammu from the Hydrological Data Centre of the Central Water Commission (CWC), Jammu has been used to develop the Flow Duration Curve (FDCs) for the different periods like daily, monthly, annual etc. Finally, 10- daily time series have been used to identify the ecosurplus and the ecodeficit years and their respective magnitudes. Further, an eco-flow metric for the Tawi River was prepared for the 30 years daily discharge data from the period 1977 to 2007. The results of the study conclude that Tawi River is an ecosurplus river, in most of the years of the study period. The ecology of Tawi River is at par for the study period except for the years 1999 and 2000. Although the ecology is under sustaining conditions, but the metric has been falling in course of time, which can be a signal of ecological deterioration in the future.

Individual low-carbon behavior plays an important role in reducing carbon emissions and improving the ecological health of the environment. This study explored the factors that influence individuals' low-carbon behavior and the variations between different groups. A questionnaire measuring seven dimensions (including low-carbon awareness, low-carbon knowledge, personal norms, social norms, situational factors, private low-carbon behavior, and public low-carbon behavior) was distributed to the residents of Tianjin, yielding 418 valid responses. The results indicated that low-carbon awareness, low-carbon knowledge, personal norms, social norms, and situational factors had an impact on residents' low-carbon behavior. In particular, the level of public low-carbon behavior was higher than private low-carbon behavior. Second, by exploring the effects of situational factors on residents' low-carbon behaviors, we found that situational factors inhibited both private and public low-carbon behaviors. Third, in different groups based on age, gender, income, education, and other variables there were differences in impact effects. This research has significant potential for guiding residents' low-carbon behavior and improving low-carbon management.

The quality of freshwater undoubtedly reflects the health of our surrounding environment, society, and economy, as these are supported by various freshwater ecosystems. Monitoring efforts have therefore been considered a vital means of ensuring the ecological health of freshwater environments. Nevertheless, most aquatic environmental monitoring strategies largely focus on bulk water sampling for analysis of physicochemical and key biological indicators, which for the most part do not consider pollution events that occur at any time between sampling events. Because benthic biofilms are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, pollution released during sporadic events may be absorbed by these biofilms, which can act as repositories of pollutants. The aim of this study was to assess whether benthic biofilm monitoring could provide an efficient way of properly characterizing the extent of pollution in aquatic environments. Here, bulk water and benthic biofilms were sampled from three Hong Kong streams having various pollution profiles, and subsequently compared via high-resolution microscopy, metagenomic analysis, and analytical chemistry. The results indicated that biofilms were, indeed, reservoirs of environmental pollutants, having different profiles compared with that of the corresponding bulk water samples. Moreover, the results also suggested that biofilms sampled in polluted areas were characterized by a higher species richness. While the analytical testing of benthic biofilms still needs further development, the integration of chemical-pollutant profiles and biofilm sequencing data in future studies may provide unique perspectives for understanding and identifying pollution-related biofilm biomarkers.

To assess the ecological health of the Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve (CDNR), univariate and multimetric indices—AZTI's Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), multivariate AMBI (M-AMBI), abundance-biomass comparison curves, taxonomic diversity, Shannon-Wiener index (H′) (log2), and Benthic Opportunistic Polychaetes Amphipods index (BOPA) — were used to translate the macrobenthic community into classifications of ecological health in 2016 and 2017. Based on the results of the various indicators, the overall habitat status of the CDNR ranged from good to high status. Sites 4 and 5, which fell in the remaining tidal flats following reclamation activities, were classified as disturbed, whereas the degree of disturbance at site 3 was low. The results indicate that the CDNR is under some form of human disturbance, which includes reclamation and animal (mainly cattle) grazing. H′ (log2) and M-AMBI index may be more suitable for assessing ecological quality in intertidal zones, including the CDNR.

