Fire-Adapted Plant Species

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue brings together cutting-edge research on plant species that persist, recover, and diversify in fire-prone ecosystems around the globe. Fire is a dominant ecological force shaping vegetation structure, species composition, and evolutionary trajectories, yet rapid changes in fire regimes driven by climate change and land-use intensification are challenging long-standing adaptive strategies. We invite contributions that advance mechanistic, empirical, and theoretical understandings of fire-adapted plant species across scales, from genes and traits to populations, communities, and landscapes.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, physiological and morphological fire adaptations, evolutionary pathways and phylogenetic patterns of fire adaptation, demographic responses to altered fire frequency and in-tensity, and interactions between fire, climate, and biotic factors. We also welcome studies integrating paleoecol-ogy, functional traits, remote sensing, modeling, and Indigenous or long-term ecological knowledge to contextu-alize contemporary fire–plant dynamics.

By synthesizing diverse perspectives and ecosystems—from savannas and Mediterranean systems to boreal and shrubland biomes—this collection aims to identify general principles and emerging vulnerabilities in fire-adapted flora. The Special Issue will serve as a timely platform for researchers seeking to inform ecological theory, conservation strategies, and fire management in an area of accelerating global change. 

Dr. Nicole E. Olson
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. 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.

• fire-adapted plant species
• fire-prone ecosystems
• plant functional traits
• evolutionary adaptation to fire
• fire regimes including climate-altered fire regimes
• post-fire regeneration
• plant population and community dynamics
• conservation
• fire management
• global change ecology