Ecological Indicators最新文献

{"title":"The impact of seasonal variation and forest type on soil organic carbon mineralization in typical forest ecosystems on the Chinese Loess Plateau","authors":"Lie Xiao ,&nbsp;Xuxu Min ,&nbsp;Zhanbin Li ,&nbsp;Peng Li ,&nbsp;Shu Yu ,&nbsp;Jianye Ma ,&nbsp;Zhou Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114176","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114176","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC) is essential in the global carbon cycle. The forest type, season, and soil properties affect the characteristics of SOC mineralization in forest ecosystems, but their relative contributions remain unknown. In this study, soil samples from three typical forest types, <em>Pinus tabulaeformis</em> forest (PTF), <em>Quercus acutissima</em> forest (QAF), and mixed <em>P. tabulaeformis</em> and <em>Q. acutissima</em> forest (MF), were collected from China’s Loess Plateau throughout four seasons. Soil physicochemical factors, enzyme activity, microbial community composition, and SOC mineralization characteristics were investigated. Forest type, season, and their interactions significantly affected cumulative carbon mineralization (C_m) and potentially mineralizable carbon (C₀). Only seasonal variations significantly affected the mineralization rate constant (K). C_m and C₀ were highest in spring, whereas the K values were highest in summer. Interestingly, the QAF forest had substantially lower C_m and C₀ values in summer than the PTF and MF forests. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine the effects of forest type and season on SOC mineralization characteristics. SEMs explained 88%, 84%, and 58% of the variation in C_m, C₀, and K, respectively. The standardized total effects of season and forest type were −0.735 and −0.047 for C_m, −0.485 and −0.004 for C₀, and −0.446 and −0.117 for K. These findings show that on the Loess Plateau, seasonal fluctuations have a greater impact on SOC mineralization than forest type. They indicate that compared to coniferous and mixed forest types, broad-leaved forests had a relatively lower capacity for carbon mineralization. Our knowledge of the role of various environmental factors in controlling SOC dynamics in forest ecosystems is expanded by these studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114176"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145004990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An emergy-based input–output model for reassessing industrial water efficiency in the Loess Plateau, China","authors":"Yu Zhang ,&nbsp;Hongbo Zhang ,&nbsp;Chongfeng Ren ,&nbsp;Chiheng Dang ,&nbsp;Congcong Yao ,&nbsp;Fengguang Lyu ,&nbsp;Shangdong Liu ,&nbsp;Xiaowei Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114171","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114171","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The industrial added value per unit of water consumption (IAV/IWC) is widely recognized as a crucial metric for assessing the efficiency of industrial water usage in a country or region, reflecting the cost-benefit ratio of water resources in industrial sectors. From the perspective of full resource accounting, it remains ambiguous whether this indicator effectively reflects the input–output performance of water resources, given its rather simplistic and rudimentary calculation. This study introduces the concept of industrial emergy footprint and develops an emergy-based industrial water benefit model to systematically illustrate the transformation pathways of water resources and other resource elements within the industrial system. In addition, two novel indices—the water resource load index and the industrial sustainability development index—are proposed to facilitate the analysis of industrial development and prioritize investment in water resource industries, thereby offering guidance for regional industrial layout strategies, particularly in water-scarce areas. A case study in Yulin City, located in the Loess Plateau of China, illustrated that the emergy approach more effectively and scientifically quantifies the flow and efficiency of water resource utilization in industrial production across different regions. Compared with traditional industrial water use efficiency evaluation methods dominated by economic benefits, the emergy-based approach offers distinct advantages in elucidating the resource input–output process and enhancing resource allocation efficiency. The findings on regional geographical heterogeneity indicate that Dingbian, Suide, and Qingjian counties, characterized by their reliance on agricultural products and cultural tourism, exemplify the most advantageous areas for sustainable industrial growth in terms of resource usage efficiency and green industrial development. Conversely, Hengshan county, which relies primarily on coal mining and related energy industries, demonstrated a low return on industrial benefits per unit of water input and therefore should be excluded from substantial investments in water resources. Overall, this work