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Forests
Special Issues
Features of Forest Stand Structure Under Changing Conditions
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Features of Forest Stand Structure Under Changing Conditions

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 August 2025) | Viewed by 664

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Monika Konatowska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Botany and Forest Habitats, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Wojska Polskiego 71f, 60-625 Poznań, Poland
Interests: forest habitats typology; plant communities; forest botany
Prof. Dr. Paweł Rutkowski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Botany and Forest Habitats, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Wojska Polskiego 71f, 60-625 Poznań, Poland
Interests: forestry; ecology; Natura 2000; forest type classification; biomass; spectral indices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few decades, rapid changes in the structure of forest stands have been observed worldwide. These changes have both anthropogenic and natural causes. They result from the natural dynamics of stands, climate change, changing social expectations, and changing methods of forest management. Growing social expectations towards forestry require understanding of the causes of these changes, their consequences, and then adapting activities to ensure a balance between the natural and economic functions of forests. These topics are addressed in this Special Issue on "Features of Forest Stand Structure Under Changing Conditions", in which we encourage contributors from around the world to share the results of their research on broadly understood changes occurring in the forest stand structure. Stand structure, including the spatial attributes of living and dead plants, can be very helpful in identifying the suitability of a forest for different values, such as habitats for different species, timber quality, recreation, risks of fires, and other disturbances. We therefore hope that our Special Issue will arouse wide interest among specialists from various areas of forestry.

Dr. Monika Konatowska
Prof. Dr. Paweł Rutkowski
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

  • changes in forest structure
  • anthropogenic changes
  • climate changes
  • social changes
  • forest management
  • forest disturbance

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 5327 KB  
Article
Long-Term Changes in the Structural and Functional Composition of Spruce Forests in the Center of the East European Plain
by Tatiana Chernenkova, Nadezhda Belyaeva, Alexander Maslov, Anastasia Titovets, Alexander Novikov, Ivan Kotlov, Maria Arkhipova and Mikhail Popchenko
Forests 2025, 16(10), 1526; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16101526 - 29 Sep 2025
Viewed by 359
Abstract
Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) is a primary forest-forming species in the European part of Russia, both in terms of its distribution and economic importance. A number of studies indicate that one of the reasons for the disturbance of spruce [...] Read more.
Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) is a primary forest-forming species in the European part of Russia, both in terms of its distribution and economic importance. A number of studies indicate that one of the reasons for the disturbance of spruce forests is linked to rising temperatures, particularly the detrimental effects of extreme droughts. The aim of our research is to identify changes in the structural and functional organization of mature spruce forests at the center of the East European Plain. The study was conducted in intact spruce forests using resurveyed vegetation relevés within the Smolensk–Moscow Upland, with relevés repeated after 40 years (in 1985 and 2025). Changes in structural and functional parameters of spruce communities were analyzed. The results showed that significant disturbances of the tree layer led to changes in the vegetation of subordinate layers, as well as the successional dynamics of spruce forests. It was found that following the collapse of old-growth spruce stands, two types of secondary succession developed: (1) with the renewal of spruce and (2) with active development of shrubs (hazel and rowan) and undergrowth of broadleaved species. It was also demonstrated that the typological diversity of the studied communities changed over 40 years not only due to the loss of the tree layer and the formation of new “non-forest” types but also because several mixed spruce-broadleaved communities transitioned into broadleaved ones, and pine–spruce communities of boreal origin shifted to nemoral types. An analysis of the complete species composition of spruce forests based on Ellenberg’s scales scoring revealed changes in habitat conditions over the 40-year period. A noticeable trend was an increase in the proportion of thermophilic and alkaliphilic species, indicating a shift toward a nemoral vegetation spectrum. It is expected that under the current forest management regime, the next 40 to 60 years will see a decline in the proportion of spruce within mixed stands, potentially culminating in the complete collapse of monospecific spruce forests in the center of the East European Plain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Features of Forest Stand Structure Under Changing Conditions)
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