Article
Environmental Studies
Denis Vasiliev, Sarah Greenwood
Summary: To address climate change and meet global commitments, nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) are gaining popularity. However, limited recommendations exist on managing NbS for biodiversity. Landscape ecology evidence can provide guidance for NbCS design.
Article
Forestry
Eva Fernandez-Pablos, Amparo Verdu-Vazquez, Oscar Lopez-Zaldivar, Rafael Lozano-Diez
Summary: The future planning and management of cities should focus on creating green infrastructure, improving urban biodiversity, urban forests, and the value of natural areas in urban environments. The COVID19 crisis has emphasized the need for harmony between city dwellers and nature. Developing environmental quality standards to assess green infrastructures as a whole is crucial for sustainable urban development.
Article
Ecology
Judy Bush, Cathy Oke, Ariana Dickey, Jacinta Humphrey, Lee Harrison, Marco Amati, Giorgia Fornari, Kylie Soanes, David Callow, Rodney van der Ree
Summary: Cities play important roles in biodiversity restoration and management, with local municipalities as key land managers. Evolving approaches to urban nature policy demonstrate increasing complexity and sophistication, with a focus on a wider range of urban nature forms, species, and ecosystems. Melbourne's urban nature policies and activities over the past decade provide important innovations and lessons that can be applied by other urban land managers.
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Wenwen Huang, Guangsi Lin
Summary: Urban green space is a crucial resource for improving the urban environment and human health. It has positive effects on physical, mental, and social health. However, the social health benefits of urban green space have received less attention. This review explores the relationship between urban green space and individual social health, and it provides evidence and information for future research and policymakers.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zdravko Baruch, Craig Liddicoat, Christian Cando-Dumancela, Mark Laws, Hamish Morelli, Philip Weinstein, Jennifer M. Young, Martin F. Breed
Summary: The management of urban green spaces has a significant impact on soil bacterial communities, with plant species richness positively associated with soil bacterial diversity. These trends are not influenced by geographical proximity of sample sites, highlighting the importance of understanding the effects of urban green space management on the soil microbiome for informing policy development.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Kenton L. Sena, Zachary J. Hackworth, John M. Lhotka
Summary: This study investigates a chronosequence of reforested urban sites in Lexington, KY, USA, revealing a non-linear relationship between canopy height and time since planting, with implications of non-native species in the understory impacting the long-term health of the sites.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Xin Li, Xiangrong Wang, Xin Jiang, Jingyi Han, Ziyao Wang, Danzi Wu, Qing Lin, Liang Li, Shiyang Zhang, Yang Dong
Summary: Canalized rivers, a product of urbanization, greatly contribute to the aesthetics of a city. However, there is limited research on the visual quality of urban canalized rivers. This study uses deep learning to establish a predictive model for the aesthetic quality of urban riverside greenways. The model identifies trees and bridges as important factors affecting the aesthetic quality, with trees positively correlated and bridges negatively correlated. This model can be useful for evaluating and predicting the aesthetic quality of urban canalized riverside landscapes.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Sixian Li, Tianyu Chen, Feiying Chen, Feng Mi
Summary: This research evaluated the impact of the urban forest environment on residents' visual, auditory, and olfactory senses and tested the psychological restoration effects in urban forest environments through a natural experiment conducted in Beijing. The findings demonstrated that the urban forest environment significantly influenced residents' psychological restoration and natural environment perception.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Bryce T. Lawrence, Jonas Hornberg, Kai Schroer, Dany Djeudeu, Timo Haselhoff, Salman Ahmed, Susanne Moebus, Dietwald Gruehn
Summary: This study aims to establish a connection between soundscape perception descriptors and ecoacoustic indices in order to determine the perceptual dimension of ecoacoustic indices. The findings show significant correlations between predictors such as median amplitude (M), acoustic richness (AR), number of peaks (NP), and acoustic evenness index (AEI), with psychoacoustic outcomes such as perceived affective quality (PAQ) and soundscape identifiers (SSI). The study concludes that combinations of these variables contribute to understanding several psychoacoustic perception outcomes.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Maria Toledo-Garibaldi, Danijela Puric-Mladenovic, Sandy M. Smith
Summary: Urban forests are crucial for green infrastructure and their integration into strategic land-use planning is essential, especially in developing cities. In Mexico City, we used an urban biotope approach to classify urban forests and environmental characteristics, resulting in a hierarchical biotope system that can support decision-making in urban forest planning.
