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Biodiversity Hotspots in Forests: Conservation Strategies and Global Implications

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Forestry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 August 2026 | Viewed by 1874

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Silviculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Faculty of Geotechnical Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: silviculture; ecology of forest ecosystems; global warming and carbon sequestration in forests; reforestations; forest nurseries; plantation silviculture; nature conservation and management of protected areas; evaluation and conservation of biodiversity; landscape planning and ecological restoration; urban and peri-urban forestry and greening
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Guest Editor
Lab of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: seed science; seedling production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Hellenic Agricultural Organisation “DEMETER”, Athens, Greece
Interests: post-fire regeneration; ecophysiology of seed germination and seedling establishment; seed biology and technology of forest trees; restoration of degraded forest ecosystems; sustainable forest management; conservation of the native tree flora of Greece

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, offering habitats for a wide range of species, including plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms, and fostering complex interactions between them and the forest environment. Undoubtedly, the biodiversity of forests is being increasingly threatened by human impacts, such as deforestation, fragmentation, and degradation, while the climate change that has occurred over the last few decades has worsened forests’ conservation status. As forest ecosystems support over 80% of terrestrial biodiversity, their conservation is crucial for maintaining ecological balance and providing ecosystem services at local and global scales. However, special emphasis should be placed on the conservation of biodiversity hotspots in forests, which are areas that have maintained high biodiversity.

This Special Issue on the conservation of biodiversity hotspots in forests aims to promote and integrate scientific efforts from across the globe, focusing on emerging issues, understanding management needs, and designing appropriate conservation strategies at local and global scales. It welcomes studies on the ecological processes occurring in biodiversity hotspots; disturbances, climate change, and the resilience of forest ecosystems; structural complexity and ecosystem functions; and ecological theories and silvicultural practices, among others. This will contribute to our ultimate goals of developing upgraded conservation strategies, highlighting the implications of enhancing the stability of forest ecosystems, and conserving the biodiversity of all ecosystem compartments.

Dr. Petros Ganatsas
Dr. Marianthi Tsakaldimi
Dr. Evangelia N. Daskalakou
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

  • biodiversity hotspots
  • forest conservation
  • forest management
  • climate impacts
  • sustainable forestry

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3451 KB  
Article
Biodiversity Hotspots in Peri-Urban Areas: The Case of the Old-Growth Forest Kouri, Thessaloniki, Northern Greece
by Ganatsas Petros, Christidou Maria-Iiada, Tsakaldimi Marianthi and Oikonomakis Nikolaos
Sustainability 2026, 18(2), 749; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18020749 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 538
Abstract
In the context of the ongoing climate crisis, the health and sustainability of forest ecosystems in peri-urban areas play a crucial role in alleviating the adverse impacts of climate change on urban populations, particularly in cities with limited green spaces. This study explores [...] Read more.
In the context of the ongoing climate crisis, the health and sustainability of forest ecosystems in peri-urban areas play a crucial role in alleviating the adverse impacts of climate change on urban populations, particularly in cities with limited green spaces. This study explores the biodiversity and ecological values of an old-growth forest in the peri-urban area, Thessaloniki, northern Greece, the Kouri Forest. These types of forest ecosystems, except for their high ecological values, provide a lot of benefits to the city residents and the surrounding areas, and to achieve that they should have appropriate composition, structure and function to be able to provide high-level ecosystem services. The research was based on collecting analytical field data, including field sampling plots, and a series of tree cores for tree age determination and tree growth analysis. Data analysis demonstrates the unique characteristics of this forest, which was found to be an old-growth forest dominated by deciduous oak species, aged over 180 years. The high biodiversity of the forest and the rich composition and the multistorey stand structure, in combination with the long age of the trees, suggests that the forest is an old-growth (ancient) forest, and set the forest as an important biogenetic reserve, despite its small area, proximity to the city of Thessaloniki, and the pressures subjected. Accordingly, special management measures are suggested to aim at the sustainable use of peri-urban natural resources. Full article
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19 pages, 3014 KB  
Article
Integrating PolSAR and Optical Data for Forest Aboveground Biomass Estimation with an Interpretable Bayesian-Optimized XGBoost Model
by Xinshao Zhou, Zhiqiang Wang, Zhaosheng Wang, Yonghong Wang, Chaokui Li and Tian Huang
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9749; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219749 - 1 Nov 2025
Viewed by 834
Abstract
As a pivotal indicator in terrestrial ecosystems, forest aboveground biomass (AGB) reflects the capacity for carbon sequestration, the sustenance of biodiversity, and the provision of key ecosystem services. Precise quantification of AGB is therefore fundamental to evaluating forest quality and optimizing management strategies. [...] Read more.
As a pivotal indicator in terrestrial ecosystems, forest aboveground biomass (AGB) reflects the capacity for carbon sequestration, the sustenance of biodiversity, and the provision of key ecosystem services. Precise quantification of AGB is therefore fundamental to evaluating forest quality and optimizing management strategies. However, there are bottlenecks in estimating forest AGB from a single data source, and traditional parameter optimization methods are not competent in complex environmental areas. This study proposes an interpretable Bayesian-optimized XGBoost model to improve forest AGB estimation, integrating polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) and optical remote-sensing data for forest AGB mapping in Quanzhou County, southern China. The results demonstrate that the proposed Bayesian-optimized XGBoost (BO-XGBoost) significantly outperforms traditional non-parametric models, achieving a final R2 of 0.75 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 9.82 Mg/ha. The integration of PolSAR and optical data improved forest AGB estimation accuracy compared with using single data sources alone, reducing the RMSEs by 36.2% and 20.9%, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed method enhances the interpretability of the contributions made by remote-sensing features to forest AGB modeling, offering a new reference for future forest surveys and resource monitoring, which is particularly valuable for sustainable forestry development. Full article
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