Mass and Energy Fluxes over Agricultural Ecosystems

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecosystem, Environment and Climate Change in Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2026 | Viewed by 677

Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Agronomy, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China
Interests: carbon cycle; water cycle; water use efficiency; eddy covariance; spatial variation

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Guest Editor
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia
Interests: environmental impact assessment; life-cycle assessment (LCA); sustainability; climate change; water analysis; hydrology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mass and energy fluxes, reflecting their exchange rates between pools occurring at divergent interfaces, are related to the productivity and biomass, thus the ability of ecosystems to serve human beings. Analyzing the variations in agroecosystems, including the temporal and spatial variations of mass and energy fluxes, would address the mechanisms underlying the differences in crop productivities and biomass, thus the ability of ecosystems to serve human beings. Many ways, including in situ measurements and numerous simulations, were employed to quantify mass and energy fluxes, which provided a data basis for revealing their variations.

In this Special Issue, we welcome all manuscripts focusing on the variations of the mass and energy fluxes over agricultural ecosystems, including the results from measurements and simulations. The variations included the temporal variations from diurnal to seasonal and interannual and spatial variations. The mass and energy flux included carbon, nitrogen, water, latent heat, and heat fluxes. The measurements include the micrometeorological theory-based eddy covariance measurements and chamber-based measurements. The simulations include those from remote sensing, data-driven, and process-based models. In addition, manuscripts focusing on the interactions between mass and energy fluxes and results comparing multiple ways, which would help to understand the mass and energy fluxes, are also highly welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Xianjin Zhu
Dr. Brad Ridoutt
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • eddy covariance
  • agricultural ecosystems
  • climate change
  • temporal variation
  • spatial variation
  • modelling
  • carbon flux
  • water flux
  • nitrogen flux
  • energy flux

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 6166 KB  
Article
Prolonged Dry Spells During the Reproductive Stage Significantly Suppress Ecosystem Carbon Fluxes in Maize Cropland
by Lin Zhang, Weijun Luo, Yanwei Wang, Xuegang Xing, Junming Yang, Jia Chen, Anyun Cheng and Shijie Wang
Agriculture 2026, 16(15), 1601; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16151601 - 27 Jul 2026
Viewed by 207
Abstract
The carbon budget of maize croplands has been widely studied across the Chinese Maize Belt. However, the effects of drought on ecosystem-scale carbon fluxes in rain-fed maize croplands remain poorly understood in Southwest China. To address this gap, we conducted long-term, continuous eddy [...] Read more.
The carbon budget of maize croplands has been widely studied across the Chinese Maize Belt. However, the effects of drought on ecosystem-scale carbon fluxes in rain-fed maize croplands remain poorly understood in Southwest China. To address this gap, we conducted long-term, continuous eddy covariance measurements of carbon fluxes at a rain-fed maize field in Guizhou Province from 2022 to 2025. During the maize growing season, the mean net ecosystem exchange (NEE) was −310 ± 21 g C m−2, with over 50% of the total seasonal NEE occurring in July. Interannual variability in the NEE was primarily driven by prolonged dry spells during the reproductive stage. Maize cropland without straw return acted as a net C source when harvest removals were considered. We therefore recommend promoting straw return practices in the region to strengthen soil carbon sequestration capacity and enhance agroecosystem resilience to drought. And further research is needed to evaluate the role of straw return practices on the carbon budget in the area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass and Energy Fluxes over Agricultural Ecosystems)
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