Landscape and Ecosystem Services Change in Arid Regions
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 22850
Special Issue Editors
Interests: ecosystem services in changing landscape
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Arid land covers almost a third of the world’s land area, the landscape ecology and sustainable development of which have been deeply threatened by climate change and human activities; this situation is likely to worsen in the future. Landscape stress factors such as desertification, salinization, deforestation, overgrazing of grassland, over-exploitation and pollution of water resources, lake retreat and wetland degradation, glacier retreat, population increase, and urbanization in arid land have been widely recognized and emphasized by both policymakers and stakeholders. However, research into landscape composition/structure/process and ecosystem services paradigms in arid regions, which is of great significance for the sustainable utilization of multiple ecosystem services that human beings depend on, is still scarce. Therefore, this Special Issue provides a platform for scientific research to focus on the changes in landscape and ecosystem services in arid land. We expect to receive a series of papers presenting novel findings, methodologies, ideas, opinions, and reviews on the following issues: (1) landscape pattern profiling and its driving mechanisms; (2) landscape composition/pattern/process, and ecosystem services change under different climate change, land-use change, and socio-ecosystem factors; (3) scale effects of landscape and ecosystem services; (4) spatially explicit mapping and valuing of ecosystem services based on observational data or biophysical process models; (5) impacts of landscape conservation and restoration policies on ecosystem services; (6) optimization of landscape pattern and the sustainable use of ecosystem services.
Dr. Liwei Zhang
Prof. Dr. Alimujiang Kasimu
Guest Editors
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