Land use, as a key form of human-environment interaction, has sharply and continuously transformed the global land surface. Farmland abandonment (FA) is an extreme manifestation of land use marginalization, exerting both positive and negative impacts on the ecological environment and human well-being. To map the extent of FA in Zhejiang Province and clarify its spatial pattern, driving mechanisms, and ecological-socioeconomic implications, this study employed the Google Earth Engine (GEE) and Geographic Information System (GIS) platforms, integrating multi-source land use/land cover data and Landsat time-series images. We used the random forest (RF) algorithm for land use classification, the land use trajectory method for FA identification, landscape pattern analysis (Fragstats 4) to quantify landscape characteristics, and spatial autocorrelation analysis (Moran’s I and LISA indices) to explore spatial aggregation patterns. The results showed that farmland accounted for 16.32% of the total land use area in Zhejiang Province, equivalent to 1.89 × 10⁴ km². The total area of FA was 1.72 × 10⁸ m², with a farmland abandonment rate of 1.65%. The area of active farmland (AF) was approximately 1.95 × 10⁹ m², with a continuous cultivation rate of 18.69%. The landscape fragmentation, aggregation, and diversity of FA, AF, and fallow land (FL) differed significantly: FA exhibited the most severe fragmentation, while AF had the highest aggregation degree. Spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed that FA and AF both showed dominant high aggregation and low dispersion characteristics; the global Moran’s I index of FA was 0.93 (Z-score = 439.45, p < 0.01), indicating a strong positive spatial autocorrelation. Local spatial autocorrelation (LISA) analysis showed that high-high (HH) and low-low (LL) clusters were the main types, accounting for 38.97% and 37.95% of FA patches (passing p < 0.01 significance test), respectively. Comparative analysis with existing studies confirmed the scientific validity of our results (overall classification accuracy > 95%). Finally, we discussed the ecological and socio-economic driving mechanisms of FA, analyzed its potential threats to food security, proposed targeted policy implications, and identified research limitations and future research directions. Our findings provide a scientific basis for rational land use management, farmland protection, and food security assurance in Zhejiang Province.

Chaotic conditions prevailed after the 1886 Tarawera eruption, when the loss of the Pink and White Terraces, New Zealand’s Eighth Wonder of the World, was rapidly declared. Four days after the eruption, surveyor Percy Smith approached about four kilometres from his supposed site of the White Terrace and mistakenly identified what he described as a “west-opening horseshoe bay” adjacent to a hill, concluding that the Terrace possibly lay within the newly formed crater. Pareidolia arises where ambiguous visual information intersects with cultural attachment and confirmation bias. This paper traces the subsequent life of Smith’s claims through six parliamentary, government, and academic reports; two official audits; five survey maps; six contemporary artworks; Smith’s later reminiscences; and a final interview. Forensic analysis of his survey maps shows that Smith altered the reported position of the White Terrace on two occasions and introduced topographic features during the period in which his work was being audited by sceptical government ministers. These early representations established an intellectual primacy that shaped official and academic understandings of the Terrace’s fate into the twenty-first century. Indigenous Māori observers disputed Smith’s conclusions at the time, but their testimony was disregarded under prevailing interracial conditions. This study extends the topography of the Rotomahana Basin through new altimetry, LiDAR mapping of the Kaiwaka Channel (also misidentified by Smith), reconstruction of his lost audit bearings, and derivation of an error ellipse for the White Terrace. The delineation of Smith’s maps by Harding introduced cartographic pareidolia and confirmation bias. Taken together, the evidence indicates that Smith’s successive claims for the White Terrace’s location in the crater lake were unsupported by direct observation or by reliable survey control. This paper argues that the principal source of long-standing misinterpretation at Tarawera lies not only in the field surveys themselves, but in the later delineation process. Here, cartographic pattern completion transformed uncertain observations into apparently objective geometries that then guided subsequent perception and belief into the current century.

Leaf litter decomposition and carbon release patterns in five homegarden tree species of Kumaun Himalaya viz. Ficus palmata Forssk., Ficus auriculata Lour., Ficus hispida L.f., Grewia optiva L. and Celtis australis L. were investigated. The study was carried out for 210 days by using the litter bag technique. In the current investigation, the duration needed for desertion of the original biomass of diverse leaf litter varied from 150 to 210 days and specifies a varying pattern of decomposition and carbon release among the species. Grewia optiva took the longest time to decompose (210 days), while Ficus hispida decomposed more quickly than the rest of the species (150 days). The relative decomposition rate (RDR) was reported to be highest in Ficus hispida (0.009–0.02 g⁻¹d⁻¹) and lowest in Grewia optiva (0.008–0.004 g⁻¹d⁻¹). Carbon (%) in remaining litter was in the order: Ficus auriculata (24.4%) > Ficus hispida (24.3%) > Celtis australis (19.8%) > Ficus palmata (19.7%) > Grewia optiva (19%). The relationship between percentage weight loss and time elapsed showed a significant negative correlation with carbon release pattern in all the species. Releasing nutrients into the soil through the decomposition of homegarden tree residual is a crucial ecological function that also regulates the nutrient recycling in homegarden agroforestry practices.

In this study, we examined the effect of methyl trans-cinnamate against the growth of the indigenous microbes in the mycorrhizosphere of Tricholoma matsutake that forms an ectomycorrhizal association with pines. Methyl trans-cinnamate inhibited the growth of most indigenous bacterial strains isolated from the mycorrhizosphere, but with no negative effect on the proliferation of Tricholoma matsutake. We might make use of this material in a successful cultivation of matsutake in the future.

Cross-regional healthcare-seeking, defined as utilizing medical services beyond one's residential area, helps mitigate geographic disparities in health resources but may correlate with elevated financial burdens. As this practice grows in China, particularly in resource-diverse provinces like Shandong, its relationship with hospitalization costs remains insufficiently quantified. This study aims to measure the association between cross-regional care and hospitalization expenditures in Shandong Province, China. Analysis of 2.27 million hospitalizations showed that cross-regional care was associated with higher hospitalization costs but differed by types of cross-regional healthcare-seeking. Seeking care at primary or secondary hospitals within adjacent cities was correlated with reduced expenditures, reflecting proximity-oriented behavior. In contrast, treatment at interprovincial tertiary hospitals was associated with the largest cost increase, with expenditures 206% higher than those for local care. A portion of the association between cross-regional healthcare-seeking and hospitalization costs was transmitted through prolonged length of stay as an intermediary pathway, and this pattern was not evident for interprovincial tertiary care. These heterogeneous cost patterns in Shandong support the development of differentiated governance strategies tailored to these heterogeneous cost drivers.

Armed conflicts increasingly target energy infrastructure, yet empirical evidence from African settings remains limited. The Tigray War (2020–2022) caused one of the most severe energysystem collapses in recent history, triggering a twoyear blackout and widespread socioeconomic disruption. This study quantifies the impacts using 1,699 fieldverified assetlevel observations from Ethiopian Electric Power and Ethiopian Electric Utility, supported by secondary data on electricity sales, project delays, and landuse change. The analysis integrates engineeringbased damage assessment, economic loss estimation, and independently validated environmental indicators, an approach not previously applied in African conflict research. Results show US$51.4 million in physical destruction, US$587.9 million in economic losses, 140.8 km of damaged 230 kV lines, 38 collapsed towers, 237 destroyed transformers, and approximately 930 km² of vegetation loss linked to a 628.7% rise in fuelwood extraction. These findings highlight the need for resilient grid reconstruction, decentralized renewables, and integrated environmental restoration in postconflict recovery.