Ecological Indicators

Some epiphytic species accumulate airborne particles and are suitable biological indicators for monitoring urban and industrial pollution. The species Tillandsia recurvata L. was studied as a monitor of air pollution in an urban area from Mexico. Individuals were collected in 25 sites which are exposed to different pollution degree and sources. The magnetic particle concentration, particle size, and mineralogy were determined and compared with chemical contents for all samples. The highest values of magnetic concentration dependent parameters were observed in industrial and heavy traffic sites (e.g., mass specific magnetic susceptibility of up to 171.5 × 10 -8 m 3 kg -1 ). In contrast, sites with low or without vehicular traffic reached low values (e.g., mass specific magnetic susceptibility of down to 1.8 × 10 -8 m 3 kg -1 ). The integrated magnetic analysis (King's and Day's plots, remanent magnetization parameters and thermomagnetic measurements) revealed the presence of ferromagnetic minerals, mostly magnetite-like with fine grain sizes (0.1-1 m) and subordinate presence of high-coercivity minerals. Selected samples were observed by SEM and EDS analysis and revealed the presence of Fe-rich particles, as well as trace elements, among others, As, Sb, S, Cr, Mo, V, Zn, Ba, Hg, Pt and Cu. Most of the elements detected by EDS were also quantified by ICP-MS measurements. Multivariate statistical analyses prove a high correlation between magnetic parameters and elements, as well as allow us classifying sites in clusters (fuzzy c-means clustering) with different pollution degree. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the species T. recurvata L. as a passive pollution monitor, with an affordable and immediate application. This species is abundant not only in Mexico, but also in other cities from America.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Cusuco National Park, a cloud forest park situated in the Merendon Mountains region of Honduras, is home to considerable biodiversity with a very high degree of endemism. Like many other cloud forest parks in Central America, it was declared a protected area not because of its biodiversity, but mainly because of its function in protecting river water quality in the headwaters draining the park. Illegal and authorised forest clearance for agricultural activity such as coffee production and pasture for animals and diffuse inputs from settlements are expected to affect aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and the water quality of the rivers in the park. There is however very limited water quality monitoring, mainly because biological indices such as those in use in Europe and the United States have not been developed in Honduras. A research project based on macroinvertebrates was initiated in 2009 to develop a water quality index for the area. Sampling was undertaken between June and August 2009 and set out to study minimally disturbed upper catchments of reference rivers. This paper evaluates the performance of several indices. A version of the ASPT based on the BMWP calibrated for Costa Rica (BMWP(CR)) performed best.

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) has become increasingly rare in Central America and Mexico. In
Belize it is now found only in the Chiquibul and the Cockscomb Basin, and estimates of the total
population range from 30 to 60 birds. From an observation tower at Cuxta-Bani, in the Upper
Raspaculo Valley, Belize, I recorded the numbers and movements of Scarlet Macaws from 2 to 22
May 1993 and also recorded birds seen on a boat trip from Cuxta-Bani to the Guacamallo Bridge on
the Macal River from 31 May to 3 June 1993. I observed Scarlet Macaws every day of the study
period, with two peaks in the frequency of observations. Macaws were most often recorded in the
early and later parts of the day. I most often saw pairs of macaws, though single birds and larger
groups were also recorded. On the river trip I saw Scarlet Macaws each day, 14 times in all,
including a group of 31 birds, which may constitute nearly the entire population in Belize.
Macaws that were seen flying high and apparently far were generally on an east–west flight path over
Cuxta-Bani. This path would connect the Macal Valley and the Cockscomb Basin via a valley route
which is fairly direct and which crosses one of the lowest passes over the Main Divide of the Maya
Mountains. Comparatively easy access from Chiquibul can explain why Scarlet Macaws occur in
Cockscomb but not elsewhere in apparently suitable habitat east of the Maya Mountain Divide. My
observations suggest that macaws regularly make this journey. If so, the Chiquibul and Cockscomb
birds may actually be just one population, a population that needs a large area and secure longdistance
flight routes for survival. Consequently, we should assume that conservation of this
spectacular species in Belize depends on protection of large areas of contiguous forest not separated
by a high divide.

The concept of green supply chain management (GSCM) is now gaining more attention among practitioners due to its ability to help companies address environmental issues. Nevertheless, studies on GSCM practices and outcomes extensively come from multinational companies compared to fully owned Malaysian companies, especially the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This conceptual paper discusses GSCM in global context and explores further directions of GSCM research in Malaysia. The discussions led to conclusions that the main drivers of GSCM implementation are mainly the pressure of regulators, customers and public awareness. Moreover, the implementation can have positive impacts on organizations economic performance and preservation of the environment. Consequently, more research is needed on the implementation of GSCM among Malaysian SMEs, especially in terms of the key practices from the perspectives of the practitioners.

The EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy requires the gathering of information on biodiversity to aid in monitoring progress towards its main targets. Common species are good proxies for the diversity and integrity of ecosystems, since they are key elements of the biomass, structure, functioning of ecosystems, and therefore of the supply of ecosystem services. In this sense, we aimed to develop a spatially-explicit indicator of habitat quality (HQI) at European level based on the species included in the European Common Bird Index, also grouped into their major habitat types (farmland and forest). Using species occurrences from the European Breeding Birds Atlas (at 50 km × 50 km) and the maximum entropy algorithm, we derived species distribution maps using refined occurrence data based on species ecology. This allowed us to cope with the limitations arising from modelling common and widespread species, obtaining habitat suitability maps for each species at finer spatial resolution (10 km × 10 km grid), which provided higher model accuracy. Analysis of the spatial patterns of local and relative species richness (defined as the ratio between species richness in a given location and the average richness in the regional context) for the common birds analysed demonstrated that the development of a HQI based on species richness needs to account for the regional species pool in order to make objective comparisons between regions. In this way, we proved that relative species richness compensated for the bias caused by the inherent heterogeneous patterns of the species distributions that was yielding larger local species richness in areas where most of the target species have the core of their distribution range. The method presented in this study provides a robust and innovative indicator of habitat quality which can be used to make comparisons between regions at the European scale, and therefore potentially applied to measure progress towards the EU Biodiversity Strategy targets. Finally, since species distribution models are based on breeding birds, the HQI can be also interpreted as a measure of the capacity of ecosystems to provide and maintain nursery/reproductive habitats for terrestrial species, a key maintenance and regulation ecosystem service.

Drained organic soils are large sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) in many European and Asian countries. Therefore, these soils urgently need to be considered and adequately accounted for when attempting to decrease emissions from the Agriculture and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors. Here, we describe the methodology, data and results of the German approach for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of anthropogenic GHG emissions from drained organic soils and outline ways forward towards tracking drainage and rewetting. The methodology was developed for and is currently applied in the German GHG inventory under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Spatial activity data comprise high resolution maps of land-use, type of organic soil and mean annual water table (WT). The WT map was derived by a boosted regression trees model from data of more than 1000 dipwells. Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and methane (CH 4 ) were synthesized from a unique national data set comprising more than 250 annual GHG balances from 118 sites in most land-use categories and types of organic soils. Measurements were performed with harmonized protocols using manual chambers. Nonlinear response functions describe the dependency of CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes on mean annual WT, stratified by landuse where appropriate. Modelling results were aggregated into "implied emission factors" for each land-use category, taking into account the uncertainty of the response functions, the frequency distribution of the WT within each land-use category and further GHG sources such as dissolved organic carbon or CH 4 emissions from ditches. IPCC default emission factors were used for these minor GHG sources. In future, response functions could be applied directly when appropriate WT data is available. As no functional relationship was found for N 2 O emissions, emission factors were calculated as the mean observed flux per land-use category. In Germany, drained organic soils emit more than 55 million tons of GHGs per year, of which 91% are CO 2 . This is equivalent to around 6.6% of the national GHG emissions in 2014. Thus, they are the largest GHG source from agriculture

Multimetric indices (MMIs) have been successfully used to assess ecological conditions in freshwater ecosystems worldwide, and provide an important management tool especially in countries where biological indicators are fostered by environmental regulations. Nonetheless, for the neotropics, the few published papers are limited to small local scales and lack standardized sampling protocols. To fill the gaps left by previous studies, we propose a stream MMI that reflects anthropogenic impacts by using macroinvertebrate assemblage metrics from a data set of 190 sites collected from four hydrologic units in the Paraná and São Francisco River Basins, southeastern Brazil. Sites were selected through use of a probabilistic survey design allowing us to infer ecological condition to the total of 9432 kilometers of wadeable streams in the target population in the four hydrologic units. We used a filtering process to determine the least-and most-disturbed sites based on their water quality, physical habitat structure, and land use. To develop the MMI, we followed a stepwise procedure to screen our initial set of biological metrics for influence of natural variation, responsiveness and discriminance to disturbances, sampling variability, and redundancy. The final MMI is the sum of 7 scaled assemblage metrics describing different aspects of macroinvertebrate assemblage characteristics: Ephemeroptera richness, % Gastropoda individuals, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, % sensitive taxa richness, % scraper individuals, temporarily attached taxa richness, and gill respiration taxa richness. The MMI clearly distinguished the least-disturbed sites from the most-disturbed sites and showed a significant negative response to anthropogenic stressors. Of the total length of wadeable streams in the study area, 38%, 35%, and 27% were classified by the MMI as being in good, fair, and poor condition, respectively. By reducing the subjectivity of site selection, rigorously selecting the set of reference sites, and following a standardized metric screening method, we developed a robust MMI to assess and monitor ecological condition in neotropical savanna streams. This improved MMI provides an effective ecological tool to guide decision makers and managers in developing and implementing improved, cost-effective environmental policies, regulations, and monitoring of those systems.

