Island Plant Conservation Under Global Change: Vulnerability, Refugia and Action

Islands have long served as natural laboratories for ecology, evolution and biogeography, but they are also conservation frontlines. Their floras often combine exceptional evolutionary uniqueness with high exposure to rapid environmental change. Many island plant species persist in fragmented, inaccessible or climatically marginal habitats, where small changes in climate, disturbance, species interactions or management can have disproportionate consequences. At the same time, islands offer powerful opportunities for conservation because threats can sometimes be identified, monitored and managed at appropriate spatial scales. A synthesis of current approaches across archipelagos, ecosystems and methodological traditions is needed to better anticipate plant decline and design effective conservation responses.

Island floras are among the most distinctive and threatened components of global plant diversity. High levels of endemism, small population sizes, restricted distributions and strong ecological specialization make many island plants especially vulnerable to interacting global change drivers, including climate change, biological invasions, altered herbivory, land-use change, habitat degradation, fire regime shifts and increasing human pressure. This Research Topic aims to bring together studies that improve our ability to assess vulnerability, identify refugia and translate ecological knowledge into conservation action for island plants. We particularly seek contributions that connect scientific evidence with management-relevant outcomes, including prioritization, monitoring, restoration, translocation, ex situ conservation, invasive species control and adaptive conservation planning.

We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, Policy Briefs, Community Case Studies and Data Reports addressing island plant conservation under global change. Relevant themes include, but are not limited to: species distribution modelling and climate vulnerability; microrefugia and cliff, mountain, coastal or dryland refuges; endemic plant demography and reproductive ecology; invasive plants, invasive herbivores and novel interactions; conservation genetics and genomics; functional traits and adaptive capacity; remote sensing, drones and monitoring technologies; restoration, reinforcement, translocation and ex situ conservation; prioritization of threatened island floras; and links between science, policy and local management. Contributions from oceanic and continental islands, archipelagos, island-like habitats and comparative island-mainland systems are encouraged, especially where findings inform conservation practice.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Island biogeography, plant conservation, global change, climate change, Endemic flora, invasive species, ecological restoration, conservation planning, refugia, threatened plants

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.