Review
Plant Sciences
Yanzhi Lu, Emma Jayne Sakamoto Ferranti, Lee Chapman, Christian Pfrang
Summary: Urban greenery is important for sustainable urban development, and assessing it using Street View (SV) images can provide evidence for strategic urban forest management and planning. Currently, SV-based research focuses on extracting the green view index and studying its impact on residents' health and well-being. There are challenges in utilizing SV images for assessing urban greenery, such as limited spatial and temporal coverage, low data collection accuracy, and immature deep learning techniques for object identification.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xinyang Yu, Younggu Her, Wenqian Huo, Guowei Chen, Wei Qi
Summary: This study developed a framework using Baidu Street View images and a new Vegetation Greenery Index (VGI) to assess the spatio-temporal variation of street-side vegetation greenery. The proposed method accurately quantified vegetation greenery and identified locations of substantial change in urban greenery.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ian A. Smith, Pamela H. Templer, Lucy R. Hutyra
Summary: Street trees play an important role in climate resiliency by offsetting urban heat and attenuating storm water runoff. This study examines the sources of water for Acer platanoides street trees in Boston through stable isotope analysis and finds that precipitation is the main water source during the summer. However, the dependence on precipitation may lead to increased water stress in mesic cities under changing climate conditions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Aamir Mehmood Shah, Gengyuan Liu, Zhaoman Huo, Qing Yang, Wen Zhang, Fanxin Meng, Lin Yao, Sergio Ulgiati
Summary: This study applies the Emergy Accounting method to assess the cost and benefit of street trees in urban green infrastructure. It establishes a framework to assign environmental value to different types of services provided by urban forests. The study evaluates the services and dis-services of the street ecosystem in Beijing, and suggests improvements for better management practices.
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Peter Edwards
Summary: Essential urban services like electricity, water, sewage disposal, solid waste management, and stormwater control are becoming increasingly centralized, posing sustainability challenges. To be sustainable, cities need to be integrated like living organisms with the resilience of mature ecosystems, requiring a shift from centralized facilities to more distributed yet interconnected systems.
EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Deeksha, Anoop Kumar Shukla
Summary: This study conducted a systematic review of articles related to ecosystem services and remote sensing, finding that regional-level research on ecosystem services is a current hotspot, aiding in understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Mohsen Sharafatmandrad, Azam Khosravi Mashizi
Summary: This study assessed the spatial and temporal distribution of water supply and demand in the Jiroft basin in Iran to help managers address water scarcity. The findings showed that water supply and demand matched in only 23% of the basin area, with a significant decrease during dry years. Shrub-grass rangelands and deciduous woodlands were identified as the most valuable for conservation.
WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Luis Alberto Bertolucci Paes, Barbara Stolte Bezerra, Daniel Jugend, Fabiana Liar Agudo
Summary: This paper explores how the alignment of circular bioeconomy (CBE) principles can support urban ecosystem (UE) services, proposing an adaptive theoretical framework based on qualitative and comparative analysis of current scientific literature. The framework presents itself as a tool to guide further research in the field, facilitating the identification of trade-offs, benefits, and co-benefits, and represents a step towards generalization and reducing uncertainties and utopian notions that shape the CBE.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Muhammad Omer Mughal, Aytac Kubilay, Simone Fatichi, Naika Meili, Jan Carmeliet, Peter Edwards, Paolo Burlando
Summary: This study investigates the impact of an urban park on air temperatures and thermal comfort in Singapore using a three-dimensional urban microclimate model. The results show a cooling effect and reduced thermal stress in and around the park, providing specific guidelines for urban planners on local microclimate modifications in a tropical city.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Luiz H. David, Sara M. Pinho, Feni Agostinho, Jesaias Costa, Maria Celia Portella, Karel J. Keesman, Fabiana Garcia
Summary: Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that combines the advantages of aquaculture and hydroponics. It mimics the natural biological process and is considered a viable alternative for urban regions with limited agricultural land and water resources. This study uses emergy synthesis to assess the sustainability of urban aquaponics farms in Brazil, focusing on the materials used and ecosystem services provided. Results show that the choice of materials greatly influences the energy demand, and aquaponics systems have more efficient feeding management compared to traditional aquaculture. The inclusion of ecosystem services highlights the educational and tourism potential of aquaponics.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Thais Thiesen, Mahadev G. Bhat, Hong Liu, Roberto Rovira
Summary: Creating sustainable urban landscapes in light of growing population pressures requires interdisciplinary multi-functional solutions. Alternative agro-ecosystems such as food forests, permaculture gardens, and edible landscapes can address social, economic, and ecological goals simultaneously. However, there is a lack of comprehensive tools to assess the performance of these alternative agro-ecosystems.
