Interactions between Management and the Use of Forest and Semi-Natural Habitats
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2019)
Special Issue Editors
Interests: forest management and planning; land use planning; conservation management; biodiversity conservation; urban forestry; applied ecology
Interests: habitat management; biological invasions; urban forestry; landscape ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear colleagues,
Forest landscapes can be viewed as mosaics of woodlands and other land cover habitats, either natural or semi-natural. Edges between woodlands and other land cover types are often fundamental ecological niches that might be shaped with forestry operations. Management and planning of these landscapes requires one to adopt an all-lands approach, with boundaries at different spatial scales to define management from multiple perspectives and for multiple land cover types. Topical issues in forestry need to acknowledge the mutual ecological and socio-economical relationships between forested and non-forested land cover types. For instance, spontaneous or artificial woodland expansion might be detrimental for the conservation of semi-natural grassland communities, and forest operations might favour invasive alien trees into adjacent land cover types. As a contrast, variability in silvicultural treatments might enhance the diversity of heterogeneous land mosaics, and agricultural operations might impact the fertility of forest soils and the growth of forest stands. Therefore, a bifurcated model of management of woodlands as opposed to the management of non-forested habitats might not be the best solution to provide an array of ecosystem services. The spatial and temporal interrelation between forest ecosystems, their management, and the associated ecosystems should be transposed to landscape-scale planning approaches. This should be combined with a landscape-scale governance and regulatory system. We welcome reviews and original works on the abovementioned topics, which result from ecological, economical, social, and political investigations.
Prof. Dr. Tommaso Sitzia
Dr. Thomas Campagnaro
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- forest landscape
- semi-natural habitat
- land use planning
- land cover change
- biodiversity conservation
- forest governance
- ecosystem service
- land mosaic
- habitat dynamics
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