Marine Biotic Changes and Future Challenges
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability, Biodiversity and Conservation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2023) | Viewed by 2772
Special Issue Editors
Interests: benthic community ecology; taxonomy and ecology of Polychaeta; Porifera; alien species
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Shallow- and deep-water marine biotic communities in the world’s oceans are subject to profound changes owing to ongoing climate changes, overfishing, species introductions, pollution, and habitat destruction. Although the magnitude of these factors varies in time and space, recent studies indicate profound irreversible changes in marine biotic communities. Climate change, directly and indirectly, affects marine species populations and communities, thereby affecting the structure and functioning of ecosystems, magnifying the impacts of other anthropogenic changes. Overfishing causes biomass declines in several species populations and alters their population structure, such as size at maturity. The habitats of the world’s oceans are under siege by alien invasive species, causing adverse, irreversible consequences for the native biodiversity, ecosystem services, economy, and human health. Climate change, increasing ship carrying capacities and speeds, the widening and deepening of man-made canals, and pollution favor the introduction of these species and their successful establishment. Pollution from diverse sources leads to direct species mortality as well as changing the state of the community from a highly diversified level to an impoverished species level. Habitat destruction is a major threat to the structure and functioning of marine biotic communities, exacerbating overfishing by limiting fishable areas or decreasing the productivity of marine environments. In this context, long-term monitoring studies have become critical to assess the dimension of these factors and to prepare effective management plans to cope with these challenging issues.
The topic focuses on marine biotic changes as a consequence of anthropogenic activities from any geographic region. Papers may include issues related to biotic changes and the monitoring of species and communities.
We are interested in the following research areas:
Community shifts;
Alien species;
Monitoring of marine species and communities;
Habitat mapping;
Ecological Quality Status.
Prof. Dr. Melih Ertan Çınar
Prof. Dr. Murat Bilecenoglu
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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
- invasive species
- climate change
- habitat destruction
- overfishing
- pollution