Article
Agronomy
Gregoriy Kaplan, Lior Fine, Victor Lukyanov, Nitzan Malachy, Josef Tanny, Offer Rozenstein
Summary: An optimal balance between vegetative and reproductive growth in cotton leads to high yields and water-use efficiency. Remote sensing using optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery can improve irrigation management by estimating vegetation variables. This study identified the best Sentinel-2 vegetation indices for cotton monitoring and developed robust models for estimating crop coefficient (Kc), Leaf Area Index (LAI), and crop height. The work also demonstrated the potential for designing decision support systems for better irrigation management in cotton based on monitoring crop development from space.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mthembeni Mngadi, John Odindi, Onisimo Mutanga
Summary: Urbanization leads to transformation of natural landscape into impervious surface, affecting urban ecological processes and ecosystem services. Urban reforestation serves as a long-term alternative for carbon sink and climate change mitigation. The study demonstrates the value of Sentinel-2 spectral data for predicting carbon stock in reforested urban landscapes, providing critical information for optimizing carbon sequestration capacity and climate change mitigation potential.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Qiuyu Luo, Yu Bao, Zhitai Wang, Xintong Chen, Wenfei Wei, Zhouyi Fang
Summary: Urban remnant mountains (URMs) are valuable natural green habitats that provide ecosystem services for multi-mountainous cities. The vulnerability of URMs was analyzed based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model, revealing that karst rocky desertification, human disturbance, and road density were the most important factors affecting their vulnerability. This study provides important references for the restoration and protection of URMs.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiaochen Zou, Sunan Zhu, Matti Mottus
Summary: Leaf angle distribution is an important characteristic of canopy structure, but there have been few studies on direct retrieval of leaf angle distribution from remote sensing data. This study demonstrates the potential of using the red edge channels on Sentinel-2 satellite for large-scale mapping of leaf angle distribution. The results show that Sentinel-2 can accurately map the leaf angle distribution of field crops.
Article
Parasitology
Haoyang Sun, Borame L. Dickens, Daniel Richards, Janet Ong, Jayanthi Rajarethinam, Muhammad E. E. Hassim, Jue Tao Lim, L. Roman Carrasco, Joel Aik, Grace Yap, Alex R. Cook, Lee Ching Ng
Summary: Despite the licensure of the world's first dengue vaccine and the ongoing development of additional vaccine candidates, successful Aedes control remains crucial for reducing dengue virus transmission. This study utilized a high-resolution longitudinal dataset from Singapore's Gravitrap surveillance system over two years to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of Aedes mosquitoes in relation to various environmental and anthropogenic factors. The findings suggest that building age and nearby managed vegetation cover are positively associated with mosquito abundance, with evidence of a nonlinear effect of weekly maximum temperature on Aedes abundance.
PARASITES & VECTORS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tze Kwan Fung, Daniel R. Richards, Rachel A. T. Leong, Subhadip Ghosh, Christabel W. J. Tan, Zuzana Drillet, Kit Ling Leong, Peter J. Edwards
Summary: The study found that secondary forest soils have higher leaf litter cover and canopy leaf area index, while grassland has the lowest litter decomposition and infiltration rates. Litter decomposition rates were positively correlated with soil invertebrate activity, leaf litter cover, and soil nitrogen content, while infiltration rates were negatively correlated with soil bulk density.
Article
Ecology
Sandra Lavorel, Karl Grigulis, Daniel R. Richards, Thomas R. Etherington, Richard M. Law, Alexander Herzig
Summary: This study systematically analyzed the effects of fragmentation on multifunctionality and its interactions with land-use intensity. The results showed that both land-use intensity and fragmentation can significantly affect the multifunctionality of ecosystem services, and that fragmentation can mitigate the negative effects of land-use intensity on multifunctionality.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shuang Song, Yujun Hou, Rayson B. H. Lim, Leon Y. F. Gaw, Daniel R. Richards, Hugh T. W. Tan
Summary: Through systematic investigation, it was found that vertical farming with natural lighting (Vnat) outperformed conventional soil-based farming and indoor vertical farming in terms of production level, self-sufficiency rate, resource utilization efficiency, and environmental impacts under the same land and investment constraints, making it the optimal choice for urban farming in Singapore to provide a large amount of food.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Janet Ong, Stacy Soh, Soon Hoe Ho, Annabel Seah, Borame Sue Dickens, Ken Wei Tan, Joel Ruihan Koo, Alex R. Cook, Daniel R. Richards, Leon Yan-Feng Gaw, Lee Ching Ng, Jue Tao Lim
Summary: This study demonstrates the utility of the effective reproduction number R-t for real time dengue surveillance. Using data from Singapore, the study estimated R-t and identified environmental and anthropogenic factors that drive its transmission potential. Real time estimation of R-t can assist public health agencies in identifying high transmission risk areas and facilitating local outbreak preparedness and response.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Shuang Song, Mioa Shan Lim, Daniel Rex Richards, Hugh Tiang Wah Tan
Summary: By studying the characteristics of community gardens in Singapore, this research found a strong correlation between gardeners' profiles and the utilization of food provisioning services, as well as factors that may affect social acceptance.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Wanggi Jaung, L. Roman Carrasco, Daniel R. Richards, Shaikh Fairul Edros Ahmad Shaikh, Puay Yok Tan
Summary: Urban nature is crucial for sustainable urban development as it promotes pro-environmental behavior and reduces the ecological footprint of urban areas.
ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Andrea Law, L. Roman Carrasco, Daniel R. Richards, Shaikh Fairul Edros Ahmad Shaikh, Claudia L. Y. Tan, Le Thi Phuong Nghiem
Summary: This study aims to assess the equity of five regulatory ecosystem services among households in Singapore. The results show little evidence of inequitable ecosystem service provision among different socio-demographic groups in Singapore.
Article
Ecology
Daniel Rex Richards, Sandra Lavorel
Summary: This study developed an empirical model using social media data to assess landscape appreciation. The sensitivity analysis identified priority areas for native forest restoration and highlighted spatial mismatches between conflicting ecosystem service objectives.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yanyun Yan, Wanggi Jaung, Daniel R. Richards, L. Roman Carrasco
Summary: This paper presents a novel valuation framework that combines a choice experiment, the travel cost method and spatially explicit modeling of adaptive demand. The results of the study suggest that the value of green spaces is influenced by temperature reductions, travel distance, and crowdedness, which in turn affect the adaptive behavior of users.
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
(2022)
Article
Virology
Stacy Soh, Soon Hoe Ho, Annabel Seah, Janet Ong, Daniel R. Richards, Leon Yan-Feng Gaw, Borame Sue Dickens, Ken Wei Tan, Joel Ruihan Koo, Alex R. R. Cook, Jue Tao Lim
Summary: This study investigated the spatial distribution of dengue fever outbreak risk in Singapore from 2007 to 2020. The findings indicated higher outbreak risk in the eastern region, with many areas expected to exceed 51 weekly dengue cases at least once in 30 years. The age of public apartments and the percentage of impervious surfaces were identified as the main factors influencing outbreak risk, with a 3-year and 10% increase in these characteristics resulting in a 3.8% and 3.3% increase in risk, respectively. The study suggests prioritizing vector control efforts in older residential areas and places with large contiguous built-up environments.
Article
Plant Sciences
Daniel Richards, Maksym Polyakov, Angela J. Brandt, Jo Cavanagh, Gradon Diprose, Grace Milner, John Ramana, Robyn Simcock
Summary: This study analyzed the inequity in urban nature's contributions to people, and found that socially and economically vulnerable residents often have reduced access to the benefits of urban ecosystems. By using spatial analysis and indicators, priority regions for future investments in green infrastructure can be identified to address the inequities in urban nature's contributions. The case study of Christchurch in New Zealand provides valuable insights on how to address these inequities in future redevelopment.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Daniel Richards, Alexander Herzig, Mick Abbott, Anne-Gaelle Ausseil, Jing Guo, Abha Sood, Sandra Lavorel
Summary: This article discusses the various services and functions provided by nature that can aid in societal climate change adaptation. It presents an approach to explore different land use and climate scenarios to outline possible futures for a landscape, and quantifies the contributions of adaptation services. The study found that successful adaptation scenarios relied on a combination of sustained, latent, and novel services co-produced through financial input.