Assessing the ecological impacts of anthropogenic pressures is a key task in environmental management. Multimetric indices (MMIs), based on aquatic assemblage responses to anthropogenic pressures, have been used increasingly throughout the world. The MMI approach is a low-cost, rapid field method that produces an aquatic condition index that responds precisely to anthropogenic pressures, making it useful for conservation and environmental management. We developed four candidate MMIs based on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages sampled at 40 randomly selected sites to assess the environmental condition of streams upstream of a hydroelectric power plant in the Brazilian Neotropical Savanna biome. Those MMIs were built from landscape-adjusted and unadjusted biological metrics as well as two alternative ways of choosing metrics. The alternative MMIs performances were tested by comparing their precision to distinguish least-disturbed areas, responsiveness to discriminate least-and most-disturbed areas, and sensitivity to anthropogenic pressures at catchment and local scales. The best performing MMI had landscape-adjusted metrics and was produced through use of principal component analysis for metric selection. It included 4 metrics: Ephemeroptera richness, average tolerance score per taxon, percentage of predator individuals, and percentage of Odonata individuals adjusted by elevation. This index discriminated well the anthropogenic pressures at local-and catchment-scales, and at both scales simultaneously, as indicated by an integrated disturbance index. Our methodological development included statistical criteria for identifying least-and most-disturbed sites, calibrating for natural landscape variability, and use of non-redundant metrics. Therefore, we expect it will provide a model for environmental assessment of water resources elsewhere in Brazil and in other nations.

Most studies dealing with the use of ecological indicators and other applied ecological research rely on some definition or concept of what constitutes least-, intermediate-and most-disturbed condition. Currently, most rigorous methodologies designed to define those conditions are suited to large spatial extents (nations, ecoregions) and many sites (hundreds to thousands). The objective of this study was to describe a methodology to quantitatively define a disturbance gradient for 40 sites in each of two small southeastern Brazil river basins. The assessment of anthropogenic disturbance experienced by each site was based solely on measurements strictly related to the intensity and extent of anthropogenic pressures. We calculated two indices: one concerned site-scale pressures and the other catchment-scale pressures. We combined those two indices into a single integrated disturbance index (IDI) because disturbances operating at both scales affect stream biota. The local-and catchment-scale disturbance indices were weakly correlated in the two basins (r = 0.21 and 0.35) and both significantly (p < 0.05) reduced site EPT (insect orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera) richness. The IDI also performed well in explaining EPT richness in the basin that presented the stronger disturbance gradient (R 2 = 0.39, p < 0.001). Natural habitat variability was assessed as a second source of variation in EPT richness. Stream size and microhabitats were the key habitat characteristics not related to disturbances that enhanced the explanation of EPT richness over that attributed to the IDI. In both basins the IDI plus habitat metrics together explained around 50% of EPT richness variation. In the basin with the weaker disturbance gradient, natural habitat explained more variation in EPT richness than did the IDI, a result that has implications for biomonitoring studies. We conclude that quantitatively defined disturbance gradients offer a reliable and comprehensive characterization of anthropogenic pressure that integrates data from different spatial scales.

One of the essential issues in the quality management of water resources is the determination of the level of eutrophication and dissolved oxygen in dam reservoirs and other water bodies. It is possible to study changes in dissolved oxygen concentration using qualitative models. In this study, CE-QUAL-W2, a two-dimensional model of hydrodynamics and water quality capable of predicting the behavior of aquatic ecosystems, has been used to simulate dissolved oxygen concentration and eutrophication. As a case study, the water quality of the Yamchi dam reservoir, located in Ardabil Province, has been qualitatively investigated using the CE-QUAL-W2 model. Based on the geographical location of the Yamchi dam reservoir, it includes warm monomictic basins. According to the results, the dissolved oxygen concentration in the simulation period varied between 0 and 12 mg/L. In autumn and winter, this concentration was almost uniform at various depths. However, in summer, a sharp decrease in dissolved oxygen concentration, to less than 2 mg/L in the bottom layers, was observed, which is due to the presence of nutrients. Regarding eutrophication, the Yamchi dam reservoir is one of the eutrophic reservoirs, and practical strategies should be employed to improve these conditions. Recommended strategies include reducing the retention time of water in the reservoir, dewatering from the underlying layers during the thermal stratification period, and preventing the entry of agricultural drains into the inlet tributaries of the reservoir.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of classroom environment on the academic achievement of high schools students. Questionnaire survey method was used and six sample schools were selected by a simple random sampling method. A total of (360) Grade Nine students (140 male students and 220 female students) from three high schools and three high school (branch) from Taze Township participated in this study. In order to get the required data, the questionnaire having 40 items with five points Likert scale was used. The questionnaire was based on five dimensions: school climate, communication, teachers' performance, classroom management and opportunity for learning. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.879. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson product moment correlation were applied to analyze each research question. The results showed that female students more positively perceived their classroom environment than male students. The results of the ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference in the students' perceptions among the six schools. Pearson correlation revealed that the classroom environment was significantly related to the students' academic achievement. Therefore, students' academic achievement can be predicted by examining their classroom environment.

The PISCEnLIT project comes from the global context of aquatic productions in which fishing has achieved a limit and fish farming has a regular development and produces as important volume as fisheries. However, this development should solve several bottlenecks such as environmental and societal problems which question its sustainability. PISCEnLIT is mainly concerned by the ecological intensification of fish culture ponds and their territorial insertion using an ecosystemic approach.

