Advances in Wildlife Conservation and Habitat Management in the Anthropocene

Dear Colleagues,

The Anthropocene, characterized by significant human impacts on Earth's ecosystems, has introduced a complex array of environmental stressors that significantly challenge traditional approaches to wildlife conservation and habitat management in terrestrial environments. This multifaceted interplay encompasses anthropogenic stressors, such as habitat loss and fragmentation driven by deforestation, urbanization, and infrastructure development. These activities disrupt ecological connectivity and degrade critical habitats, leading to declines in species and their populations and causing significant disruptions in ecosystem functions, affecting ecological processes across multiple scales, from individual species to entire landscapes. Alongside these anthropogenic influences, biotic stressors, including competition for resources (both intraspecific and interspecific) and disease outbreaks, further complicate conservation efforts. Alterations in habitats and shifts in climate patterns can intensify these biotic pressures, facilitating the spread of invasive species and diseases that undermine ecosystem stability, threaten native species, and disrupt community dynamics. Beyond the direct consequences of human activities, terrestrial ecosystems face a complex web of abiotic stressors encompassing large-scale, climate-driven phenomena like wildfires, floods, and droughts, alongside more subtle variations in environmental gradients, such as temperature, water availability, salinity, light, and nutrient availability, all of which can disrupt ecological processes and push species beyond their physiological tolerances, presenting a significant challenge in conservation efforts.

In light of these challenges, advances in ecological monitoring, modeling, and management strategies in wildlife conservation and habitat management are essential in developing effective and adaptive strategies to mitigate the impacts of these complex and interacting stressors and to guide conservation planning in the Anthropocene.

In this Special Issue, we aim to explore and highlight innovative approaches and cutting-edge advancements in wildlife conservation and habitat management in the Anthropocene. We invite submissions from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers encompassing all aspects of this critical field, including theoretical frameworks, experimental studies, and practical applications. Contributions can include original research articles, reviews, short communications, and case studies. We particularly encourage submissions that explore the individual and combined effects of anthropogenic, biotic, and abiotic stressors on wildlife and habitats. By bringing together pioneering research and practical insights, this Special Issue seeks to equip conservation practitioners and policymakers with the necessary knowledge and tools to navigate the complex interplay between anthropogenic, biotic, and abiotic stressors in the context of wildlife conservation and habitat management in terrestrial ecosystems. The featured works will report and advance conservation practices, aligning with the broader scope of the journal, which is to disseminate knowledge and promote sustainable land management and biodiversity conservation.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts directly addressing challenges including, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Innovative Conservation Methods and Technologies: Papers that showcase new tools, technologies, and methodologies for monitoring, managing, and mitigating the impacts of environmental stressors on wildlife and habitats.
• Habitat Suitability Modeling under Climate Change: Research employing advanced modeling techniques to evaluate how climate change and other stressors impact habitat suitability. This includes developing and refining models to predict shifts in habitat conditions, species distributions, and ecological interactions and using these insights to inform adaptive conservation and management strategies.
• Anthropogenic Stressors and their Impact: Investigations into how human activities such as habitat deterioration, urbanization, and infrastructure development are affecting terrestrial wild species and their habitats.
• Biotic and Abiotic Stressors: Comprehensive analyses of how environmental stressors, such as climate change and disease outbreaks, in combination with human-induced changes, influence ecosystem dynamics and inform conservation strategies.
• Protected Areas and Habitat Management: Examination of the role and effectiveness of management strategies for protected areas in conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem resilience amid various stressors.
• Conservation of Keystone and Threatened Species: Studies focused on conservation strategies for keystone species and those listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, addressing specific threats and management approaches.
• Long-Term Monitoring and Evaluation: Papers focusing on the importance of long-term ecological monitoring and evaluation in understanding trends, assessing conservation outcomes, and adapting management strategies.

We look forward to receiving your research articles and reviews.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Biology.

Dr. Yiannis G. Zevgolis
Prof. Dr. Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos
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.

• innovative technologies
• advanced monitoring techniques
• habitat suitability modeling
• species distribution modeling
• climate change scenarios
• anthropogenic, biotic, and abiotic stressors
• environmental impact assessments
• invasive species management
• disease outbreak impacts
• long-term ecological monitoring
• protected area effectiveness
• keystone species conservation
• threatened species
• adaptive conservation strategies
• conservation planning
• wildlife conservation
• habitat management