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Identifying and characterizing semi-natural habitats (SNHs) are important to the ecological conservation of cultivated land systems and implementing China's ecological civilization strategy. This study revealed the concept and characteristics of SNHs in Chinese cultivated land systems regarding human activities, resource types, and spatial landscape patterns. The resource quantity, landscape quality, and spatial distribution of SNHs in Southern Jiangsu's cultivated land system were analyzed by constructing the identification model of "land use/land cover type-cultivated land use intensity-spatial landscape pattern". The results showed that the area of SNHs in Southern Jiangsu's cultivated land system was 25.35%, significantly influenced by cultivated land intensification and expansion. The higher the cultivated land use intensity, the lower the quantity of SNHs, and the proportion of SNHs in the intensive-use pattern was only 2.97%. 68.18% of the SNHs in Southern Jiangsu were water, and habitats for important species, such as woodland, grassland, wetlands, and bare land, were scarce. A small patch area, high landscape fragmentation, poor landscape richness and diversity, and low connectivity accompanied increased cultivated land use intensity. From the extensive to intensive utilization, the spatial spread of SNHs from low-value aggregation to high-value scatter areas, with hotspot areas of cultivated land use intensity and SNHs existing only in a small part of Nanjing and Changzhou. This study provides a scientific reference for the rehabilitation and restoration of SNHs in the context of the ecological transformation of land use. It promotes the sustainable intensification of cultivated land systems. It also provides new ideas for linking ecological and urban spaces to form a stable and systematic national ecological safety network., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Assessing the corporate green technology progress and environmental governance performance is essential to estimate the technological levels and environment regulation capabilities of enterprises. With the official statistics of collected panel data, we estimate and evaluate the differential levels of provincial corporate green technology and environmental governance performance of industrial enterprises above designated size (IEADSs) in Anhui Province across multiple dimensions. We firstly chose each surveyed city as the decision-making unit (DMU) in data envelopment analysis (DEA). Subsequently, we estimated the green technology efficiency of IEADSs from a static perspective by using the bootstrap DEA model and an improved super-efficiency (SE) DEA model. Secondly, we used the algorithm of Malmquist productivity index to analyze the dynamic efficiency development tendency and spatiotemporal characteristics in the DMUs. From a dynamic perspective, the evolutionary divergence and convergence characteristics of provincial green technology efficiency were brought about by the estimating algorithm of Malmquist productivity index based on the different regional divisions in Anhui Province. Furthermore, in combination with Malmquist-data envelopment analyses, we also used gray correlation analysis to analyze and evaluate the influencing factors of the industrial green technology efficiencies. This study shows many interesting findings across multiple dimensions. Among the 16 DMUs, there are only eight with the regional green technology efficiencies of IEADSs greater than the expected threshold of 0.9. Nevertheless, the green technology efficiencies of provincial industrial enterprises are still far from the national optimized goals in most of the surveyed cities. The regional green technology efficiencies of IEADSs were ranked as South Anhui > North Anhui > Middle Anhui. The overall average industrial green technology efficiency is 0.8650 in Anhui Province, but the provincial differences of sub-area distribution are relatively large and heterogeneous. The average provincial industrial green technology efficiency appeared as the overall tendency to rise, fall, and then rise, although there is an average bootstrapped Malmquist productivity indices of 1.009 in Anhui Province. Among the declined provincial Malmquist productivity indices, the effch, techch, and sech indices are vital causers of the overall decline of the provincial Malmquist productivity indices. Ultimately, based on all these quantitative estimates and findings, we put forward the following concluding remarks with policy implications and corresponding strategies.

