As demand for sustainable protein sources grows, assessing the environmental performance of alternative ingredients such as spirulina becomes increasingly relevant. The life cycle assessment (LCA) of two industrial pipelines for Limnospira platensis (Spirulina) production was performed following the Environmental Footprint 3.1 method, in compliance with ISO 14040 and 14044. The main difference lies in their downstream processes: Pipeline 1 includes a spray-drying step, while Pipeline 2 includes a solar-drying step. Pipeline 2 showed the best environmental profile in 13 of 16 impact categories and was therefore selected for harmonisation and comparison with 4 other products: pea, yeast, casein, and α-lactalbumin proteins. A pedigree assessment was undertaken for both pipelines to identify data gaps in technology, time, and geography. For harmonisation, spirulina performed competitively in four of the six categories studied: land use, climate change, energy use (non-renewable), and marine eutrophication. These categories are tied to the interests of the new protein sources market, as they reflect important environmental pressures in the sector. The remaining two categories (water use and freshwater eutrophication), in which spirulina performed less competitively, are linked to culture-media composition, making them amenable to process-level improvement. These points suggest spirulina has a promising future in the emerging market for powdered enriched protein ingredients, competing with mature, optimised supply chains from an environmental standpoint.
As demand for sustainable protein sources grows, assessing the environmental performance of alternative ingredients such as spirulina becomes increasingly relevant. The life cycle assessment (LCA) of two industrial pipelines for Limnospira platensis (Spirulina) production was performed following the Environmental Footprint 3.1 method, in compliance with ISO 14040 and 14044. The main difference lies in their downstream processes: Pipeline 1 includes a spray-drying step, while Pipeline 2 includes a solar-drying step. Pipeline 2 showed the best environmental profile in 13 of 16 impact categories and was therefore selected for harmonisation and comparison with 4 other products: pea, yeast, casein, and α-lactalbumin proteins. A pedigree assessment was undertaken for both pipelines to identify data gaps in technology, time, and geography. For harmonisation, spirulina performed competitively in four of the six categories studied: land use, climate change, energy use (non-renewable), and marine eutrophication. These categories are tied to the interests of the new protein sources market, as they reflect important environmental pressures in the sector. The remaining two categories (water use and freshwater eutrophication), in which spirulina performed less competitively, are linked to culture-media composition, making them amenable to process-level improvement. These points suggest spirulina has a promising future in the emerging market for powdered enriched protein ingredients, competing with mature, optimised supply chains from an environmental standpoint.
Coastal wetlands provide essential habitats for migratory waterbirds. Although wetland restoration is increasingly implemented, its effectiveness in improving habitat quality and the ecological mechanisms underlying such improvements remain insufficiently understood. Focusing on Jiangsu Yancheng Wetlands & Rare Birds National Natural Reserve, a key site along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, this study evaluated whether and how restoration enhanced wintering habitat quality for the endangered Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis). Using long-term satellite observations, crane occurrence records and restoration project data, we developed an integrated indicator framework characterizing vegetation-water-soil conditions, spatial structure, and temporal hydrological variability. These indicators, together with conventional environmental variables, were combined with MaxEnt habitat modelling and explainable machine learning (XGBoost-SHAP and GAM) to quantify restoration effectiveness, identify environmental drivers, and determine ecological thresholds. Results show the remote sensing indicator framework explained approximately 40% of the spatial variation in crane occurrence, with newly-developed temporal hydrological and spatial metrics increasing explanatory power by 6–10%. Following restoration, highly suitable habitats expanded by 65.1%. Restoration measures including hydrological regulation, pond-to-wetland restoration, and composite restoration produced the largest relative gains in suitable habitat area, increasing it by 34.6%, 128.7%, and 436.8%, respectively. Restoration enhanced habitat quality by increasing seasonal hydrological variability and habitat spatial heterogeneity, creating shallow-water and low-coverage vegetation mosaics, and shifting ecological thresholds toward conditions more favorable for cranes. These findings show that effective restoration depends not only on expanding wetland area but also on re-establishing hydrological dynamics and spatial structure. The framework supports quantitative restoration assessment, evidence-based planning, and adaptive management for coastal wetland sustainability.
The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is a carbon-neutrality pilot region and a major pastoral area in China. Livestock emissions are important to its regional greenhouse gas (GHG) balance, yet their spatiotemporal patterns remain highly uncertain. Here, we develop a high-resolution livestock GHG emissions inventory for the period 1980−2023 by integrating county-level statistics with localized livestock demographics. Results show that the GHG emissions from livestock reached 48.64 [39.91−62.08] Mt CO2eq yr−1 in 2023, having increased by 68% since 1980, primarily driven by cattle expansion. The use of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and national inventory emission factors can overestimate emissions by ∼20−30%, primarily due to inflated yak estimates. Existing gridded data from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) and the downscaled national inventory based on Gridded Livestock of the World (GLW) maps may underestimate both the magnitude and trends of emissions. Livestock emissions offset approximately one-third of the terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink of the QTP. Effective mitigation strategies should prioritize feed optimization, efficient dung combustion, and an increased share of yak herds. Our findings can inform the compilation of future regional inventories and support efforts toward livestock emission mitigation and carbon neutrality on the QTP.
