GIS-Based Spatial Analysis for Ecological Monitoring and Sustainable Landscapes
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 70
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The accelerating degradation of ecosystems—ranging from post-mining brownfields to impaired watersheds and vulnerable heritage landscapes—poses significant challenges to achieving global sustainability goals. As human activities increasingly reshape natural landscapes, there is an urgent need for scientific tools that can capture spatial patterns, quantify ecological processes, and support informed decision-making for restoration and sustainable management.
Geographic Information Systems (GISs), integrated with remote sensing, spatial modeling, and big data analysis, have emerged as indispensable technologies for understanding and managing complex socio-ecological systems. They enable researchers and practitioners to map ecosystem services, analyze habitat connectivity, assess vulnerability and resilience, and design nature-based solutions at multiple scales—from local restoration sites to cross-regional sustainable development initiatives. The ability to link geospatial datasets with dynamic environmental, climatic, and socio-economic factors makes GISs a cornerstone for transparent, scalable, and adaptive ecosystem planning.
This Special Issue will focus on advancing the application of GIS-based spatial analysis in ecological monitoring and sustainable landscape planning. It seeks to showcase innovative research, methodological advances, and applied studies that leverage geospatial technologies to enhance ground deformation, ecological indices, and biodiversity, restore degraded land, strengthen ecological networks, and integrate human–nature interactions into long-term planning. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Ecological monitoring and spatial modeling;
- Biodiversity and habitat connectivity analysis;
- Remote sensing and big data for ecological monitoring;
- Ecological change and ground deformation;
- Remote sensing ecological index;
- Ecosystem vulnerability, resilience, and climate adaptation;
- Watershed and urban–peri-urban ecosystem restoration;
- Brownfield, mining, and degraded land rehabilitation;
- Cultural and natural heritage conservation using spatial tools;
- GIS-based decision support systems and sustainable planning.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Shangmin Zhao
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- GIS spatial analysis
- ground deformation
- ecological monitoring
- remote sensing
- brownfield remediation
- watershed rehabilitation
- nature-based solutions
- heritage conservation
- ecosystem services
- sustainable landscapes
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