
Topical Collection on "Ecological Restoration in Circular Economy Frameworks"
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026
Collection Editors:

Prof. Daniela Baldantoni
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6794-0107
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biology “Adolfo Zambelli”, University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), 84084, Italy
Research Interests: Disturbance ecology, Biomonitoring, Environmental pollution, Sustainable ecosystems management, Restoration ecology

Dr. Mattia Napoletano
ORCID:https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3544-7590
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biology “Adolfo Zambelli”, University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), 84084, Italy
Research Interests: Restoration ecology, Soil microbial ecology, Biodiversity, Ecosystem integrity, Soil recovery
Topical Collection Information:
Dear Colleagues,
In recent decades, rapid population growth intensified pressures on natural ecosystems, with widespread alterations of their structure and functioning, and pervasive effects on the services they provide. The core challenge lies in the development of novel frameworks able to harmonize socio-economic needs with the restoration of ecosystem integrity becoming a priority on a global scale. Circular economy frameworks provide fascinating and promising ways of minimizing imbalances between resource use and waste production, critically addressing some of the most urgent issues for the sustainable development of human societies. At the same time, ecological restoration approaches have profoundly diversified over the past few decades, providing means to recover ecosystem integrity on a wide array of both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The integration of ecosystem restoration within circular economy frameworks, however, still represents a central challenge offering the opportunity to couple processes as diverse as optimal resource use, waste valorization, pollution mitigation, reduction of coastal and land erosion, increase in biodiversity and, overall, enhancement of ecosystem dynamic stability.
This Special Issue of Research in Ecology aims to provide a prominent platform to share contributions focused on the integration of restoration strategies and approaches within circular economy frameworks. Both theoretical and empirical studies are welcomed, as well as studies on each kind of ecosystem from all over the world. A special focus will be given to studies emphasizing how the restoration of ecosystem functions and services can be aligned with sustainable resource management through circular economy schemes.
Collection Editors
Prof. Daniela Baldantoni
Dr. Mattia Napoletano
Keywords:
- Ecological restoration
- Circular economy
- Sustainability
- Ecosystem functions and services
- Nature-based solutions