Sandy beaches from tropical countries are currently facing many challenges due to rapid urban development and its impacts on coastal areas. Despite their aesthetic, recreational and ecological importance, these environments are neglected when it comes to assessment and conservation measures, which can be done in several ways, including biomonitoring. Nematodes are amongst the most suitable organisms to be used as ecological indicators in sandy beaches due to their high abundance on marine sediments and its rapid responses to different sorts of impacts. We analyzed the nematode assemblages and the environmental variables from seven sandy beaches under different types of pressure from Rio de Janeiro state, in Brazil, and applied the biological indexes that use nematodes as bioindicators in order to evaluate differences on the ecological status of these beaches. Sampling took place in the summer of 2015, during the spring low tide. Physicochemical characteristics, microbiology and granulometry were measured alongside human density on each of the beaches and linked to nematode distribution found on the intertidal zone. Botafogo beach, already known for being highly affected by sewage disposal, showed high values for organic matter content and the least diverse assemblage, with high dominance from genus Chromadorita. Despite the higher human density, most urban and touristic beaches (Barra da Tijuca and Copacabana) did not show distinct values for the diversity measures when compared to the most preserved beaches (Restinga da Marambaia and Fora - Urca). While the applied biological indexes did not show clear answers concerning the ecological health of the studied sites; the sediment sorting coefficient was the variable that best explained the nematode distribution and some genera are associated to certain spectrums with this variable. For instance, opportunist genera such as Daptonema and Theristus were found on broader spectrums of sorting coefficient while predators with bigger body diameters showed a more restricted distribution. As the mean grain size is still considered the main variable on nematode distribution for sandy beaches, this study reveals that the sorting coefficient also gives important answers for the nematode distribution.

The Food-Energy-Water-Waste Nexus (FEWWN) represents the interconnections between food, energy, water, and waste production systems, and it has become a key research area. Enormous quantities of agricultural and organic wastes are produced throughout the FEWWN. Often, these wastes are not treated appropriately because their true costs are rarely quantified, and usually externalized to the environment. This shortcoming is addressed from a systems perspective fused with approaches from ecological economics. A regional bioenergy production model where bioenergy may be produced from ethanol and/or agricultural wastes is constructed. Ecosystem service valuation methods are integrated into the framework, allowing for bioenergy production systems to be designed to minimize ecological damage and/or maximize ecological restoration. These values are captured within a Green Gross Domestic Product (Green GDP) objective that values both energy produced and ecosystem service values lost/gained. System profit is another objective in the multi-objective model. The framework is applied to a bioenergy production system for the U.S. state of New York, which aims to produce 10% more bioenergy compared to its current levels. Net changes in Green GDP ranged from -$16.5 M/y to $90.6 M/y, and corresponding profits ranged from $7.2 M/y to -$74.5 M/y. Corn grain ethanol was the dominant source of bioenergy in solutions with higher profits, while ethanol from corn stover and bioelectricity generated from animal manure biogas contributed more bioenergy in solutions with increasing Green GDP. Results show that there is a trade-off between promoting natural capital/ecological health and financial profit. FEWWN system design should consider these trade-offs moving forward.

This review was made to bring forth the contradicting outlooks from different research findings, challenges on the Eucalyptus species and show the opportunities we have with the tree. Due to the impact of Eucalyptus tree species on ecological health and agricultural productivity, ecologists, policy makers and politicians have had a negative view on this tree species. Hence, attempts are made to remove the tree from the agricultural landscape in some part of Ethiopia. In contrast, the farmers of Ethiopia prefer the fast growing, economically attractive, and the quality wood yields of Eucalyptus tree species. So we need to look for other dimension to coincide the existing contradictions. Eradication of the tree cannot be solution without replacing with suitable tree species for maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance. The tree can continue to supply fuel wood and construction material and thereby retard the rate of deforestation and loss of biodiversity resources of the remnant forests of the country. Collaborative work is crucial to gear efforts towards the establishment of a proper management system for the cultivation of Eucalyptus tree. Appropriate management practices such as species selection, planting site selection, correct site-species matching and efficient utilization can maximize the opportunity obtained from the tree. It is also very important to look for alternative trees species to replace Eucalyptus trees, and further studies are required to test the level of Eucalyptus species impact on specific ecosystem. Also, polices need to achieve a reasonable trade-off between the socio-economic value and agro-ecological conservation. Key words: Agro biodiversity, biodiversity, ecology, eucalyptus, forest.

