Insights of Dendrochronology Based on Forest Dynamics, Fire History, and Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

Dendrochronology is a subdiscipline of ecology that utilizes the annual tree-ring growth to reconstruct historical climate patterns, forest dynamics, and fire history. Over the years, dendrochronology has evolved into a powerful tool for understanding various ecological, climatic, and geological processes.

This Special Issue aims to provide insights into the past and present interactions between forests, natural disturbances (such as fires), and climatic factors, including:

1. Reconstruct Historical Forest Dynamics: Understand how forests have changed over time in response to natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
2. Analyze Fire History: Use tree rings to date and analyze past fire events, including their frequency, intensity, spatial patterns, and changes over time.
3. Investigate Climate Change Impacts: Reconstruct climate series to analyze extreme events over time and explore how climate change has influenced forest growth, fire behavior, and species distribution.

The scope of this research covers diverse topics, such as the historical range of variability (HRV) in forest ecosystems, the role of natural disturbances in shaping forest landscapes, and the implications of climate change for forest health and resilience.

Currently, related research is focused on several key areas:

1. Multiscale Analysis: Researchers are moving beyond single-scale studies to explore forest dynamics, fire history, and climate change at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the complex interactions between these factors.
2. Integration of Multiple Data Sources: Dendrochronologists are integrating data from various sources, including tree rings, fire scars, satellite imagery, and climate records, to improve the accuracy and resolution of their reconstructions.
3. Climate Change Impacts: There is a growing emphasis on understanding how climate change alters forest growth patterns, fire regimes, and species distributions. Researchers are exploring the potential consequences of these changes for forest health and resilience.
4. Modeling and Simulation: Advances in modeling techniques enable dendrochronologists to simulate past and future forest dynamics, fire behavior, and climate change scenarios. These simulations can inform forest management strategies and conservation efforts.

Research on dendrochronology based on forest dynamics, fire history, and climate change typically encompasses a wide range of paper types, including:

1. Review Articles: Comprehensive reviews of the current state of knowledge in specific subfields, such as the historical range of variability in forest ecosystems or the role of fire in shaping forest landscapes.
2. Original Research Articles: Reports of new findings and methods in dendrochronology, including studies on the impacts of climate change on forest growth, fire behavior, and species distributions.
3. Case Studies: Detailed investigations of specific forest ecosystems or fire events using dendrochronological techniques to reconstruct historical patterns and identify potential drivers.
4. Methodological Papers: Descriptions of new sampling, analysis, and modeling methods in dendrochronology, as well as evaluations of the accuracy and limitations of existing techniques.
5. Policy and Management Implications: Discussions of the implications of dendrochronological research for forest management, conservation, and policy-making, including recommendations for adapting to climate change and mitigating the impacts of natural disturbances.

In summary, dendrochronology-based research on forest dynamics, fire history, and climate change is a rapidly evolving field that offers valuable insights into the past and present interactions between forests, natural disturbances, and climatic factors. This research has important implications for forest management, conservation, and policy-making and continues to attract the attention of scholars and practitioners worldwide.

Dr. Julián Cerano-Paredes
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Forests 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 2600 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.

• dendrochronology
• tree-rings
• forest dynamics
• fire history
• climate change
• disturbance ecology
• species succession
• ecological adaptation