Climate System Uncertainty and Biodiversity Conservation

Dear Colleagues,

Uncertainty characterizes the near- and long-term futures of the biosphere. At risk is biodiversity across all levels—that is, in the composition, structure, and function of species genetics and populations, through to communities, ecosystems, and landscapes. This uncertainty arises from (1) climatic uncertainty due to climate system complexity and unknown future human forcings, (2) uncertainty in biospheric responses to climate due to complexity in ecological interactions across temporal and spatial scales, and (3) synergisms with other stressors. This presents a challenge for understanding the effects of rapid climate change on biodiversity and incorporating this threat in conservation planning and natural resource management, whose goals are to maintain biodiversity and with it intact ecosystem services on which our society and economies depend.

This Special Issue aims to explore three aspects of this problem:

• Uncertainty that arises from Earth system dynamics—in particular, how these dynamics link to variability and change in continental and marine ecosystems.
• The nature of the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to climate disruption.
• Approaches for the conservation of biodiversity and management of natural resources in light of this vulnerability and climatic uncertainty.

We welcome papers on observational, experimental, or modeling studies and review papers that relate to these areas, including submissions on the following topics:

Climate Dynamics and the Biosphere –

• Multivariate and multi-temporal/spatial scale nature of regional climate change;
• Synoptic weather patterns and species biology;
• Ocean–atmosphere oscillations and ecosystems (marine or continental);
• Nonlinear dynamics (climatic, ecological)—e.g., regime shifts and tipping points;

Species Vulnerability –

• Species adaptive capacity;
• Microevolution;
• Demographic processes;
• Population viability;
• Trophic cascades;
• Food web disruption;
• Phenological asynchrony;
• Species range shifts;
• Habitat resilience;
• Barriers to dispersal;
• Threat synergisms;

Ecosystem and Landscape Vulnerability –

• Landscape processes;
• Disturbance regime changes;
• Biogeochemical cycle disruption;
• Ecosystem resilience;
• Ecological history;
• Ecosystem services – aquatic (marine or freshwater) and terrestrial;
• Mountain systems – e.g., linked and decoupled elevation-dependent responses;

Conservation Strategies –

• Conservation strategies in an uncertain future;
• Conservation planning incorporating climate change as a threat;
• Vital resources monitoring strategies;
• Adaptive management strategies;
• Conservation of the physical nature of landscapes (“Enduring landscapes”);
• Science communication – scientific uncertainty, policy-making, and adaptation

The Special Issue "Climate System Uncertainty and Biodiversity Conservation" is jointly organized between "Climate" and "Earth" journals. The Climate Special Issue can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/climate/special_issues/bio. You may choose to publish your papers in either journal's Special Issue. Earth offers discounts or waivers for papers based on peer-review results.

Dr. Timothy G.F. Kittel
Guest Editors

Prof. Terri Schulz
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Earth is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 1400 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.