Indicators of ecological health based on biological communities, including numerous multimetric indices, are used worldwide to assess and report the condition of aquatic ecosystems such as estuaries. Yet, these tools have rarely been applied to support estuary management in Australia. We present a case study of one such multimetric indicator, the Fish Community Index (FCI), which was developed and applied to quantify the ecological condition of estuaries in southwestern Australia (SWA). We outline the rationale, development, and implementation of the FCI for annual monitoring and reporting of the ecological condition of a highly urbanized estuary, highlighting the key research and management outcomes that it has delivered, and evaluating its potential future applications to support estuary management more broadly, both across Australia and internationally. The FCI is founded upon a conceptually simple and scientifically robust rationale and is sensitive to the ecological stressors that affect many estuaries across the region (e.g., hypoxia, algal blooms). Together with an accompanying annual fish monitoring regime, the FCI provides managers with a consistent, robust basis for quantifying and reporting spatiotemporal changes in estuary condition, with easily comprehensible outputs that facilitate communication with stakeholders, ranging from politicians to the general public. We attribute the successful implementation of this management tool to several characteristics, namely 1) support from a long-term, collaborative partnership between managers and researchers; 2) comprehensive testing and validation of the index prior to implementation; 3) a robust, standardized monitoring regime; and 4) sustained resourcing from managers to implement the index as part of a reporting framework. The FCI has also been applied to other SWA estuaries and could provide a platform for more coordinated assessment and reporting of estuarine condition at the bioregional scale, thereby helping to improve the gap in reporting on the biotic integrity of Australian estuaries. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;15:726-738. © 2019 SETAC.

Humpback dolphins (genus Sousa), obligatory inshore delphinids, are frequently exposed to adverse effects of many human activities. In Hong Kong, one of the world's most urbanised coastal regions, ~ 50% of the dolphins suffer from at least one type of epidermal lesions, likely related to anthropogenically degraded habitat. Furthermore, one in every ten dolphins has physical injuries indicative of vessel collisions, propeller cuts and fishing-gear entanglements. As top predators with long lifespan, dolphins are good "barometers" of marine environment and their compromised health conditions are symptomatic of increasingly degraded ecological conditions of coastal seas, especially in rapidly developing regions of fast-growing economies.

How can the humanities contribute to sustainability, whereby ecological health and social equity can be promoted and maintained for future generations? (Philippon 2012) Sustainability and the Human...

A suitable oasis scale and a cultivated land scale are important for water resources management in arid regions. This paper developed an approach to calculate a suitable oasis scale and a cultivated land scale by combining water-heat balance theory and wind-sand dynamics theory with ecological health assessment (i.e., WHBEHA model). The oasis effective vegetation coverage was determined using the wind-sand dynamics theory. The oasis ecological health was assessed by constructing the ecological health index system. This index system considered groundwater depth, ratio of farmland shelterbelt, vegetation coverage status, and occurrence frequency of strong winds as ecological health evaluation indicators and was illustrated using the middle reaches of Heihe River basin as the case study. The results of the proposed WHBEHA model revealed that the most suitable ecological and cultivated areas under different hydrologic years were 363–442 km2 and 1450–1767 km2 in the middle reaches of Heihe River basin. They summed up to the total suitable oasis areas were in the range of 1813–2209 km2. Status quo 2013 was a high flow year, according to WHBEHA, the scale of cultivated land in 2013 has exceeded the suitable scale, and should be reduced by 334 km2. Compared with the current oasis scale based on land-use and land-cover information and the oasis scales computed using oasis water-heat balance and oasis circle theory (WHBOCT), the proposed WHBEHA model is more suitable by considering the factors that affect the ecological health of arid regions. Furthermore, this study may provide a guideline for determining a sustainable socio-economic scale, especially cultivated scale in arid regions.

Establishing protected areas (PAs) ranks among the top priority actions to mitigate the global scale of modern biodiversity declines. However, the distribution of biodiversity is spatially asymmetric among regions and lineages, and the extent to which PAs offer effective protection for species and ecosystems remains uncertain. Penguins, regarded as prime bioindicator birds of the ecological health of their terrestrial and marine habitats, represent priority targets for such quantitative assessments. Of the world’s 18 penguin species, eleven are undergoing population declines, for which ten are classified as ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Endangered’. Here, we employ a global-scale dataset to quantify the extent to which their terrestrial breeding areas are currently protected by PAs. Using quantitative methods for spatial ecology, we compare the global distribution of penguin colonies, including range and population size analyses, with the distribution of terrestrial PAs classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and generate hotspot and endemism maps worldwide. Our assessment quantitatively reveals

