Technologies for Sustainable Environmental Systems

A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2018) | Viewed by 31617

Special Issue Editors

Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: ecological hydrology monitoring and modeling in drainage basins; global change land use modeling; landscape ecology; system dynamic modeling of wetlands; spatial analysis and modeling; blockchain; spatial dynamic modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Civil, Environmental and Geological Engineering, Mapua University, Manila, Philippines
Interests: constructed wetland; environmental modelling; environmental science; environmental engineering; raw water quality monitoring; environmental and health risks assessment and index development; water treatment and purification; waste utilization and natural resource regeneration

Special Issue Information

A sustainable environmental system is a condition where there is a continuous interaction of various ecosystems containing biotic and abiotic components. This condition is very complex, which requires an understanding of the intricate environmental conditions of unidentical environments. The biotic component of the micro–macro environment, and how it interacts with the abiotic component, makes the conditions complex. Hence, progressive development of technologies to aid in understanding the dynamic anthropogenic activities that affect the micro–macro environment is important. Harvesting and integrating existing models, and developing new techniques and tools to provide applications and solutions for complex environmental system conditions are the focus of this Special Issue.

 

Prof. Dr. Yu-Pin Lin
Dr. Delia B. Senoro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental sustainability analysis
  • development of sustainable environmental systems
  • analyses of interactions of biotic and abiotic components
  • environmental modelling for sustainable environments
  • techniques and tools for environmental sustainability
  • risk assessment of environmental sustainability

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 8636 KiB  
Article
Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and Urban Sprawl Analysis in the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve Watersheds and Buffer Zone, Philippines
by Merlyn Soriano, Noba Hilvano, Ronald Garcia, Aldrin Joseph Hao, Aldin Alegre and Cristino Tiburan, Jr.
Environments 2019, 6(2), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6020009 - 24 Jan 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 14803
Abstract
Ecologically Valuable Areas play an important role in providing ecosystem services, however, human activities such as land conversion and urban sprawl pose pressures and threats to these areas. The study assessed the land use/land cover and urban sprawl in the Mount Makiling Forest [...] Read more.
Ecologically Valuable Areas play an important role in providing ecosystem services, however, human activities such as land conversion and urban sprawl pose pressures and threats to these areas. The study assessed the land use/land cover and urban sprawl in the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR) Watersheds and Buffer Zone from 1992 to 2015 using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). Results showed that the land use/cover within the MMFR buffer zone has changed from 1992 to 2015 with built-up areas increasing by 117% despite Proclamation 1257, s. 1998 which regulates human activities in the zone. Based on the Shannon entropy analysis the land development in the MMFR buffer zone tends to be dispersed and sprawling. However, when the magnitude of change of urban sprawl in the buffer zone from 2002 to 2015 was calculated, a decrease in the entropy value was observed which implies a compacting pattern as the human settlement in the buffer zone increases over time. Proclamation 1257, s. 1998 needs to be strengthened to protect MMFR and its buffer zone from further encroachment and pressure. Moreover, remote sensing and GIS proved to be useful tools for assessing urban sprawl in ecologically valuable areas such as MMFR. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technologies for Sustainable Environmental Systems)
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12 pages, 1583 KiB  
Article
Watershed and Pahu-anCave Stream Interconnectivity in Bonliw, Torrijos, Marinduque, Philippines
by Doreen R. Mascareñas, Roy Olsen D. de Leon and Efren L. Delos Reyes
Environments 2019, 6(2), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6020011 - 24 Jan 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5689
Abstract
Marinduque Island is characterized as having a karst landscape with caves having underground streams harboring a variety of freshwater organisms including freshwater shrimps which are dependent on the quality of the forest and watershed. This study aimed to characterize the forest cover overlying [...] Read more.
Marinduque Island is characterized as having a karst landscape with caves having underground streams harboring a variety of freshwater organisms including freshwater shrimps which are dependent on the quality of the forest and watershed. This study aimed to characterize the forest cover overlying the cave, siltation/sedimentation rate in the surface and cave streams, nutrient contents (ammonium, phosphate. and sulfate) of the sediment and water, and freshwater shrimps and phytoplanktons present in both streams. Results of the assessment indicate that the surface stream and the cave stream in the Torrijos Watershed Forest Reserve are interconnected as shown by both streams having similar freshwater shrimps and phytoplankton species. Phytoplanktons to develop will need sunlight which is devoid in the cave, and therefore have to be transported to the caves to be present. The freshwater shrimps found in the cave are not troglobitic and therefore has found its way to the cave stream. Further, there seemed to be a similar trend on the total suspended solids, sedimentation rates and amount of nutrients (phosphates) between the two streams. Although organic matter and nutrients from the aboveground landscape are needed for the sustenance of organisms in the cave ecosystem (the abundance of which are dependent on the connectivity of the two water systems), siltation/sedimentation can ultimately threaten the water quality of cave stream. With the forest in the watershed area characterized as denuded, the threat is evident. The protection of the watersheds and its landscape is imperative. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technologies for Sustainable Environmental Systems)
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17 pages, 6557 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Effect of Urbanization on Weather Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model: A Case of Metro Manila, Philippines
by Jervie M. Oliveros, Edgar A. Vallar and Maria Cecilia D. Galvez
Environments 2019, 6(2), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6020010 - 24 Jan 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 10389
Abstract
The effect of urbanization of Metro Manila, particularly on the amount of sensible heat flux, rainfall and temperature of selected urban and rural areas, was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Version 3.4.1 (WRFV3.4.1) model. National Center for Environmental Prediction - Final [...] Read more.
The effect of urbanization of Metro Manila, particularly on the amount of sensible heat flux, rainfall and temperature of selected urban and rural areas, was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Version 3.4.1 (WRFV3.4.1) model. National Center for Environmental Prediction - Final (NCEP-FNL) grib1 data from 2000 to 2010 were used as inputs into the model for meteorological data. The Mann–Kendall trend test (M–K test) was utilized to verify the significance of the trends while Sen’s slope estimator was used to quantify the measured trends. Results showed that, on average, the sensible heat flux of Metro Manila is about 1.5 × 108 Jm−2 higher than in selected areas outside Metro Manila. The occurrence of an urban heat island (UHI) effect was detected in Metro Manila by comparing the difference in the minimum and maximum temperatures. For the selected urban and rural areas, the minimum and maximum temperature differences (relative to Metro Manila) are around 0.4 to 2.4 °C and 0.83 to 2.3 °C, respectively. Metro Manila recorded higher 11-year average values of rainfall during the summer season (8% to 64%), rainy season (15% to 305%), and transition season (8% to 232%) when compared with selected areas from 25 to 100 km from Manila. These results show that the sensible heat flux, temperature and rainfall in Metro Manila is affected by Metro Manila’s urbanization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technologies for Sustainable Environmental Systems)
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