Management and Biodiversity Conservation of Southern and Sub-Antarctic Forests

Dear Colleagues,

The southern and sub-Antarctic forests of Patagonia, South Africa and Oceania present a high degree of biodiversity and endemism, representing an ecosystem and landscape of great value. Due to its distance from the largest production centers and the presence of forest species little known by international markets, these forests present a good degree of conservation. Although in absolute terms, human impact is generally low compared to other parts of the world, some of these ecosystems have been subject to substantial disturbance, for example, due to the historical overexploitation of forest resources and their conversion to animal husbandry. However, few studies have been carried out in the disciplines of management and biodiversity conservation. The term ‘conservation’ is considered to encompass all efforts affecting the preservation and protection of the natural environment and its resources, including measures to ensure the sustainable use of resources. The term ‘management’ includes any type of measure or intervention that is designed to achieve conservation, or to regulate resource use and other activities in a way that helps to protect species, habitats and environments and provide for their sustainable use. The central question in this Special Issue is: What conservation and management decisions for the southern and sub-Antarctic forests can we make to address planning issues? This Special Issue aims to address complex issues related to the conservation and management of the southern and sub-Antarctic forests from a broad perspective, and will address topics such as the consequences of grazing regulations on the plant community; the protection of these forests against pests and pathogens; protection against forest fires and impacts on understory plant biodiversity from forest management; the understanding of threats to tree and understory species populations; the formulation of effective, efficient and equitable conservation strategies; the conservation and characterization of high-quality germplasm of valuable tree species along the management gradient; and monitoring for the management of multiple uses of forest ecosystems, among others.

Dr. Juan Manuel Cellini
Dr. Guillermo J. Martínez Pastur
Guest Editors

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• connectivity assessment
• extent of southern and sub-antarctic forest resources
• southern and sub-antarctic forests’ biological diversity
• southern and sub-antarctic forests’ health and vitality
• productive functions of southern and sub-antarctic forest resources
• socioeconomic functions of southern and sub-antarctic forest resources
• legal, policy and institutional framework
• changes in species abundance and species composition
• preservation of the ecosystem’s health
• improvement of wood goods and service production
• climate modeling and southern and sub-antarctic forest applications
• structure and composition of southern and sub-antarctic forest ecosystems
• ecological processes in southern and sub-antarctic forests
• southern and sub-antarctic forest conservation: challenges and opportunities
• southern and sub-antarctic forest ecosystem services and community livelihoods
• plantation design and management
• invasive-plant-control program
• natural disaster recovery