New Insights in Landscapes, Landslides and Ecosystem Diversity and Function Research

Dear Colleagues,

Landsliding is a complex process influencing mountainscapes worldwide. Interactions among biotic and abiotic processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions across multiple spatial and temporal scales most likely have contributed to the diversification of ecosystems, landscapes, and landforms. In addition, these interactions have extended the influence of landslides beyond hillslope systems. As human populations expand, their increasing dependency on mountains for ecosystem services is putting them at greater risk to landsliding. To a large extent, this has driven the exponential growth of studies aimed at modeling landslide susceptibility and risks and mapping landslides from remotely sensed data during the last twenty years. Yet, fundamental questions regarding interactions among ecosystem and geomorphic processes, biodiversity, ecosystem functions, landslides, and the spatial structure of mountainscapes remain large unanswered. Examining these potential interactions is critical given that the process of landsliding itself is changing in response to multiple drivers, including climate change. This may contribute to the re-organization of mountainscapes with unknown consequences for the diversity and functioning of these unique environments.

This Special Issue focuses on the contribution of remote sensing to understanding interactions among biodiversity, ecosystems, landslides, and the resulting spatial structure of mountainscapes. Exploring these interactions is important to understand the likely contribution of landslides to the enormous diversity of mountains, the production of invaluable ecosystem functions and services, and development of unique cultures and people worldwide.

Remote sensing has played a crucial role in landslide mapping, but it is time to move beyond mapping while acknowledging the enormous challenges of working in mountainscapes. Complex topography, cloud cover, shadows, large variation in landslide size, and limited accessibility to field sites may affect our ability to study these environments. Yet, new sensors and instruments onboard satellites, small planes, and UAVs are opening new opportunities to understand complex interactions among landslides, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions.

Examples of research topics for this Special Issue on landscapes, landslides, and ecosystem diversity and function include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

• Remote sensing before the formation of landslides.
• Relationships between land-cover and land-use and the size distribution of landslides.
• Relationships between biodiversity and landslide occurrence.
• Interactions among biophysical factors, ecosystem structure, and landslides.
• Remote sensing after the formation of landslides.
• Vegetation recovery on landslides—from cover and NDVI to biomass.
• Variation in vegetation recovery as a function of landslide size and landscape characteristics.
• Variation in functional diversity among landslides.
• Soil formation in areas affected by landslides.
• Landslides and ecosystem fluxes.
• Mobilization and transfer of organic matter and nutrients among landscape compartments.
• Linkages between hillslopes and stream systems.
• Landslides and ecosystem services.
• Landslides and human cultures.

Prof. Dr. Carla Restrepo
Prof. Dr. Miles R. Silman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• biodiversity
• functional diversity
• ecosystem function
• ecosystem services
• landscape function
• spatial diversity
• mountainscapes
• landsliding