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Urban Landscape Ecology and Sustainability—2nd Edition
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Urban Landscape Ecology and Sustainability—2nd Edition

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 1939

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alessandro Bellino

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Biology “Adolfo Zambelli”, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
Interests: ecology and evolution; landscape patterns and processes; sustainable ecosystem management; environmental monitoring and assessment; ecological modelling and data analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daniela Baldantoni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Biology “Adolfo Zambelli”, University of Salerno, Fisciano, SA, Italy
Interests: terrestrial and aquatic ecology; environmental monitoring; environmental remediation; complex interactions; evolution and systematics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ecological and socio-economic processes are intertwined in urban ecosystems, producing complex multi-scale spatial organizations that primarily determine ecosystem functioning and the interactions of the urban tissue with the surrounding environment. Spatially explicit approaches borrowing from landscape ecology principles, which have witnessed a surge in recent years, underpin current attempts at understanding, modeling and ensuring the sustainability of urban ecosystems. The latter is rapidly becoming the ultimate goal of the urban landscape ecology perspective upon recognizing the importance of building sustainable urban ecosystems in ensuring the global sustainable development of human society. In this context, urban landscape ecology provides a unique combination of shared concepts for ecologists, geographers, social scientists, planners and engineers and methodologies derived from various disciplines, fostering the efficient and transdisciplinary exploration of urban ecosystem challenges.

This Special Issue, “Urban Landscape Ecology and Sustainability—2nd Edition”, offers a platform for academics to share novel findings, ideas, opinions and critical revisions of consolidated concepts in the field of urban ecology, with a particular focus on approaches that consider the spatial patterns and scales of urban ecosystems and aim to evaluate or promote their sustainability. We welcome relevant articles, commentaries and reviews from all areas of urban ecology and related disciplines that address various types of human settlements, from rural centers to megacities all over the world.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Alessandro Bellino
Dr. Daniela Baldantoni
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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

  • ecology
  • urban ecosystem
  • landscape
  • ecosystem functioning
  • social–economic–ecological interactions
  • planning

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 3017 KB  
Article
Vegetation Management Changes Community Assembly Rules in Mediterranean Urban Ecosystems—A Mechanistic Case Study
by Vincenzo Baldi, Alessandro Bellino, Mattia Napoletano and Daniela Baldantoni
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9516; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219516 - 26 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Urban ecosystems are structurally and functionally distinct from their natural counterparts, with anthropogenic management potentially altering fundamental ecological processes such as seasonal community dynamics and impairing their sustainability. However, the mechanisms through which management filters plant diversity across seasons remain poorly understood. This [...] Read more.
Urban ecosystems are structurally and functionally distinct from their natural counterparts, with anthropogenic management potentially altering fundamental ecological processes such as seasonal community dynamics and impairing their sustainability. However, the mechanisms through which management filters plant diversity across seasons remain poorly understood. This study tested the hypothesis that management acts as an abiotic filter, dampening seasonal community variations and increasing biotic homogenization in urban green spaces. In this respect, through an intensive, multi-seasonal case study comparing two Mediterranean urban green spaces under contrasting management regimes, we analysed plant communities across 120 plots over four seasons. Results reveal a contingency cascade under management: while the species composition remains relatively stable (+26% variability, p < 0.001), the demographic success becomes more contingent (+41%, p < 0.001), and the ecological dominance becomes highly stochastic (+90%, p < 0.001). This hierarchy demonstrates that management primarily randomizes which species achieve dominance, in terms of biomass and cover, from a pool of disturbance-tolerant generalists. A 260% increase in alien and cosmopolitan species and persistent niche pre-emption dominance–diversity patterns also indicate biotic homogenization driven by management filters (mowing, trampling, irrigation, and fertilization) that favors species resistant to mechanical stresses and induces a breakdown of deterministic community assembly. These processes create spatially and temporally variable assemblages of functionally similar species, explaining both high structural variability and persistent functional redundancy. Conversely, seasonally structured, niche-based assemblies with clear dominance–diversity progressions are observed in the unmanaged area. Overall, findings demonstrate that an intensive management homogenizes urban plant communities by overriding natural seasonal filters and increasing stochasticity. The study provides a mechanistic basis for sustainable urban green space management, indicating that reduced intervention can help preserve the seasonal dynamics crucial for sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Landscape Ecology and Sustainability—2nd Edition)
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