Studies on the ecological conservation behavior of farmers usually focus on individual and socio-economic characteristics without consideration of the underlying psychological constructs, such as farmers' intention and perceptions. This study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB), a typical social psychology construct, to analyze the factors affecting the intention and behavior of farmers for conserving the ecological achievements from payment for ecosystem service (PES) programs in eco-environmentally fragile areas. Questionnaires based on TPB were administered to 1004 farmers from the Grain to Green Program area in the Loess Plateau, China, with the resulting dataset used to identify the underlying factors determining farmers' intention and behavior based on the structural equation model. The results show that the farmers' intention and behavior toward conserving ecological achievements were explained well by TPB. The farmers'behavior was significantly positively affected by their intention toward conserving ecological achievements, and their intention was significantly influenced by their attitude (positive or negative value of performance), the subjective norm (social pressure in engaging behavior), and perceived behavioral control (perceptions of their ability). The farmers' degree of support for PES programs and their recognition of environmental effects were the factors that most influenced the farmers' attitude. Pressure from neighbors was the most potent driver of the subjective norm. Meanwhile, perceptions of their ability to perform the behavior were the most potent factors affecting intention and it was mostly driven by the farmers' feelings toward environmental improvement and perceived ability (time and labor) to participate in ecological conservation. The drivers of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control can be used by policy makers to direct farmers' intention and behavior toward conserving ecological achievements in fragile eco-environmentally areas through PES programs. Thus, this strategy can improve the sustainability of ecological and environmental restoration programs., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With the advancement of ecological conservation in China, the concept of green development has gained extensive acceptance and recognition. Exploring green development from the perspectives of environmental protection and sociology holds great theoretical value and practical significance in studying the issues related to green development. Firstly, this paper examines green development in light of the objective needs of the economic and social transformation in the international community and China, and deconstructed its underlying social logic. Secondly, it further investigates the social factors that restrict green development, encompassing social structures, social concepts, social systems, and social behaviors. Finally, within the framework of the "green" discipline system in environmental sociology, this paper proposes specific measures such as restructuring social systems and transforming production modes, lifestyles, and consumption patterns to promote green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ESDA was applied to estimate the pattern of ecological security (ES) in PRD, China. • Hot and cold spots for the spatial distribution of ES were identified. • Optimal management was proposed from three categories for each municipality. • The main factors influencing ES distribution were explored using semivariance. The ecological security (ES) pattern in China is gaining considerable attention worldwide due to intensifying urban development and human activities that threaten ecosystem structures and ecological processes. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) has experienced intense economic development for nearly 40 years; however, the ES pattern in the PRD is poorly understood. In this paper, we used a multisource data approach to assess ES, performed downscaling to a 1 × 1 km2 grid size, and applied spatial statistics to analyze the ES pattern in the PRD. We found three natural "ecological buffers," namely, nature reserves and forest patches covering several municipalities in the delta, thus guaranteeing the socio-economic development of this highly urbanized area. The spatial autocorrelation results indicated that the ES pattern is significantly spatially correlative (p = 0.001), with a Moran's I of 0.7766. We identified several hot and cold spots for the ES spatial distribution that occupied 58.49% of the PRD's total area. Moreover, a semivariance analysis showed that structural factors are dominant in the ES spatial distribution. Based on the ES area proportions, the 9 municipalities of the PRD can be grouped into three categories: optimized development zones, comprehensive development zones, and ecological conservation development areas. Zhaoqing, Huizhou and Jiangmen are key areas for improving ES conservation in the PRD. In this study, we explore an ES assessment model coupled with a spatial heterogeneity analysis to provide insights into ecological conservation efforts in urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to balance environmental development and ecological conservation is one of the important issues of recent years. The main objective of this study is to investigate the behavioral patterns of amphibians on different substrates and slopes in order to provide necessary information to design a safe ecological amphibian ladder. Twenty Buergeria japonica , 20 Buergeia robustus, and 20 Rana swinhoana , were collected from the Wulai mountainous area in Taipei. The amphibians were divided into male and female samples, and their weight, body length, long jump, and high jump were tested. The effects of angle, material, temperature, and humidity on climbing ability