Article
Forestry
Luis Manuel Morales-Gallegos, Tomas Martinez-Trinidad, Patricia Hernandez-de la Rosa, Armando Gomez-Guerrero, Dionicio Alvarado-Rosales, Luz de Lourdes Saavedra-Romero
Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the stress induced by the urban environment on trees and its impact on the condition of the crown. The study found correlations between variables such as crown density (Cdn), crown transparency (Ctr) and vegetation indices such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and blue-normalized difference vegetation index (BNDVI). Therefore, it is possible to evaluate the health condition of trees in urban green areas by using vegetation indices.
Article
Forestry
Hongyan Li, Jiaxi Peng, Yang Jiao, Shengshu Ai
Summary: Green and blue spaces have been found to evoke positive emotions in nature experiencers. Optimizing the geographical arrangement of wetland forest landscapes can increase happiness levels. Females tend to smile more frequently in the southern parts, and their happy scores and positive response index are generally higher. Additionally, both green and blue spaces have positive relationships with happiness scores.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Liu Lingyan
Summary: Since the reform and opening up, China's urbanization has attracted global attention, developing rapidly but facing issues such as urban development and social, natural ecological disharmony. Urban planning needs to consider ecological, social, cultural, and policy factors, rather than focusing solely on economic benefits.
ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Juan Wang, Dan Zhao, Xian'an Liu, Qiufang Shao, Danli Yang, Fanru Zeng, Yu Feng, Shiqi Zhang, Peihao Peng, Jinping Liu
Summary: Since 1999, the Chinese government has continuously banned commercial logging and intensified conservation efforts through programs such as the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP). However, the effectiveness of the logging ban and its impact on deforestation remain uncertain. It is crucial to comprehensively monitor the changes in forest habitat and assess the ecological status over the past two decades.
Article
Urban Studies
Luca Battisti, Giovanni Giacco, Massimiliano Moraca, Giacomo Pettenati, Egidio Dansero, Federica Larcher
Summary: This study aims to identify the neighborhoods in the city where Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can be implemented to maximize their social impact. The authors used the 3-30-300 rule and proposed an index to identify neighborhoods for prioritized NbS implementation. The results highlight 10 neighborhoods in the city with a high need for NbS implementation.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hua-Feng Wang, Xia-Lan Cheng, Mir Muhammad Nizamani, Kelly Balfour, Liangjun Da, Zhi-Xin Zhu, Salman Qureshi
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Paul Draus, Dagmar Haase, Jacob Napieralski, Alec Sparks, Salman Qureshi, Juliette Roddy
Article
Environmental Sciences
Salman Qureshi, Saman Nadizadeh Shorabeh, Najmeh Neysani Samany, Foad Minaei, Mehdi Homaee, Fatemeh Nickravesh, Mohammad Karimi Firozjaei, Jamal Jokar Arsanjani
Summary: This study proposes an integrated approach for determining suitable landfill locations using FAHP and WLC, while predicting urban growth using SVM and cellular automation-based Markov chain method. The case study in Mashhad, Iran, demonstrates the applicability of the approach in identifying suitable landfill sites and reducing uncertainty in long-term resource allocation.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sadroddin Alavipanah, Dagmar Haase, Mohsen Makki, Mir Muhammad Nizamani, Salman Qureshi
Summary: This research analyzed indoor and outdoor temperature patterns of different urban settlements, revealing distinct temperature differences between regions. Dense urban settlements tend to have higher outdoor temperatures, while newly built districts show cooler outdoor temperatures during the warm season. Understanding indoor and outdoor temperature patterns simultaneously could help identify vulnerable districts to minimize the impact of heat stress on inhabitants.
