Forest Resilience to Extreme Climatic Events
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 February 2026 | Viewed by 5
Special Issue Editors
Interests: dendroecology; wood isotopes; wood anatomy; forest dymanics; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: treeline ecotone; dendrochronology; wood anatomy; biodiversity & conservation; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Climatic anomalies—including intense droughts, heatwaves, cold spells, and frosts—disrupt woody plant physiological processes and compromise stand-scale productivity. When these disturbances exceed critical intensity or frequency thresholds, they may catalyze forest die-off and growth decline and alter structure, composition, and successional patterns. Understanding tree species’ adaptive mechanisms to such stressors is essential in terms of developing robust predictive models and targeted conservation strategies, particularly for peripheral populations at biogeographic distribution limits, such as xeric rear-edge stands, where climate-driven disturbances are projected to intensify.
While research on tree stress responses has expanded significantly in recent years, key knowledge gaps persist. This Special Issue aims to address these gaps by exploring the following topics of interest:
- Advanced metrics to quantify post-disturbance recovery dynamics;
- Abiotic and biotic drivers of individual tree stress tolerance;
- Management interventions to enhance ecosystem resilience;
- Species- and ecoregion-specific vulnerability under climatic extremes.
We welcome multidisciplinary contributions employing macro-scale approaches (e.g., satellite-based vegetation monitoring or tree-ring chronologies) to micro-scale techniques (e.g., cambial dynamics or photosynthetic performance assays). Controlled-environment studies (e.g., phytotron experiments or provenance trials) are equally encouraged. Studies quantifying ongoing decline and mortality processes associated with extreme climatic events are particularly valuable to contextualize the scale, recurrence, and ecological significance of these phenomena.
Dr. Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado
Dr. Jesús Julio Camarero
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 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.
Keywords
- resistance
- resilience
- tree decline
- tree growth
- radial growth
- forest dynamics
- drought
- heatwave
- spring frost
- late frost
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