Soil Carbon Decomposition and Management: Experimental Insights for Sustainable Agroecosystems
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agroecology Innovation: Achieving System Resilience".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026 | Viewed by 19
Special Issue Editors
Interests: terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle; NPP; climate change impact; simulation model
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Managing agroecosystems sustainably requires understanding how soil organic carbon decomposes while nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients cycle in tandem. Consequently, this Special Issue highlights experimental insights across a range of scales—from enzyme kinetics and microbial carbon use efficiency to field trials and long‑term networks—that reveal mechanisms controlling stabilization, mineral association, and greenhouse gas fluxes. We seek to emphasize interactions among residue quality, mineralogy, moisture and redox dynamics, and plant–microbe–fauna processes within the rhizosphere and deeper horizons. Contributions integrating isotopic tracers, spectroscopic imaging, and multi‑omics with process‑based models are especially welcome. We seek studies that test management strategies such as cover crops, reduced tillage, organic amendments, biochar, precision fertilization, and diversified rotation, quantifying trade‑offs among soil carbon gains, nutrient use efficiency, yields, and environmental outcomes. By synthesizing mechanistic experiments and model–data fusion, the Special Issue aims to define actionable pathways toward climate‑smart, nutrient‑efficient agroecosystems under intensifying climate variability. We also invite cross-site syntheses to benchmark indicators and protocols.
Prof. Dr. Guangsheng Zhou
Guest Editor
Dr. Jinyang Zheng
Guest Editor Assistant
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. Agronomy 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 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 carbon decomposition
- biogeochemistry
- sustainable managements
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