Frontiers in Environmental Science | New and Recent Articles

Vegetation coverage serves as a crucial indicator of the stability and anti-interference capacity of a regional ecosystem. Consequently, carrying out research on the alterations in vegetation coverage within ecologically fragile regions holds significant importance for the study of regional ecological balance. In this study, we selected northern Shaanxi, a typical ecologically fragile region in C…

Three key challenges hinder the identification of short-term heavy precipitation (STHP) over the Yangtze River Delta region: feature selection, sample imbalance, and poor physical performance of models. To address these issues, this study developed a physically consistent cascade recognition model based on ERA5 reanalysis data from 2020 to 2024 and high-density ground-based observations. The mode…

Historic cultural preservation districts, as carriers of urban memory and traditional spatial patterns, are increasingly confronted with tensions among conservation, utilization, and vitality under the acceleration of urbanization and tourism-oriented consumption. With the introduction of commercial and tourism activities, district functions tend to exhibit localized agglomeration, resulting in p…

Hard rock terrains, defined here as crystalline igneous-metamorphic aquifers in which groundwater is stored mainly in weathered mantles and fracture networks, are especially prone to borehole-scale fluoride variability that complicates rural drinking-water security. This mini-review synthesizes recent evidence on geogenic fluoride occurrence, exposure pathways, and defluoridation strategies relev…

Green credit is a key policy tool for guiding high-polluting enterprises toward green transformation, but its effectiveness is often weakened by symbolic compliance and banks’ short-term profit pressures. To address these challenges, we develop a tripartite evolutionary game involving the government, banks, and high-polluting enterprises. Unlike existing studies that mainly adopt bilateral framew…

This research critically assesses the contributions of Environmental International Organizations (EIOs) - such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) - to climate mitigation and adaptation in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a comprehensive review…

Urban informal green spaces (IGS) are an important component of urban ecosystems. They play a significant role in biodiversity conservation and enhancing residents’ quality of life. However, research on IGS plant configuration patterns, especially those based on plant diversity characteristics, is still insufficient. This study selected three linear informal green spaces along the Panlong River i…

West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that has become a significant public health concern worldwide. The growing evidence suggests that WNV can also be released through urine, raising the possibility of shedding through environmental compartments. Wastewater treatment plants, therefore, emerge as an important area of research on the presence and persistence of WNV. This review disc…

IntroductionThe rapid advancement of tunnel engineering in mountainous nature reserves may pose disturbance risks to ecosystem stability and rare plant habitats.MethodsThis study investigated the Davidia involucrata tunnel of the Naqing Expressway by establishing four comparative plots: a wild Davidia involucrata community, a D. involucrata community above the tunnel, a cultivated D. involucrata …

IntroductionTo promote low-carbon development, green social and economic transformation, and the early realization of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality“, fiscal and financial synergy is urgently required.MethodsBased on the panel data of Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2024, an empirical analysis was conducted on the impact of fiscal and financial synergy on regional carbon emissions.ResultsTh…

Carbon finance has emerged as a crucial tool in promoting sustainable solid waste management (SWM) through the commercialization of greenhouse gas reduction benefits and encouraging low-carbon waste treatment solutions. In the context of the growing amount of solid waste in cities and the significant contribution of the waste sector to the global level of methane emissions, this paper synthesizes…

This Conceptual Analysis traces who pays for environmental footprints, focusing on the current US economic system and environmental regulatory regime. With some important exceptions, carbon, water, and material footprints, and consequent waste generation, are largely uncompensated negative externalities. This leads to natural resources being underpriced and overconsumed, resulting in natural capi…

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings have become the central information infrastructure shaping environmental decision-making, yet persistent disagreement across rating agencies introduces uncertainty about sustainability signals. While prior research focused on financial market consequences, limited evidence exists of whether such disagreements affect resource allocation to enviro…

Rewetting drained peatlands is crucial in mitigating climate change, but special monitoring schemes are required to track rewetting effects. Species distribution and condition may give indications on water level and hence rewetting success. We mapped the fractions of seven peatland related and four non-peatland vegetation classes, as well as their dynamics in condition from five 30 m EnMAP images…

IntroductionWildfires impact the soil- and plant-associated bacterial communities both directly through temperature shifts and indirectly by altering the physical, chemical, and biological properties. However, knowledge of post-fire soil- and plant-associated bacterial communities in Kazakhstan’s strongly continental climate, with pronounced seasonal variability, remains limited. The aim of this …

IntroductionA core credibility problem exists in global climate governance: G20 nations collectively account for approximately 77% of greenhouse gas emissions, yet systematically diverge between their publicly signalled commitments and actual implementation under the Paris Agreement framework. This study examines NDC implementation gaps from an institutional signalling perspective, treating Natio…

Heavy metals remain pervasive environmental stressors, yet comparative hazard ranking often relies on single-point metrics (e.g., EC50) and limited test species, potentially obscuring concentration–response (C–R) shape information and cross-trophic variability. Here, acute C–R relationships for ten metals were quantified across four organisms representing distinct trophic levels (Danio rerio, Dap…

Agricultural–photovoltaic hybrid projects (APHPs) have been widely promoted as an effective solution to improve land-use efficiency and support the large-scale deployment of photovoltaic power stations. However, increasing climate variability and the growing frequency of extreme weather events pose substantial threats to the safe and stable operation of APHPs, making safety resilience a critical …

Unlocking the cooling effect of urban green spaces is an effective strategy to mitigate urban heat islands and extreme heat exposure. However, the cooling potential of optimized green configurations in riparian buffer zones remains largely unknown. In this study, we integrated land surface temperature (LST) data derived from remote sensing, machine learning models, and scenario analysis method to…

Whether environmental protection tax reform, as a critical instrument in China’s green development strategy, can effectively promote sustainable enterprise development remains a key proposition meriting exploration in theoretical research. This study empirically examines this proposition through the lens of operational risk, employing the Difference-in-Differences (DID) framework and analyzing da…