Mangrove restoration projects are often evaluated based on the increase in mangrove forest (MF) area, but the reliability of this indicator as a measure of successful restoration is questionable. Considering both numerical and quality dimensions, this study assessed mangrove restoration efforts in the Leizhou Peninsula and Beibu Gulf (LP-BG) in China. The hypothesis was that due to the limited social capital investment in mangrove restoration, there exist hierarchical differences in the urgency of mangrove restoration. Time-series Landsat imagery from the Google Earth Engine platform was used to analyze the MF distribution from 2000 to 2020. A resilience indicator, incorporating resistance and adaptive capacity, was constructed to assess MF quality within identified mangrove boundaries. The results revealed an increase in MF area from 6655.87 ha in 2000 to 14,607.93 ha in 2020. However, the majority (79.6%) of MF patches exhibited low resilience (values < 3), with only a minority (51 patches) demonstrating high resilience. Interestingly, MFs within the mangrove reserve displayed higher resilience, but these areas did not exhibit a significant spatial expansion of MFs. These findings highlight the limitation of relying solely on the net growth in the MF area as an indicator of successful restoration. Instead, an ecologically optimal solution is recommended, focusing on expanding conservation boundaries to include remnant MFs outside protected areas, rather than creating new planting areas. This study provides an assessment framework to evaluate the efficiency of mangrove restoration efforts and offers insights for local decision makers to guide future restoration endeavors.

Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) change is one of the core features of global change. Habitat quality is an essential representation of ecosystem service functioning and ecosystem health. It is of great significance to assess the habitat quality spatiotemporal heterogeneity caused by land-use change in the regional ecological environment for security and sustainable regional management. Based on the interpreted LULC data of the Yellow River Delta (YRD) in 2000, 2010, and 2020, the PLUS model was used to forecast different LULC 2030 scenarios. Specifically, this study aimed to analyze the LULC change in the YRD and use the InVEST model to evaluate the overall habitat quality in the historical period of the region and future scenarios. From 2000 to 2020, the most critical land-use changes within a 20 km radius from the coastline in the study area are mainly the sharp increase in construction land, mariculture and salt pan, and the sharp decline of coastal wetlands, which is mainly due to the high intensity of human development activities and the process of erosion and deposition in coastal zones and estuarine deltas. During the period, the average habitat quality in the YRD decreased yearly, with the overall regional habitat quality classified as intermediate. The habitat quality was the most significant in the 0–20 km range from the coastline because of the high intensity of human development activities in this area. The habitat quality in the YRD varied under different scenarios in 2030. In the baseline scenario (BS) and socio-economic development (SD) scenario, the habitat quality decreased continuously, but the habitat quality increased under the ecological protection (EP) scenario. This research can provide relevant scientific references for optimizing landscape patterns and improving habitat quality in the YRD region.

Imazalil and Thiabendazole chemical based fungicides are currently used to control citrus green/blue molds, which is mainly caused by P. digitatum and P. italicum. In order to find alternative methods for control of citrus fruit diseases to avoid fungicide caused health and environmental problems, current research was conducted to explore the antifungal effectiveness of H₂O₂-Ag⁺ (Hydrogen peroxide stabilized with silver ions), which is a universally applicable and high effective disinfectant against pathogenic microorganisms, and has been used to control postharvest decay of fresh fruits in most developed countries, in the context of in vitro and in vivo P. digitatum and P. italicum development in the Newhall navel orange. H₂O₂-Ag⁺ was found to be effective in inhibiting in vitro radial growth and in vivo inoculated lesion development of Penicillum italicum and Penicillum digitatum. Dipping fruit with H₂O₂ at concentrations of 1-2% before storage reduced the decay incidence of orange after 30 and 60 days cold storage following by 3 days shelf life, although it was less effective than the positive control of fungicide Imazalil (500ppm). H₂O₂ provided a disinfectant effect on the pericarp, as indicated by significant reduction of total bacterial, mold and yeast counts. After cold storage and shelf-life, no significant difference was found among all treatments in the total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acid (TA), while higher vitamin C content was found in the Imazalil treated fruit. This research suggest that H₂O₂ can be an alternative to chemical fungicides that, although more effective, pose problems due to their residue levels and health concerns, especially for the organic fruit industry.

