Species Framed as Invasive or Pests: Influence, Governance, and Storylines in Conservation Biology
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Ethics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 1
Special Issue Editor
Interests: ethics of communication; political economy; interest groups; persuasion; public relations; animal ethics; critical animal studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
For this Special Issue, we invite contributions that critically examine the narratives surrounding so-called invasive species and pests and how these narratives are shaped by interest groups, institutions, media, and policy frameworks. As human activities intensify pressures on ecosystems, certain species are increasingly framed as threats to biodiversity, public health, or agriculture.
Despite major financial and scientific investment, management outcomes remain limited, exposing ethical, social, and governance challenges. This Special Issue seeks interdisciplinary contributions from critical social sciences and philosophy—drawing on animal ethics, discourse analysis, feminist theory, political ecology, public affairs, and communication studies—as well as reflections from biologists and conservation scientists who are critical of the dominant paradigms or who explore alternative, non-violent approaches to species management.
Contributors are encouraged to address questions such as the following:
- How do policy, science, and media discourses narratively construct species as being “invasive” or “pests”?
- What role do interest groups and economic actors play in shaping these narratives?
- How do management approaches negotiate tensions between ecological goals and ethical considerations toward nonhuman life?
- What ethical alternatives could foster coexistence while aligning conservation with animal welfare?
Prof. Dr. Núria Almiron
Guest Editor
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. Animals 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 2400 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
- conservation biology
- invasion biology
- invasive species
- pests management
- interest groups
- governance
- narratives
- animal ethics
- critical animal studies
- animal welfare
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