Flora and Vegetation in Urban Landscapes: Impacts, Adaptations and Global Patterns
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 154
Special Issue Editor
Interests: anthropogenic changes in flora and vegetation; urban flora; invasive plant biology: biology of endangered and vulnerable plants; distribution and ecology of field weeds; environmental impact assessment; phenology and aeropalynology of allergenic plants; digitization and biodiversity database
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urbanization is one of the most significant ecological transformations of the Anthropocene. By altering climate regimes, soil properties, disturbance dynamics, and species dispersal pathways, cities create novel environmental conditions that significantly impact the diversity of flora and vegetation. Urban ecosystems consequently provide unique opportunities to investigate mechanisms shaping biodiversity under rapid environmental change.
This Special Issue of Diversity aims to advance an integrated understanding of urban flora and vegetation as dynamic ecological systems. Urban plant communities are shaped by spontaneous colonization, land-use legacies, planning decisions, species introductions, and ongoing global change. The emergence of novel communities and habitats challenges traditional phytosociological frameworks and requires conceptual and methodological innovations.
We welcome original research articles and reviews addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Floristic inventories and vegetation classification in urban landscapes;
- Spatio-temporal changes in urban flora and vegetation;
- Functional traits and adaptive strategies of plants under urban stressors (e.g., heat, drought, pollution, soil sealing);
- Classification, syntaxonomy, and spatial mapping of urban vegetation;
- Urban habitat typology and novel ecosystems;
- Biodiversity patterns along urban–rural gradients;
- Biological invasions and range shifts in metropolitan contexts;
- Restoration and renaturalization of degraded urban sites;
- Methodological advances in urban flora and vegetation research (GIS, remote sensing, trait-based approaches, ecological indicators).
We particularly encourage submissions from diverse biogeographic regions, including areas where urban flora remains insufficiently documented. Expanding the global evidence base is essential for identifying both universal and region-specific trajectories of synanthropization and for strengthening comparative biodiversity research.
By bringing together empirical and conceptual contributions from across climatic zones and different stages of urban development, this Special Issue seeks to highlight the global relevance of urban plant diversity and to promote cities as key systems for advancing biodiversity science.
Prof. Dr. Bogdan Jackowiak
Guest Editor
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-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
- urban biodiversity
- urban habitats
- synanthropization
- biological invasions
- invasion plants
- plant extinction
- urban ecology
- urban ecosystems
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