Special Issue "Plant Diversity Conservation and Rocky Habitats"

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 March 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ricardo Quinto-Canas
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
2. CCMAR – Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Interests: ecology; conservation biology; ecosystems services; sustainable planning; urban and rural landscape; urban green space; landscaping; green building
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Dr. Ana Cano Ortiz
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal and Plant Biology and Ecology, Section of Botany, University of Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n., 23071 Jaén, Spain
Interests: agroecosystem; bioindicators; edaphology; sustainable management; phytocenosis; plant community
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Dr. Carmelo M. Musarella
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of AGRARIA, “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy
Interests: flora; vegetation; habitats; biodiversity; conservation; alien species; ethnobotany; Solanaceae; Quercus; Allium
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biological diversity conservation requires the implementation of special policies to ensure ecological process baseline conditions, and this in turn requires the management and assessment of its effectiveness. Despite recent studies and action plans to improve plant diversity measurement, management of effectiveness is needed to protected ecosystems and restore or maintain habitats, particularly those areas of very high biodiversity value or potential significance. Within this, there should be a specific focus on plants that develop in special environments, usually adapted to harsh ecological conditions, such as rocky slopes or formations, high mountain summits, coastal cliffs, and deserts. Among the wide spectrum of sites with special abiotic strains, rocky habitats appear as evidence of extreme abiotic conditions. In these biotypes, which are often associated to crests, cliffs, lithosols, rocky soils or rock outcrops, the plant communities present a high diversity, with a large set of rare, endemic, endangered, and protected species. This Special Issue focuses on all aspects of plant diversity and conservation, and the communities and the ecosystems in wich they occur, including those characterized by special floristic patterns, to promote additional diversity knowledge in the conservation status of habitats and species, and to contribute to averting global biological diversity loss.

Dr. Ricardo Quinto-Canas
Dr. Ana Cano Ortiz
Dr. Carmelo M. Musarella
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 papers will be 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 1800 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

  • biological diversity
  • ecology
  • plant diversity management
  • nature conservation
  • threatened species
  • extreme abiotic conditions
  • rocky habitats
  • flora
  • vegetation
  • taxonomy
  • sintaxonomy
  • bioclimatology
  • biogeography

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Prunus lusitanica L.: An Endangered Plant Species Relict in the Central Region of Mainland Portugal
Diversity 2021, 13(8), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13080359 - 04 Aug 2021
Viewed by 345
Abstract
Prunus lusitanica L. is a paleotropical relic species with an Ibero-Maghrebian distribution, which is presently considered as an endangered species, recognized by the Natura 2000 Network (92/43/EEC) as a priority habitat for conservation in Europe. The mountains in the Portuguese mainland central region [...] Read more.
Prunus lusitanica L. is a paleotropical relic species with an Ibero-Maghrebian distribution, which is presently considered as an endangered species, recognized by the Natura 2000 Network (92/43/EEC) as a priority habitat for conservation in Europe. The mountains in the Portuguese mainland central region offer the best location for this species to occur. The main objective of this study is to measure the current conservation status of the communities of P. lusitanica, through the collection of field data, such as the number of existing individuals of each population and their location, which will then be comparatively analyzed based on the previous literature, published at least 15 years ago. Soil characterization analysis was carried out and the main threats to conservation were identified. As a result, a decline of approximately 40% was observed in the number of individuals and in the quality of their habitat. The main threats to their conservation were found to be the seasonal occurrence of rural fires and the expansion of invasive species, such as Acacia dealbata Link and Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle. Finally, we present the main management methodologies that should be considered for the valorization of this important vegetational relic in the central region of mainland Portugal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Diversity Conservation and Rocky Habitats)
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