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Climate-Functional EcoEngineering Design

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 February 2026 | Viewed by 72

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Future Ecosystems Lab, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Interests: biocomplexity; collective dynamics; ecology and evolution of biological and socio-technological systems; systemic risk analysis; decision science; complex networks; network science; information theory; stochastic processes; fractals; uncertainty; ecohydrology; hydrodynamics; sustainability; ecosystem health; ecodesign; ecosystem modeling; data science; biomimicry; bio-inspired design; macroecology; physiophysics; ecosystem pathology; forecasting; interdisciplinary applications of statistical physics; design by analogy; food systems; physio-linguistics; microbiome; epigenetics; environment; aquatic and marine ecosystems
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite research and application papers about the critical topic of "Climate-Functional EcoEngineering Design (CFD)", which is about the prediction and optimal design of ecosystems (natural and built environment in symbiosis) considering the explicit information of climate change and ecosystem services. This particularly targets ecosystems' basic functions and services, i.e., those anchored into the hydrological cycle, such as the stability of water flows, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. The current environmental development does not or poorly consider the ecohydrological dependencies of landscape change and natural resource use, thus causing potentially irreversible impacts like increasing water and species stress. This stress ultimately affects the climate in a feedback loop.

The issue stems from the need for consequential climate science (or climate engineering), where the effect of restored natural habitats and constructed environments is assessed and included in design strategies aiming for engineering positive bioclimatic feedback vs. measuring climate impacts only. These strategies should include the key ecohydrological determinants of ecosystem function, i.e., how natural and artificial habitat components are assembled and underpin optimal or stationary ecohydrological flows.

The Special Issue is looking for CFD-related papers considering: (i) climate-adaptive integrated Water–Biodiversity–Carbon approaches for a cohesive water neutrality policy leading to transboundary decision-making that addresses climate as a global common defining the fate of Earth; (ii) ecohydrological foundations of nature-based solutions, restoration, and infrastructure construction, such as species translocation, de novo terraformation, and sustainable complex materials, as needed opportunities to reverse the negative eco-climatic feedbacks we are experiencing; (iii) multitrophic sensing of biota and enhanced hydroclimatic sensing where the increasing eco-climatic novelty of ecosystems, including the bio-/techno-mass imbalance, determines stationarity and long-range predictability a chimera; (iv) the embedding of population heath trajectories as a critical element for evaluating climate-driven ecosystem improvement and transformation; and (v) the inclusion of eco-information as a critical decision and communication strategy for common resource use and development.

(1) Hydro-structural predictive models (analytical and computational with a preference toward pattern-oriented models, such as machine learning and related) for the design of ecosystem complexity (natural and built environment) targeting the explicit inclusion of climate change and ecosystem services. This subtopic includes predictive decision models that account for built infrastructure-nature interactions and multihabitat interaction models, including multifunctionality/services (such as hazard risk reduction, biodiversity, and carbon stock) as portfolio strategies;

(2) Eco-intelligence, as inference systems (models and technology) and systemic indicators in the short- and long-term, is grounded in the ecohydrological dynamics for predicting and designing the needed ecosystem functions and services. Eco-information such as novel land-cover/land-use, eco-health indicators setting baselines on minimum vital flows and bounding extremes, and eco-networks (species–habitat–climate teleconnections) are certainly considered as ‘’eco-intelligence’’ for enhancing ecosystem diagnosis and decision-making.

(3) Sensing ecohydrological anomalies, extremes, and critical shifts by looking into global climate and local anthropogenic pressure, with attention to pressing water-driven risks (e.g., floods, droughts, heat-/cold-waves). This subtopic looks into eco-environmental sensors operating at multiple scales (e.g., hydro-sensors, eDNA, acoustics, etc.) as well as socio-economic information of ecosystem shifts assessing causes and value-impacts that are possibly anchored into water as the foundational natural asset of all species and services.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Matteo Convertino
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. 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

  • ecological portfolio
  • ecohydrological engineering
  • climate-functional design
  • terraformation
  • restoration
  • networks

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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