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Litter decomposition is a prominent pathway for nutrient availability and management in terrestrial ecosystems. An in-situ litter decomposition experiment was carried out for different land use types along an elevation gradient in the Taihang Mountain area restored after heavy forest degradation in the past. Four land use types, i.e., cropland, shrubland, grassland, and forest, selected randomly from a 300–700 m elevation were investigated for the experiment using the litter bag technique. Litter mass loss ranged from 26.9% (forest) to 44.3% (cropland) varying significantly among land use types. The initial litter quality, mainly N and C/N, had a significant effect on the litter loss rate. The interaction of elevation × land use types × time was significant (p < 0.001). Litter nutrient mobility (K > P ≈ N > C) of the decomposing litter was sporadic with substantial stoichiometric effects of C/N, N/P, and C/P. The residual litters were enriched in 15N and depleted in 13C as compared to the initial litter. Increment of N, P, and δ15N values in residual litter indicates that, even in the highly weathered substrate, plant litter plays a crucial role in conserving nutrients. This study is a strong baseline for monitoring the functioning of the Taihang Mountain ecosystem restored after the complete destruction in the early 1990s.

Sanctuaries are widely regarded as a protected area where fishing has been placed under some restrictions by local, state, regional and national authorities for the conservation and management of fisheries resources. These sanctuaries have a broad array of positive and negative social, economic, cultural and political impacts on fishers. This study aims to analyze the socio-economic and ecological benefits and costs of hilsa sanctuaries to protect single most important hilsa species using Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA). Under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act of 1950, six sites along the Padma, Meghna, Tetulia, and Andharmanik rivers have been designated as hilsa sanctuaries. Findings of the current study revealed that most fishers perceived production of hilsa and other species were increased as a direct consequences of sanctuaries establishment. However, a considerable proportion of hilsa fishermen was found to have low socioeconomic capital, as measured by monthly income, housing circumstances and asset ownership. During the restricted fishing season in the sanctuaries, these households are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. The government’s compensation scheme is a good example of payment of ecosystem services in an open water fishery; however, this scheme does not include all the affected fishers. It is found that hilsa sanctuaries lead to income loss of the poor fishers which is insufficiently compensated by government support program. To compensate income loss, fishers resort illegal fishing which undermine the success of sanctuary. If the sanctuaries are to function effectively, affecting fishers must be addressed by offering enough compensation schemes so that fishers are able to support their families. Moreover, some fishers believed that a co-management approach involving fishers and government is the possible best management option for operating sanctuaries in a sustainable way.

The objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of the environmental and socio-economic risks on the fisheries in the Mediterranean region from an economic point of view. A balanced panel of 21 Mediterranean countries for 2001–2018 has been estimated by the GLS method, considering heteroskedasticity and correlation among cross sections. The volume of fish landed and landed values have been considered in two models. The results show that increases in sea bottom and surface temperature, H+ ion concentration and salinity threaten the fisheries in the Mediterranean region for the volume of fish landed and that sea surface temperature and salinity negatively influence landed values. In addition, there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between human population and fisheries. Moreover, the Human Development Index (HDI), an indicator of countries’ adaptive capacity, has a positive impact on fisheries and indicates that countries can safeguard fisheries by improving their adaptive capacity. Finally, our results strongly show the risk of climate change for the fisheries in the Mediterranean region and that fisheries are adversely impacted by climate change as well as worsening socio-economic conditions in the absence of adaptation plans.

The pigment content in leaves has commonly been used to characterize vegetation condition. However, few studies have assessed temporal changes of local biotic and abiotic factors on leaf pigments. Here, we evaluated the effect of local environmental variables and tree structural characteristics, in the chlorophyll-a leaf concentration (Chl-a) associated with temporal change in two mangrove species. Rhizophora mangle (R. mangle) and Avicennia germinans (A. germinans) trees of a fringe mangrove forest (FMF) and lower basin mangrove forest (BMF) were visited over a period of one year, to obtain radiometric readings at leaf level to estimate Chl-a. Measurements on tree characteristics included diameter at breast height (DBH), basal area (BA), and maximum height (H). Environmental variables included soil interstitial water temperature (Ti), salinity (Si), and dissolved oxygen (Oi), flood level (fL), ambient temperature (Tamb), and relative humidity (Hrel). Generalized linear models and covariance analysis showed that the variation of Chl-a is mainly influenced by the species, the interaction between species and mangrove forest type, DBH, seasonality and its influence on the species, soil conditions, and fL. Studies to assess spatial and temporal change on mangrove forests using the spectral characteristics of the trees should also consider the temporal variation of leave chlorophyll-a concentration.

