Non-Native Species in Forest Ecosystems
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 17 July 2026 | Viewed by 1971
Special Issue Editors
Interests: plant ecology and conservation; fire ecology; plant invasions; vegetation dynamics; biodiversity; forest recovery; climate change; dendrochronology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant biodiversity; phytogeography; plant conservation; biodiversity monitoring and assessment; vegetation ecology; protected areas; alien plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: biological invasion; Mediterranean island biodiversity; plant distribution model; management of invasive alien plants; legislation on biological invasions; pest risk analysis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Forest invasive species are any species that are non-native to a particular forest ecosystem and whose introduction and dissemination causes, or is likely to cause, environmental, economic, and even health impacts (adapted from the FAO, 2015).
Forest invasive species occur in all major taxonomic groups, from micro-organisms to mammals.
Globally, many forest ecosystems are continuously subject to severe outbreaks of invasive species that can have serious environmental and other impacts. The threat of invasive species in forests is increasing with the growth of global trade and the movement of people and goods and can be magnified by climate change, land degradation, and forest fragmentation. Managing invasive species and their pathways, as well as preventing new introductions of species with known invasive potential, requires novel tools and coordinated efforts by many actors at national, regional, and global levels (the FAO and UNEP, 2020; IPBES 2023).
The current Special Issue focuses on the following topics:
- Research on invasive alien species in forest ecosystems.
- The management and control of invasive alien species in sustainable forestry.
- The sustainable use of non-native trees in forestry.
- The conservation of red-listed tree species.
- Early warning systems.
- Legislation and policy on pathways and vectors, transboundary movements.
- National inventories and checklists of alien species in forest ecosystems.
- Risk analysis and risk assessments in forest ecosystems.
- Non-native species distribution modeling in forest ecosystems.
- Global and regional databases.
- Awareness raising on forest invasive species.
Prof. Dr. Margarita Arianoutsou
Dr. Ioannis Bazos
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Brundu
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-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.
Keywords
- invasive alien species
- non-native trees
- forest ecosystems
- sustainable forestry
- risk assessment
- biodiversity conservation
- policy and legislation
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