Since the mid-1990s, genetically engineered (GE) crops have swept across the nation’s landscape to now cover approximately half of all cropland. While the United States is the undisputed leader in GE crops adoption and use, farmers in many other countries also are adopting them at increasing rates. Despite rapid adoption rates, GE crops have not been without controversy. Depending on the groups...

Significant attention has been given to the relationship between small coffee farms and biodiversity in recent years. This article argues that the interest in “birdfriendly” coffees and other forms of biodiversity marketing have much to learn from the 15-year development of another relatively successful, environmentally friendly coffee product: certified organic coffee. This Mexican case study ...

The regular patterns of soil erosion tend to change at different scales of observation, affecting the mechanism of soil erosion and its evolution characteristics. This phenomenon has essential scientific significance for the rational allocation of land resources and for studies on sustainable ecosystems. As an important agricultural area in China, Danjiangkou reservoir is threatened by severe s...

Impact mitigation is a primary mechanism on which countries rely to reduce environmental externalities and balance development with conservation. Mitigation policies are transitioning from traditional project-by-project planning to landscape-level planning. Although this larger-scale approach is expected to provide greater conservation benefits at the lowest cost, empirical justification is sti...

The number of business applications operated by enterprises to provide support for the business has increased over the last years. With increasing number of applications and connections between them, also the overall complexity of the application landscape has grown. A main task in managing an application landscape is maintaining quality levels. This article contributes a set of metrics for mea...

An expanding network of roads and railways fragments natural habitat affecting the amount and quality of habitat and reducing connectivity between habitat patches with severe consequences for biodiversity and population persistence. To ensure an ecologically sustainable transportation system it is essential to find agreement between nature conservation and land use. However, sustainable road pl...

Sustainable designs like low-carbon landscapes are key to lowering the anthropogenic carbon footprint of our society and promoting harmony with natural ecosystems. We can design low-carbon landscapes for terrestrial (e.g. forests and urban farming areas) as well as aquatic (e.g. urban streams, ponds, and wetlands) urban spaces. Ecological interactions between water and soil in an urban ecosyste...

Forest fragmentation, the process of changing original large and intact forest patches into smaller and isolated areas, significantly influences the balance of surface physical environment, biodiversity, and species richness. Sufficient knowledge of forest fragmentation is necessary to maintain ecological balance and promote sustainable resource utilization. This study combines remote sensing, ...