Marine Biota Distribution and Biodiversity

Dear Colleagues,

Marine biodiversity plays an important role in providing the ecosystem functions and services which humans derive from the oceans and seas. However, in our era, marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are facing a series of unprecedented pressures as a result of human activities. These may have immediate consequences for patterns of biodiversity and, consequently, for the critical ecosystem services they provide. The human impact is substantial and adversely affects marine life and marine habitats through habitat destruction, overexploitation, ocean pollution and especially plastic pollution, ocean acidification, ocean warming and the introduction of invasive species. Marine biota distribution is largely dependent on environmental variables, climate, trophic interactions and dispersal limitations. In particular, climate change is expected to alter both the distribution and the abundance of marine species; nowadays, a considerable number of species appear outside of their well-known distributional limits. However, for species that are less adaptive to environmental changes, this may lead them to possible extinction. Therefore, climate change and biodiversity loss pose new challenges for marine biota worldwide. The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish the novel and high-quality research that contributes to our knowledge on:

a. marine biodiversity structure and functioning at all levels of biological organization from genes, species and populations to ecosystems;

b. marine biota distribution;

c. changes related to natural and anthropogenic environmental pressures that affect marine biota distribution.

Dr. Kosmas Kevrekidis
Dr. Chryssa Anastasiadou
Dr. Giorgio Mancinelli
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. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 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.

• marine biodiversity
• marine biota distribution
• marine ecosystems dynamics
• natural and anthropogenic environmental pressures
• climate change