Modern climate change, as evidenced by rising surface air temperatures and changing precipitation patterns, is a major environmental, economic, social and humanitarian challenge. Changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, melting of glaciers and permafrost, increased aridification of continental areas, changes in the productivity of plant communities and reduction in biodiversity, changes in the hydrological regime of rivers, increased soil erosion, global sea level rise, etc. are among the most serious consequences of modern climate change, which can lead to disturbances in the structure of plant communities and increase their vulnerability, reduction in ecosystem services, reduction in the quality of human life, and economic damage. The most dramatic changes are observed in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Addressing modern climate challenges requires an integrated approach that includes an aggregated study of ecosystem functioning, assessment of their vulnerability, analysis of the dynamics of natural ecosystems in past epochs, evaluation of their response to changing environmental conditions, and prediction of future climate and plant community dynamics. Such studies require an integrated methodology that includes modern in-situ observational methods, paleogeographic and paleoecological studies, remote sensing technologies, global, regional and local scale mathematical models based on physics-mathematics and artificial intelligence approaches.
The main objective of the special issue is to summarize the modern knowledge of natural ecosystem-climate interaction in the past, present and future with respect to the territory of Northern Eurasia, as well as to propose the ways and technologies for adaptation and mitigation of natural ecosystems to climate change.
The Special Issue invites contributions that present the results of original research that not only describe climate variability and change in the high and mid-latitudes, but also provide in-depth analyses of the mechanisms and consequences of climate impacts on the environment. Studies that assess the long-term dynamics, current trends, and possible pathways of terrestrial ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere in the context of climate change, and that develop effective mechanisms for adapting land-use systems to new climatic conditions are strongly encouraged.
Key research topics:
1) Retrospective analysis of long- and short-term ecosystem dynamics driven by global climate change.
2) Response of terrestrial ecosystems to modern climate variability.
3) Assessment of ecosystem vulnerability and resilience.
4) Adaptation and mitigation of the impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems.
Key words:
Terrestrial ecosystems, climate change, ecosystem dynamics, sustainable development, geographic forecasting, biodiversity loss, land degradation, water resources, permafrost thawing.
Guest editors:
- Prof. Alexander V. Olchev, Department of Meteorology and Climatology, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia.
- Prof. Elena Yu. Novenko, Department of Quaternary Paleogeography
- Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia.
- Prof. Xiaolin Hou, Director of Xi’an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
Deadline for paper submission: September 1st,2025
