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Journals
Land
Special Issues
Soil Legacies, Land Use Change and Forest and Grassland Restoration
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Soil Legacies, Land Use Change and Forest and Grassland Restoration

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Systems and Global Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 September 2024 | Viewed by 2161

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ken Smith

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Guest Editor
The Department of Environmental Science, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Interests: soils; ecology; land use; forestry
Prof. Dr. Deborah A. McGrath

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of the South, Sewanee, TN 37383, USA
Interests: carbon offsets; carbon storage in ecosystems; nutrient cycling; constructed wetlands
Prof. Dr. Kuok Ho Daniel Tang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Interests: climate change mitigation and adaptation; phytoremediation; emerging pollutants; plastic pollution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kevin Emmanuel Scriber, II

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Interests: chemical ecology; invertebrate biology; statictical analyses; stable isotpes; evolutionary biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Across the globe, human alteration of natural communities has affected soil chemical and physical properties, as well as plant the community structure and composition in dramatic ways. This Special Issue is designed to highlight current research focused on forest and grassland restoration, soil legacies created by prior human activities, and the effects of land use change on soil properties. As human activities continue to apply stress to our natural systems, it is vital for the research community to understand how we have changed soil and plant communities over time and to put forth the best techniques for improving ecosystem health across the world. 

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to present insights about the current research focused on forest and grassland restoration, soil legacies due to human activities, and soil and plant communities affected by land use changes.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts with the following themes:

  • Forest and grassland restoration;
  • Soil legacies and land use change.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Ken Smith
Prof. Dr. Deborah A. McGrath
Prof. Dr. Kuok Ho Daniel Tang
Prof. Dr. Kevin Emmanuel Scriber, II
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. Land 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

  • forest restoration
  • grassland restoration
  • soil legacies
  • land use change
  • soil carbon

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3714 KiB  
Article
In Situ Conservation of Dry Meadows
by Jože Bavcon, Katja Malovrh, Maja Tomšič and Blanka Ravnjak
Land 2024, 13(3), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13030315 - 01 Mar 2024
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Abstract
Grassland ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable as they are threatened by both intensive agriculture and abandonment of land use, which leads to overgrowth with scrub vegetation and forest. Given that meadows are habitat types of very high biodiversity, their loss significantly reduces local biodiversity. [...] Read more.
Grassland ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable as they are threatened by both intensive agriculture and abandonment of land use, which leads to overgrowth with scrub vegetation and forest. Given that meadows are habitat types of very high biodiversity, their loss significantly reduces local biodiversity. That is why the University Botanic Gardens Ljubljana has been renting a 2 ha dry meadow at the edge of Ljubljana capital city since 2001, for the purpose of in situ conservation in the urban area. We have been observing the meadow since 1997. In 2023, in addition to the complete inventory of species, we also carried out an inventory and analysis of the community in the meadow using the Braun–Blanquet method in 25 relevés. We recorded 163 plant species in the meadow during the entire growing season, and a total of 82 were recorded in the relevés. Eighteen of the species recorded are on the red list of protected plant species in Slovenia. In the relevés, 15 species types were constant (occurring in 60%) and as many as 21 were unique. The species Peucedanum oreoselinum (L.) Moench was recorded in all relevés (25), followed by the species Bromopsis erecta (Huds.) Fourr. (24), Galium verum L. (24), Briza media L. (23), Brachypodium pinnatum (L.) PB. (22) and Salvia pratensis L. (21). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Legacies, Land Use Change and Forest and Grassland Restoration)
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27 pages, 4164 KiB  
Article
Altering Natural Ecosystems Causes Negative Consequences on the Soil Physical Qualities: An Evidence-Based Study from Nilgiri Hill Region of Western Ghats, India
by M. Jagadesh, Duraisamy Selvi, Subramanium Thiyageshwari, Cherukumalli Srinivasarao, Pushpanathan Raja, Udayar Pillai Surendran, Nadhir Al-Ansari and Mohamed A. Mattar
Land 2023, 12(10), 1869; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12101869 - 03 Oct 2023
Viewed by 920
Abstract
Land use change (LUC) has direct and indirect consequences on soil quality. To gain insight into how LUC influences the physical properties of soil, it can be advantageous to compare undisturbed ecosystems with those that have naturally evolved over time, as well as [...] Read more.
Land use change (LUC) has direct and indirect consequences on soil quality. To gain insight into how LUC influences the physical properties of soil, it can be advantageous to compare undisturbed ecosystems with those that have naturally evolved over time, as well as to use soil quality indices to pinpoint the sensitivity of each ecosystem and land use change (LUC). A soil survey was carried out in the six major ecosystems of the Nilgiri Hill Region: cropland (CL), deciduous forest (DF), evergreen forest (EF), forest plantation (FP), scrubland (SL), and tea plantation (TP), with those having an establishment for over 50 years being selected and analyzed for soil physical parameters. In addition, soil quality indices were also derived to pinpoint the vulnerability of each ecosystem to LUC. The results reveal that the changes in land use significantly altered the soil physical properties. The content of clay was higher in EF and DF and increased with the soil profile’s depth, whereas the sand content was higher in CL and TP and decreased with the depth increment. BD and PD were significantly lower in EF, DF, SL, and FP, whereas they were higher in CL and TP. PS and ASM followed a similar trend to BD and PD. Owing to undisturbed natural settings, an abundance of litter input, and higher carbon concentrations, the HC was higher in EF, DF, SL, and FP, whereas, in the case of anthropogenic-influenced ecosystems such as CL and TP, it was lower. We discovered that LUC has altered Ag S, WSA, and MWD. Due to tillage and other cultural practices, Ag S, WSA, and MWD were significantly lower in CL and TP. However, the results confirm that native ecosystems (EF and DF) with a higher carbon content prevent such degradation, thereby resulting in good Ag S, WSA, and MWD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Legacies, Land Use Change and Forest and Grassland Restoration)
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