Grassland Ecosystems in Changing Landscapes

Dear Colleagues,

Grassland biome cover approximately 40% of the terrestrial land and sustain the livelihoods of billions of people via provision of various goods and ecosystem services. Amongst others, grasslands serve as carbon sinks and climate mitigators through sequestration of approximately 20% of the global C. Furthermore, they provide forage for herbivores and serve as biodiversity hubs for terrestrial plants and animals. However, the global grasslands are subject to intense pressure and transformation, largely due to mismanagement and changes in land systems including expansion in agricultural land and urbanization. Based on future climate scenarios and global human modification indices, grasslands are projected to decline by nearly 36-50% due to agricultural expansion, urbanisation and climate change by 2100. Specifically, the disturbances such as overgrazing together with changes in land systems and climate drive decline in grassland productivity, and perpetuate soil erosion, plant invasion and encroachment, extinction of vital species, disruption of hydrological cycle and conversion of grasslands from C sinks to C sources. Hence, assessing the degree of how changes in land systems, climate and management regimes influence the grassland ecosystems and their services becomes a number 1 priority to achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land; such as restoration and protection of terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity). This can be achieved by investigating the current status quo and further model future changes in grasslands coverage and ecosystem services using future climate projections under various land systems to design evidence-based management and mitigation strategies. Thus, in this Special Issue, we consider the research articles (generated from field—based data, remote sensing, UAV and machine learning data), reviews (preferably meta-analytic and systematic synthesis that analyze and synthesize the existing data) and short communication papers.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect original research and review papers to give insights into how global grasslands and their ecosystem services are changing under changing land systems and management regimes and their potential management, governance and restoration interventions thereof.  

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that cover the following themes:

1. The study must assess the influence of land use or land system changes on grasslands ecosystem services, e.g., forage production, soil and biodiversity conservation, C sequestration and hydrology.
2. Map the extent of and further predict future changes in grasslands and or their ecosystem services using advanced technologies (i.e., remote sensing, cloud computing, UAV, etc.).
3. Investigate or model how grassland management including grazing and fire regimes influence grassland cover and other ecosystem services under varying land systems. These can be assessed in conjunction with climate factors, e.g., drought, warming, etc.
4. Investigate how the conservation and restoration efforts (including testing various techniques) improve the ecosystem services of grasslands.
5. Discuss governance/legislation, policies and financing of grassland ecosystems.
6. Provide insights into management framework for improvement of grassland ecosystem services.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Mthunzi Mndela
Prof. Dr. Leslie Brown
Dr. Clarice Princess Mudzengi
Dr. Humphrey Kgabo Thamaga
Dr. Eric Cofe Timpong‑Jones
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. Land 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.

• grassland biome
• ecosystem services
• land systems change
• climate change
• grassland management regimes
• degradation
• grassland conservation and restoration
• governance of grasslands
• remote sensing and cloud computing