Indicator species (IS) are used to monitor environmental changes, assess the efficacy of management, and provide warning signals for impending ecological shifts. Though widely adopted in recent years by ecologists, conservation biologists, and environmental practitioners, the use of IS has been criticized for several reasons, notably the lack of justification behind the choice of any given indicator. In this review, we assess how ecologists have selected, used, and evaluated the performance of the indicator species. We reviewed all articles published in Ecological Indicators (EI) between January 2001 and December 2014, focusing on the number of indicators used (one or more); common taxa employed; terminology, application, and rationale behind selection criteria; and performance assessment methods. Over the last 14 years, 1914 scientific papers were published in EI, describing studies conducted in 53 countries on six continents; of these, 817 (43%) used biological organisms as indicators. Terms used to describe organisms in IS research included "ecological index", "environmental index", "indicator species", "bioindicator", and "biomonitor," but these and other terms often were not clearly defined. Twenty percent of IS publications used only a single species as an indicator; the remainder used groups of species as indicators. Nearly 50% of the taxa used as indicators were animals, 70% of which were invertebrates. The most common applications behind the use of IS were to: monitor ecosystem or environmental health and integrity (42%); assess habitat restoration (18%); and assess effects of pollution and contamination (18%). Indicators were chosen most frequently based on previously cited research (40%), local abundance (5%), ecological significance and/or conservation status (13%), or a combination of two or more of these reasons (25%). Surprisingly, 17% of the reviewed papers cited no clear justification for their choice of indicator. The vast majority (99%) of publications used statistical methods to assess the performance of the selected indicators. This review not only improves our understanding of the current uses and applications of IS, but will also inform practitioners about how to better select and evaluate ecological indicators when conducting future IS research.

Indicator species (IS) are used to monitor environmental changes, assess the efficacy of management, and provide warning signals for impending ecological shifts. Though widely adopted in recent years by ecologists, conservation biologists, and environmental practitioners, the use of IS has been criticized for several reasons, notably the lack of justification behind the choice of any given indicator. In this review, we assess how ecologists have selected, used, and evaluated the performance of the indicator species. We reviewed all articles published in Ecological Indicators (EI) between January 2001 and December 2014, focusing on the number of indicators used (one or more); common taxa employed; terminology, application, and rationale behind selection criteria; and performance assessment methods. Over the last 14 years, 1914 scientific papers were published in EI, describing studies conducted in 53 countries on six continents; of these, 817 (43%) used biological organisms as indicators. Terms used to describe organisms in IS research included "ecological index", "environmental index", "indicator species", "bioindicator", and "biomonitor," but these and other terms often were not clearly defined. Twenty percent of IS publications used only a single species as an indicator; the remainder used groups of species as indicators. Nearly 50% of the taxa used as indicators were animals, 70% of which were invertebrates. The most common applications behind the use of IS were to: monitor ecosystem or environmental health and integrity (42%); assess habitat restoration (18%); and assess effects of pollution and contamination (18%). Indicators were chosen most frequently based on previously cited research (40%), local abundance (5%), ecological significance and/or conservation status (13%), or a combination of two or more of these reasons (25%). Surprisingly, 17% of the reviewed papers cited no clear justification for their choice of indicator. The vast majority (99%) of publications used statistical methods to assess the performance of the selected indicators. This review not only improves our understanding of the current uses and applications of IS, but will also inform practitioners about how to better select and evaluate ecological indicators when conducting future IS research.

Jacinta M. Kimiti for their unwavering support, understanding and valuable guidance through all steps of this thesis development. The project was realized through their scholarly advice and guidance. Special regards and appreciation to mango farmers who willingly provided very useful information making the study a great success. I also appreciate the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in Kitui County, who assisted me to reach mango farmers and also provided me with resourceful information that was critical for the success of this study. I do also thank South Eastern Kenya University for availing me the precious chance to pursue a Master of Science Degree in Agricultural Resource Management. It was such an eye opener and experience.

cological quality is an integral facet of the overall state of an ecosystem which relates to how the biotic and abiotic components interact within the environment and how these structure-process complexes translate to the delivery of an array of ecosystem services that support human welfare and development. Modern and useful methods have been devised to assess the ecological quality of largescale ecosystems such as rivers and watershed. Using remote sensing technology, the ecological status of ecosystems can be evaluated and monitored spatiotemporally. This study focuses on establishing the ecological quality of the Abra River ecosystem and its watershed in Northern Luzon, Philippines by analyzing remote sensing data over a two-year period (2020-2021), using the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) model. A remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) was formulated using four various subindices: the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized differential build-up and bare soil index (NDBSI), land surface moisture (LSM), and land surface temperature (LST). The RSEI model was built and acquired using a principal component analysis (PCA) method to integrate the four subcomponents. Results showed that the mean RSEI score for the study area is 0.60 (moderate to good) with the NDVI (0.641) and LSM having positive contributions to ecological quality while NDBSI (-0.674) and LST (-0.138) having negative weights to the ecosystem. This study is necessary as there are limited works on the ecological status of the Abra River basin and thus can contribute to responsive efforts to conserve, manage, and protect large-scale ecosystems.

