The Impact of Fire on Soil Carbon Dynamics: Recent Trends and Future Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue addresses the escalating influence of wildfires, fueled by global warming, on soil C dynamics, highlighting the urgent need for detailed scientific exploration and innovative responses. As wildfires intensify, especially within humid–temperate and boreal regions, the alteration in soil organic matter (SOM)—fundamental for C storage and turnover—becomes a crucial point of concern. It underscores the need for scientific understanding and innovative solutions as recognised by the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The occurrence of wildfires alters the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils, affecting the soil health by changing molecular structures and biomass. This situation underscores the requirement for enhanced research and novel analytical and model-based approaches to comprehend and mitigate wildfire impacts on soil C processes, especially under current and foreseen climate change scenarios. Therefore, this Special Issue will be essential for providing a more realistic picture of how wildfires affect soil C dynamics and for informing efforts to address the problems of climate change and ecosystem degradation.

This Special Issue titled “The Impact of Fire on Soil Carbon Dynamics: Recent Trends and Future Challenges” intends to compile the latest advances towards a better knowledge of the alteration of the soil C dynamics induced by fire events. Therefore, we invite the authors to submit recent and original research papers and/or reviews. Papers dealing with field and laboratory studies focused on the effects of fire – solely and combined with other environmental factors—on past and future soil C dynamics, are highly welcome.

Dr. Nicasio T. Jiménez-Morillo
Dr. Layla M. San-Emeterio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• fire-affected soil
• SOM under global warming scenarios
• diagnostic post-fire biomarkers
• forecasting models of soil C balance
• pyrogenic organic matter
• terrestrial C budget
• alteration of soil health by fire
• post-fire soil health recovery