Improvement of Forest Ecosystem Functions in Karst Desertification Control

Dear Colleagues,

In the past 20 years, karst desertification control has achieved remarkable results, and South China Karst has been a global hotspot of greening. These improvements are closely related to large-scale afforestation and protection projects (the Grain for Green Project, Shelterbelt Development Project, Soil and Water Conservation Project, Natural Forest Conservation Project, Karst Desertification Treatment Project, etc.). On the one hand, ecological forests and agroforestry have been developed on a large scale in karst desertification control, which has improved the ecosystem’s function and the supply capacity of ecosystem services. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the vulnerability and resilience, structure and stability, ecological asset and service, carrying capacity and ecological security, and service tradeoff/synergy and optimization in the controlled ecosystem. On the other hand, there is a lack of research on the ecological processes of newly established forests in improving ecosystem functions and services, for example, how the functional traits (morphology and physiology) of newly established forests contribute to the maintenance of ecosystem functions and services compared with primary forests. Therefore, this Special Issue will publish articles that provide new perspectives and discoveries on the above issues.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Improvement mechanism of ecosystem structure, function, and service.
• The mechanism of ecosystem service tradeoff/synergy and function optimization.
• Optimization model of ecosystem function and improvement path of eco-product supply.
• The role of functional traits in the maintenance of ecological function and service.
• Social–ecological response for afforestation in the karst desertification control.

Prof. Dr. Kangning Xiong
Prof. Dr. Mingsheng Zhang
Prof. Dr. Junbing Pu
Guest Editors

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