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Strategies to Improve Vegetation Restoration, Alleviate Land Degradation, and Sustainable...
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Strategies to Improve Vegetation Restoration, Alleviate Land Degradation, and Sustainable Management in the Desert Ecosystem

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 619

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Akash Tariq

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Interests: plant eco-physiology; plant biochemistry; plant nutrition; abiotic stress; nutrients regulation and dynamics; growth and metabolism; ecological stoichiometry; plant stress; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Fanjiang Zeng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Interests: plant ecology; plant physiology; global change biology; nutrient stoichiometry; growth regulation; climate change; water management; crop production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Drylands, covering 41% of the Earth's surface, with nearly 15% affected by salinity, are home to 38% of the global population. Arid and semiarid landscapes occupy 25.8% of the Earth's land surface and support 18.5% of its population, harboring unique biological and cultural diversity. Despite their scientific and socio-economic significance, global awareness is lacking regarding the efforts required to protect and manage these regions.

The increasing aridity in global drylands due to climate change impacts ecosystem attributes such as nutrient cycling, plant productivity, and microbial communities. Arid lands have expanded in recent decades and are expected to continue growing due to poor management and changing climates. Climate warming, drought intensification, and population growth increase the risk of desertification and food insecurity in developing countries. This Special Issue aims to focus on strategies for vegetation restoration, combating land degradation, and encouraging sustainable management in desert ecosystems to mitigate these challenges and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 15.

Dr. Akash Tariq
Dr. Fanjiang Zeng
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • drylands
  • desertification
  • land degradation
  • vegetation restoration
  • sustainable management

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1545 KiB  
Article
Life History Strategies of the Winter Annual Plant Echinops gmelinii (Asteraceae) in a Cold Desert Population
by Yanli Wang, Xinrong Li and Jiecai Zhao
Plants 2025, 14(2), 284; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14020284 - 20 Jan 2025
Viewed by 509
Abstract
Echinops gmelinii Turcz. is a winter annual species of the Asteraceae family, distributed in sandy areas of northern China, and is crucial for wind avoidance and sand fixation. To understand the inter- and intra-annual population dynamics of E. gmelinii in its cold desert [...] Read more.
Echinops gmelinii Turcz. is a winter annual species of the Asteraceae family, distributed in sandy areas of northern China, and is crucial for wind avoidance and sand fixation. To understand the inter- and intra-annual population dynamics of E. gmelinii in its cold desert habitats, we conducted long- and short-term demographic studies to investigate the timing of germination, seedling survival, soil seed bank and seed longevity of natural populations on the fringe of the Tengger Desert. Cypselae (seeds) of E. gmelinii can germinate in both July and August, but this process is heavily affected by precipitation amount and timing. Early emerging seedlings died rapidly under the high temperature and drought stress, before completing their life cycle. Later emerging seedlings could survive to complete their life cycle due to more suitable conditions for plant growth. In short, seedling survival dynamics were affected by precipitation distribution, and the survival rates were low (<4%). In addition, we found that the high seed production (1328 seeds·m−2) of E. gmelinii depended mainly on the production of seeds by individuals rather than high plant density (35 individuals·m−2). The contribution of newly ripened seeds and soil seed banks to seedlings emergence was 57.7% and 42.3%, respectively. Thus, only a small amount of the newly matured seeds was depleted during the year. Only 23.6% of the annual seeds germinated, and the remainder accumulated in a persistent soil seed bank (seed longevity was ≥2 y). The amount and timing of precipitation distribution were the key factors affecting the population dynamics of E. gmelinii in our study area. This species can cope with the uncertain precipitation patterns though a “cautious” germination strategy, varying the timing of germination and forming a persistent soil seed bank. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies to Improve Vegetation Restoration, Alleviate Land Degradation, and Sustainable Management in the Desert Ecosystem)
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