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Special Issue "Ecosystem Degradation and Restoration: From Assessment to Practice"

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A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 March 2024 | Viewed by 4264

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shengbin Chen

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Guest Editor

College of Ecology and Environment, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
Interests: biodiversity and conservation; ecosystem degradation and restoration; ecological planning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Changliang Shao

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Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: ecosystem carbon/water/energy fluxes; grassland restoration
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Prof. Dr. Yi Ding

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Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
Interests: forest restoration; community assemblage; biodiversity conservation
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Dr. Bo Liu

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Guest Editor

School of Remote Sensing & Geomatics Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
Interests: remote sensing for global changes; hyperspectral remote sensing; eco-environmental monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ecosystem degradation is a major challenge for sustainable development. How to assess its severity and take economic and effective measures to prevent the continuous deterioration is a common concern of the government, enterprises and academia. With the rapid accumulation of knowledge and data in recent years, ecosystem degradation assessment and restoration are increasingly carried out at different scales (from local to global) and on different aspects (e.g., vegetation, animal, and ecological process). Therefore, this Special Issue aims to explore the integration of methods and results from multi-scale ecosystem degradation assessment and the coordination of multi-dimensional restoration strategies concerning both nature and humans. Papers addressing the following topics are welcome: 1) papers assessing ecosystem degradation and resilience potential through multisource data (e.g., remote sensing, plants, animals, economy and society) at multiple scales; 2) papers assisting decision-making by simultaneously considering regional ecological restoration planning, local ecological restoration technology, and regional sustainable development goals; and 3) papers addressing the ecological degradation and restoration of human-dominated ecosystems, previously less-concerned taxonomic groups (e.g., insects and nematodes), and newly emerged ecological networks. Both theoretical and case studies will be published, with an emphasis on forest and grassland ecosystems.

Dr. Shengbin Chen
Prof. Dr. Changliang Shao
Prof. Dr. Yi Ding
Dr. Bo 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. Forests 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

ecological assessment
ecological conservation
ecosystem degradation
ecological design
ecological engineering
ecological planning
ecosystem resilience
ecological restoration
plantation
reforestation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Dominance of Topography on Vegetation Dynamics in the Mt. Qomolangma National Nature Reserve: A UMAP and PLS-SEM Analysis

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Forests 2023, 14(7), 1415; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14071415 - 11 Jul 2023

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Abstract

The southern portion of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) and the central Himalayan region are home to the Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) National Nature Reserve (QNNR), which is the world’s highest nature reserve and is distinguished by delicate natural ecosystems and unique geographic features. Analyzing regional vegetation trends, as well as the impacts of natural and anthropogenic variables on vegetation coverage, is crucial for local environmental protection and sustainable development. In this study, the variation patterns of the MOD13Q1 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data were explored, and the responses of vegetation development to both natural and anthropogenic parameters were investigated by applying trend analysis and partial correlation analysis, as well as the partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM). To better comprehend the spatial characteristics and interrelationships between NDVI and various parameters under different vegetation types, the Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) was employed for dimensionality reduction and visualization. The results illustrated that between 2000 and 2018, the reserve greened up at a rate of 0.00073/a (p < 0.05), with vegetation improvement areas accounting for 49.46%. The major climatic driver for the greening trend of vegetation was temperature. Topography (especially elevation) remains dominant in regulating vegetation development in the QNNR, despite a progressively growing impact of hydrothermal conditions on vegetation development. Additionally, the implementation of environmental initiatives has stifled the adverse impacts of human activity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem Degradation and Restoration: From Assessment to Practice)

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Open AccessArticle

Combining Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Scientific Observations to Support Mangrove Restoration in Madagascar

Lalao Aigrette Ravaoarinorotsihoarana

Ismael Ratefinjanahary

Celestin Aina

Cicelin Rakotomahazo

Leah Glass

Lantoasinoro Ranivoarivelo

and

Thierry Lavitra

Forests 2023, 14(7), 1368; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14071368 - 03 Jul 2023

