Special Issue "Interactions between Ungulates and Forest Ecosystems"
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2023 | Viewed by 1394
Special Issue Editor
Interests: wildlife conservation; wildlife ecology; wildlife management; ungulates; herbivory; biodiversity monitoring; hunting
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
A huge number of ungulate species are living in forested habitats. Their diverse effects mean continuous disturbances to the forest ecosystems causing modifications in plant morphology, physiology, and growth in local scale, but also shaping vegetation development, structure and composition on a landscape-level. In addition to herbivory (including grazing, browsing, and debarking), they can have direct or indirect impacts both on soil and other animal species by trampling, defecating, urinating, or rooting. Consecutive events of ungulate activities can trigger cascade processes by changing soil characteristics and vegetation patterns and, thus, the availability of adequate habitat patches and resources for plant and animal species. The quality of the habitat and the vegetation features also have a bottom–up regulation on the occurrence, quality and activities of ungulate species influencing their top-down effects expressed in the ecological regulatory mechanisms of herbivory and forest game damage.
This Special Issue aims to give an overview of the diverse interactions between forest-dwelling ungulates and forest ecosystems, the main ungulate impacts in case of different areas with various wildlife and forest management strategies.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Ungulate impact on forest soil;
- Ungulate impact on forest plant individuals;
- Ungulate effects shaping vegetation and faunal patterns in forests;
- Management of forest ecosystem influencing distribution and effects of ungulates;
- Factors influencing forestry damage caused by ungulates.
Scientists are welcome to submit their novel research or (systematic) review to this Special Issue to broaden our knowledge on these topics.
Dr. Krisztián Katona
Guest Editor
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
- ungulates
- herbivory
- ungulate impact
- game damage
- habitat quality
- deer
- wild boar
- forest management
- browsing
- grazing