Мета. На основі аналізу наукової, науково-методичної літератури визначити шляхи вирішення проблеми негативної дії екологічних чинників довкілля на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів. Методи. Теоретичний аналіз наукової літератури: узагальнення, синтез, формалізація, абстрагування. Результати. Визначено основні шляхи вирішення проблеми негативного впливу екологічних чинників довкілля, насамперед метеорологічних (метеотропна патологія), на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів, серед яких: екогігієнічна регламентація допустимої дії екологічних чинників довкілля на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів, екологізація спортивних об’єктів, гігієнічна (екогігієнічна) діагностика можливої негативної дії екологічних чинників довкілля на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів. Висновки. Встановлено, що спортсменів, які займаються спортивною діяльністю на відкритому просторі, можна розглядати як групу екологічного ризику внаслідок негативної дії екологічних чинників довкілля на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів. Визначено основні шляхи вирішення проблеми негативного впливу екологічних чинників довкілля, насамперед метеорологічних, на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів з урахуванням «Концепції керування екологічним ризиком», серед яких: екогігієнічна регламентація допустимої дії екологічних чинників довкілля на організм спортсменів під час їхньої спортивної діяльності в умовах відкритого простору, екологізація спортивних об’єктів, гігієнічна (екогігієнічна) діагностика негативної дії екологічних чинників довкілля на екологічне здоров’я спортсменів. Ключові слова: екологічні чинники довкілля, екологічне здоров’я спортсменів.

Wetland is one of the three major ecosystems on the earth and has fundamental ecological functions and plays an irreplaceable role in serving biological survival and human development. Considering the characteristics of five types of wetlands, this study constructed a wetland ecological health evaluation indicator system using a wide variety of data from statistical report, field sampling, remote sensing, and questionnaire survey. In this study, we have selected 13 indicators (related to water, soil, biological, landscape and social factors) for ecological health evaluation of 19 wetlands in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China which have national importance. The detailed analysis shows a comprehensive health index of 5.53. There was significant spatial heterogeneity in the health status of the 19 wetlands in this region. The evaluation results and analysis provides scientific services for developing reasonable and targeted wetland protection and utilization policies of wetlands.

The coastline of the Department of Antioquia, in Colombia, supports a variety of ecosystems rich in diversity and abundance, but these are under intense pressure from human activities. Here, we propose a novel methodology for conducting ecological risk assessments of coastal areas that focuses on ecosystem health instead of benefits to humans, in which coastal zones are evaluated by prioritizing ecosystem risks based on four natural phenomena (erosion, sedimentation, mud diapirism, and invasive species) and two human pressures (pollution and land use changes). Ecological risk assessment of 16 ecosystems within the study area was performed using this new approach. Our research highlights the importance of monitoring land-use patterns as a primary factor influencing the threats and vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems, in addition to demonstrating the usefulness of risk-management approaches based on ecological health.

The restoration of the Ōngātoro/Maketū Estuary involves the reconnection of freshwater and estuarine habitats through the rediversion of the Kaituna River and is an innovative attempt to manage interconnected ecosystems to improve ecological health and conservation outcomes. Flood and drainage works in the 1950s severed the connection between fresh‐ and salt‐water systems, leading to sedimentation, algal growth and anoxic conditions, and the loss of saltmarsh and other vegetated wetland habitat. Following decades of trenchant debate about the causes, consequences and possible solutions to estuary degradation, a 3‐year consultation process between 2006 and 2009 established Māori and community support to restore water flows, re‐establish wetlands and other estuarine habitats, and promote kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and local people's stewardship. Having secured widespread community support, a restoration plan informed by technical assessments and local traditional knowledge was co‐developed. Analysis of the socio‐ecological dimensions of this aquatic conservation initiative uncovers implementation success factors in conservation planning: resource and governance system factors, historically contingent events, the opportunity to develop a shared understanding across stakeholder and iwi (indigenous) groups, the negotiation of a collective vision, and including diverse social actors who reflect a variety of viewpoints and values.

