Biodiversity of Vegetation and Flora in Tropical Africa -2nd Edition
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2024) | Viewed by 3912
Special Issue Editors
Interests: ethnobotany; vegetation ecology; management of natural resources
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: tropical biodiversity; botany and vegetation ecology; phylogenetics; conservation; ethnobotany; plant genetic resources; crop wild relatives
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Africa’s major terrestrial and coastal ecosystems and vegetation comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and provides a wide range of ecosystem services. Nevertheless, many of these ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts from climate change and other anthropogenic and environmental problems, such as over-exploitation of natural resources, droughts and floods, changes in spatial distribution of species, and land degradation and use. Current land cover change is damaging biodiversity—namely, the conversion of forest and other natural areas, such as wetlands, for food production and urban development is happening at a fast rate following the rapid transformation of African societies. Such conversion leads to habitat and biodiversity loss, which affects livelihoods, water supply, and food security and reduces resilience to extreme events, particularly for people living in rural areas of the African continent.
Africa is extraordinarily rich in useful plants and local knowledge on its properties, which represents a strategic strength for sustainable development in the region. Moreover, the continent has an important genetic diversity that reflects its unique variety of plants and several important native crop species, which are adapted to an ever-changing environment.
Knowledge of the huge African plant diversity, as well as the structure, composition, and processes involved in vegetation changes, are crucial to promote their sustainable use and to conserve one of the most understudied regions in the world.
This Special Issue aims to gather contributions to deliver timely and emerging research on the main topic of biodiversity of vegetation and flora in Tropical Africa, and papers covering wide and multidisciplinary approaches (e.g., structure and composition of vegetation communities; biogeography; conservation; ecological modeling; genetic diversity; ethnobotany; agroforestry; climate changes and ecosystem service) are welcome.
Dr. Luís Catarino
Prof. Dr. Maria Romeiras
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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