BMC Ecology and Evolution is calling for submissions to our Collection on Ecosystem restoration, regeneration and rewilding.

Intact and resilient ecosystems ensure a healthy and functioning planet, yet human actions are driving unprecedented environmental changes that burden the natural world. Worryingly, just 3% of the world's land is estimated to remain ecologically intact – a clear sign that scientific evidence is urgently needed to inform policies to restore and conserve ecosystems. 

Preventing, halting, and reversing the loss of nature is now being prioritized globally, with the United Nations General Assembly declaring 2021-2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6: Clean water and sanitation, 13: Climate action, 14: Life below water and 15: Life on land, BMC Ecology and Evolution welcomes research on the design, application, optimization, management, and outcomes of restoration and rewilding projects in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.

Meet the Guest Editors

Carmel McDougall: University of St Andrews, Scotland

Dr. Carmel McDougall is a lecturer at the Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, Scotland. With a background in molecular biology and aquaculture research, she became involved in shellfish reef restoration after stumbling across healthy oyster reefs in Australia while conducting a molecular survey of oyster biodiversity. Her research group uses comparative and functional genomics and experimental studies to provide practical outcomes for sustainable aquaculture and marine conservation, and to shed light on the evolution and diversity of the amazing repertoire of organisms found within our oceans.

Nancy Shackelford: University of Victoria, Canada

Dr. Nancy Shackleford is an Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria specializing in restoration research. She was born and raised in Texas, in traditional Jumano and Apache territory, but has been living in the Pacific Northwest, in the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, for eight years. Her experience with restoration is diverse, from scrubby Texas woodlands, to Colorado grasslands, to cedar forests on our local coastline. She has an unshakeable love for data, knowledge, and leveraging shared work to enhance restoration outcomes. She gravitates towards terrestrial restoration in experimental and observational science, but is continually expanding her integration of the social dimensions of restoration.

Submission guidelines

This Collection will consider research, database and software articles. Review articles will be considered at the discretion of the Journal’s Editor. If you would like to submit a review article, please first email Jennifer Harman <jennifer.harman@springernature.com> - the Editor of BMC Ecology and Evolution. Please note that unsolicited reviews will not be considered as per our submission guidelines.

Datasets, descriptions and short reports relevant to the Collection will be considered by BMC Research Notes as data or research notes. This type of content will be published in BMC Research Notes and included in the final collection.

Articles under consideration for publication within the collection will be assessed according to the standard BMC Ecology and Evolution editorial criteria and will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process overseen by Guest Editors Dr Carmel McDougall (University of St Andrews, Scotland) and Dr Nancy Shackelford (University of Victoria, Canada).

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Ecosystem restoration, regeneration and rewilding" from the drop-down menu.

If accepted for publication, an article processing charge applies. Please click here to find out about our standard waiver policy.

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 7th March 2024