Article
Plant Sciences
Zhifang Wang, Yinglu Miao, Min Xu, Zhongwei Zhu, Salman Qureshi, Qing Chang
Summary: The research transforms unstructured online comments into a structured assessment of urban parks' perceived services to human wellbeing using social media data and a word2vec model, revealing various perception frequencies and bundling types of ecosystem services in different parks.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Salman Qureshi, Javad Koohpayma, Mohammad Karimi Firozjaei, Ata Abdollahi Kakroodi
Summary: This study compares satellite data with ground station data and finds that GPM and TRMM monthly precipitation products overestimate rainfall, with different overestimation levels in different climate conditions. Additionally, the accuracy of satellite data varies significantly under different seasons, climate conditions, and timescales.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Muhammad Fahad Baqa, Linlin Lu, Fang Chen, Syed Nawaz-ul-Huda, Luyang Pan, Aqil Tariq, Salman Qureshi, Bin Li, Qingting Li
Summary: This study explored the impact of land use/land cover changes on the urban thermal environment in the tropical megacity, Karachi, Pakistan. The results indicated that the increase in built-up areas led to higher land surface temperatures, and different land cover types exhibited varying degrees of heat island effects. The normalized difference built-up index had a significant influence on land surface temperature. Large parks with medium- and high-density vegetation played a crucial role in regulating the thermal environment.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yazeed Alsubhi, Salman Qureshi, Mazen E. Assiri, Muhammad Haroon Siddiqui
Summary: Recently, the negative effects of dust on health, environment, and economy have become a significant problem. This study aimed to assess the impact of dust sources in Saudi Arabia on the physical growth and vegetation status of cities. Using satellite data, simulated surface data, and soil data, the researchers created a dust sources map and analyzed the changes in urban built-up land and vegetation. The study found that dust sources have a significant impact on the physical growth and vegetation status of cities.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mazen E. E. Assiri, Salman Qureshi
Summary: The study aimed to improve the accuracy of precipitation products through developing a multi-source data fusion method. Results showed that the random forest regression algorithm combined with existing precipitation products and surface characteristics could significantly enhance precipitation estimation accuracy.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mateeul Haq, Muhammad Jawed Iqbal, Khan Alam, Zhongwei Huang, Thomas Blaschke, Salman Qureshi, Sher Muhammad
Summary: This study focuses on the Karakoram glaciers and analyzes the long-term trend of runoff components. It shows that the melting of glaciers has slightly increased, with overall modest mass loss. The annual river flows have a rising trend, while rainfall and temperatures in July, August, and September have contrasting behavior. The study raises the importance of effective water resource management to mitigate any adverse impacts of gradual climate change on river flows.
Review
Environmental Studies
Seyed Kazem Alavipanah, Mohammad Karimi Firozjaei, Amir Sedighi, Solmaz Fathololoumi, Saeid Zare Naghadehi, Samiraalsadat Saleh, Maryam Naghdizadegan, Zinat Gomeh, Jamal Jokar Arsanjani, Mohsen Makki, Salman Qureshi, Qihao Weng, Dagmar Haase, Biswajeet Pradhan, Asim Biswas, Peter M. Atkinson
Summary: In remote sensing, shadows significantly influence the quality of data and play a crucial role in environmental studies. Different types of shadows have been identified, affecting various properties and outputs in remote sensing processes. Modeling and mitigating the shadow effect pose challenges, but valuable information can still be extracted from shadows.
Review
Environmental Studies
Zahra Mokhtari, Shahindokht Barghjelveh, Romina Sayahnia, Salman Qureshi, Alessio Russo
Summary: This study aimed to develop a theoretical framework to understand the interactions between social-biophysical patterns and processes mediating the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. By conducting a theoretical review and building a hypothetical model, the framework provides a holistic vision of the spatial variations of UHI in long-term studies.
Article
Environmental Studies
Shanshan Chen, Dagmar Haase, Bing Xue, Thilo Wellmann, Salman Qureshi
Summary: Urban green space (UGS) plays a crucial role in urban ecosystems and human health, and the integration of quantity and quality of UGS is essential for green space sustainability.
Article
Environmental Studies
Muhammad Fahad Baqa, Fang Chen, Linlin Lu, Salman Qureshi, Aqil Tariq, Siyuan Wang, Linhai Jing, Salma Hamza, Qingting Li
Summary: Understanding the spatial growth of Karachi, Pakistan using satellite data and machine learning algorithms revealed expansion in the primary urban core and emergence of a new secondary urban core, with built-up area increasing at the expense of agricultural land. Implementation of afforestation programs improved vegetation coverage in the study area.
Article
Environmental Studies
Paul Draus, Dagmar Haase, Jacob Napieralski, Salman Qureshi, Juliette Roddy
Summary: This paper explores the relationship between urban nature or green space and marginalized, stigmatized, and illicit activities, with a focus on research methodologies and comparative case studies. By examining Detroit and Berlin, the research highlights how urban spaces are shaped by diverse actors with emergent potentials.
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES
(2021)
