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Land
Special Issues
Land Use, Heritage and Ecosystem Services
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Land Use, Heritage and Ecosystem Services

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Landscape Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1199

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gustavo Ballesteros-Pelegrín

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: planning; management; conservation of natural areas and wildlife
Dr. Carlos Sánchez-García

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: landscape evolution; floods; wetlands and river spaces
Prof. Dr. Marcos Francos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Historical and Geographical Sciences Department, University of Tarapacá, Arica, Chile 2. Geography Department, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Interests: soil; wildfire; prescribed fire; forest management; land-use change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daniel Ibarra Marinas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Facultad de Ingenieria y Ciencia, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Ciudad Victoria, Mexico
Interests: coastal processes; beach erosion and climate change linked to sea level rise; GIS

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Land use changes, driven by human activities such as urbanization, intensive agriculture, and climate change, have deep implications for natural and cultural heritage, as well as for ecosystem services that underpin human well-being. Preserving cultural landscapes, conserving natural areas, and ensuring the provision of services like water regulation, soil fertility, and biodiversity are critical challenges in a rapidly changing world. This research area is essential for developing territorial management strategies that balance economic development with environmental sustainability and heritage protection. Integrating geographic, ecological, and social approaches is key to addressing these issues, making this topic a priority for the scientific community and policymakers.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and reviews) that provide innovative insights into the interactions between land use, heritage, and ecosystem services. This topic aligns with Land’s focus on sustainable territorial management, promoting research that contributes to the conservation of natural and cultural resources amidst global challenges. We aim to advance interdisciplinary knowledge and propose practical solutions for territorial planning.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link to the following themes:

  • Planning and management strategies for conserving natural areas and cultural heritage.
  • Impacts of land use change on ecosystem services, such as soil quality, biodiversity, and water regulation.
  • Effects of climate change on coastal landscapes, wetlands, and valleys, as well as their relation to natural and cultural heritage.
  • Applications of geographic information systems (GISs) and territorial analysis for sustainable land management.
  • Interactions between forest fires, land use, and ecosystem services.
  • Coastal processes, beach erosion, and adaptation to climate-induced sea level increases, with an emphasis on coastal heritage conservation.

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

Dr. Gustavo Ballesteros-Pelegrín
Dr. Carlos Sánchez-García
Prof. Dr. Marcos Francos
Dr. Daniel Ibarra Marinas
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. 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.

Keywords

  • land use
  • ecosystem services
  • heritage conservation
  • climate change
  • coastal processes
  • territorial management
  • forest fires
  • biodiversity

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 6635 KB  
Article
Research on the Language System of Rural Cultural Landscapes in Jiufanggou, Dawu County, Based on the Concept of Isomorphism
by Rui Li, Yawei Zhang, Chenshuo Wang, Xuanxuan Xu and Wanshi Li
Land 2025, 14(9), 1895; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14091895 - 16 Sep 2025
Viewed by 312
Abstract
[Objective] Currently, there are limitations in the understanding of rural cultural landscape: they are often perceived as material spatial entities, with a lack of exploration of their intangible elements and neglect of the isomorphism between the material and intangible elements of cultural landscapes. [...] Read more.
[Objective] Currently, there are limitations in the understanding of rural cultural landscape: they are often perceived as material spatial entities, with a lack of exploration of their intangible elements and neglect of the isomorphism between the material and intangible elements of cultural landscapes. In the context of rural cultural revitalization, it is necessary to explore the regional protection elements of rural cultural landscapes from the perspective of isomorphism. [Methods/Process] This study employs relevant linguistic theories to extract and construct a framework for a language system with regional characteristics for rural cultural landscapes from an isomorphous perspective. By deconstructing the rural cultural landscape pattern of Jiufangou in Dawu County, it summarizes the relationships and isomorphous nature between the constituent elements of this language system. [Results/Conclusions] The study identifies eight core landscape terms. These lexical units form landscape sentences based on four typical scenarios. The study then analyzed the landscape grammatical structures of different scenarios from four dimensions and explored the deep semantic meanings and contextual rules of Jiufanggou Village’s cultural landscape. Finally, this study utilizes a schematic diagram of the “vocabulary–grammar–sentence” nested structure of the Jiufanggou cultural landscape to visually illustrate the interconnections and patterns of cultural landscape elements in Jiufanggou Village across different contexts. Building on this, the study explores the structural equivalence between the material and immaterial elements of rural cultural landscapes. Overall, the construction of a nested linguistic system for rural cultural landscapes is not only about analyzing spatial forms but more importantly about exploring the underlying logical order and traditional wisdom behind spatial creation, thereby achieving the goals of associative protection, the inheritance of diverse cultures, and the continuation of the vitality of rural cultural landscapes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use, Heritage and Ecosystem Services)
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24 pages, 1232 KB  
Article
Characterization and Valuation of the Ecosystem Services of the Coastal Cantabrian Holm Oak Forest in Spain: The Example of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve (Bizkaia, Basque Country)
by Cristina Díaz Sanz, Pedro José Lozano Valencia and Carlos Sánchez-García
Land 2025, 14(8), 1655; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081655 - 15 Aug 2025
Viewed by 632
Abstract
Holm oak groves of Quercus ilex subsp. ilex are one of the most characteristic environmental elements of the Cantabrian strip of the Iberian Peninsula. The Cantabrian holm oak forest does not have a clear origin. There is a possibility that it has a [...] Read more.
Holm oak groves of Quercus ilex subsp. ilex are one of the most characteristic environmental elements of the Cantabrian strip of the Iberian Peninsula. The Cantabrian holm oak forest does not have a clear origin. There is a possibility that it has a relict character, and it could also respond more to human activity over the last 10,000 years. Nowadays, it is a rare, scarce, and finicultural forest in this demarcation, but it provides many ecosystem services. To carry out a comparative analysis and assessment of its potential as Green Infrastructure and of its coastal facies (Urdaibai, Bizkaia), 10 random and stratified inventories were carried out. These plots were monitored regularly for more than 2 years and in seasonal visits to avoid phenological bias. The resulting synthetic syninventories were then assessed according to the LANBIOEVA (Landscape Biogeographical Evaluation) Methodology, which has been applied for more than 35 years in different ecosystems and landscapes at a global scale. Scores for various parameters related to ecosystem services are of high conservation interest, and the cultural services are medium to high. Concerning conservation priority, the low records of the three threat parameters result in mean values that are in the first quartile for this parameter, which attests to a good level of conservation. The conclusion is clear: the Biosphere Reserve status has had a positive influence on the proper management and conservation of the Cantabrian holm oak forest and its associated ecosystem services. However, certain threats that still weigh on this ecosystem need to be addressed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use, Heritage and Ecosystem Services)
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