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In the context of climate change, the occurrence of water stress in forest ecosystems, which are solely dependent on precipitation, has exhibited a rising trend, even among species that are typically regarded as drought-tolerant. Remote sensing techniques offer an efficient, comprehensive, and timely approach for monitoring forests at local and regional scales. These techniques also enable the development of diverse indicators of plant water status, which can play a critical role in evaluating forest water stress. This review aims to provide an overview of remote sensing applications for monitoring water stress in forests and reveal the potential of remote sensing and geographic information system applications in monitoring water stress for effective forest resource management. It examines the principles and significance of utilizing remote sensing technologies to detect forest stress caused by water deficit. In addition, by a quantitative assessment of remote sensing applications of studies in refereed publications, the review highlights the overall trends and the value of the widely used approach of utilizing visible and near-infrared reflectance data from satellite imagery, in conjunction with classical vegetation indices. Promising areas for future research include the utilization of more adaptable platforms and higher-resolution spectral data, the development of novel remote sensing indices with enhanced sensitivity to forest water stress, and the implementation of modelling techniques for early detection and prediction of stress.

In most agricultural fields, when soil pH is high, elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid are used to reduce soil pH and increase the availability of macro and micronutrients for optimum crop yield. However, how these inputs impact soil greenhouse gas emissions is unknown. This study aimed to measure the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and pH after the application of various doses of elemental sulfur (ES) and sulfuric acid (SA). Using static chambers, this study quantifies soil greenhouse gas emissions (CO 2 , N 2 O, and CH 4 ) for 12 months after the application of ES (200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 kg ha −1 ) and SA (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 kg ha −1 ) to a calcareous soil (pH 8.1) in Zanjan, Iran. Also, in order to simulate rainfed and dryland farming which are common practices in this area, this study was conducted with and without sprinkler irrigation. Application of ES slowly decreased soil pH (more than half a unit) over the year whereas application of SA temporarily reduced the pH (less than a half unit) for a few weeks. CO 2 and N 2 O emissions and CH 4 uptake were maximum during summer and lowest in winter. Cumulative CO 2 fluxes ranged from 1859.2 kg −1 CO 2 -C ha −1  year −1 in the control treatment to 2269.6 kg CO 2 -C ha −1  year −1 in the 1000 kg ha −1 ES treatment. Cumulative fluxes for N 2 O-N were 2.5 and 3.7 kg N 2 O-N ha −1  year −1 and cumulative CH 4 uptakes were 0.2 and 2.3 kg CH 4 -C ha −1  year −1 in the same treatments. Irrigation significantly increased CO 2 and N 2 O emissions and, depending on the amount of ES applied, decreased or increased CH 4 uptake. SA application had a negligible effect on GHGs emissions in this experiment and only the highest amount of SA altered GHGs emissions.

What are the main findings? Landsat time-series analysis reveals a significant regime shift in the Northern Jarrah Forest towards more persistent, broader landscape-scale water stress. Denser high-rainfall stands are now more vulnerable to drought damage than structurally adapted low-rainfall stands. MaxEnt-based habitat modelling provides a robust framework for assessing drought risk to forest resources, identifying regolith depth as the primary driver of drought-induced canopy loss. What are the implications of the main findings? Forests are unlikely to recover to their 20th-century hydrological baseline, necessitating a transition from reactive monitoring to proactive management interventions, such as ecological thinning and prescribed burning, to mitigate degradation and enhance resilience. From a management perspective, particular attention should be paid to areas with shallow regolith depth, which are identified as highly vulnerable to drought-induced impacts. Mediterranean-type forest ecosystems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to intensifying drought, threatening the resilience of even highly adapted ecosystems such as the Northern Jarrah Forest in south-western Australia. This study quantifies multi-decadal dynamics of canopy water stress using a 36-year multispectral satellite archive (1988–2024) and the newly developed Infrared Canopy Dryness Index (ICDI). We combined this spatiotemporal dataset with a MaxEnt-based risk assessment framework to identify the biophysical drivers of drought-induced canopy loss and to delineate high-risk zones under accelerating climate-forcing changes. Our results demonstrate a systematic spatial expansion of canopy dryness, paralleling a deteriorating regional climatic water balance. Hotspot analysis revealed a transition from localized, peripheral stress to widespread, chronic drought conditions across the landscape. The modelling achieved high diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.952), significantly outperforming conventional assessment methods. Regolith depth was identified as the primary determinant of drought-induced canopy collapse, followed by ICDI, NDVI, and slope. Crucially, high-biomass stands exhibited disproportionately higher risk of collapse, revealing a density-dependent vulnerability that suggests productive forests are approaching critical hydraulic thresholds. Conversely, lower-stature forests to the east of the study area demonstrated greater stability, likely due to reduced evapotranspirative demand. These findings provide robust spatial evidence for transitioning from reactive monitoring to proactive forest management. We conclude that targeted interventions, such as ecological thinning and prescribed burning in identified high-risk zones, are imperative to protect the forest and preserve the structural integrity of Mediterranean ecosystems in a drying climate.

