Special Issue "Marine Biodiversity around Southern Africa: Status (Knowledge), Significance and Conservation Efforts"
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2023 | Viewed by 105
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cephalopod and fish biology; systematics; fisheries; biodiversity; marine ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: biodiversity; Siphonostomatoida; systematics and evolution of symbiotic copepods
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Key questions:
We aim to examine the concept of biodiversity, research into it, and the application of this concept in the southern African context. We also aim to utilize resources on the ground for management and conservation purposes. The countries we are examining include Angola, Namibia, South Africa, and Mozambique. There will be a number of contributions, likely between 10 and 20.
Will we ever have basic knowledge of indigenous biodiversity in the region? We assume that indigenous (pristine) biodiversity was not seriously affected before European settlement (1652). Did we lose some species? Did the distributions change and how? Did the abundances change and how? Did the proportions (in the simplest forms, species lists) and relations change (e.g., food webs)? Did the ecosystem dynamics change? We aim to examine the accounts left by early explorers.
The main factors responsible for biodiversity changes are natural and human-related, and we aim to examine their description as well as their dynamics.
In terms of the history of biodiversity changes in the region, can we track the main milestones and describe them in some detail? Fishing milestones? Whaling? Mineral exploitation? Pollution? Again, we aim to examine closely the history, but also to look for a level of damage which is visible today.
We also aim to examine how biodiversity looks now (description and dynamics), as seen from the ecosystem perspective, and from the perspective of key components (species or groups of species). There will be a number of contributions in this field, likely between 10 and 20.
In terms of looking at ecosystems, we aim to assess how many there are as well as their components. Finally, we ask the following questions regarding links between ecosystems: do man-made changes and structures form part(s) of ecosystems? Which ones do and which ones do not?
Prof. Dr. Marek Roman Lipiński
Prof. Dr. Susan M. Dippenaar
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. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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
- marine
- biodiversity
- Southern Africa
