Species and Functional Diversity of Marine Plankton Communities Under Climate Change
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: marine plankton ecology; nitrogen fixation; oceanic dynamic processes; climate change
Interests: marine fish communities；marine plankton； remote sensing；global change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Marine plankton communities play a central role in regulating global biogeochemical cycles, sustaining marine food webs and driving ecosystem productivity. However, their species and functional diversity are increasingly threatened by climate change and intensifying human activities. In particular, large-scale climate variability, as well as shorter-term extreme events, can significantly reshape plankton community composition, alter trophic interactions and modify ecosystem functions. Moreover, anthropogenic pressures such as eutrophication, overfishing and pollution further exacerbate these impacts, creating complex and often synergistic stressors.
This Special Issue invites contributions that advance our understanding of how marine plankton communities respond to climate change and human disturbances across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We welcome studies integrating field observations, experiments, remote sensing and modeling, with a focus on both the diversity of species and functional traits. By synthesizing insights across disciplines, this collection aims to improve predictions of marine ecosystem resilience and inform conservation and management strategies in a rapidly changing ocean.
Dr. Jiaxing Liu
Dr. Jiajun Li
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. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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
- marine plankton
- climate variability
- extreme events
- human impacts
- biodiversity and ecosystem function
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