A five-year biomonitoring program (2019-2024) was conducted around a 15 MW Biomass Power Plant (BPP) by means of a network of transplants of the epiphytic lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea. It consisted of an easily replicable experimental design, especially by state environmental agencies, using only physiological state parameters as tracers of environmental change. Detection of the facility contribution to the deterioration of air quality in the study area was performed using: a) geographic sectors, b) kilometer bands, c) absolute station distance, and d) the Potential Number of Times the Wind passing through the point source zone Reaches each Stations (PNTWRS). It is noteworthy that the most compelling evidence for the impact-enhancing role of BPP was observed during a pandemic. This finding suggests a significant confounding effect of pollution sources at the local scale. All factors contributed to changes in transplant physiology, except geographic sectors. However, kilometer bands and PNTWRS showed superior performance. The parameters most frequently and intensely affected by exposure in the selected area were membrane damage (EC%), and peroxidation levels (TBArs), which showed a five-year mean increase of 230% and 155%, respectively, vs. Lichen Origin Area (LOA), although with considerable annual variation, while photobiont was significantly impaired (-36% vs. LOA) only in 2024. We consider such an outcome to be a valuable result, supporting the hypothesis that monitoring lichen ecophysiology may facilitate the detection of both interannual changes in air quality and the contribution of point source development.

thus makes their interpretation more holistically meaningful. Conclusions This study provides a modular conceptual framework for assessing fragmentation using activity-based metrics that offer functional improvements over existing pattern-based approaches. While we present a focused theoretical implementation, the process to be measured and the scale of observation can be altered to suit specific user requirements, ecosystems, or species of interest.

Understanding the influence of land use and land cover (LULC) change in stormwater runoff is important for watershed management. In this study, integration of 31 storm events, monthly monitoring of LULC change, Pearson's correlation, multiple linear regression analysis (MLR) and Personalized Computer Storm Water Management Model (PCSWMM) were applied to quantify the influence of LULC change on stormwater quality from mixed LULC catchment with ongoing land development in Yongin, South Korea. Due to ongoing land development in the catchment, bare land and urban LULC were exponentially increased while agriculture, forest, grassland and water LULC decreased in spatial extent. The correlation analysis showed that stormwater quality was positively correlated to bare land (0.595; Cl -0.891; TSS, p < 0.05) and urban (0.768; TN -0.987; TSS, p < 0.05); negatively correlated to forest (-0.593; Cu -0.532; BOD 5 , p < 0.05) and grassland (-0.587; TSS -0.512; BOD 5 , p < 0.05) and; either positively or no correlation to agriculture (0.064; Cu -0.871; TSS, p < 0.05) and water (-0.131; Cl -0.221; TP, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the MLR analysis showed that combinations of different LULC were able to describe the overall stormwater quality of the catchment. Moreover, the LULC scenario analysis demonstrate that under dominant agriculture (S1), bare land (S2) and urban areas (S5), the average pollutant concentrations would increase by as much as 13.22% (Cl; S2; pre-) to 59.25% (TSS; S5; early-active); while under dominant forest (S3) and grassland (S4) the average pollutant concentration would decrease by as much as -53% (Pb; S3; late-active) to -3.22% (BOD 5 ; S4; pre-). These findings explained that the variability of pollutant concentrations in different phase of land development was affected by expansion of bare land and urban spatial extent, increase of hydrological characteristics (total rainfall and average rainfall intensity) and massive soil activities (soil digging and soil transfer). Therefore, results of this study will provide scientific information to establish a cost-effective stormwater management, development of empirical model, and designing monitoring strategies and guidelines to minimize the negative impact of LULC change on stormwater runoff.

The long-term conservation of biodiversity and related ecosystems goods and services of the Autonomous Region of Madrid is jeopardized by the intensive resource-consuming development model followed by the region in the past few decades. This paper presents the aggregated results of the first integrated assessment of the protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain) with the System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA). Detailed results are also provided for individual protected areas as supplementary data. The assessment was done during 2009-2010, on ten protected areas differing in their sizes (from 2.5 to 52,796 ha), protection categories (seven categories) and types of ecosystems present. Comparison of results from both assessment models of the SIAPA (the Complete Model and the Simplified Model) is also presented. The results from the Complete Model show that eight out of the ten protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid are currently ineffective. The poorest partial indexes overall were: "State of Conservation" and "Social and Economic Context". The only indexes significantly correlated with the effectiveness of a protected area were: the "State of Conservation" (r = 0.851**) and the "Social Perception and Valuation" (r = 0.786**). Although not as relevant as was thought, "Management" and the other non-significant factors are likely to influence the effectiveness of protected areas as well. The results for the Simplified Model are slightly better than those for the Complete Model, although this is probably a specific result of this assessment. The two models of the SIAPA were very significantly correlated, although their aggregated results should not be compared directly. Visits to protected areas Census; visual inspection Presence of solid waste (p); Easiness to identify the protected area; Public use infrastructure; Presence of alien invasive species (p); Activities performed by visitors (p). Website of the National Geographical Institute (Corine Land-Cover) Data download Presence of solid waste (p); Land use changes; Fragmentation (p); Isolation (p).

Bulgaria has joined the official intercalibration (IC) in order to complete the state commitments for the classification of rivers based on Biological Quality Elements (BQE). The objective of this paper was to verify whether the present Bulgarian classification method for ecological status of large lowland (national type R7) and medium-sized lowland (national type R8) rivers was compliant with the normative definitions of the Water Framework Directive. Thus, a two-year study (2014 2015) on macroinvertebrate communities was conducted at 43 sites (18 from R7 and 25 from R8). Differences in qualitative and quantitative composition in the abovementioned river types, as well as indicative potential of BQE in relation to different anthropogenic pressures were analysed. Based on alternative benchmark sites (identified using the criteria defined by the EU), the High/Good boundary and a reference value for the Biotic index were defined. Class boundaries were in line with the results of the c...