Neoclassical economic theory delivered upon its promise. It showed how the liberation of markets from government constraints could bring about a rapid expansion in the production of consumer goods. That was a major accomplishment. However, it came with a price in terms of social fragmentation, economic inequality, and a planetary ecosystem that is now overwhelmed by human activity. Continuing to follow the course plotted by conventional economics is a path to disaster. The world needs alternatives. Marxism has been tried and found wanting in many respects, including its abysmal environmental record. This article offers help from an unlikely source: insights of Reformed Protestantism that can be traced back to John Calvin in the 16th century. Although Calvin and Calvinism are better known for a harsh view of human sinfulness, Calvin also contributed to the development of liberal democracies by advocating representative government, universal education, and greater participation by more people. Reformed theology emphasizes the importance of widespread participation in decisions, including economic decisions, at every level of society, and provides a positive role for institutions, including government, to protect the common good. It also points toward the need to situate economic policy in the larger domains of social and ecological health. Above all, it denies the validity of any economic system that deifies economics as such, and provides criteria for judging the effectiveness of economic systems as well as the evils of externalizing social and environmental costs in the name of a false efficiency.

Forest-dependent, rural communities often experience declining populations and economic prosperity because technological changes related to harvesting, transportation and processing ofwood fiberhave increased the capital investments required while reducing employment. How then can communities, where forest resources are the primary economic driver, increase wealth that might then be used for economic development? Answers to this question are explored by examining the potential of different forest management regimes to create greater employment and wealth, particularly management options that include carbon values. Our application is to an interior forest region of British Columbia, the region that produces the greatest volume and value oflumberfor export and the province where indigenous peoples have not ceded aboriginal title to most of the land base on which the trees grow. While traditional practices of managing forests primarily used to be multi-functional and sustainable, the results of our study are less optimistic. We examine the trade-offs and potentialsynergiesbetween revenue (as measured by net present value), employment and carbon inforest ecosystems, where the latter is a proxy for the ecological health of the forest. We conclude that no management strategy is able to satisfy all of the technical, environmental and social/cultural constraints and, at the same time, offer forest-based economic development that will prevent the decline of rural communities.

Nutrient or/and organic pollutions have been used as one of the key factors influencing the stream health, so research approaches were frequently focused on chemical analysis rather and biological analysis. Our objective of the present study was to diagnose the chemical and biological stream health using chemical multi-metric model of nutrient pollution index (NPI) and biological multi-metric fish model of the index of biotic integrity (IBI), respectively in an urban stream. Seven years dataset from 2008 to 2014 were used for the health assessments. The nutrients regime (TN, TP), sestonic chlorophyll, total suspended solids (TSS), electrical conductivity, BOD, and COD showed a typical polluted stream with large temporal and spatial fluctuations due to variations of Asian monsoon rain. The analysis of fish trophic guilds and fish tolerance guilds showed that omnivore fish species and tolerant species were dominated the community and the proportions were directly determined by water chemistry (nutrient and organic matters). Chemical model of NPI showed “poor-very poor health condition” by the criteria of the model and showed same results with the biological model of fish IBI. The degradation of the stream health was mainly due to massive effluents from the wastewater treatment plants. Overall, our data suggest that the multi-metric chemical and biological models may be used as a key tool diagnosing the stream health condition in an urban stream.

The U.S. and other developed nations are faced with many contaminated sites remaining from World War II, the Cold War, and abandoned industries, that require remediation and restoration to allow future land uses with minimum acceptable risk to humans and ecological resources. For large Department of Energy (DOE) sites with massive remediation tasks remaining, it is important for managers to be able to assure regulators, Tribal Nations, and the public that human and ecological health are protected. Hanford Site has the largest and most expensive cleanup task within the DOE complex; cleanup will continue beyond 2090. Cleanup involves the use of operating facilities, which also may present a risk to humans or ecological resources. We present a brief description of a methodology to evaluate risks to ecological receptors at the Hanford Site from remaining remediation tasks, and evaluate the risk to ecological resources that operating facilities present currently, during active cleanup of these facilities, and during the post cleanup period. Operating facilities include current, active operations that are located on the site and aid in site cleanup, including both storage and treatment operations. At the Hanford Site, they include waste treatment plants, sludge basins, waste trenches, Central Waste Complex, storage facilities, and disposal facilities, among others. Risk ratings for ecological resources are highest during the remediation phase. Risk ratings for the operating facilities at the Hanford Site range from not discernible to medium currently, from not discernible (ND) to high during active cleanup, and from not discernible to medium following cleanup. The highest ratings are for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant that is being constructed to stabilize radioactive and chemical wastes, and the Liquid Effluent Retention and Treatment Facility that removes and deactivates hazardous contaminants from waste water. Higher ratings in the post-cleanup period are largely due to restoration of ecological resources during cleanup, which increases the potential for injury (if these resources are harmed) because a site will then have higher quality resources after cleanup than it did before. Assessing the value of ecological resources, and determining potential consequences during active remediation and after remediation is essential for compliance with state and federal laws. Understanding the risks to ecological resources from now until clean-up is completed at these facilities is important because of the potential for ecological resources of high value to be degraded, and because cleanup completion is not expected until 2090 or later. The methodology can be applied to any contaminated site requiring a rapid method of assessing potential damages to ecological resources from proposed management actions.

