Maintenance and Function of Biodiversity in Forests
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2024 | Viewed by 16527
Special Issue Editors
Interests: species coexistences; functional traits; biodiversity; ecosystem functions
Interests: biodiversity and ecosystem functions; forest multifunctionality; plants and microbes
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As an important component of the terrestrial ecosystem, forests play an irreplaceable role in biodiversity protection and maintenance and provide ecosystem functioning, such as carbon sequestration, nutrient cycle, water conservation, and ecosystem stability. Over the past several decades, however, global forests are undergoing unprecedented pressure from anthropogenic disturbances and climate change, leading to a rapid decline in biodiversity due to fragmentation, deforestation, and degradation.
Exploring how to maintain biodiversity in forests is extremely urgent if humans want to achieve the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The complex structure, species interaction, regional species pool, and heterogeneous environment all influence the spatial and temporal patterns of forest diversity, but it is still unclear how these effects sustain biodiversity as forests are facing high variations in habitat features under global change. Forest ecosystem services also have strong interdependencies with conserving biodiversity. Despite substantial progress made regarding the maintenance and function of biodiversity in the past decades, the mechanisms by which biodiversity sustains ecosystem functioning and its stability remain in heated debates and mixed evidence in forests with intrinsic complexity. Climate change, human activities, and alien species invasion will have significant impacts on forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, thus affecting ecosystem stability.
To improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism of maintenance and function of biodiversity in forests, we have launched this Special Issue to bring together successful case studies, lessons learned, and experiences on, but are not limited to, the following: community assembly, species coexistence, above- and below-ground biotic interactions and their ecological consequences across different trophic levels across varied spatial and temporal scales, the effect of forest biodiversity on ecosystem multifunctionality and/or stability, response of function of biodiversity to environmental change and its mechanisms.
This Special Issue will accept cutting-edge studies from broad research topics related to the maintenance and function of biodiversity in forests. Research conducted in the field is preferred but laboratory works, including theoretical approaches (simulation modeling studies), are also of interest. Short communications on methods or presenting preliminary but interesting results will also be considered.
Prof. Dr. Xugao Wang
Prof. Dr. Zuoqiang Yuan
Prof. Dr. Chengjin Chu
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- biodiversity
- coexistences
- climate change
- disturbance
- ecosystem functioning
- forest ecology, forest management and conservation
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