Advances of ecological remote sensing under global change

Call for Papers: In 21 st century, many factors conspire against the balance of ecosystems on earth, including climate change, population growth, and economic development. First, fast urbanization during the last few decades has altered the hydrologic cycle and related watershed processes that affect water resources and ecosystem dynamics in urban region. This urbanization combined with economic growth and improving living standards in cities led to an addition to the quantity and complexity of generated wastewater effluents and stormwater runoff, which interrupt the hydrologic cycle and endanger the structure, function, and services provided by aquatic ecosystems. Ecological dynamics is also clearly influenced by the climate with four seasons demarcated under the influence of monsoon, droughts, hurricanes, and floods. Besides, during the last one hundred years the temperature has arisen by nearly 0.6 degree C, and it is expected to rise by 2 degree C during the next 100 years. This would translate into the intensification of hydrologic cycle in terms of quantity and quality of water, changing balance in ecosystems, migration of species, changes in the way plants grow, trees reacting to downpours, drying up of biomass during droughts, and quicker growing and then wilting of crops. Recent advances in remote sensing provide us with a reliable and lucid means to explore the evolution of ecosystems in response to the global change via a temporally and spatially sensitive approach. This special section is designed to address the advancement in the field of ecological remote sensing under global change to help improve our understanding of the sensitivity of key factors in ecosystem balance and evolution.