Peatlands are important ecosystems that store vast amounts of carbon, support biodiversity conservation, and mitigate flooding. Topography, including fine-scale variation, contributes to the formation of mire vegetation patterns by creating heterogeneous hydrological conditions. However, fine-scale drone-derived terrain data have not been widely utilized in the study of topography-vegetation relationships. In this study, we investigated how the vegetation distribution within Ukishima Mire, a mountain mire with complex fine-scale topographic patterns in Hokkaido, northern Japan, could be explained by topographic factors. The mire is located at an elevation of 870 m and covers an area of 0.15 km2. A digital terrain model (DTM) was generated using drone photogrammetry. Eighteen topography-related variables were derived from the DTM. Across the mire, we recorded the locations of nine herbaceous vegetation types, which consisted of Sphagnum mosses, sedges, grasses, shrubs, and a disturbed type. We constructed a random forest model to classify vegetation types from topographic variables and assessed its predictive performance. The overall prediction accuracy was 67
Seagrass restoration is increasingly urgent as losses accelerate under pressures from development, declining water quality and climate change. However, scaling up seagrass restoration is challenging and costly. Here we review global restoration efforts with Halodule uninervis to date and explore the benefits of using this fast-growing pioneer species to increase the opportunity for restoration success. H. uninervis is a subtropical/tropical seagrass with a wide distribution across the Indo-Pacific region. Halodule spp. have life-history strategies characterised by fast growth, high disturbance tolerance, and rapid lateral expansion, making them resilient to multiple natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes. Despite these advantageous opportunistic traits, only six studies/reports have attempted restoration of H. uninervis to date, highlighting a major gap between its ecological suitability and its use in practice. By synthesising available knowledge for this species and comparing it with its closely related and more widely restored congener Halodule wrightii, we show that both species share key traits that underpin high restoration success, including tolerance to temperature extremes, sediment instability, and transplantation stress. Drawing on evidence from Halodule restoration, emerging nursery-based work, and transplant trials on H. uninervis, we identify patterns indicating higher survival, expansion, and resilience when pioneer Halodule species are used as foundation taxa in restoration. By combining the existing knowledge of H. uninervis with nursery and field-based efforts with Halodule spp. and other seagrasses, we underscore the potential benefits and opportunities to improve and upscale seagrass restoration by harnessing the strength of this widespread pioneer species optimally adapted to a warming world.
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, playing a vital role in carbon sequestration and climate regulation. This study integrates the Coastal Blue Carbon module of InVEST software with Remote Sensing and GIS techniques to analyze the spatial variation, temporal distribution, and economic valuation of blue carbon sequestration in the 1 km buffer zone of the watershed area surrounding Ashtamudi wetland (a Ramsar Site) from 1980 to 2024, and to forecast future trends for the year 2050 based on Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes. By coupling geospatial analysis with ecosystem service valuation, the study presents a regional-scale assessment of blue carbon dynamics over four decades. The results demonstrate that between 1980 and 2024, land use classes such as dense vegetation and waterbody declined by 34.67
The functioning of shallow lakes and wetlands is sensitive to nutrient inputs, transient stratification and mixing, and changes in water balance. We examined open datasets from two National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) lakes (PRLA and PRPO), La Salada (Argentina), Mar Menor (Spain), Eymir Lake (Türkiye), and Balaton Lake (Hungary), restricting inference to the resolution of each dataset. Analyses combined hourly density-gradient events, water level and hypsometry, block-bootstrap association models, forward-time machine-learning validation, and atmospheric water-balance pressure for 2030–2049. PRPO and PRLA had 133 and 137 complete stratification events with median durations of 13 and 14 h, respectively; 93.2
Biological invasions are a major driver of wetland change, but some non-native species may also provide resources or habitat for native fauna, creating conservation trade-offs. The mangrove rail Rallus longirostris, a bird typically associated with mangroves, was recorded from the 2000s to the early 2020s using patches of the invasive African tanner grass Urochloa arrecta in subtropical salt marshes of southern Brazil. In 2020, management actions eradicated the invaded patches used by the rail, after which R. longirostris disappeared locally. Here, we use continued monthly field surveys from 2022 to 2026 to evaluate the prediction that R. longirostris would reappear only after reinvasion by U. arrecta and the development of patches large enough to provide suitable structure. Urochloa arrecta reappeared as early as 2021, but R. longirostris was recorded again only from mid-2023 onward, when larger patches had developed. By July 2024, three patches occupied by R. longirostris measured 187 m2, 198 m2, and 1,232 m2, whereas a smaller patch of 62.2 m2 remained unoccupied. The repeated sequence of appearance, disappearance after control, and reappearance after reinvasion strengthens evidence for an association between R. longirostris and the habitat structure provided by U. arrecta. We raise the possibility that observed patch-size pattern reflects a lower patch-size constraint on rail use, but this hypothesis remains to be tested. We also discuss the conservation dilemma posed by an invasive plant that harms native salt-marsh biota while providing habitat for a threatened native bird and propose the ecological trap hypothesis be tested.
