Background and Objectives: As urbanisation is a significant global trend, there is a profound need for biodiversity protection in urban ecosystems. Moreover, the potential of urban green space to support urban biodiversity should be appreciated. Butterflies are environmental indicators that are sensitive to urbanisation. Therefore, it is important to identify butterfly distribution patterns and the factors influencing butterfly diversity and species composition in urban parks within cities. Research Highlights: To our knowledge, ours is the first study evaluating the effects of both land cover and local habitat features on butterfly species composition in urban parks of Beijing, China. Materials and Methods: In this study, we surveyed butterfly richness and abundance in 28 urban parks in Beijing, China. The parks differed in age and location in the urban area. Meanwhile, we investigated the green space in the surroundings of the parks at multi-spatial scales at the landscape level. We also investigated local park characteristics including the age of the park (Age), perimeter/area ratio of the park (SQPRA), area of the park (ha) (Area), green space cover within the park (Greenp), nectar plant species richness (Necpl), abundance of flowering nectar plants (Necabu) and overall plant species richness (Pl). Generalised linear models (GLMs) and redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) were applied to relate butterfly diversity and butterfly species composition to environmental variables, respectively. Results: We recorded 3617 individuals belonging to 26 species from July to September in 2019. Parks on the city fringe had significantly higher butterfly diversity. Butterfly species richness was mostly related to total plant richness. The abundance of flowering nectar plants was closely linked to butterfly abundance. Land cover had little impact on butterfly diversity and community structure in urban parks. Conclusions: Once a park has sufficient plants and nectar resources, it becomes a useful haven for urban butterflies, regardless of the surrounding land cover. Well-planned urban parks focused on local habitat quality support butterfly conservation.

Background: Myopia is a serious public health issue. High school–aged adolescents in Beijing have an alarming prevalence of myopia. Therefore, determining myopia protective factors is essential. Green space has a certain association with myopia protective factors that can protect against myopia. Objective: This study aims to examine the effects of green space around schools on individual myopia risk in high school–aged adolescents and the school-level myopia prevalence. Methods: Green space was measured using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). A total of 13,380 samples of 51 high schools were selected from a 2021 Beijing Municipal Health Commission survey. Adolescent myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent of ≤–1.00 diopters in the worse eye. Generalized linear mixed models with a binomial error structure were used to analyze the effects of the NDVI on personal myopia risk and adjust them by other factors, such as demographics, exposure time, and outdoor exercise. The effects of the NDVI on school-level myopia prevalence with adjusted demographics and the relative position factors of trees were analyzed through quasibinomial regression. Results: The overall prevalence of myopia was 80.61% (10,785/13,380, 95% CI 79.93%-81.27%). Although with a 0.1 increase in the 500 and 1000 m buffer NDVIs adjusted by demographic and other factors, the high school–aged personal myopia risk significantly dropped by 16% (odds ratio [OR] 0.84, 95% CI 0.73-0.97) and 12% (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.79-0.99), respectively. However, only the adjusted 500 m buffer NDVI (by demographics and the position of trees) with a 0.1 increase significantly reduced the school-level myopia prevalence by 15% (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.74-0.98). Subgroup analysis showed that the adjusted effects of the 500 m buffer NDVI are significant in schoolgirls (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.93), juniors (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.94), the Han nationality (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.72-0.97), 1-year exposure (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.71-0.99) and 3-year exposure (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.65-0.94). Conclusions: The greenness of a 500 m buffer around schools is associated with a lower personal myopia risk among adolescents and a lower prevalence of myopia in schools. With regard to prevention and control activities, green space within a 500 m buffer around schools is suggested as an independent protective factor for adolescent myopia.

Soundscape is an essential component of urban forest landscapes, acoustic indices can be effectively used to monitor biodiversity, but whether they can be used for soundscape perception assessments needs to be further explored. In this study, soundscape recordings were collected in Beijing Eastern Suburban Forest Park, and acoustic indices were used to explore the relationship between the acoustic environment and soundscape perception, as well as the possible effects of temporal changes. To achieve this, audio recordings collected in spring and summer were divided, and a total of 90 audio segments were extracted from three time periods—morning, afternoon, and evening—to calculate the acoustic index and complete a questionnaire survey. The urban forest soundscape was evaluated according to the eight perceptual attribute quality indicators of ISO 12913, and generalized linear models were constructed to quantify the relationships between the acoustic indices and perception. The results showed that the temporal variation of the soundscape influenced the subjective evaluation, with the highest overall evaluation relating to the morning soundscape. The combination of acoustic indices explained the soundscape pleasantness (R² = 0.58) better than the soundscape eventfulness (R² = 0.54), demonstrating the utility of these indices in soundscape assessment. Linking acoustic indices to human perception generates innovative ideas and theoretical support for soundscape enhancement, contributing to a more pleasant acoustic environment and maximizing the social value of urban forests.

As the first visual element, color is the most attractive in the forest landscape. There are various kinds of forest colors; however, the human eye’s ability to recognize them is limited. In order to combine color composition and human eye recognition ability to quantify forest colors more appropriately and to improve the ornamental effect of forest color landscapes more precisely, we have constructed a forest color palette using k-means clustering based on the color information of 986 forest images from 40 national forest parks in China. The differences in color recognition accuracy and sensitivity among populations and colors were analyzed. The effect of forest color patch indices on color identification accuracy for interior and distant forest landscapes was also explored. The results were as follows: (1) forest color could be divided into eight color families—orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, purple, and red. (2) For humans, the recognition accuracy was highest for green and lowest for blue-green. (3) For interior forest landscapes, the mean area proportion and fractal dimension of the color patches showed significant positive effects on color recognition accuracy, whereas the number and density of color patches showed significant negative effects. For distant forest landscapes, the density and Shannon’s diversity index of the color patches showed significant positive effects for color recognition accuracy, whereas the number, edge density, division index, and cohesion of the color patches showed significant negative effects. We thus suggest that it is necessary to increase the complexity of the color patch shape when creating interior forest landscapes and to focus on the diversity and balance of color matching when creating distant forest landscapes. In future studies, the collection pathways for forest images should be expanded, and color information extraction algorithms that incorporate human perception should be selected. This will improve the data available for forest color studies and enable the construction of a more accurate forest color palette.

Against the backdrop of advancing ecological civilization and increasing public interest in reconnecting with nature, this study examines fireflies—iconic insects cherished for their natural charm—as valuable landscape resources. This study was conducted in Dalingshan Forest Park, Dongguan (Pearl River Delta), using the Forest Science Trail as a sampling site. Surveys combining line transect and point count methods were employed to analyze firefly species composition, adult activity patterns, and flight characteristics. Key findings include: (1) Four species were identified—Asymmetricata circumdata, Pygoluciola qingyu, Aquatica analis, and Luciola satoi—three of which were observed along the trail; (2) Adults appeared sporadically after 19:00, with peak activity occurring between 19:30 and 20:00, showing minor interspecific variation; (3) Although flight height varied slightly among species, most activities concentrated within 0–1.5 m, corresponding to herbaceous and shrub layers; (4) Distinct flight patterns were observed: A. circumdata displayed prolonged intermittent flights, while P. qingyu and L. satoi exhibited shorter perching-based flights. These results provide a scientific basis for firefly habitat conservation, biodiversity promotion, and the sustainable integration of firefly landscapes into nature education and ecotourism.