This study investigates the relationship between environmental performance and ecological sustainability by analyzing data from 168 countries using two widely recognized indicators: the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and the Ecological Footprint (EF) per capita. Contrary to common assumptions that strong environmental governance correlates with lower ecological impact, the findings reveal a moderate positive relationship between EPI and EF (Pearson's r = 0.57; Spearman's ρ = 0.65, p < 0.001). This finding suggests that countries with higher EPI scores often exhibit larger ecological footprints, primarily driven by affluence and consumption intensity. Linear regression results further substantiate this link, with EPI emerging as a significant predictor of EF (β = 0.107, p < 0.001), explaining 32.4% of the variance. Cluster and principal component analyses reveal four country typologies, distinguishing between high-performing but high-impact nations and those achieving more sustainable balances. Case studies, including Germany, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, and Guatemala, illustrate the spectrum of governance-impact dynamics. These results challenge the adequacy of governance-centric indicators and highlight the need for integrated sustainability frameworks that combine policy metrics with consumption-based impact measures. By questioning the assumption that environmental performance is synonymous with ecological sustainability, this research calls for a fundamental rethinking of how sustainability is measured, communicated, and pursued in the era of planetary boundaries.

This study investigates the use of microalgae as bioindicators to assess the trophic
status and organic pollution levels in the Seven Brackish Lakes located north of
Benghazi, Libya. Microalgae, due to their rapid response to environmental
changes and their central role in aquatic ecosystems, serve as effective indicators
of water quality. Over four seasons sampling period, qualitative and quantitative
analyses of microalgae communities were conducted across 6 sites within the
lakes. Key ecological indices, including Nygaard index, Palmer Pollution Index
and trophic diatoms index were employed to evaluate trophic status and pollution
levels. During the four seasons from October 2022 to July 2023, 33 species
following to 27 genera and 5 divisions were recorded from in the seven lakes
north of Benghazi. The most diverse group was Chlorophyta (49%), followed by
Cyanobacteria (21%), Bacillariophyta (12%), Euglenophyta (9%) and Dinophyta
(9%) as well.  Results revealed significant organic pollution conditions based on
palmer index (score = 36) with higher abundances of eutrophication based on the
compound Nygaard index indicated(score =9) and trophic diatoms index ( score =
4 to 4.5).  These findings suggest a gradient from mesotrophic to hypereutrophic
conditions within the lake system, corresponding to varying degrees of
anthropogenic impact, particularly domestic and agricultural runoff.

This study aims at estimating trends in spring phenology from vegetation index and air temperature at 2 m height. To this end, we have developed a methodology to infer spring phenological dates from Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series, which are then extrapolated to the period 1948–2006 with the help of Reanalysis data, using its 2 m height air temperature parameter. First, yearly NDVI is fitted to a double-logistic function for the whole extent of the GIMMS database (1981–2003). This fitting procedure allows us to describe, on a yearly basis, the NDVI evolution for each pixel through the estimation of six parameters which include the spring date. Retrieved spring date time-series are then upscaled to Reanalysis database resolution and compared to degree-day amounts. Those degree-day amounts are estimated for various thresholds in order to determine the best thresholds for their calculations on a pixel-by-pi...

La planeacion para el desarrollo presume un espacio de accion y proyeccion denominado region, en la practica, cada modelo concibe un territorio diferente tanto en estructura como en funcion. Los esquemas de regionalizacion son un recurso comunmente utilizado para delimitar el territorio a desarrollar; no obstante, hay pocos indicios que haya funcionado en America Latina, a pesar del reconocimiento internacional de la urgente integracion social y ambiental cada vez mayor en este tipo de procesos, sin embargo, para algunos autores aun se carece de un verdadero enfoque regional. El resultado es que se han disenado e implementado politicas centradas en el aspecto economico, dejando de lado la integracion de los elementos que conforman al desarrollo sustentable (espacios integradores economica, social y ecologicamente). El objetivo de este articulo es examinar los espacios de referencia donde las disputas territoriales del Estado se localizan para el caso mexicano, en la denominada Regio...

Traditionally, earthworms are considered one of the most frequently used bioindicators to evaluate the sustainability of soil use. Therefore a new index, called QBS-e (Soil Biological Quality Index based on earthworms) has been provided in order to improve the monitoring of the soil's biological fertility in the rural environment, as well as for use by non-experts in earthworm taxonomy. We present two case studies to test the application of this new practical tool: one in horticultural agroecosystems and the other in vineyards in North-Eastern Italy, and we compare the QBS-e method with the traditional method of earthworm diversity analysis. We analysed the differences in earthworm fauna between organic and conventional agroecosystems to assess if some particular agronomical practices affect earthworms. The results obtained with the two methods are comparable: this seems to demonstrate the effectiveness of using the QBS-e index in order to save time and costs in soil monitoring programmes. In addition, we propose a simple software to calculate the QBS-e index value and to help with the attribution of the correct ecological category to the sampled specimens. 2005; proposed an index of soil quality evaluation