were also discussed. The experimental results showed that the weight and body length of female frogs are larger than that of male frogs; the weight difference is 1.7-4 times; the body length is 0.9–2 cm higher. The orders of high jump and long jump of the three species are: Buergeria japonica (♀) > Rana swinhoana(♀) > Buergeia robustus (♀) > Rana swinhoana (♂) > Buergeria japonica (♂) > Buergeia robustus (♂); Rana swinhoana (♀) > Rana swinhoana (♂) >Buergeria japonica (♂) > Buergeia robustus (♀) > Buergeria japonica (♀) > Buergeia robustus (♂) . Comparison of climatic environments and climbing matrices showed that female frogs have better climbing ability than male frogs. The highest climbing value of Buergeia robustus in the low temperature and low humidity grass matrix 15°is 0.38 ( × 10 −2 N/g), that of Rana swinhoana in the low temperature and high humidity concrete matrix 15°is 0.25( × 10 −2 N/g). In general, the climbing abilities of frogs perform worst in low temperature and low humidity environments. There, it is suggested that the above environment can be the climate condition for amphibian ladder design. Moreover, the maximum climbing angle of frogs can be used as useful information when designing an amphibian ladder. This study also suggests that if there are more than two species of frogs in a habitat, the designer should use a lower slope angle to design so that the frogs with different climbing abilities can relocate or escape through an ecological amphibian ladder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity conservation is challenging in urbanizing landscapes where recurring habitat degradation occurs and space is limited for subsequent restoration. Conservation efforts based on natural reserves may not be able to maintain certain ecological processes that extend beyond the reserves. There is an urgent need to conserve or restore critical habitats outside of protected areas to maintain the functional connectivity of habitat networks. In this study, we developed a connectivity modelling approach associated with varying conservation scenarios to establish habitat conservation priorities in a rapidly urbanizing area of Shenzhen, China. We incorporated unprotected habitat patches into the reserve network via four scenarios and prioritized the contributions of these patches to habitat connectivity. We also investigated the responses of species with different dispersal abilities to habitat changes under each conservation scenario. The results showed that the spatial pattern of unprotected habitats played an important role in enhancing the connectivity of the entire network within the study area. The habitat patches around protected areas could create greater connectivity gains and should be prioritized for conservation. The key patches that substantially enhance connectivity were identified as special conservation concerns. The connectivity benefits from different scenarios were closely linked with species dispersal abilities. This study promotes the understanding of the importance of habitats outside of protected areas in urbanizing landscapes and provides the species-specific and spatially explicit conservation schemes for making informed decisions in urban planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study concentrates on the investigation of energy and environmental benefits for used oil pertaining to its reuse through: (i) recovering the heating value of used oils in a combustion process and (ii) re-refining of used oil to produce fresh lube oil products. Tests were made with the used oil samples by ICP technique and the results were compared with standard requirements. We have found that the problems could successfully be solved through used oil management practices including collection centers, transporters, and processors by providing encouragement and financial support towards the re-refining industry. The novelty and value of our work lies in the conclusion that reformulation of motor oil results in lower levels of hazardous elements in used oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological engineering is defined as “the design of sustainable ecosystems that integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both.” It involves the restoration of ecosystems that have been substantially disturbed by human activities such as environmental pollution or land disturbance; and the development of new sustainable ecosystems that have both human and ecological value. While there was some early discussion of ecological engineering in the 1960s, its development was spawned later by several factors, including loss of confidence in the view that all pollution problems can be solved through technological means and the realization that with technological means, pollutants are just being moved from one form to another. Conventional approaches require massive amounts of resources to solve these problems, and that in turn perpetuates carbon and nitrogen cycle problems, for example. The development of ecological engineering was given strong impetus in the last decade with a textbook, the journal Ecological Engineering and two professional ecological engineering societies. Five principles about ecological engineering are: (1) It is based on the self-designing capacity of ecosystems; (2) It can be the acid test of ecological theories; (3) It relies on system approaches; (4) It conserves non-renewable energy sources; and (5) It supports biological conservation. Ecology as a science is not routinely integrated into engineering curricula, even in environmental engineering programs, while shortcoming, ecologists, environmental scientists, and managers miss important training in their profession—problem solving. These two problems could be solved in the integrated field of ecological engineering. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]