The Importance of Lichen Diversity in Forests
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Biodiversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2025) | Viewed by 1779
Special Issue Editor
Interests: biodiversity; lichenized fungi; forest management; epiphytic lichens; succession
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Monitoring the species diversity of lichens in forest ecosystems around the world is essential as lichens serve as bioindicators of air quality, climate change and ecosystem health. As organisms sensitive to small-scale environmental changes, they are effective tools for assessing environmental stress. Lichens contribute to nutrient cycling, are important for invertebrate communities and play a key role in assessing the biological conservation of forests. Their occurrence provides evidence of habitat continuity, forest age and management practices, and they are therefore indispensable as indicators of different ecosystems. Understanding lichen diversity helps us to identify vulnerable ecosystems, monitor biodiversity degradation and better implement sustainable forest management. With increasing anthropogenic pressures, deforestation and climate change, maintaining lichen diversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem resilience and stability. The global monitoring of lichens helps to predict environmental change and improve conservation options for forest ecosystems.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Monitoring forest ecosystem health through lichen species;
- Lichens as indicators of old-growth forests and also as indicators of microhabitat stability;
- Microhabitat diversity enhancing lichen biodiversity;
- Lichens as habitat for invertebrates and microorganisms;
- Effects of logging, deforestation and reforestation on lichen communities;
- Strategies for conservation and habitat restoration;
- Climate change impacts: rising temperatures and shifts in species composition of lichen communities;
- Boreal, temperate and tropical forests: key differences in lichen species.
Dr. Josef P. Halda
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
- lichen diversity
- bioindicators
- forest ecosystems
- microhabitat stability
- biodiversity
- conservation
- habitat restoration
- climate change
- logging
- deforestation
- reforestation
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