Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions in Forests—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

This is the second edition of the Special Issue on “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions in Forests”.

Biodiversity is a fundamental attribute of forest ecosystems, underpinning their resilience, productivity, and ability to provide vital ecosystem services. Forest biodiversity influences nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, soil stability, and hydrological balance—functions that are essential for the health of our planet. While tropical forests are well known for their extraordinary diversity, temperate rainforests and boreal forests also harbor unique and functionally important assemblages of species; these high-latitude systems are particularly significant for global carbon storage and climate regulation.

This Special Issue aims to gather a comprehensive and biogeographically diverse collection of studies exploring how biodiversity shapes and sustains forest ecosystem functions across tropical, temperate, and boreal regions. We welcome research that integrates ecological theory, empirical studies, and management applications to enhance our understanding of the biodiversity–function relationship under changing environmental and socio-economic conditions.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Patterns and drivers of plant and animal biodiversity in tropical, temperate, and boreal forests;
• Functional diversity and its role in carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling;
• Species interactions and environmental gradients (climate, soils, hydrology, pollution, etc.);
• Effects of climate change on biodiversity–function relationships in different biomes;
• Restoration, conservation, and management strategies for enhancing ecosystem resilience;
• Genetic diversity and its role in maintaining adaptive potential in forest ecosystems;
• Policy, science, and practice linking biodiversity conservation with sustainable forest management.

Dr. Gabriel Murariu
Prof. Dr. Lucian Dinca
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 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.