Ecological designed experiment method based on pragmatism: A case study of Haizhu Wetland Restoration Project in Guangzhou, China
2024-05-29
(Press-News.org)
The advancement of urbanization and globalization has impacted every corner of the Earth, human activities have transformed over one-third of the planet’s ecosystems, including agricultural lands and urban areas. Thus, there is an urgent need to define and achieve the equilibrium of novel ecosystems.
This study employed pragmatic designed experiments as its core method, integrating methodologies from empiricism, positivism, and romanticism to propose a semi-empirical ecological design framework that emphasizes learning by doing and research through practice. The framework encompasses three steps: prototyping, designed experiments, and monitoring and adjustment.
Specifically, the initial step in ecological design involves selecting form prototypes that resonate with ecological significance for subsequent designed experiments. Designed experiment frames design projects as repeatable ecological experimental units, aiming to validate ecological hypotheses while achieving functional and aesthetic goals. And the monitoring and adjustment phase is pivotal for the continuous optimization of design forms, acting as the foundation for effective ecosystem design and management.
Haizhu Wetland, located in the central urban area of Guangzhou, covers an area of 1,100 hm2. Anthropocene ecosystem, where natural and artificial elements converge. In 2019, the launch of the Guangzhou Haizhu Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration Project marked a significant step towards creating an urban central life community, along with objectives to foster diverse river networks, productive wetlands, minimal-intervention habitats, complete ecological cycles, and enduring societal support. To achieve the five sub-goals while considering the specific conditions of each plot, this project combined form prototypes with different ecological effects to ultimately establish 5 designed experiments. These experiments include Mound-based Orchard Wetland System by Integrating Local, Enhanced Paddy Field System by Integrating Local Knowledge and Ecological Theoretical Wisdom, Bird Island Through Spatial Realization of an Ecological Theoretical Prototype, High-tide Habitat Through Spatial Realization of an Ecological Theoretical Prototype and Low-Maintenance Resilient Water System—Integrating Novel and Traditional Technologies to Sustain Cultural Complex.
Haizhu Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration Project has now completed prototyping and experiment design phases. Although assessment indicators were established, the monitoring and adjustment phase has not been fully implemented, and the effectiveness of the ecological design approach remains to be further verified. However, initial monitoring data from the sites show positive trends: a significant increase in visitor number to the wetland park; an annual increase of 4 to 7 bird species observed; and the addition of 392 insect species, including 2 newly named species. The 5 designed experiments in the project have achieved various degrees of goals, with the enhanced paddy field system and bird island showing notable results, while the mound-based orchard wetland system, high-tide habitat, and low-maintenance resilient water system require further adjustments and optimization.
These insights partially reveal how the ecological design practice, encompassing prototyping, designed experiment, and monitoring and adjustment, showcases the feasibility of integrating ecological research with practical application to steer ecological design optimization and enhance the resilience of anthropogenic ecosystems.
The work entitled “Ecological Designed Experiment Method Based on Pragmatism: A Case Study of Haizhu Wetland Restoration Project in Guangzhou, China” was published on the journal of Landscape Architecture Frontiers (February 15, 2024).
END
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2024-05-29
A new study by Chinese scientists, released on May 29 in Shanghai, has called for the use of consumption-based accounting (“CBA”) emissions in calculating global carbon emissions in order to help make allocating responsibility for reducing emissions just and fair.
The study, “Research Report on Consumption-based Carbon Emissions (2024)” (“the Report”), was jointly completed by scientists from several institutes under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as well as from Tsinghua University.
The ...
2024-05-29
The depletion of energy resources poses a significant threat to the development of human society. Specifically, a considerable amount of low-grade heat (LGH), typically below 100 °C, is currently being wasted. However, if harnessed effectively, it has the potential to significantly improve overall energy utilization efficiency and subsequently reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
A research group of Junyong Hu from Taiyuan University of Technology has concentrated on developing a new type of reverse electrodialysis ...