Sustainable management of global natural resources is challenged by social and environmental drivers, adding pressure to ecosystem service provision in many regions of the world where there are competing demands on environmental resources. Understanding trade-offs between ecosystem services and how they are valued by different stakeholder groups is therefore critical to maximise benefits and avoid conflict between competing uses. In this study we developed a novel participatory trade-off experiment to elicit the perception of 43 participants, from across four key stakeholder groups, working in land and water management (Environmental Regulators, Farming Advisors, Water Industry Staff and Catchment Scientists). Using the Production Possibility Frontier (PPF) concept, we quantified stakeholder assessment of both the shape and the uncertainty around the PPF in a trade-off between agricultural intensity and the ecological health of freshwater systems. The majority of stakeholder groups selected threshold and logistic decay trade-off curves to describe the relationship of the trade-off, and estimated the uncertainty around the curves to be intermediate or large. The views of the four stakeholder groups differed significantly regarding how they estimated stakeholder trade-off prioritisation; the largest difference in perspectives was identified between Environmental Regulators and Farm Advisors. The methodology considered the cultural, socio-economic and institutional specificities of an ecosystem service interaction and identified potential sources of conflict but also possible solutions for win-win opportunities to explore and share understanding between stakeholders. Valuing stakeholder knowledge as a form of expert data and integrating this into participatory decision-making processes for land and water management thus contributes considerable value beyond traditional approaches to ecosystem service assessments.

This study investigated the distribution, sources, and potential risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coastal waters along over 18,000 km of coastline in China. Concentrations of PAH...

The remaining wildlands in the North Central US include varying proportions of public, private, and tribal lands across water balance ecotones. These wildlands may be highly vulnerable changing climate impacting their ability to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. We quantified projected changes in growing season climate (temperature) and water balance (MI: moisture index) in Greater Wildland Ecosystems (GWEs) and land allocation types (public, private, and tribal lands) across Central Plains, Western Plains, and Western Mountains ecoregions of North Central US by using high-resolution climate data from GCM output of 1980–2005 to 2071–2099. We also tested for the evidence of systematic climatic bias on tribal lands, which are often claimed to be distributed non-randomly. We found that the historic temperature was lower for Western Mountains compared to Western and Central Plains’ GWEs. The climate model projected drier and warmer GWEs with a narrow difference in increased temperature (4.6 to 5.5 °C). The MI was projected to have the greatest decrease in Central Plains (− 28%) and the least in Western Plains (− -17%) GWEs. Our findings revealed that the GWEs and land allocation types are increasingly vulnerable to changing climate. We conclude that the distribution of tribal and public lands is not climatically biased in the historic period and the projected rates of change in climate are similar among land allocation types within each GWE. All GWEs, however, are projected to warm and undergo increasing aridity, which may challenge management to sustain ecological health and human wellbeing across all land allocation types.

The Volga is the longest river in Europe and 16th longest in the world. The riverine landscape of the Volga is of exceptional scientific and economic importance to Russia; the basin contains approximately 40% of the Russian population and relates to 45% of the country's industrial and agricultural produce. The Volga River drains an area of 1.4 million km2, covering various biomes from taiga to semidesert. Anthropogenic impacts in the 20th century include pollution as well as hydropower production and navigation purposes, incurring a cost for its historically important migratory fish (e.g., sturgeons) and related fisheries. River basin management in Russia, since 2006, is based on the water code that determines federal competencies in water management. Extensive water quality monitoring programmes provide feedback to regional managers. Monitoring of biological parameters is spatially limited and should be extended in order to provide sufficient data for informed management. Some initiatives have been implemented in recent decades in order to restore the ecological health of the river and manage fisheries resources (e.g., restocking programmes and the definition of total allowable catches). As recreational fishing is popular but presently unregulated in Russia, we suggest additional monitoring. Finally, the headwaters and lower river floodplain of the Volga have remained as free‐flowing and relatively undisturbed systems. Because reference conditions with low levels of anthropogenic disturbance cannot be found in Central European lowland rivers, both the headwaters and lower Volga floodplains below Volgograd are of great importance on European level.