Viewed by 741

Abstract

Local communities play a key role in ecosystem restoration due to their invaluable traditional ecological knowledge. While community-led mangrove restoration has been practiced in Madagascar for decades, the factors influencing the success of the restoration remains understudied. Despite the extensive local knowledge, the complexity of factors influencing restoration success requires outside technical expertise. This study aimed to investigate the drivers of mangrove restoration success in southwest Madagascar. The survival rate of mangroves planted from 2015 to 2022, including Rhizophora mucronata, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, and Ceriops tagal was assessed using the sampling methods for tree planting inventory with circular plots. R version 4.2.2 was used for descriptive statistics analysis. The correlation between the survival rate and plantation density, species composition, and number of participants was assessed using a Principal Component Analysis. As a result, the mean survival rate of the 440,990 planted mangroves, with a density of 4628 ± 317 trees/ha⁻¹ was 82.5 ± 1.8%. Our study showed that plantation density and species composition are not correlated with survival rate. However, the survival rate is inversely correlated with the number of participants. The findings of this paper showed that both traditional ecological knowledge and scientific observations are vital to informing mangrove reforestation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem Degradation and Restoration: From Assessment to Practice)

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Open AccessArticle

Ecosystem Functioning of the Loess Plateau in China from Vegetation Restoration Relied Largely on Climate

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Forests 2023, 14(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14010027 - 23 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1233

Abstract

Climate change and anthropogenic replantation are supposed to greatly change vegetation coverage and ecosystem stability and functions, e.g., net primary productivity (NPP), evapotranspiration (ET) and water use efficiency (WUE). Our study compared WUE of nature- and human-induced forest cover increase on the Loess Plateau since 2000 using satellite-derived Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF), NPP, ET. This study also applied over 30 years of model-based NPP and meteorological observations to compare the stability and changes brought up by the Grain for Green Project. The result showed that the average forest coverage fraction increased from 7.1% (~4.5 × 10⁴ km²) in 2000 to 11.2% (~7.3 × 10⁴ km²) in 2014. Artificial forest cover increase occupied 76.43% of the significantly increasing tree cover regions. The role of revegetation practice in NPP and ET became gradually more dominant than climate factors in artificial forests from the northern to the southern part of the Loess Plateau. For areas experiencing limited forest coverage increase, artificial forest areas showed higher WUE than natural forest areas under similar mean annual precipitation (MAP). The difference in stability was small between neighboring natural and artificial forest areas. The northwest of the Loess Plateau had an increasing resilience, whereas the south of the Plateau had an increased resistance to precipitation and temperature change. The higher dependency of the northern reforested areas on climate fluctuation indicates a growing threat of water scarcity to the sustainability of anthropogenic reforestation in semi-arid regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem Degradation and Restoration: From Assessment to Practice)

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Open AccessArticle

The Adaptive Capacity of Alien and Rare Species in China

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Forests 2022, 13(12), 2005; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13122005 - 27 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 862

Abstract

Alien and rare plants tend to adapt to contrasting biotic and abiotic conditions. However, adaptability assessments of alien and rare plants using biological and habitat characteristics in stressful and disturbed environments are limited. We collected and demonstrated the biological and habitat characteristics and assessed the adaptive capacity of alien and rare plants in China using the analytic hierarchy process. Biological characteristics, such as dispersal strategy, sexual and asexual reproduction modes, life form, and habitat characteristics (e.g., habitat type and distribution spatial extent), are important indicators of the adaptability of alien and rare plants to stressful and disturbed environments. Alien plants have a higher adaptive capacity to disturbed environments than rare plants, while rare plants have a higher adaptive capacity to stressful environments than alien plants. Stressful and disturbed environments constrain the adaptive capacity of alien and rare plants, respectively. However, the constraint on alien plants from stressful environments is weaker than that on rare plants from disturbed environments. Understanding the adaptive capacity of alien and rare plants will help researchers and policymakers develop strategies for preventing the invasion of alien plants as well as protecting rare and endangered plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecosystem Degradation and Restoration: From Assessment to Practice)

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Special Issue "Ecosystem Degradation and Restoration: From Assessment to Practice"

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