offers a unique perspective on understanding industrial water efficiency across all resource inputs. It broadens the area of efficiency evaluation and provides vital insights for green development and sustainable resource management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114171"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145004991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The expansion of native poisonous plants in degraded Tibetan pastures enhances plant diversity via soil-mediated processes","authors":"Rui Dong ,&nbsp;Caibo Wei ,&nbsp;Kechi Dong ,&nbsp;Bin Cai ,&nbsp;Xincheng Cai ,&nbsp;Bin Chu ,&nbsp;Le Qin ,&nbsp;Limin Hua ,&nbsp;Yujie Niu","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114147","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114147","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Grassland degradation accelerates biodiversity loss and weakens ecosystem stability, particularly in alpine ecosystems. The expansion of native poisonous plants is commonly regarded as a sign of degradation. However, their ecological roles in shaping community dynamics within degraded ecosystems remain poorly understood. Here, we redefine the native poisonous species <em>Ligularia virgaurea</em> (Asteraceae) as a density-dependent ecological indicator that actively regulates biodiversity and ecosystem function. We integrated the concept of environmentally mediated density dependence with plant and soil trait measurements from 157 density patches across two spatial scales, community composition surveys, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to reveal the impacts of native poisonous plant expansion on plant communities. Our findings reveal a nonlinear facilitation-suppression relationship: at low to moderate densities, <em>L. virgaurea</em> enhanced community functional diversity and phylogenetic dispersion by increasing soil heterogeneity and promoting niche differentiation. However, at high densities, intensified competition and resource depletion suppressed diversity. These effects were primarily indirect, mediated through changes in soil water, pH, and nutrient availability. Our results challenge the conventional perspective that native poisonous plants act solely as degradative agents. Instead, we demonstrate that <em>L. virgaurea</em> plays a context-dependent regulatory role, with important implications for adaptive management of degraded ecosystems. Recognizing density thresholds and indirect soil-mediated pathways can improve restoration strategies and resilience-building in alpine grasslands under global environmental change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114147"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144997638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of island-specific land-use classification system and spatiotemporal pattern evolution analysis using Landsat time series for coastal zone management: A case study of Zhoushan Archipelago, China","authors":"Taohua Ren ,&nbsp;Chao Chen ,&nbsp;Zhisong Liu ,&nbsp;Jianwan Ji ,&nbsp;Weiwei Sun ,&nbsp;Gang Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114158","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114158","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a special geographical unit, islands serve as important platforms for expanding the blue economy. Existing land-use classification systems predominantly target terrestrial areas and often lack consideration of complex marine environments and periodic tidal effects on islands, which lead to insufficient applicability and lower precision in information extraction. To address these issues, this study adopted a land-sea coupling perspective and the long-term temporal analysis. By comprehensively consideration the unique characteristics of geographical environments and land-use modes, a hierarchical land-use classification framework was developed specifically for island environments through systematic integration of spectral, temporal, and geomorphological features derived from medium-resolution satellite imagery. Then, land use information was extracted by integrating multi-feature parameters and employing the Random Forest Algorithm (RFA), followed by an exploration on the spatiotemporal dynamics of it. The research results of Zhoushan Archipelago show that: (1) The developed classification system effectively consider the influences of periodic tidal inundation and land-sea interactions, more accurately reflecting the natural resource endowments and land-use patterns of island areas. (2) Integrating multi-feature parameters, the RFA demonstrated strong performance in land-use information extraction from remote sensing data of the Zhoushan Archipelago between 1985 and 2024, achieving an average overall accuracy (OA) of 93.56 % and a Kappa coefficient of 0.93. (3) The total land area of Zhoushan Archipelago exhibited a sustained expansion from 1,274.42 km² in 1985 to 1,456.57 km² in 2024. Urbanization triggered dramatic expansion of construction land, increasing from 47.62 km² to 426.50 km² (8.95 times). (4) Due