Effects of Fires on Forest Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

The growing risk of megafires and the loss of diversity and soil degradation, especially in areas with a Mediterranean climate, could be monitored and impacts limited through the application of different forest management strategies. Fire and fire ecology are among the best-studied topics in contemporary ecosystem ecology. Understanding fire effects and underlying principles is critical to reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfires and for the proper use of fire as an effective management tool toward management goals. In this context, a Special Issue is suggested which will consider the assessment of post-fire natural regeneration and fire effects, the short/medium-term monitoring of natural regeneration and soil and vegetation treatment techniques, the reproductive capacity of natural regeneration post-fire regeneration in resilient species and the role of forests as a key part of the carbon cycle. This includes different post-fire responses to fires with different degrees of severity, the theoretical and practical concept of forest vulnerability to fire and the consideration of post-fire forest management as a useful tool for the modification of stand structure as well as the optimization of economic return, biodiversity, recreational value and the microenvironment. Clearly, fire can shape ecosystem composition, structure and functions by selecting fire-adapted species and removing other susceptible species, releasing nutrients from the biomass and improving nutrient cycling, affecting soil properties through changing soil microbial activities and water relations, and creating heterogeneous mosaics, which in turn, can further influence fire behavior and ecological processes. Fire as a destructive force can rapidly consume a large amount of biomass and cause negative impacts such as post-fire soil erosion and water runoff, and air pollution; however, as a constructive force, fire is also responsible for maintaining the health and perpetuity of certain fire-dependent ecosystems. The effects of fire on an ecosystem depend on the fire regime, vegetation type, climate, physical environments and the scale of time and space of assessment. More ecosystem-specific studies are needed in the future, especially those focusing on temporal and spatial variations of fire effects through long-term experimental monitoring and modeling.

This Special Issue aims to collect the most interesting scientific contributions in the context of a broad and fundamental research topic to apply post-fire restoration and recovery techniques in areas heavily damaged by fire.  Original research articles and reviews are welcome in this Special Issue. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Ecology;
• Fire ecology;
• Forestry, Hydraulic forestry management;
• Restoration and recovery of the post-fire vegetation-soil system.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Raffaella Lovreglio
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.