Recently designated as a new special economic zone in China, Zhoushan Archipelago is going through a rapid land use change that is expected to have significant impacts on ecosystem services. However, there is no baseline of ecosystem service value (ESV) of the Zhoushan Archipelago up to date, making it impossible to assess any impacts of land use changes. In this study, we adopted the concept o...

An axiomatic system is proposed to improve identification, description, and analysis of complex ecological systems. Such systems are assumed to be organized and have structure. Organization is the complex of interactions and properties of structure that make the perpetuation of structure possible. An entity of structure is assumed to be composed of other entities. The term entity is adopted as ...

Given the complementary nature of static and dynamic analysis, there has been much work on identifying means of combining the two. In particular, the use of static analysis as a means of alleviating the overheads induced by dynamic analysis, typically by trying to prove parts of the properties, which would then not need to be verified at runtime. In this paper, we propose a novel framework whic...

It is not clear yet how extreme drought and nitrogen (N) deposition influence grassland ecosystem functions when they are considered together, especially in complex field conditions. To explore the response of the Leymus chinensis meadow ecosystem to manipulated extreme drought (45 days), N addition and their interaction, we measured leaf photosynthetic characteristics, aboveground phytomass on...

The methods of forest ecosystem services assessment vary between countries of the world. According to China’s characteristics and forestry situation, a systematic methodology of forest ecological benefits assessment was put forward by people who are concerned and devoted themselves into forest research in China. Indicator system was established according to forest multi-functionality, and asses...

The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 established the International Joint Commission (IJC) as an organization designed to resolve disputes and to avoid conflicts over transboundary environmental matters. Article IV of the Treaty provides the provision that neither party shall cause pollution that would injure the health or property of the other side. In 1972, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreemen...

Ocean acidification (OA) results in reduced seawater pH and aragonite saturation state (Ωarag), but also reduced seawater buffer capacity. As buffer capacity decreases, diel variation in seawater chemistry increases. However, a variety of ecosystem feedbacks can modulate changes in both average seawater chemistry and diel seawater chemistry variation. Here we model these effects for a coastal, ...

Research on ecosystem and societal response to global environmental change typically considers the effects of shifts in mean climate conditions. There is, however, some evidence of ongoing changes also in the variance of hydrologic and climate fluctuations. A relatively high interannual variability is a distinctive feature of the hydrologic regime of dryland regions, particularly at the desert ...

Millions of people rely on the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs, but sustaining these benefits requires an understanding of how reefs and their biotic communities are affected by local human-induced disturbances and global climate change. Ecosystem-based management that explicitly considers the indirect and cumulative effects of multiple disturbances has been recommended and adopted i...