to industrial transformation, the salt pans area declined by as much as 94.88 %. Driven by the fishery economy, aquaculture ponds areas experienced substantial expansion, from 8.08 km² to 35.09 km², an increase of 4.34 times. Coastal reclamation primarily originates from shallow marine waters and bare intertidal flats, and the newly reclaimed land mainly allocated for construction land (119.12 km²), cropland/grassland (29.04 km²) and aquaculture ponds (17.66 km²). (5) Landscape indices analysis indicated that, the Zhoushan Archipelago has undergone intensified landscape fragmentation, enhanced diversity, and decreased connectivity, although these trends have eased in recent years. This study can offer valuable guidance for the sustainable development and in-depth research of island land use.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114158"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144997641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Acoustic detection and occupancy models: A systematic review with insights for future monitoring programs","authors":"Frederico Carvalho Martins ,&nbsp;Pedro Segurado ,&nbsp;João Tiago Marques","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114081","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Wildlife management requires monitoring to infer spatiotemporal changes in the distribution or abundance of species and communities of organisms. Technological advancements have increasingly facilitated monitoring species through new data collection methods. Such technological advancements include small-sized acoustic recording devices that can record a wide range of sound frequencies, making them especially suitable for analysis by statistical tools such as occupancy models. We reviewed 188 publications that used acoustic methods and occupancy modelling published between 2002 and 2024 to synthesise and discuss the past usage and potential of combining these two methodologies in research studies in ecology and conservation. We examined the published articles’ biogeographical focus, taxonomic group, study temporal design, and modelling choices. Additionally, we performed a text network analysis to understand the trends in the investigated topics of the articles. Our findings revealed that most studies were primarily implemented in the Nearctic region (61.7 %) and were concentrated on two taxonomic groups, birds and bats (42 % and 33 %, respectively). We found that nearly half of the studies limited their analysis to the simplest modelling solution, single-season and single-species models, even though many collected data for multiple species and sampled across several seasons. The text analysis revealed that the research primarily focuses on species monitoring and habitat use. Coupling low-cost passive acoustic monitoring with a diversified set of occupancy models is a scalable methodology that can help implement standardised protocols for regional and larger-scale monitoring programs, which are critical for animal conservation in an increasingly anthropogenic landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114081"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144997639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Observational evidence highlights the spatial divergence of vegetation changes in altering land surface energy balance over the Three-North region in China in summer","authors":"Xiuwan Yin ,&nbsp;Bo Jiang ,&nbsp;Yingping Chen ,&nbsp;Yu Zhao ,&nbsp;Xuqing Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114152","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114152","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent decades, the Three-North region (northeastern, northwestern, and north China), recognized as one of the most vulnerable regions in China, has experienced significant vegetation changes through large-scale ecosystem projects, most notably the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (TNSFP). Changes in vegetation can regulate the local or regional climate, but few efforts have been made to figure out the underlying mechanisms from the perspective of land surface energy balance. To elucidate the vegetation-energy balance interactions encompassing both radiative and non-radiative processes, the long-term observational evidence (1983–2018) provided by the remotely sensed products in summer was derived over the TNSFP planning region. This study revealed a substantial increase in vegetation greenness, mainly characterized by cropland expansion, conversions between cropland and grassland, and forest gain. The surface net radiation (R_n) increased significantly with a rate of 0.20 W/m² per year, dominated by the enhanced surface net shortwave radiation (SR) (0.23 W/m² per year), most occurring in the greener areas. Consequently, the increased R_n has been largely redistributed into latent heat fluxes (LE), rising at 0.35 W/m² per year. Spatial discrepancies in vegetation altering the surface energy balance, primarily driven by agricultural management practices and meteorological forces under the