2024-05-29
The Colorado River is a lifeline for many cities and farms in the Southwest United States. It flows for about 1,448 miles before reaching the Gulf of California in Mexico and supplies water to numerous cities and farms along the way.
However, over the past 60 years, the amount of water in the Colorado River has been shrinking. In fact, in some years, the river’s water has been used up completely before it reaches the gulf.
Landon Marston, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, teamed up with researchers from multiple universities and ...
2024-05-29
According to a recent study published in Chemical Engineering Journal, a collaborative research team led by Professor WANG Hui from High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Hefei Institutes of Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences developed magnetite nanozyme (MNZs) with dual enzymatic activities through structural engineering, and proved its structure-dependent behavior in the process of tumor treatment.
MNZs, as a substitute for natural enzymes, has been widely studied in the field of tumor catalytic therapy. However, the catalytic efficiency of traditional MNZs in tumor microenvironment (TME) is often limited, which is mainly due to the low production rate of hydroxyl radical ...
2024-05-29
People have various relationships in society including those with family, friends, and coworkers. While these relationships play a significant role in our lives, it's crucial to maintain a healthy distance as being too close can lead to intense emotions or conflicts. Interestingly, a recent study in the field of chemistry demonstrates that maintaining such distance can enhance battery performance in electric vehicles.
In this research, Professor Soojin Park, Dr. Sungjin Cho and Youngjin Song, a PhD student, from the Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in collaboration with the team of Professor Sung Gap Im ...
2024-05-29
May 28, 2024
For more information, contact:
Nicole Fawcett, nfawcett@umich.edu
EMBARGOED for release at 6:30 p.m. ET May 28, 2024
Altering cancer treatment dosing could reduce climate impact, study finds
Model estimates potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by delivering treatment every 6 weeks
ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Changing how often a popular cancer therapy is delivered would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve environmental impact without decreasing cancer survival, according to a new analysis from researchers at the University of Michigan Health Rogel ...
2024-05-29
Corals play an essential role in ocean ecosystems, and like many organisms, they are under threat from climate change and other human activities. To better protect coral, it’s first necessary to understand them, in particular their reproductive life cycle, which only happens once a year. For the first time, researchers have produced a model for coral spawning, based on various environmental factors. They achieved this by tapping an often overlooked source of aquatic knowledge, an aquarium.
Given their branching shapes or waving tendrils, you would be ...
2024-05-29
Research led by the University of Plymouth has shown that a new deep learning AI model can identify what happens and when during embryonic development, from video.
Published today (Wednesday 29 May) in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the study highlights how the model, known as Dev-ResNet, can identify the occurrence of key functional developmental events in pond snails, including heart function, crawling, hatching and even death.
A key innovation in this study is the use of a 3D model that uses changes occurring between frames of the video, and enables the AI to learn from these features, as opposed to the more traditional use of still images.
The ...
2024-05-29
Primates, including humans, have larger brains than most other mammals, but why? Scientists searching for the answer have long followed a trail pointing to diet—specifically fruit—as the reason for why primates evolved larger brains. A team from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the Smithsonian Institute of Tropical Research tested this idea for the first time—finding that the fruit-diet theory might be out of juice. The researchers used drone imaging, GPS tracking, and fine-scale behavioral analyses to test how four species of fruit-eating mammals solved the same natural foraging puzzle in a Panamanian rainforest. They ...
2024-05-29
A new paper published in The Quarterly Review of Biology examines the question of what Darwinism is and how its nonscientific uses relate to the scientific theory of evolution.
Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 as a work in biology. However, in the past century and a half, Darwin’s ideas have impacted a broad range of domains and stimulated scientists and scholars to advance "evolutionary approaches" in domains as diverse as economics, engineering, psychology, and history. The ideas have been used (and abused) to undermine religiously inspired ideas about the origin of humans and their status concerning other species, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Ecological designed experiment method based on pragmatism: A case study of Haizhu Wetland Restoration Project in Guangzhou, China