Globally, cities are growing rapidly in size and density and this has caused profound impacts on urban forest ecosystems. Urbanization requiring deforestation reduces ecosystem services that benefit both city dwellers and biodiversity. Understanding spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation changes associated with urbanization is thus a vital component of future sustainable urban development. We used Landsat time series data for three decades from 1988 to 2018 to characterize changes in vegetation cover and habitat connectivity in the Perth Metropolitan Area, in a rapidly urbanising Australian biodiversity hotspot, as a case study to understand the impacts of urbanization on urban forests. Moreover, as golf courses are a major component in urban areas, we assessed the role of golf courses in maintaining vegetation cover and creating habitat connectivity. To do this we employed (1) land use classification with post-classification change detection, and (2) Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA). Over 17,000 ha of vegetation were cleared and the area of vegetation contributing to biodiversity connectivity was reduced significantly over the three decades. The spatial patterns of vegetation loss and gain were different in each of the three decades (1988-2018) reflecting the implementation of urban planning. Furthermore, MSPA analysis showed that the reduction in vegetation cover led to habitat fragmentation with a significant decrease in the core and bridge classes and an increase in isolated patches in the urban landscape. Golf courses played a useful role in maintaining vegetation cover and contributing to connectivity in a regional biodiversity hotspot. Our findings suggest that for future urban expansion, urban planning needs to more carefully consider the impacts of deforestation on connectivity in the landscape. Moreover, there is a need to take into consideration opportunities for off-reserve conservation in smaller habitat fragments such as in golf courses in sustainable urban management.

Fire is a distinctive factor in forest ecosystems. While uncontrolled wildfires can cause significant damage, prescribed burning is widely used as a management tool. However, despite the growing threat of forest water stress under climate change, there is a lack of concrete evidence on the impact of fire on water stress in forest ecosystems. This study utilized Landsat time-series remote sensing data combined with the Infrared Canopy Dryness Index (ICDI) to monitor changes in canopy dryness patterns across the eucalyptus-dominated Northern Jarrah Forest of southwestern Australia. The forest was chosen due to its exposure to a changing climate characterized by decreasing rainfall and more frequent droughts, signs of water stress in otherwise drought-resilient trees, and its well-documented fire management history. Analysis of ICDI patterns over the period from 1988 to 2024 revealed a clear overall trend of increasing water stress, coinciding with a small overall decline in annual rainfall in the 10,000 km2 study area. Furthermore, by examining five prescribed burns and five wildfires, we found that NDVI-assessed canopy cover recovered rapidly in fire-affected areas, typically within one to three years, depending on fire severity. However, ICDI water stress levels were reduced for approximately 7–8 years following low-severity prescribed burns and more than 20 years after high-severity wildfires. These findings suggest the potential of prescribed burning as a tool to mitigate water stress in vulnerable forest landscapes, particularly in regions prone to drought and climate change. Additionally, the study underscores the effectiveness of the ICDI in monitoring forest water stress and its potential for broader applications in forest management and climate adaptation strategies.

Key messageThe homologous genes to OsSUT1-5 in wheat were identified and detailed analysed. TaSUT1 was the predominant sucrose transporter group and it illustrated the genotypic variations towards drought during grain filling.Sucrose transporters (SUT) play crucial roles in wheat stem water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) remobilization to grain. To determine the major functional SUT gene groups in shoot parts of wheat during grain development, drought tolerant varieties, Westonia and Kauz, were investigated in field drought experiments. Fourteen homologous genes to OsSUT1-5 were identified on five homeologous groups, namely TaSUT1_4A, TaSUT1_4B, TaSUT1_4D; TaSUT2_5A, TaSUT2_5B, TaSUT2_5D; TaSUT3_1A, TaSUT3_1D; TaSUT4_6A, TaSUT4_6B, TaSUT4_6D; TaSUT5_2A, TaSUT5_2B, and TaSUT5_2D, and their gene structures were analysed. Wheat plants above the ground were harvested from pre-anthesis to grain maturity and the stem, leaf sheath, rachis, lemma and developing grain were used for analysing TaSUT gene expression. Grain weight, thousand grain weight, kernel number per spike, biomass and stem WSC were characterized. The study showed that among the five TaSUT groups, TaSUT1 was the predominant sucrose transporting group in all organs sampled, and the expression was particularly high in the developing grain. In contrast to TaSUT1, the gene expression levels of TaSUT2, TaSUT3 and TaSUT4 were lower, except for TaSUT3 which showed preferential expression in the lemma before anthesis. The TaSUT5 gene group was very weakly expressed in all tissues. The upregulated gene expression of TaSUT1 Westonia type in stem and grain reveal a crucial role in stem WSC remobilization to grain under drought. The high TaSUT1 gene expression and the significant correlations with thousand grain weight (TGW) and kernel number per spike demonstrated the contribution in Kauz’s high grain yield in an irrigated environment and high TGW in Westonia under drought stress. Further molecular level identification is required for gene marker development.

