Conservation of Plant Diversity and Vegetation in Island Ecosystems

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 September 2025 | Viewed by 101

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
MOE Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: community ecology; vegetation ecology; biodiversity; island biogeography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China
Interests: island biogeography; biodiversity and conservation; habitat fragmentation; community ecology; vegetation ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding the mechanisms that sustain biodiversity on islands has long been a central focus in community ecology and conservation biology. In 1967, MacArthur and Wilson’s Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography (ETIB) established a foundational framework for understanding island biodiversity. Ecologists have since found support for ETIB across various archipelagos and habitat islands. However, in today’s increasingly globalized world, conservation biologists have identified additional factors influencing biodiversity on islands, including anthropogenic activities, biological invasion, and global climate change. Thus, disentangling the complex factors that shape biodiversity on islands remains a significant challenge in ecology.

This Special Issue focuses on the conservation of plant diversity in island ecosystems. The scope includes marine islands, lake islands, and habitat islands. Relevant research topics may cover monitoring plant diversity and vegetation on islands, identifying factors that influence its distribution and maintenance, investigating plant–animal interaction networks on islands, exploring applications of island biogeography theory for plant conservation, and employing new technologies for plant species and vegetation monitoring and conservation. Contributions may also address the impact of human activities, such as urbanization and land use, habitat loss and fragmentation, biological invasion and climate changes on plant diversity on islands.

We invite prospective authors to submit original research articles, reviews, or short communications that specifically address scientific questions related to the plant diversity conservation and basic scientific findings in island ecosystems.

Prof. Dr. Mingjian Yu
Dr. Jinliang Liu
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • island biogeography
  • plant diversity
  • vegetation
  • community assembly
  • functional trait
  • plant-animal interactions
  • habitat loss and fragmentation
  • biological invasion
  • climate change
  • urbanization and land use

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
Back to TopTop