Bioinspired, biobased and living material designs: a review of recent research in architecture and construction

This article provides an overview of recent advances in the development of nature-based material designs in architecture and construction fields. Firstly, it aims to classify existing projects and ongoing researches into three types: bioinspired, biobased and living building materials. Secondly, selected case studies absolving different functions in building, are analysed to identify new opportunities and contemporary challenges of different nature-based approaches. The main gaps are identified between the progression at a theoretical level in laboratories and real-world application. Particulary, the challenge is to implement existing and future bioinspired, biobased and living building materials in large scale designs and architectural contexts. The authors also discuss different aspects of the inspiration and the use of nature to improve better the design of materials properties, robustness, durability, including sustainable awareness. Finally, an outlook of promising avenues for future interdisciplinary research and specific questions associated with methods and techniques of implementation of the different types of bioinspired, biobased and living material designs and fabrications in architecture are highlighted.

Biology, Ecology and Management of Tephritid Fruit Flies in China: A Review

Tephritid fruit flies are notoriously known for causing immense economic losses due to their infestation of many types of commercial fruits and vegetables in China. These flies are expanding, causing serious damage, and we summarized references from the last three decades regarding biological parameters, ecological performance and integrated pest management. There are 10 species of tephritid fruit flies mentioned at a relatively high frequency in China, and a detailed description and discussion in this comprehensive review were provided through contrast and condensation, including economics, distribution, identification, hosts, damage, life history, oviposition preference, interspecific competition and integrated management, in anticipation of providing effective strategies or bases for the subsequent development of new research areas and improvement of integrated management systems.

Exploring the Ecological Performance of China's Tourism Industry: A Three-Stage Undesirable SBM-DEA Approach with Carbon Footprint

The environmental impact of carbon emissions and the carbon footprint from tourism activities are significant for promoting low-carbon development in the tourism industry. This paper employed a bottom-up approach to estimate the carbon footprint and energy consumption of China's tourism industry. Then, the three-stage undesirable SBM-DEA model was employed to evaluate and decompose the eco-efficiency of China's provincial tourism industry from 2008 to 2017. The results showed that the eco-efficiency of most provinces has experienced a slight increase during the past ten years, while management inefficiency within the tourism industry has been the main restriction of the utilization of tourism resources in most regions. The decomposition and quadrant analysis indicated that scale efficiency was the direct driver of the poor ecological performance in Northeast China, while technical efficiency dominated the tourism eco-efficiency in South-Central China. These two issues have together led to the poor utilization of the rich tourism resources and the natural environment in Southwest China. On the basis of these discussions, differentiated policy implications towards different kinds of regions were provided to promote low-carbon development and to realize the potential of tourism resources in China's tourism industry.

Experimental Study on Ecological Performance Improvement of Sprayed Planting Concrete Based on the Addition of Polymer Composite Material

Sprayed planting concrete (SPC) can be used for the ecological restoration of rocky steep slopes. It is a kind of outside-soil material with excellent soil and slope stabilization performance, and plants can grow in SPC, thus achieving harmony between engineering stability and ecological restoration and improving the landscape and ecosystem. The addition of cement is the key to allowing SPC to achieve slope stabilization and prevent soil erosion. However, the addition of cement can cause SPC to have high alkalinity, overheating (cement generates hydration heat), and excessive hardening, which are not conducive to the growth of plants and can lead to poor ecological performance of SPC for slope ecological restoration. We studied the improvement of the ecological performance of SPC by using a polymer composite material composed of a polymer adhesive material and a polymer water-retaining material. This paper studied the improvement effects of the polymer composite material on the ecological performance of SPC used in slope ecological restoration through a laboratory erosion resistance test and a plant growth test. The results showed that SPC with the addition of polymer composite material can reduce its cement content by about 50% while still retaining excellent erosion resistance performance when it is used in slope ecological restoration. Additionally, the plant germination rates and plant heights when using the SPC improved by polymer composite material were increased by 190% and 110%, respectively. These results show that polymer composite material can significantly improve the ecological performance of SPC and effectively improve its slope ecological restoration effects. This study provides theoretical and technical support for the application of SPC in ecological restoration on rocky steep slopes.

Evolutionary divergence in phenotypic plasticity shapes brain size variation between coexisting sunfish ecotypes

Mechanisms that generate brain size variation and the consequences of such variation on ecological performance are poorly understood in most natural animal populations. We use a reciprocal-transplant common garden experiment and foraging performance trials to test for brain size plasticity and the functional consequences of brain size variation in Pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) ecotypes that have diverged between nearshore littoral and offshore pelagic lake habitats. Different age-classes of wild-caught juveniles from both habitats were exposed for 6 months to treatments that mimicked littoral and pelagic foraging. Plastic responses in oral jaw size suggested that treatments mimicked natural habitat-specific foraging conditions. Plastic brain size responses to foraging manipulations differed between ecotypes, as only pelagic sourced fish showed brain size plasticity. Only pelagic juveniles under 1 year-old expressed this plastic response, suggesting that plastic brain size responses decline with age and so may be irreversible. Finally, larger brain size was associated with enhanced foraging performance on live benthic but not pelagic prey, providing the first experimental evidence of a relationship between brain size and prey-specific foraging performance in fishes. The recent post-glacial origin of these ecotypes suggests that brain size plasticity can rapidly evolve and diverge in fish under contrasting ecological conditions.

The shape of abundance distributions across temperature gradients in reef fishes

Improving predictions of ecological responses to climate change requires understanding how local abundance relates to temperature gradients, yet many factors influence local abundance in wild populations. We evaluated the shape of thermal‐abundance distributions using 98 422 abundance estimates of 702 reef fish species worldwide. We found that curved ceilings in local abundance related to sea temperatures for most species, where local abundance declined from realised thermal ‘optima’ towards warmer and cooler environments. Although generally supporting the abundant‐centre hypothesis, many species also displayed asymmetrical thermal‐abundance distributions. For many tropical species, abundances did not decline at warm distribution edges due to an unavailability of warmer environments at the equator. Habitat transitions from coral to macroalgal dominance in subtropical zones also influenced abundance distribution shapes. By quantifying the factors constraining species’ abundance, we provide an important empirical basis for improving predictions of community re‐structuring in a warmer world.