Betula alnoides is a fast-growing hardwood species grown in large plantations in Southeast Asia and South China.Nitrogen requirements for producing robus seedlings,growth and nutrient dynamics were investigated using exponential fertilization treatments.Root collar diameter,height,dry mass and nutrient contents of seedlings increased exponentially in all fertilization treatments as time progressed.Moreover,with water soluble fertilizer（Plant Products plus microelements N–P2O5–K2O：20–20–20）,300 mg N seedling-1was adequate.Vector analysis revealed that P was the most responsive nutrient element followed by N and K.Dilutions of N and K were evident in the plants without N addition,which induced initial P sufficiency and then luxury consumption probably due to the antagonistic interaction between N and P.However deficiencies of N,P and K were mostly observed in al exponential regimes during the experiment because seedling growth rate exceeded nutrient uptake rate,inferring that further study on improving the nutrient uptake efficiency is needed.Analysis of relationships among nutrient supply,dry mass,N content and N concentration demonstrated that 100–400 mg N seedling-1induced sufficiency to luxury consumption of nitrogen without significant change in dry mass,and 400 mg N seedling-1is recommended to apply for nutrient loading of seedlings before outplanting.The findings will help improve seedling quality and enhance the production of robust seedlings for plantation forestry of this species.

Increased heat in urban environments, from the combined effects of climate change and land use/land cover change, is one of the most severe problems confronting cities and urban residents worldwide, and requires urgent resolution. While large urban green spaces such as parks and nature reserves are widely recognized for their benefits in mitigating urban heat islands (UHIs), the benefit of urban golf courses is less established. This is the first study to combine remote sensing of golf courses with Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) of vegetation cover. Using ArborCamTM multispectral, high-resolution airborne imagery (0.3 × 0.3 m), this study develops an approach that assesses the role of golf courses in reducing urban land surface temperature (LST) relative to other urban land-uses in Perth, Australia, and identifies factors that influence cooling. The study revealed that urban golf courses had the second lowest LST (around 31 °C) after conservation land (30 °C), compared to industrial, residential, and main road land uses, which ranged from 35 to 37 °C. They thus have a strong capacity for summer urban heat mitigation. Within the golf courses, distance to water bodies and vegetation structure are important factors contributing to cooling effects. Green spaces comprising tall trees (>10 m) and large vegetation patches have strong effects in reducing LST. This suggests that increasing the proportion of large trees, and increasing vegetation connectivity within golf courses and with other local green spaces, can decrease urban LST, thus providing benefits for urban residents. Moreover, as golf courses are useful for biodiversity conservation, planning for new golf course development should embrace the retention of native vegetation and linkages to conservation corridors.

This study examined the effect of foliar zinc (Zn) application on grain yield, Zn and phytate concentrations and its impact on the phytate:Zn molar ratio, an indicator for Zn bioavailability in human digestive tracts, in unpolished and polished rice between two rice cultivars across two cropping years. The modern improved rice cultivar CNT1 and the traditional improved cultivar KDK were foliar applied with five rates of ZnSO 4 in two cropping years. In 2016, 0.3% ZnSO 4 increased the Zn concentration of unpolished rice in KDK by 21% over the nil Zn, while the effect was not found in CNT1. In polished rice, 0.2-0.4% ZnSO 4 increased the Zn concentration by 11.2-20.0% in CNT1 and by 8.3-24.1% in KDK, and decreased the phytate concentration by 5.2-16.9% in KDK but not in CNT1. In 2017, 0.4% ZnSO 4 increased the Zn concentration by 18.2-26.2% and 32.4-42.6% in unpolished and polished rice, respectively, in both cultivars. Application of 0.4% ZnSO 4 decreased the phytate:Zn molar ratio in polished rice from 29.7 to 18.3 and from 26.4 to 17.9 in CNT1 and KDK, respectively in 2016, and from 15.7 to 12.6 in KDK in 2017. Foliar Zn application decreased the phytate:Zn molar ratio in unpolished rice from 27.9 to 22.7 and from 21.9 to 17.2 in CNT1 and KDK, respectively in 2017, but had no effect in 2016. Thus, foliar Zn application can improve grain Zn concentration and decrease the phytate:Zn molar ratio in both unpolished and polished rice but the response can vary with cropping year and cultivar.

Anthocyanins are a group of pigments responsible for the red-blue color in plant parts, and have potential for health benefits and pharmaceutical ingredients. To evaluate whether anthocyanin concentrations in five purple rice varieties could be varied by water condition, plants were grown in waterlogged and aerobic (well-drained) soil. Grain anthocyanin concentration and grain yield were measured at maturity, while leaf anthocyanin concentrations were measured at booting and flowering stages. Four varieties grown under the waterlogged condition had 2.0–5.5 times higher grain anthocyanin than in the aerobic condition. There was a positive relationship between grain and leaf anthocyanin at booting in the waterlogged condition (r = 0.90, p < 0.05), while grain and leaf anthocyanin were positively correlated at flowering in both the waterlogged (r = 0.88, p < 0.05) and aerobic (r = 0.97, p < 0.01) conditions. The results suggest that water management should be adopted as a practical agronomic tool for improving the anthocyanin concentration of purple rice for specialist markets, but the specific responses between rice varieties to water management should be carefully considered.