context of global warming, have been observed. In the western study region, irrigated cropland expansion has triggered a more pronounced and sensitive biophysical response, amplifying surface energy balance changes. Comparatively, the middle of the region, marked by expanded grassland and cropland, exhibited a more moderate effect. Meanwhile, the eastern study region showed less significant changes, offset by the reduced precipitation linked to a weakened summer monsoon. These findings highlight the critical role of vegetation coverage and types, and regional climate in shaping surface energy dynamics. They emphasize the need to integrate these factors into ecological restoration strategies, offering key insights for climate adaptation policies in semi-arid and arid environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114152"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144997642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal variability and controls of CH4 and CO2 emissions in an alpine reservoir: insights from the Liujiaxia system","authors":"Hao Cui ,&nbsp;Zhiheng Du ,&nbsp;Lei Wang ,&nbsp;Fangping Yan ,&nbsp;Wenhan Hu ,&nbsp;Simin Xie ,&nbsp;Qian Xu ,&nbsp;Guojun Han","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114134","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114134","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alpine reservoirs represent critical but poorly quantified sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from inland waters. This study examines spatiotemporal variations and drivers of methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes in the Liujiaxia (LJX) Reservoir (1735 m a.s.l.), a high-altitude hydropower system in the upper Yellow River, through multi-season field campaigns (2021–2023). High-frequency flux measurements, stable isotope analyses (δ¹³C-CH₄ and δ¹³C-CO₂), and statistical modeling identified contrasting emission patterns between central and nearshore zones. Ebullition dominated CH₄ emissions (54–86 % of total fluxes), with summer total fluxes surpassing spring and winter levels by factors of 2.8–5.7. Isotopic evidence revealed hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis as the principal pathway in the central zone (α_c = 1.053 ± 0.01; δ¹³C-CH₄ = −50.19 ± 4.09 ‰), contrasting with acetoclastic dominance in nearshore regions (α_c = 1.028 ± 0.01; δ¹³C-CH₄ = −65.04 ± 6.38 ‰), implicating sediment-driven methane production. CO₂ fluxes exhibited pronounced seasonality, linked to organic carbon mineralization in nearshore sediments. Hydrological regulation amplified upstream GHG emissions, where CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes exceeded downstream values by 3.7- and 1.8- fold, respectively. A random forest model, informed by high-resolution spatiotemporal flux data, estimated annual emissions of 0.23 Gg CH₄ and 20.18 Gg CO₂. These findings underscore the significant influence of hydrologic management and biogeochemical processes on GHG budgets in alpine reservoirs, providing essential data to improve global models of inland water emissions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114134"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal distribution and driving factors of water use efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration under the background of sustainability","authors":"Liang Tang ,&nbsp;Hengkai Zhao ,&nbsp;Zhuofan Zhou ,&nbsp;Zixi Qian ,&nbsp;Shanshan Hou ,&nbsp;Bo Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114159","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114159","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a key economic strategic region in China, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration plays a crucial role in national sustainable development. Exploring the spatiotemporal distribution and influencing factors of water use efficiency (WUE) in this region is of great significance for promoting sustainable water resource utilization. This study employs a comprehensive methodological framework, including the Super-SBM model with undesirable outputs, Moran’s I, Gini coefficient, convergence analysis, geographic detector, and Tobit regression model, to investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of WUE in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). The results reveal that: (1) The overall trend of WUE in the region follows a “U-shaped” pattern, first declining and then rising, with a spatial hierarchy of Jiangsu (0.737) &gt; Shanghai (0.662) &gt; Anhui (0.631) &gt; Zhejiang (0.608). The difference in hypervariable density is identified as the primary source of regional disparities in WUE. (2) Convergence analysis indicates a significant spatial <em>β</em>-convergence of WUE across cities in the region, suggesting that cities with relatively lower efficiency are gradually narrowing the gap with those performing at higher levels. This is consistent with the findings derived from the Gini coefficient. (3) Economic development and technological innovation significantly promote WUE, while