Wildfire Disturbance and Post-Fire Landscape Recovery

Dear Colleagues,

Wildfires are a recurrent disturbance in many ecosystems and play a key role in shaping landscape structure and ecological processes, particularly in fire-prone regions, such as Mediterranean environments. In recent decades, however, changes in climate patterns, land-use dynamics, and fuel accumulation have contributed to an increase in wildfire frequency, extent, and severity. These changes have amplified the environmental impacts of fire and raised concerns regarding ecosystem resilience and landscape sustainability. Beyond the immediate removal of vegetation, wildfires can significantly alter soil properties, hydrological responses, and geomorphological processes, and promote long-term changes on vegetation composition. Post-fire landscapes often experience increased erosion, modified nutrient cycles, and shifts in vegetation composition and regeneration patterns. The trajectory and rate of post-fire recovery are highly variable and depend on a combination of climatic conditions, topography, soil characteristics, and vegetation traits. Understanding the drivers of post-fire landscape recovery is therefore essential for improving ecosystem management, supporting restoration efforts, and enhancing the resilience of fire-affected landscapes. Recent advances in remote sensing, field monitoring, and spatial analysis are providing new opportunities to investigate these processes across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

This Special Issue aims to bring together recent research addressing wildfire disturbance and post-fire landscape recovery across different spatial and temporal scales. Particular attention is given to the processes controlling ecosystem response after fire, including vegetation regeneration, soil and hydrological changes, and landscape dynamics in fire-affected environments.

The Special Issue seeks to promote interdisciplinary contributions that improve the understanding of post-fire processes and their implications for landscape management and ecosystem resilience. Studies combining field observations, remote sensing, spatial analysis, and modelling approaches are particularly encouraged, as they provide valuable insights into the drivers and variability of post-fire recovery.

This topic aligns with the journal’s scope by addressing key interactions between disturbance processes, landscape evolution, and environmental change. By focusing on wildfire impacts and recovery dynamics, the Special Issue aims to contribute to the broader discussion on sustainable land management and the resilience of ecosystems in fire-prone regions.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions that explore wildfire disturbance patterns and post-fire landscape recovery from ecological, geomorphological, and environmental perspectives. Submissions may address processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales and should contribute to improving the understanding of how landscapes respond to and recover from fire.

Suggested themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Post-fire vegetation recovery and ecological succession;
• Soil degradation, erosion, and sediment dynamics following wildfire;
• Hydrological responses and changes in runoff and infiltration after fire;
• Drivers and spatial variability of post-fire landscape recovery;
• The role of topography, soil properties, and vegetation traits in post-fire dynamics;
• Remote sensing and GIS applications for wildfire assessment and monitoring;
• Modelling approaches to wildfire impacts and recovery processes;
• Climate change influences on wildfire regimes and ecosystem resilience;
• Post-fire management and restoration strategies.

This Special Issue welcomes different types of contributions, including original research articles, review papers, methodological studies, and case studies from diverse ecosystems and geographical regions. Submissions that integrate field-based observations with spatial or modelling approaches are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Bruno Martins
Dr. Albano Figueiredo
Prof. Dr. Catarina De Almeida Pinheiro
Dr. Adélia de Jesus Nobre Nunes
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. Fire 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 2400 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.

• wildfire disturbance
• post-fire recovery
• landscape dynamics
• vegetation regrowth
• soil erosion and hydrological processes
• remote sensing and spatial analysis