Methodological Advances in Research on Sustainable Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid urbanization means more economic and social human activities are affecting natural ecosystems. It also means more natural land is being converted into urban land use; with consequential detrimental impacts on the processes and functions of ecosystems. In developing countries, economic growth is prioritized ahead of environmental conservation, but unprecedented urban growth has triggered drastic land use conversion, either replacing natural landscapes with semi-natural mixtures or complete urban development. Inevitably, areas converted into urban land use have altered the structure, pattern, and functionality of the ecosystems. More research is needed on sustainable urban development; an approach that harmonizes the demand for urban encroachment with the preservation of delicate ecosystems.

This Special Issue plans to focus on “Methodological Advances in Research on Sustainable Ecosystems”. It is a topic with immense collaborative potential and interdisciplinary challenges for environmental scientists, ecologists, economists, and policy-makers. Building on a series of three successful annual conferences in the USA and China (http://www.jicredt.com/GSES2017/), this Special Issue will bring together leading scholars in related disciplines to share their research on the challenges and solutions of Methodological Advances in Sustainable Ecosystems Research. This Special Issue will be open to the submission of manuscripts from outside the conference as well, provided that they fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Submitted manuscripts will need to be full-length papers that have not been previously published in a substantially-similar format. In addition, all manuscripts will need to be reviewed through electronic Manuscript Tracking System and according to the same editorial guidelines as all other submitted manuscripts.

Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced geo-computational ecosystems modelling

• Creation of new visualization products that increase the understanding of large and diverse forms of ecosystems information

• Discovery of patterns in large volumes of ecosystems data through analytic techniques such as data mining and predictive analytics in applications

• Ecological, environmental and socioeconomic modeling and coupling

• LULC change

• Smart city and geo-design

• Technological advances in hardware, storage, data management, networking and computing models, such as visualization and cloud computing for ecosystems applications

Prof. Dr. Xinyue Ye
Prof. Dr. Yichun Xie
Prof. Dr. Victor Mesev
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.