factors such as industrial structure, water resource endowment, waterway transportation, urbanization level, and per capita water consumption exert negative impacts. Moreover, the interaction effects among these factors demonstrate a stronger driving influence on WUE than any single factor alone. The findings of this study not only deepen the understanding of WUE dynamics but also provide valuable insights for formulating strategies to enhance water resource efficiency both in the YRD and across China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114159"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of grassland NDVI change velocity to climate velocity in the alpine mountainous region","authors":"Qinqin Du ,&nbsp;Mingjun Zhang ,&nbsp;Qingyu Guan ,&nbsp;Yunfan Sun ,&nbsp;Zhilan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114153","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114153","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Under climate warming, grassland vegetation in mountainous regions responds rapidly to climate change but often lags behind the rate of climatic shifts. The Qilian Mountains (QLMs), a representative alpine mountainous area, have experienced a warming rate significantly exceeding the global average. However, whether the change velocity of grassland NDVI in the QLMs matches climate velocity remains unclear, and there is an urgent need to determine if regional grasslands can adapt to the “velocity race” driven by climate change. To address this gap, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal trends of change velocities in growing-season grassland NDVI (NDVI_GS), temperature, and precipitation across the QLMs using the local climate velocity method combined with a moving window technique. Results showed that from 2000 to 2024, the velocities of grassland NDVI_GS, temperature, and precipitation all increased, with precipitation velocity exhibiting the fastest growth rate. Their mean values were 0.08 ± 0.08 km·a⁻¹ (NDVI_GS), 0.07 ± 0.07 km·a⁻¹ (temperature), and 0.24 ± 0.26 km·a⁻¹ (precipitation), indicating that grassland NDVI_GS velocity was intermediate between temperature and precipitation velocities. Spatially, 54.1 % of grassland areas displayed NDVI_GS velocities exceeding temperature velocities, while 77.8 % of areas showed NDVI_GS velocities lower than precipitation velocities. In conclusion, the response of grassland NDVI_GS velocity to temperature and precipitation velocities exhibits regional heterogeneity. These findings provide important scientific insights for guiding grassland restoration and adaptive management in alpine mountainous regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114153"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal dynamics and influencing factors of urban dry island intensity in Nanjing Metropolis, China","authors":"Miao Liu ,&nbsp;Yong Wang ,&nbsp;Yan Zeng ,&nbsp;Meng Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114155","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114155","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With changes in the natural environment and the influence of human activities, the urban dry island (UDI) effect has gradually intensified globally, which has a great impact on the quality of life of urban residents. In this study, we analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics of the UDI effect based on hourly relative humidity data from 54 meteorological stations in Nanjing metropolis and analyzed the effects of natural and human factors on changes of urban dry island intensity (UDII) using Geodetector tools and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of this study revealed the following. (1) The UDII in Nanjing metropolis showed a fluctuating downward trend between 2014 and 2020, and there were obvious differences between different seasons and between day and night, with the UDII being stronger at night and in winter. The UDII is strongest in the city center and gradually weakens toward the city periphery. (2) The average effects of human and natural factors in UDII are 0.42 and 0.31, respectively, indicating that human influences play a more prominent role in shaping UDII. (3) Urban structure (US) is a key latent variable that exacerbates UDII, whereas blue–green space (BGS) has a mitigating effect to a certain extent, and meteorological conditions (MC) indirectly exacerbate UDII by acting on blue–green space (BGS). (4) Although natural factors, such as air temperature (AT) and the fraction of vegetation cover (FVC), are also influential, their effects have been heavily modulated by humans in the context of high urbanization, which further highlights the dominant role of humans in UDII. This study provides new perspectives for understanding UDII and a scientific basis for optimizing the urban layout and improving the urban environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11459,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Indicators","volume":"179 ","pages":"Article 114155"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}