Microorganisms play an important role in cycling of elements of ecosystems, including a wide range of chemical pollutants from anthropogenic origin. These pollutants in ecosystems, particularly aquatic, and sediment and soils, are in different physical and chemical forms in association with the inorganic and organic constituents of the sediment and soils, resulting in variable availability of them to microorganisms for assimilation and transformation. A thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the physical and chemical states of them in the environments requires detailed information of both the bioavailable pollutant concentration and also the metabolic capability of the microorganisms to assess the ecological and environmental toxicity of these pollutants meaningfully. Apart from the primary role as decomposers, microorganisms are qualified to be sensitive indicators for environmental pollution, and ecological health and ecotoxicity of pollutants because of their very short generation time and quickly response to chemical pollutants than higher and large organisms. When used for testing with the same strain, different laboratories can generate high reproducible results to allow comparison of the data feasible, not mention the reduction in cost. Based on the current advances made on genomics analysis and bioinformatics, microbial genomes are easily assembled with the technologies available to providing useful transcriptomic and metabolic annotations, expression and prediction to allow advance toxicological to another level.

Wetlands are unique, productive ecosystems where terrestrial and aquatic habitats meet. Wetlands play a critical role in maintaining many natural cycles and supporting a wide range of biodiversity. Wetlands can also contribute to the wellbeing of the community by acting as urban green spaces which provide aesthetic appeal, landscape diversity and recreational opportunities. Globally wetlands are under threat due to altered hydrology, destruction of vegetation, fragmentation, dumping of waste, being drained and other anthropogenic reasons. Wetlands provide numerous ecological goods and services but are under tremendous stress due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and agricultural intensification. An inventory of wetlands of any region is a pre-requisite for their conservation and management. One of the aims of monitoring is to provide information for ecological assessment, which can provide early warning of changes that could negatively affect species or ecosystems.

Invasion of riparian zones by non‐native plants is a global issue and commonly perceived as a challenge for river and fishery managers, but the type and extent of ecological changes induced by such invasions remain poorly understood. Established effects on sediment delivery, allochthonous inputs, and channel shading could potentially alter aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages, with implications for in‐stream ecological quality. We assessed responses in the diversity, quality, and heterogeneity of stream macroinvertebrate communities to riparian invasion by non‐native plants. Macroinvertebrates were collected from 24 sites on low order streams in central and southern Scotland during spring and autumn. The effect of invasive non‐native plants (INNP) on macroinvertebrates was assessed relative to that of local physical and chemical factors. Invasive non‐native plants cover was associated with stronger effects than other factors on local diversity of macroinvertebrates (33% reduction at the highest INNP cover) but also increased macroinvertebrate abundance across sites. Invaded sites were also associated with lower macroinvertebrate biomonitoring scores. Community composition differed between invaded and uninvaded sites in autumn, but not in spring. However, INNP influence on macroinvertebrate composition was generally secondary to that of physicochemical variables (e.g. channel shade, substrate diversity). We demonstrate that the influence of INNP extends beyond well‐known impacts on plant communities to reductions mainly in stream macroinvertebrate diversity. Combined with the negative impact on pollution‐sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa this raises concerns over the ecological health of streams with heavily invaded riparian zones. Our findings suggest that efforts to improve low order streams by actively managing severe riparian invasions are merited, but the size and uncertainty of the likely ecological gains must also be evaluated against the effort involved.

Substance abuse has ravaged potentials and keeps clamping down on the stability of societies. It is increasingly becoming a social problem that demands sustainable remedies, particularly in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. This paper establishes a case for the utilisation of an ecological health model in dealing with harmful alcohol use in the region. What motivates the adoption of such a model is the fact that harmful alcohol use largely stems from nurture and can be remedied through same nurture. This paper adopted a case study research design using participant observation for data gathering, while using thematic analysis in organising and interpreting data.