Plant Biodiversity in Forest and Urban Ecosystems Under Climate Change: Monitoring, Environmental Impacts, Threats, Conservation, Management, and Economic Directions

Dear Colleagues,

Plant biodiversity plays a vital role in the functioning, resilience, and sustainability of both forest and urban ecosystems and, as climatic patterns continue to shift and anthropogenic pressures intensify, plant communities in these environments face unprecedented threats ranging from habitat loss and fragmentation to the proliferation of invasive species and shifts in species composition.

This Special Issue seeks to explore the dynamics of plant biodiversity across forest and urban landscapes under the influence of climate change, aiming to highlight innovative research on biodiversity monitoring, the identification and mitigation of threats, and the development of effective conservation and management strategies that also consider the economic and ecosystem service dimensions of plant diversity.
We encourage interdisciplinary submissions that bridge ecological science, environmental policy, landscape management, and urban planning. By integrating insights from both natural and human-modified environments, this Special Issue will contribute to a deeper understanding of how plant biodiversity can be monitored, conserved, and sustainably utilized in an era of global environmental change.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome, and research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following topics: 

• Monitoring techniques for and the indicators of plant biodiversity in forest and urban ecosystems;
• The effects of climate change and extreme weather events on species composition, distribution, and growth;
• Threats to biodiversity—land use change, invasive species, pollution, urban expansion;
• Conservation planning and ecosystem-based management approaches;
• Ecosystem services provided by plant diversity in forests and urban ecosystems;
• Links between forest growth and understory plant diversity under climate pressure;
• The economic valuation of plant biodiversity and nature-based solutions;
• The economic valuation of ecosystem services;
• The economic importance of biodiversity in protected areas;
• Policy frameworks and local strategies for biodiversity protection in urban and peri-urban areas.

Original research articles, review papers, and applied case studies are welcome.

Dr. Alexandra D. Solomou
Dr. Panagiotis Koulelis
Dr. Nikolaos Proutsos
Dr. Stefanos Tsiaras
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. Conservation is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1200 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.

• plant biodiversity
• forest ecosystems
• urban ecosystems
• climate change
• biodiversity monitoring
• environmental impacts
• conservation strategies
• sustainable forest management
• ecosystem services
• economic valuation
• forest dieback
• mediterranean biome degradation