Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction of Agroecosystem Dynamics for Sustainable Agriculture: Applications of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Geographic Information Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Contemporary agriculture is undergoing a paradigm shift toward sustainability, driven by the pressing need to address challenges to food security, environmental conservation, and economic sustainability. Given the complex and dynamic nature of agroecosystems, understanding and managing them necessitates advanced tools capable of monitoring, assessing, and predicting their dynamics accurately and efficiently. In this context, technologies such as photogrammetry, remote sensing, and geographic information systems (GISs) have emerged as indispensable tools in this realm. Unlike traditional methods, which often fall short of providing the scalability and efficiency required for effective management and decision-making, these advanced technologies can offer scalable, cost-efficient, and highly accurate tools for comprehensive agroecosystem analysis. Further research in this area is vital for developing sustainable agricultural practices and solutions that can ensure long-term food production, protect biodiversity, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

In this Special Issue, “Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction of Agroecosystem Dynamics for Sustainable Agriculture: Applications of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Geographic Information Systems”, we aim to foster the advancement of sustainable agriculture through technological innovation. We invite submissions of original research articles, comprehensive review papers, and insightful case studies that showcase applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, and GISs, as well as interdisciplinary approaches, in agricultural contexts.

Potential themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Precision agriculture and farm management: Innovative use of advanced methodologies for sustainable agricultural management, such as optimized nitrogen fertilization, efficient irrigation practices, and reduced tillage.
• Crop productivity: Analysis and enhancement strategies for crop monitoring under varying environmental conditions, including real-time growth tracking, yield prediction, and decision-making.
• Greenhouse gas emissions: Applications related to the measurement, reporting, and verification of emissions of three major greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O) and their mitigation in agriculture.
• Crop health and disease surveillance: Development and application of predictive models for the early detection and management of crop diseases and pests, leveraging GISs and remote sensing data.
• Impacts of multiple environmental changes on agroecosystem dynamics: Comprehensive analyses on how multiple environmental changes (e.g., climate change, agricultural management practices, land-use changes, and extreme climate events) affect agricultural systems.
• Agricultural adaptation: Analyses assessing the resilience and adaptability of agricultural systems to environmental and climatic changes.
• Agricultural water resource management: Advanced techniques for assessing, mapping, and optimizing water use in agriculture.
• Socio-economic impacts of agroecosystem dynamics: Exploring the socio-economic implications of changing agroecosystems, including impacts on livelihoods, food security, and rural development, using remote sensing and GIS analyses.

Dr. Yongfa You
Dr. Naiqing Pan
Dr. Dipankar Mandal
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. Remote Sensing 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.

• sustainable agriculture
• remote sensing
• photogrammetry
• GIS
• agroecosystem dynamics