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Forests
Special Issues
Forest Restoration for Resilient Landscapes and Enhanced Ecosystem Services
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Forest Restoration for Resilient Landscapes and Enhanced Ecosystem Services

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2026) | Viewed by 2550

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Cong Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: ecohydrological processes; ecosystem management; hydrological modelling; ecosystem service; restoration ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are indispensable to planetary health, underpinning biodiversity, climate stability, and human well-being through their multifunctional roles. Yet, deforestation, degradation, and climate disruptions threaten these ecosystems and the services they provide. This Special Issue, “Forest Restoration for Resilient Landscapes and Enhanced Ecosystem Services”, calls for cutting-edge research and actionable insights to restore degraded forests and amplify their resilience and service delivery in a rapidly changing world.

We seek contributions that bridge ecological science, socioeconomic dynamics, and policy innovation. Submissions may explore diverse restoration strategies—from natural and assisted regeneration to afforestation—while integrating traditional ecological knowledge with emerging technologies. A core focus lies in understanding how restoration bolsters landscape resilience to climate extremes, disturbances, and anthropogenic pressures, thereby safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

Critical to this discourse is the quantification of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, water security, soil health, and cultural heritage, alongside analyses of trade-offs and synergies between these services. We emphasize socio-ecological linkages, including community-driven restoration models, governance frameworks, and the economic/cultural co-benefits of revitalized forests. Additionally, advancements in monitoring tools (e.g., remote sensing, AI-driven models) and evaluation metrics are vital to assess restoration success and inform adaptive management.

By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, this issue aims to catalyze scalable, equitable solutions that align forest restoration with global sustainability agendas. We welcome empirical studies, global case comparisons, methodological innovations, and critical reviews to advance science, policy, and on-ground practice.

Dr. Cong Wang
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. 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

  • forest restoration strategies
  • landscape resilience
  • ecosystem service trade-offs
  • climate adaptation
  • biodiversity recovery
  • socio-ecological governance
  • traditional ecological knowledge
  • restoration monitoring frameworks
  • nature-based solutions (NbSs)
  • sustainable land management

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3907 KB  
Article
Climate Change and Ecological Restoration Synergies Shape Ecosystem Services on the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau
by Xiaofeng Chen, Qian Hong, Dongyan Pang, Qinying Zou, Yanbing Wang, Chao Liu, Xiaohu Sun, Shu Zhu, Yixuan Zong, Xiao Zhang and Jianjun Zhang
Forests 2026, 17(1), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17010102 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 451
Abstract
Global environmental changes significantly alter ecosystem services (ESs), particularly in fragile regions like the Tibetan Plateau. While methodological advances have improved spatial assessment capabilities, understanding of how multiple drivers interact to shape ecosystem service heterogeneity remains limited to regional scales, especially across complex [...] Read more.
Global environmental changes significantly alter ecosystem services (ESs), particularly in fragile regions like the Tibetan Plateau. While methodological advances have improved spatial assessment capabilities, understanding of how multiple drivers interact to shape ecosystem service heterogeneity remains limited to regional scales, especially across complex alpine landscapes. This study aims to clarify whether multi-factor interactions produce nonlinear enhancements in ES explanatory power and how these driver–response relationships vary across heterogeneous terrains. We quantified spatiotemporal patterns of four key ecosystem services—water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), carbon sequestration (CS), and habitat quality (HQ)—across the southeastern Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2020 using multi-source remote sensing data and spatial econometric modeling. Our analysis reveals that SC increased by 0.43 t·hm−2·yr−1, CS rose by 1.67 g·m−2·yr−1, and HQ improved by 0.09 over this period, while WY decreased by 3.70 mm·yr−1. ES variations are predominantly shaped by potent synergies, where interactive explanatory power consistently surpasses individual drivers. Hydrothermal coupling (precipitation ∩ potential evapotranspiration) reached 0.52 for WY and SC, while climate–vegetation synergy (precipitation ∩ normalized difference vegetation index) achieved 0.76 for CS. Such climate–restoration synergies now fundamentally shape the region’s ESs. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) further revealed distinct spatial dependencies, with southeastern regions experiencing strong negative effects of land use type and elevation on WY, while northwestern areas showed a positive elevation associated with WY but negative effects on SC and HQ. These findings highlight the critical importance of accounting for spatial non-stationarity in driver–ecosystem service relationships when designing conservation strategies for vulnerable alpine ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Restoration for Resilient Landscapes and Enhanced Ecosystem Services)
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21 pages, 6621 KB  
Article
Ecological Restoration Reshapes Ecosystem Service Interactions: A 30-Year Study from China’s Southern Red-Soil Critical Zone
by Gaigai Zhang, Lijun Yang, Jianjun Zhang, Chongjun Tang, Yuanyuan Li and Cong Wang
Forests 2025, 16(8), 1263; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16081263 - 2 Aug 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1567
Abstract
Situated in the southern hilly-mountain belt of China’s “Three Zones and Four Belts Strategy”, Gannan region is a critical ecological shelter belt for the Ganjiang River. Decades of intensive mineral extraction and irrational agricultural development have rendered it into an ecologically fragile area. [...] Read more.
Situated in the southern hilly-mountain belt of China’s “Three Zones and Four Belts Strategy”, Gannan region is a critical ecological shelter belt for the Ganjiang River. Decades of intensive mineral extraction and irrational agricultural development have rendered it into an ecologically fragile area. Consequently, multiple restoration initiatives have been implemented in the region over recent decades. However, it remains unclear how relationships among ecosystem services have evolved under these interventions and how future ecosystem management should be optimized based on these changes. Thus, in this study, we simulated and assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of five key ESs in Gannan region from 1990 to 2020. Through integrated correlation, clustering, and redundancy analyses, we quantified ES interactions, tracked the evolution of ecosystem service bundles (ESBs), and identified their socio-ecological drivers. Despite a 31% decline in water yield, ecological restoration initiatives drove substantial improvements in key regulating services: carbon storage increased by 6.9 × 1012 gC while soil conservation rose by 4.8 × 108 t. Concurrently, regional habitat quality surged by 45% in mean scores, and food production increased by 2.1 × 105 t. Critically, synergistic relationships between habitat quality, soil retention, and carbon storage were progressively strengthened, whereas trade-offs between food production and habitat quality intensified. Further analysis revealed that four distinct ESBs—the Agricultural Production Bundle (APB), Urban Development Bundle (UDB), Eco-Agriculture Transition Bundle (ETB), and Ecological Protection Bundle (EPB)—were shaped by slope, forest cover ratio, population density, and GDP. Notably, 38% of the ETB transformed into the EPB, with frequent spatial interactions observed between the APB and UDB. These findings underscore that future ecological restoration and conservation efforts should implement coordinated, multi-service management mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Restoration for Resilient Landscapes and Enhanced Ecosystem Services)
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