Undocumented historical losses of sea turtle nesting beaches worldwide could overestimate the successes of conservation measures and misrepresent the actual status of the sea turtle population. In addition, the suitability of many sea turtle nesting sites continues to decline even without in-depth scientific studies of the extent of losses and impacts to the population. In this study, multidecadal changes in the outlines and area of Jana and Karan islands, major sea turtle nesting sites in the Arabian Gulf, were compared using available Kodak aerographic images, USGS EROS Declassified satellite imagery, and ESRI satellite images. A decrease of 5.1% and 1.7% of the area of Jana and Karan islands, respectively, were observed between 1965 and 2017. This translated to 14,146 m 2 of beach loss at Jana Is. and 16,376 m 2 of beach loss at Karan Is. There was an increase of island extent for Karan Is. from 1965 to 1968 by 9098 m 2 but comparing 2017 with 1968, Karan Is. lost as much as 25,474 m 2 or 2.6% of the island extent in 1968. The decrease in island aerial extent was attributed to loss of beach sand. The southern tips of the island lost the most significant amount of sand. There was also thinning of beach sand along the middle and northern sections that exposed the rock outcrops underneath the beach. The process of beach changes of both islands was tracked by the satellite imagery from Landsat 1,3,5,7 and Sentinel-2 during 1972 to 2020. Other factors including the distribution of beach slope, sea level changes, as well as wind & current from both northward and eastward components were analyzed to show its impact on the beach changes. The loss of beach sand could potentially impact the quality and availability of nesting beach for sea turtles utilizing the islands as main nesting grounds. Drivers of beach loss at the offshore islands are discussed in the context of sea level rise, dust storms, extreme wave heights and island desertification.

This experiment evaluates the effectiveness of individual steps of a clean-in-place protocol against the biofilm constitutive microflora isolated from the biofilms developed on whey reverse-osmosis membranes, aged 2 to 14 mo, under industrial processing conditions. The isolates used for the in vitro resistance studies included species of Bacillus, Enterococcus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Aeromonas, Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, and Escherichia. The 6 cleaning steps (alkali, surfactant, acid, enzyme, a second surfactant, and sanitizer treatment) revealed resistance of isolates in both planktonic and biofilm-embedded cell states. The most effective step was the acid treatment, which resulted in 4.54 to 7.90 and 2.09 to 5.02 log reductions of the planktonic and biofilm-embedded cells, respectively. Although the sanitizer step causing a reduction of 4.91 to 8.33 log in the case of planktonic cells, it was less effective against the biofilm-embedded cells, resulting in a reduction of 0.59 to 1.64 log. Bacillus spp. showed the highest resistance in both planktonic, as well as embedded cell states.

Despite the large number of ponds scattered across the landscape, there is still insufficient recognition of their functioning. This would require the development of methods for assessing this type of aquatic ecosystem, based on their environmental specificity. Even though conditions are potentially homogenic in small and shallow water bodies, macrophytes divide the area into diverse microhabitats. Therefore, we hypothesized that the type of habitat (the open water vs. various macrophytes) may have a considerable structuring effect on functional groups, such as life-forms (pelagic and littoral) or trophic-associated rotifers, confirming their great suitability for environmental studies. Sixty three ponds, with 136 sites located within the open water, helophytes and elodeids, were analysed. Eutrophic rotifers showed a similar response to environmental factors and were linked to a certain type of habitat as was the whole pelagic community, while mesotrophic rotifers, which ecologically also belong to the pelagic community, responded in the same way as the littoral community and species diversity. The first group of rotifer indices, pelagic rotifers and their eutrophic fraction prevailed in the open water of fishstock large-surfaced ponds. However, the second group consisting of littoral rotifers along with overall species diversity and mesotrophic fraction, increased concurrently with the presence of crustaceans in small-surfaced ponds overshaded by nymphaeids and pleustophytes. The presence of elodeids in ponds, particularly Ceratophyllum and Chara, with the highest complexity (plant biomass), apart from increasing the diversity and share of littoral rotifers, reduced the occurrence of eutrophic rotifers and increased that of mesotrophic ones. This confirms the viability of using certain trophic indicators for water quality prediction in ponds. While elodeids were of the greatest importance, helophytes did not impact rotifer distribution, having no indicative value for quality state assessment in ponds. We demonstrate that a functional approach, taking into account rotifer life forms (pelagic vs. littoral community), may serve as a valuable tool for environmental analyses in case of small water bodies. Rotifer indices revealed not only a prevalence towards a particular type of habitat but they also selectively chose certain species of macrophyte beds, which suggests that for conservation purposes a highly complex cover of elodeids should be maintained to improve the ecological value of ponds.

Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author.

Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author.

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires that European Union Member States achieve "Good Environmental Status" (GES) in respect of 11 Descriptors of the marine environment by 2020. Of those, Descriptor 4, which focuses on marine food webs, is perhaps the most challenging to implement since the identification of simple indicators able to assess the health of highly dynamic and complex interactions is difficult. Here, we present the proposed food web criteria/indicators and analyse their theoretical background and applicability in order to highlight both the current knowledge gaps and the difficulties associated with the assessment of GES. We conclude that the existing suite of indicators gives variable focus to the three important food web properties: structure, functioning and dynamics, and more emphasis should be given to the latter two and the general principles that relate these three properties. The development of food web indicators should be directed towards more integrative and process-based indicators with an emphasis on their responsiveness to multiple anthropogenic pressures.

