Dear Colleagues,

Forests are home to the majority of the species on Earth and deliver key ecological services, such as producing timber and freshwater, storing carbon, and regulating the climate. To preserve these services, along with the biodiversity supported by the natural habitats provided, understanding the dynamics associated with the degradation and preservation of forests is of utmost importance.

Forest dynamics are driven by physical and biological forces and by anthropogenic pressures that conform and alter such ecosystems. Climate change, for instance, has an important effect on forest dynamics, as changes in temperature and precipitation levels can directly impact the success of vegetation and animal species.

Forest disturbances may change the composition and structure of the related ecological systems. They comprise natural disasters such as floods, landslides, wildfire, windthrow, and insect or fungus outbreaks, as well as anthropogenic activities such as logging, urbanization, or agriculture. Forest succession refers to the process of recovering from the effects of disturbances. The type of disturbance, the climate conditions, and the interactions among the local species affect the succession process.

In short, to understand the current and future role of forests on our planet, we need to be able to assess, monitor, and model the dynamics of changes in vegetated areas, considering both disturbance and degeneration, as well as succession and regeneration processes.

In this Special Issue, we invite the submission of papers that approach all aspects of forest dynamics assessed with remote sensing systems and respective processing techniques, including, but not limited to:

• Ecosystem and vegetation dynamics: disturbance and recovery, ecosystem fragmentation, forest degradation, regeneration, and changes in the composition of species and vulnerability;
• Biogeophysics changes: energy, biomass, carbon fluxes, and water resources;
• Anthropogenic pressures: deforestation, illegal logging and mining, agricultural and livestock farming, shifting cultivation, and urban sprawl.

Prof. Dr. Gilson Alexandre Ostwald Pedro da Costa
Prof. Dr. Raul Queiroz Feitosa
Prof. Dr. Veraldo Liesenberg
Dr. Claudio Almeida
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 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. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

• forest and savanna ecosystem dynamics
• land use dynamics
• climate change
• carbon stock
• biogeophysical cycles
• deforestation
• forest degradation
• forest regeneration
• flooding
• forest fire