As aquaculture food production is expected to increase, introduced aquaculture species play an important role in meeting the rising demand for aquatic food products and contributing to great societal benefits. Species introduction forces sympatric species to coexist within the same ecosystem by niche segregation. Japanese smelt Hypomesus nipponensis and sharpbelly Hemiculter leucisculus are ecologically similar species and were introduced to Lake Bosten, the largest inland lake in Northwest China, accounting for more than 60% of the total production. We predicted that the coexistence of the two invasive species is mediated by habitat segregation. We analyzed spatiotemporal patterns of Japanese smelt and sharpbelly abundance in Lake Bosten to determine the patterns of spatial segregation between the two dominant fish species. Our results showed that, in Lake Bosten, sharpbelly are typically littoral dwellers when the surface temperature increases in spring and summer, while Japanese smelt often prefer pelagic waters, especially during summer and autumn when the surface temperature rises. Japanese smelt showed an affinity for deeper waters, using median depths 1.7 m deeper than those of sharpbelly, irrespective of the sampling season. Water temperature was the main underlying driver of such spatial segregation and coexistence of these two closely related species in Lake Bosten. Spawning, food resources, and fishing were also important possible factors affecting spatial segregation between the two species. Our results provide new information on niche partitioning patterns as strategies for the coexistence of the two dominant non-native fish in Lake Bosten, supporting the idea that ecologically similar species can avoid resource competition through spatial habitat segregation.

This work was aimed at comparing the instream flow environment of four basic hydromorphological units of a mountain gravel-bed river: pools, runs, riffles and rapids. A survey was performed during the average flow stage on the Skawa River in southern Poland. In the 3.5 km long reach, 31 physical habitats were surveyed: eight pools, eight runs, nine riffles and seven rapids. Using Micro ADV Sontek equipment, instantaneous velocity time series components were measured at eight locations in three positions—z/h = 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6—in each unit. Turbulence descriptors—the mean components of velocity, turbulence intensities calculated as the root mean square of velocity component time series, turbulent kinetic energy TKE, Reynolds shear stresses and standard hydraulic attribute, i.e., Froude number—were estimated. Although there was a wide dispersion of the turbulence variable distributions, a standard tendency of decreased mean velocity and increased turbulence towards the bottom was observed. Most turbulence parameters—streamwise velocity, turbulence intensities, TKE and streamwise-vertical Reynolds shear stresses—reveal differences of instream flow environment between the pools, runs and riffles. In addition, the mean turbulence intensities suggested a 1:2:3:3 proportion of turbulence intensity in pools, runs, riffles and rapids, respectively. Riffles and rapids, in general, have similar turbulence values, whereas rapids are deeper and visually more energetic.

The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability is essential for human well-being. An important tool for addressing this issue is ecological indicators. This overview document examines recent studies covering the period 2018–2022 that use the values of the Landolt indicator as one of the analysis methods. The total number of records examined was 8910. After excluding irrelevant, inconsistent and duplicate records, 91 records were selected. The selection criteria were the presence of the English abstract and a digital object identifier (DOI). We chose the VOSviewer software for data analysis and visualization. The analysis of research geography, types of plant communities under research, research topics, the network of co-authorship and relationship papers, as well as the publication activity and citation rate of the authors, is carried out. The results revealed that the geography of using Landolt indicator values is quite wide, while they are more often used in Switzerland, Italy and Russia. The most important and frequently cited studies were carried out in the context of large international projects, confirming the importance of scientific cooperation in the development of environmental indicators. The Landolt indicator values showed effectiveness in the study of forests, bogs, riparian vegetation, a coarse quarry waste dump, and in assessing the urban environment. At the same time, the vegetation dynamics and influence of various factors on plants were studied most often. It was revealed that Landolt indicator values can serve as an effective universal method that integrates many aspects of the environment and allows for a comprehensive multicriteria analysis of environmental factors, habitat stability, vegetation diversity and dynamics for different plant communities at different spatial scales over a wide geographical area. This is confirmed by the high citation rate of the papers. We recommend the Landolt indicator values for a wider use, including in the monitoring of ecosystems and individual species for their conservation and sustainable management. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to extend the network of relationships between the authors, which is not very well developed at the moment. The research results obtained are useful for the further successful development not only of the Landolt indicator values but also of environmental indicators in general.

In this paper, we discuss the importance of the efficient communication of science results to citizens across the world. In order for people to absorb information, we need to understand the principles and apply the best available means to facilitate the process of increasing global awareness of the changes. This explicitly applies to the verification of how we appeal to people with respect to various environmental issues and, hence, how we can modernize the educational approaches to challenge the global change. We state that, in order to follow the philosophy of sustainable development goals with respect to ocean issues, we need an attractive alternative to the existing areas of consumption. We also state that the ocean issues are at the core of any process aiming to secure sustainability. New methods and tools of education and scientific communication, especially those which are offered by non-formal approaches, are necessary, and we present here some of the activities of the EU4Ocean coalition as best practice examples.