Forest’s Biodiversity Along an Urban-to-Rural Gradient: Traditional and Innovative Monitoring Techniques

Dear Colleagues,

Growing urbanization is profoundly transforming forest landscapes, creating a marked differentiation between urban and rural environments that significantly affects forest biodiversity. Urban forests, often viewed as isolated fragments of nature within anthropogenic landscapes, play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity. These areas not only host a wide range of species, many of which are adapted to living in highly altered environments, but they also perform essential ecological functions, such as air purification, microclimate regulation, and water resource conservation. Therefore, monitoring biodiversity in urban forests is fundamental to ensuring that these functions are preserved and that biodiversity itself is protected. Biodiversity indicators such as Tree-Related Microhabitats (TreMs), forest structure, and deadwood presence are effective tools for assessing the ecological quality of urban forests. TreMs, for example, provide crucial information on the availability of habitats for a variety of wildlife species, including insects, birds, and small mammals, while forest structure and deadwood are direct indicators of ecological complexity and ecosystem resilience. However, monitoring biodiversity in such dynamic and complex environments requires the use of advanced and innovative techniques. Traditional monitoring, which includes species censuses, vegetation composition, and structural analysis, has historically provided fundamental data, but modern technologies such as remote sensing are now greatly expanding our monitoring capabilities, allowing for large-scale, real-time data acquisition. The use of satellite sensors, drones, and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) techniques enables the precise mapping of forest structure, the monitoring of temporal changes, and the identification of areas of particular ecological interest, such as TreMs. These innovative techniques offer a significant advantage over traditional methods, as they allow for non-invasive data collection over large areas, reducing costs and enhancing the ability to detect long-term variations.

This Special Issue aims to explore the interaction between traditional and innovative methods in monitoring forest biodiversity along the urban–rural gradient, emphasizing how the integration of ecological indicators, such as TreMs and forest structure, with advanced technologies can improve our understanding of ecological dynamics and inform more effective management and conservation strategies.

Researchers should consider submitting articles to this Special Issue as forest biodiversity along the urban-to-rural gradient is a critical topic for ecological sustainability in urban and peri-urban areas. As urban pressures increase, understanding how to monitor and preserve biodiversity in urban forests is essential for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. This Special Issue will provide an opportunity to explore both traditional and innovative methods, such as remote sensing and the use of advanced sensors, to address emerging challenges in ecological monitoring. Contributions will have the potential to influence environmental policies, guide future research, and support more effective management practices, responding to the growing demand for solutions to conserve biodiversity in urban and rural areas.

Dr. Francesco Parisi
Guest Editor

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• biodiversity monitoring
• ecological indicators
• environmental sustainability
• habitat fragmentation
• habitat quality assessment
• remote sensing technologies
• tree diversity
• urban ecology
• urban green spaces