Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability

Publications

Publications

• FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS - Building sustainable and resilient agri-food systems under multiple shocks

  Published on December 7, 2025
  We illustrate how integrated framework can be operationalized for resilience to multiple shocks.

• FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS - A metacoupled approach to analyzing multiple shocks affecting multiple systems

  Published on November 24, 2025
  We evaluated the cascading impacts of two global shocks (the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war) on the agri-food supply chains in Ukraine and beyond.

• SUSTAINABILITY - Applying the Metacoupling Framework to Multi-Scalar Conservation Planning: An Analysis for the Endangered Indiana Bat

  Published on November 19, 2025
  Using a literature-based analysis and the metacoupling framework with focusing on the Indiana bat, we find how local, regional, and global factors contribute to the shrinking population.

• 

  NATURE COMMUNICATIONS - Assessing global sustainability performance, imbalance, and coordination over space and time

  Published on October 16, 2025
  We developed three indices—SDRPI, SDCI and SDCI—to measure global SDG performance, imbalances, and coordination over time and across space.

• THE INNOVATION - Global soybean trade dynamics: Drivers, impacts, and sustainability

  Published on September 27, 2025
  We examine how soybean trade expansion has impacted deforestation, inequality, and food security, and assess the responses of governments and companies to address these challenges.

• DATA IN BRIEF - A synthesized dataset of Pacific Arctic marine mammal occurrences (1860-2024)

  Published on September 8, 2025
  This paper presents a synthesized dataset of marine mammal occurrences in the Pacific Arctic from 1860 to 2024.

• SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT - Spatiotemporal dynamics of coastal dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico over 20 years using remote sensing

  Published on June 1, 2025
  We integrated satellite imagery with field observations in random forest models on the Google Earth Engine platform to characterize dead zone dynamics from 2000 to 2019.

• CONSERVATION BIOLOGY - Bridging conservation gaps under climate change at multiple scales to protect 30% of Earth's surface by 2030

  Published on May 31, 2025
  We developed 1-km-resolution hotspot maps for climate change vulnerability with the exposure–sensitivity–adaptation framework and a systematic conservation planning approach.

• FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT - How can China curb biological invasions to meet Kunming-Montreal Target 6?

  Published on May 15, 2025
  We consider the status of IAS in China, evaluate China's ongoing countermeasures against IAS, and provide recommendations for improving management.

• SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT - Compound effects of drought and COVID-19 on soybean production in Brazil: Challenges and policy responses

  Published on March 25, 2025
  This study investigates the cumulative and interactive impacts of drought and COVID-19 on soybean production in Brazil, focusing on cascading economic and operational disruptions.

• ADVANCES IN ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH - Chapter Four - A metacoupling lens on the co-production of nature’s contributions to people: Insights for sustainability

  Published on March 24, 2025
  We illustrate the application of the metacoupling framework on NCP co-production in Germany, natural pest control in German meadows provided by migratory birds, and non-material NCP from giant panda tourism in China.

• ACS NANO - Opportunities and Challenges of DNA Materials toward Sustainable Development Goals

  Published on March 18, 2025
  We establish direct relationships between DNA-based engineering systems and the SDGs, highlighting their inherent merits in accelerating sustainable development.

• ONE EARTH - Reducing sand mining’s growing toll on marine biodiversity

  Published on February 21, 2025
  Global demand for marine sand is on the rise, expanding dredging impacts on biodiversity. Systems approaches like the metacoupling framework help uncover overlooked impacts and balance resource extraction with biodiversity conservation.

• COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT - The Russia-Ukraine war reduced food production and exports with a disparate geographical impact worldwide

  Published on December 20, 2024
  The ongoing war has directly damaged arable land and agricultural infrastructure, leading to direct losses of crops in the war zones and difficulties in cultivating some arable land.

• NATURE SUSTAINABILITY - City-company collaboration towards aligned science-based target setting

  Published on December 4, 2024
  Focusing on the top 200 cities and 500 companies by greenhouse gas emissions, we analyse the current state and potential of adopting science-based targets for climate.

• NATURE SUSTAINABILITY - City–company collaboration towards aligned science-based target setting

  Published on December 4, 2024
  Focusing on the top 200 cities and 500 companies by greenhouse gas emissions, we analyse the current state and potential of adopting science-based targets for climate.

• GEOGRAPHY AND SUSTAINABILITY - Complex adaptive systems science in the era of global sustainability crisis

  Published on November 9, 2024
  We address the advantages of complex adaptive systems (CAS) science for sustainability by identifying the key elements and challenges in sustainability science, the generic features of CAS, and the key advances and challenges in modeling CAS.

• Unveiling interprovincial geographic patterns of 5A-level tourism cultural ecosystem service flows and tourist preferences in China's ' s metacoupled systems

  Published on October 23, 2024
  In the metacoupling Anthropocene, tourism-based culture ecosystem services flows (CESF) can establish nonmaterial bridges from the natural to the human system, even across vast geographic distances. However, there remains a knowledge gap regarding in...

• APPLIED GEOGRAPHY - Unveiling interprovincial geographic patterns of 5A-level tourism cultural ecosystem service flows and tourist preferences in China's metacoupled systems

  Published on October 15, 2024
  We analyzed the intracoupling (within-province), pericoupling (adjacent-province), and telecoupling (distant-provincial) flow patterns using a sample of 143,681 5A attractions travel comments with Internet Protocol (IP) location data.

• JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION - Unveiling complementarities between mangrove restoration and global sustainable development goals

  Published on October 5, 2024
  This investigation follows the ‘product space’ method in economics and creates the ‘Mangrove-SDG space’ to assess each metric pair’s cooccurrence and comparative advantages with validated stability.