Plant Communities and Habitat Types in the Protected Areas of Europe
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 783
Special Issue Editor
2. Biodiversity Conservation Lab, Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, Greece
Interests: dendrochronology; dendroarchaeology; forest ecology; plant ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
There are several definitions of habitat types. According to the Habitats Directive (HD, Council Directive 92/43/EEC), 230 different habitat types are listed in Annex I of the HD and should be monitored every six years to maintain or restore their favorable conservation status within the EU. Although most habitat types are phytosociology-based, each habitat type can be assigned to several alliances. Knowing the different plant communities that can be hidden behind the same habitat type is important in terms of biodiversity conservation, especially given the fact that under ongoing climatic and land use changes, some subtypes grouped under the same habitat type may soon be reduced or even lost. Despite being the most important network of protected areas ranging across Europe, the Natura 2000 network does not necessarily cover all the variations of given habitat types. The need to protect important habitat types or subtypes even outside the protected areas should be further explored. The current Special Issue aims to host research articles and reviews regarding the current status and the future prospects of the plant communities and the habitat types both within and outside the protected areas of Europe.
Dr. Anastasia N. Christopoulou
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 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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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
- habitat assessment
- restoration and management
- global changes
- protected areas
- Natura 2000
- plant communities
- conservation of habitat types
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
