Wildfire Behavior and the Effects of Climate Change in Forests
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Hazards and Risk Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2025 | Viewed by 537
Special Issue Editors
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, ADAI, Rua Luís Reis Santos, Pólo II, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: forest fires; fire safety; heat transfer; energy efficiency; renewable energies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: forest fires; merging fires; fire safety; fire technology; asset maintenance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Forest fires are one of the main disasters that devastate many countries every year, and the destruction caused by these phenomena generates impacts at several levels, whether social (by putting at risk the lives of the population) or economic (through the destruction of a wide range of infrastructure and essential goods or the environment). Climate change causes droughts and changes in fire regimes, increasing the frequency and magnitude of extreme forest fires. The impact of climate change on wildfire activity shows that fire severity and the area burned will increase dramatically in the near future, causing significant environmental, human, and economic losses if adaptation measures are not implemented. On the other hand, it is important to recognize the importance and necessity of fire in a healthy and balanced ecosystem. Since ancient times, fire has been a constant presence in forests and, when manifested in a balanced manner within the ecosystem, it acts as a catalyst for forest renewal, promoting the growth of species adapted to its presence and that depend on it for their proliferation mechanisms. Additionally, fire can be used as a management tool, within prescribed limits, for the proper management of fuel loads and the creation of safety zones, thereby mitigating the possibility of devastating extreme fires. However, the use of fire as a management tool is not without its challenges. Climate change and changes in land use, among other factors, have altered fire regimes, leading to more frequent and intense fires. Therefore, it is essential to integrate scientific research, traditional knowledge, and adaptive management strategies. In this Special Issue we welcome contributions in the areas of wildfire behavior and the effects of climate change on wildfires and forests, including fire spread modeling, threats posed by extreme wildfires, fire exposure and risk analysis, fuel management strategies, forest ecology, post-fire recovery, fire preparedness, emergency management, and new technologies applied to ecosystems and fires. We encourage studies from all fields, including experimental or numerical models, experimental or field studies, real case studies, decision-making rules, and software tools.
Dr. Gilberto Vaz
Dr. Jorge R.N. Raposo
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
- forest fires
- wildfire behavior
- climate change
- extreme wildfires
- wildfire modeling
- wildfire management
- forest management
- forest and fire technologies
- forest landscape and fire data
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