Harnessing Soil Biodiversity for Sustainable and Resilient Agroecosystems
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 June 2026 | Viewed by 12
Special Issue Editor
Interests: soil microbial ecology; soil biodiversity and ecosystem services; plant–soil–microbe interactions; soil sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Soil biodiversity underpins the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, driving nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and resilience to stressors such as drought, pests, and climate change. The functional roles of soil biota—spanning microorganisms, mesofauna, and macrofauna—are increasingly recognized as central to sustaining agroecosystem services and resilience under climate change. However, the mechanistic understanding of how belowground biodiversity supports soil health, mediates stress responses, and interacts with agricultural management remains incomplete. In particular, the complex and interactive biological activity required to maintain optimal soil functions and the capacity of soil biodiversity to buffer against abiotic and biotic disturbances require further elucidation.
This Special Issue will integrate multidisciplinary research aiming to disentangle the relationships among soil community composition, functional diversity, and agroecosystem processes. The collected contributions will investigate how management practices, including reduced tillage, organic amendments, and the use of beneficial microorganisms (bioinoculants), shape soil biotic networks and influence key ecological functions such as nutrient and water use efficiency, organic matter turnover, and disease suppression.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the ecological mechanisms conferring resistance and resilience to disturbance, the role of multitrophic interactions, and the potential of nature- and microbiome-based solutions to enhance soil functionality. Future research priorities include bridging micro- to field-scale processes, refining soil health indicators, and integrating soil biodiversity into agri-environmental policies. Collectively, this Special Issue will underscore the necessity of managing soils as living ecosystems to achieve climate-smart, resource-efficient, and resilient agricultural systems.
Dr. Stefano Mocali
Guest Editor
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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.
Keywords
- soil biodiversity
- agroecosystem resilience
- functional diversity
- soil health
- nature-based solutions
- microbiome interactions
- climate-smart agriculture
- bioinoculants
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