In this study variation of six climatic indices including accumulated precipitation (P), accumulated potential evapotranspiration (PET), accumulated actual evapotranspiration (AET), accumulated crop evapotranspiration (ETC), accumulated water stress (S) and climatic water deficit (D), was investigated. Climatic indices and their variation were calculated during seven growth stages of wheat in five locations in the northeast of Iran from 1983 to 2008. Principal component analysis (PCA) technique was applied to explore major modes of variation in the regional climatic indices during different crop growth stages. The principle component obtained for each region was correlated to the regional winter wheat yield. Finally the regional amount of water and precipitation use efficiency (WUE and PUE) were analyzed in order to assess any possible association with wheat yield. The results showed that the highest precipitation occurred during the tillering stage and spatially decreased from north (Bojnord) to south (Birjand) and from east (Mashhad) to west (Sabzevar). The difference between the highest and the lowest precipitation across all locations was 2.5 of standard value. The variation pattern of AET, compared to other indices, showed more similarity to variation of precipitation at different growth stages and the highest AET (more than 2 of standard value in all locations) occurred during the tillering stage. The PCA indicated that effective components varied in different locations. The most positive and effective components were types of evapotranspiration that are associated with crop (ETC and AET) and precipitation. However none of these effective PCs showed a significant correlation with final yield. The PUE and WUE analysis indicated that PUE provides more information to interpret the relationship between total amounts of precipitation and the final yield.

Biomonitoring tools are useful to assess the impact of environmental changes on the functioning of ecosystems. Existing tools mostly require species identification, thus allowing to estimating changes in biodiversity, and possibly inferring ecosystem functioning, using functional diversity and traits based approaches. Testate amoebae are good indicators of surface moisture conditions in Sphagnum peatlands and are routinely used in palaeoecology. Their shells (tests), on which identification is based, can also be used to define functional traits and thus to infer changes in ecosystem functioning. We investigated the response of testate amoeba communities to manipulated water table depth (wet: -4 cm, intermediate: -15 cm, and dry: -25 cm) over time (seven time points, 19 months) using mesocosms by comparing two approaches: community structure and functional traits responses, using a combination of morphological (biovolume, length, aperture size and position) and physiological (mixotrophy/heterotrophy, shell material) traits. This is the first study investigating the effect of water table depth on testate amoeba assemblages over time using a mesocosm approach. Taxonomical and functional approaches showed similar response patterns, confirming that water level acted as a strong environmental filter. After one year Hyalosphenia papilio decreased in the dry treatment, and the community structure shifted towards a dominance of dry indicators (Nebela tincta complex, Corythion dubium, Euglypha compressa) and the selected functional traits (smaller, heterotrophic, compressed species, with a ventral aperture) corresponded to drought adaptations. In line with recent observational and transfer function studies exploring the use of testate amoebae functional traits, our experimental results illustrate how well-selected traits could be used to monitor the impact of present and past climatic changes on Sphagnum peatlands.

changes in water physico-chemistry is highly controlled by flow intermittency and subsequent disruption of longitudinal connectivity; • diatom assemblages reflect the aquatic regimes, aquatic states and sampling habitat; • SPI reflects the sampling season and mesohabitat; • no differences between aquatic regimes, aquatic states, sampling seasons and mesohabitats were detected for species richness; • benthic diatom assemblages in dry biofilm can be used as an indicator of ecological status during the dry-phase.

Contaminant-related stress on aquatic biota is difficult to assess when lethal impacts are not observed. Diatoms, by displaying deformities (teratologies) in their valves, have the potential to reflect sub-lethal responses to environmental stressors such as metals and organic compounds. For this reason, there is great interest in using diatom morphological aberrations in biomonitoring. However, the detection and mostly the quantification of teratologies is still a challenge; not all studies have succeeded in showing a relationship between the proportion of abnormal valves and contamination level along a gradient of exposure. This limitation in part reflects the loss of ecological information from diatom teratologies during analyses when all deformities are considered. The type of deformity, the severity of aberration, species proneness to deformity formation, and propagation of deformities throughout the population are key components and constraints in quantifying teratologies. Before a metric based on diatom deformities can be used as an indicator of contamination, it is important to better understand the "ecological signal" provided by this biomarker. Using the overall abundance of teratologies has proved to be an excellent tool for identifying contaminated and non-contaminated environments (presence/absence), but refining this biomonitoring approach may bring additional insights allowing for a better assessment of contamination level along a gradient. The dilemma: are all teratologies significant, equal and/or meaningful in assessing changing levels of contamination? This viewpoint article examines numerous interrogations relative to the use of diatom teratologies in water quality monitoring, provides selected examples of differential responses to contamination, and proposes solutions that may refine our understanding and quantification of the stress. Hopefully, this paper highlights the logistical problems associated with accurately evaluating and interpreting teratologies and stimulates more discussion and research on the subject to enhance the sensitivity of this metric in bioassessments.