Management and Restoration of Post-disturbance Forests

Dear Colleagues,

Anthropogenic and natural disturbances shape forest systems by affecting their composition, structure, and functional processes. Natural disturbances may be abiotic (fires, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, avalanches, and landslides) or biotic (exotic species, insect, and pathogen outbreaks), and anthropogenic disturbances include deforestation, air pollution and land use change. Different types of disturbances and their different levels have varying impacts on forests. While small-scale disturbances may be important in promoting ecosystem dynamics, driving regeneration, and successional processes, the effects of high-intensity disturbances may lead to undesirable successional pathways. Growing evidence of the considerable changes in disturbance regimes, particularly increases in frequency, scale, and severity, requires forest managers to pay increasing attention to the resilience of the ecosystem to disturbances.

The scope of this Special Issue is the management and restoration of post-disturbance forests using eco-engineering and ground bioengineering techniques, both of which fall within the sciences of forest ecology, silviculture, forest management, and forest economics and policy. The main topics are flood and soil protection, postfire regeneration, re-forestation, slope protection from hazards such as erosion, landslides, avalanches, rock falls, etc., post-disturbance treatments, and ground bioengineering methods integrated with natural or man-made materials to obtain fast, effective, and economic methods for restoring forests and the natural environment.

Prof. Dr. Ioannis Spanos
Dr. Stefanos Tsiaras
Dr. Theano Samara
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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