Mammalian Ecosystem Engineers: Impacts on the Provision and Regulation of Ecosystem Services

Dear Colleagues,

Wild mammals are some of the most emblematic groups worldwide, but while their conservation state is well worth the attention, not much is known regarding potential impacts on ecosystem ecological processes across terrestrial compartments. From small mammals to top predators, these can provide key ecosystem services including pollination and seed dispersal but also control of invasive species.

Their impact on ecosystems is multifaceted and may include direct effects such as changing vegetation structure or indirect effects such as changes in community structure through modulation of trophic interactions cascading into ecosystem multifunctionality. Increasing rates of environmental changes due to rising temperatures and land-use conversion, it is key to describe and understand the role of mammalian communities as ecosystem engineers.

In this Special Issue, we are looking for manuscript contributions on direct and indirect effects of mammals across terrestrial compartments, addressing key processes within, but not limited to, impacting ecosystem services. From population dynamics to trophic interactions, we aim for a compilation of evidence on the impacts of mammal on the functioning of ecosystems.

The team at Diversity and the Guest Editors kindly invite you to submit works focused on any aspects of the impact of mammal diversity and ecology to ecological processes, from articles to reviews. If you think your work fits well within this scope, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Jorge Filipe Pereira Henriques
Prof. Dr. Vicente Urios
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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.