Plant Biodiversity in Forests: Assessment, Monitoring and Conservation

Dear Colleagues,

Forests cover almost one-third of the biosphere and represent the most complex terrestrial ecosystems. Forest ecosystems are vital refugium for global terrestrial biodiversity and are able to support a variety of natural processes and the provision of forest ecosystem services. However, in recent decades, climate changes and many natural and anthropogenic disturbances have caused significant alterations in forest ecosystems worldwide and have affected biodiversity, leading to its decline at various levels. These dynamic changes require additional multifaceted approaches (e.g., taxonomy, functional traits, phylogeny) to studying and monitoring the basic ecological mechanisms supporting forest plant biodiversity, its importance, and its functions in forest ecosystems. Particular attention should be paid to the understory forest vegetation, where most of the plant biodiversity is present. Moreover, it has been shown that this stratum contributes to the maintenance of the structure and functions of forests. The results of the assessment and monitoring of the status of plant biodiversity may provide us an essential basis for its conservation management with sustainable use and the maintenance of a favourable conservation status above the critical threshold. The conservation of plant diversity in forests can be achieved through its maintenance within protected forest areas or through sustainable and close-to-nature forest management.

In this Special Issue, we particularly encourage authors to use the outcomes of ongoing studies to contribute to the assessment, monitoring, and conservation of forest plant diversity. Contributions of forest vegetation and plant studies on different spatial (from local to regional and global) and temporal (from short- to long-term) scales are welcome.

Dr. Lado Kutnar
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-anonymized 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.