ECOSYSTEMS AND PEOPLE
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Daniel Richards, Sandra Lavorel
Summary: Trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services are central to land-use conflicts, but a comprehensive conceptual framework for understanding and analyzing these associations is lacking. In this study, the authors propose the ecosystem service niche as an integrative conceptual framework, inspired by species ecological niche theory. The ecosystem service niche combines socio-environmental variables and direct interactions to determine the provision of an ecosystem service. The authors also demonstrate the potential transfer of quantitative tools from species ecological niche research to improve modeling of ecosystem services.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Daniel R. Richards, Richard N. Belcher, L. Roman Carrasco, Peter J. Edwards, Simone Fatichi, Perrine Hamel, Mahyar Masoudi, Mark J. McDonnell, Nadav Peleg, Margaret C. Stanley
Summary: Urbanization poses multiple environmental challenges to urban sustainability. Urban vegetation, as a mainstream nature-based solution, plays an important role in providing ecosystem services. However, the lack of understanding about its effectiveness under different climatic and socio-economic conditions hinders its successful implementation.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yongcui Lan, Jinliang Wang, Qianwei Liu, Fang Liu, Lanfang Liu, Jie Li, Mengjia Luo
Summary: This study focuses on the five major plateau lake basins in central Yunnan, China, and constructs an ecological security pattern using the source-resistance surface-corridor-pinch point framework. The study simulates land use/cover change in the region and identifies early warning regions where future urban expansion poses a threat to current ecological source areas and corridors.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Pingping Huang, Feng Zhao, Bailing Zhou, Kuidong Xu
Summary: This study investigates the distribution of benthic microeukaryotes in the China Seas and finds that they can stride over the ecological barrier of 32 degrees N. The study also highlights the significant influence of depth, temperature, and latitude on communities in the China Seas.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Federico Morelli, Yanina Benedetti, Jesse Stanford, Leszek Jerzak, Piotr Tryjanowski, Paolo Perna, Riccardo Santolini
Summary: Species distribution models (SDMs) are numerical tools used for predicting species' spatial distribution. This study found that ecological characteristics, such as habitat specialization, play a role in improving the accuracy of SDMs.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Xiaoxuan Wu, Hang Liu, Wei Liu
Summary: Global climate change, urbanization, and economic development have increased the need for sustainable human development, urban ecological governance, and low-carbon energy transformation. This study analyzes the green ecological transition in Chengdu based on panel data from 2010 to 2020, exploring its spatiotemporal evolution and key factors. The results show an overall upward trend in Chengdu's green ecological development and positive spatial autocorrelation in certain districts.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Castaldi Simona, Formicola Nicola, Mastrocicco Micol, Morales Rodriguez Carmen, Morelli Raffaella, Prodorutti Daniele, Vannini Andrea, Zanzotti Roberto
Summary: Sustainable agricultural practices are increasingly important for global and national environmental policies and economy. This study compared the sustainability of grape production under integrated and organic management using multiple indicators. The results showed that organic management was more beneficial for most environmental aspects of the agroecosystem compared to integrated management, without affecting grape yield.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Gaia Vaglio Laurin, Alexander Cotrina-Sanchez, Luca Belelli-Marchesini, Enrico Tomelleri, Giovanna Battipaglia, Claudia Cocozza, Francesco Niccoli, Jerzy Piotr Kabala, Damiano Gianelle, Loris Vescovo, Luca Da Ros, Riccardo Valentini
Summary: Phenology monitoring is important for understanding forest functioning and climate impacts. This research compares the phenological behavior of European beech forests using Tree-Talker (TT+) and Sentinel 2 satellite data. The study finds differences in the information derived by the two sensor types, particularly in terms of season length, phenology changepoints, and leaf period variability. TT+ with its higher temporal resolution demonstrates precision in capturing the phenological changepoints, especially when satellite image availability is limited.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Huanhuan Pan, Ziqiang Du, Zhitao Wu, Hong Zhang, Keming Ma
Summary: The land use and cover changes resulting from coal mining activities and ecological restoration have had a significant impact on ecosystem services in mining areas. This study investigates the relationship between ecosystem services and land use intensity in coal mining areas, emphasizing the importance of understanding this interdependence for balanced human-land system development. The research examines the evolving relationship across different reclamation stages in Shanxi, China, using a coupling coordination degree model. The findings suggest the need for timely and judicious reclamation of coalfields, considering the land's bearing capacity.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jingjuan He, Yijun Shi, Lihua Xu, Zhangwei Lu, Mao Feng
Summary: This study examines the spatial interplay between changes in the blue-green spatial distribution and modifications in land surface temperature grades in Shanghai. The findings reveal that the transformation of the blue-green spatial pattern differs between different sectors of the city, and the impact on the thermal environment varies spatially.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yi Xu, Di Zhang, Junqiang Lin, Qidong Peng, Xiaohui Lei, Tiantian Jin, Jia Wang, Ruifang Yuan
Summary: This study analyzed the response relationship between phytoplankton growth and water environmental parameters in the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China using long-term monitoring data and machine learning models. The results revealed the differences between monitoring sites and identified the key parameters that affect phytoplankton growth.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2024)