As a newly designated international wetland city, Hangzhou (China) is currently exploring pathways for high-quality, sustainable development as a habitable city. It is necessary to reveal the baseline status of ecological quality scientifically and rationally whilst tracing its historical changes to support future detailed urban development planning. This study employs the GEE platform, utilizing remote sensing images of Hangzhou from 2013 to 2025. The RSEI index is constructed using four indicators directly perceptible to humans: dryness, heat, wetness, and greenness. The RSEI, coefficient of variation, and Sen-trend analysis were applied to evaluate patterns in ecological quality changes within Hangzhou. Results indicate that during the study period, Hangzhou exhibited minimal variation in RSEI values and Sen indices, reflecting overall ecological stability. Areas classified as “good” ecological grade increased, while other grades decreased. Ecological improvement primarily occurred in early-developed central districts like Xihu and Gongshu, demonstrating Hangzhou’s commitment to refined urban ecological management. This study validates the feasibility of RSEI for environmental assessment in Hangzhou, effectively guiding the city’s pursuit of refined development during late-stage urbanization to enhance the residents’ well-being. Furthermore, it provides a case study for ecological and environmental monitoring in megacities with similar characteristics to Hangzhou, offering significant demonstration value and implications.

Within the framework of the dual carbon strategy, investigating the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of carbon sequestration in metropolitan areas through land use analysis is important for mitigating climate change and promoting regional ecological protection and sustainable development. On the basis of land use time points for five phases from the Jinan metropolitan area (JMA) covering the period from 2000 to 2024, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model was coupled with the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost)–Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) models to explore the spatiotemporal variations in carbon storage and its driving factors. In the last 24 years, cropland has been the predominant land use category in the JMA, representing almost 62% of the overall area. Throughout the five periods, the transition from cropland to construction land predominated, resulting in an 11.78% reduction in farmland and a 49.73% expansion in construction land. Between 2000 and 2024, carbon storage in the JMA decreased overall, with a total reduction of 3.70 Tg. The occupation of farmland for construction purposes was the primary cause of the decrease in carbon storage. The spatial pattern of carbon storage was similar to that of land use in the JMA, characterized by a distribution pattern with elevated values in the southeast and reduced values in the northwest. The SHAP analysis results demonstrated that the contributions of driving factors such as elevation, vegetation coverage, human footprint, and population density were generally high, making them the main drivers affecting carbon storage, with a significantly greater contribution of natural factors than human activity factors. The MGWR model results revealed that the digital elevation model and fractional vegetation cover positively influenced carbon storage in the JMA, whereas the population density imposed a negative effect. These results could guide the judicious allocation and utilisation of resources in urban regions, the establishment of ecological conservation areas, and the advancement of regional sustainability.

Water security is the premise for island sustainable development. Rapid urbanization and rising tourism industry have reshaped the water system in China's island cities, and it is necessary to reveal the characteristics of the aforementioned impacts in relation to strength and duration. Here, we present a framing to interpret the nexus between island developments and water security. Subsequently, their coevolutionary trend and mutual impact effects (coupling coordination degree and response period) were measured by mathematical models, respectively. Results demonstrated that the equilibrium of the water system has shifted from nature- to human-dominated since 2010. Interestingly, the coupling coordination degree between water security and island development showed an upward increasing trend, across the study periods. Moreover, water security exhibited positive and negative shock responses to tourism and urbanization, over 1- and 7-year response periods, respectively. Overall, the findings from this case study provide a quantitative paradigm for island sustainable management, and are expected to inform local decision makers on warning signals of sustainability loss, at a temporal scale.