The Biosphere and Earth’s Planetary Boundaries

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Biosphere seeks high-impact contributions on the biosphere’s role in maintaining Earth’s planetary boundaries amid accelerating environmental disruption and growing systemic risk. Earth’s stability depends on interactions among the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere through continuous exchanges of energy, water, and nutrients. Human activities are increasingly disrupting these processes, destabilizing Earth-system functions and heightening the risk of abrupt, far-reaching change.

The planetary boundary framework identifies critical thresholds for keeping humanity within a safe operating space and provides an essential scientific basis for understanding and governing escalating Earth-system risk. Crossing these boundaries increases the risk of tipping points, irreversible change, and cascading impacts across the Earth system. Recent assessments indicate that seven of the nine planetary boundaries have already been transgressed.

Planetary-boundary assessment draws on observations, modeling, and expert evaluation to define safe operating thresholds and support responsible Earth-system management. We invite original submissions that advance planetary-boundary science and provide timely insights for policy, management, and practice. We particularly welcome contributions that identify emerging risks, clarify biosphere feedback, and define credible pathways to reduce pressures, strengthen resilience, and help avert irreversible Earth-system change.

Topics of Interest

• Biogeochemical cycling in marine and terrestrial ecosystems;
• Carbon-cycle observation, modeling, and assessment;
• Water-cycle dynamics, including droughts, floods, and biosphere feedback;
• Effects of air pollution, marine pollution, and deforestation on ecosystems;
• Ecosystem services and the bio-based economy;
• Urbanization, urban ecosystems, and planetary boundaries.

We welcome experiments, observational studies, modeling and scenario analyses, reviews, and short commentaries. The topics above are illustrative rather than exhaustive, and we encourage authors to submit novel, integrative, and actionable work that advances planetary-boundary science and informs urgent responses to Earth-system change.

Dr. Ghassem R. Asrar
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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.

• biogeochemical cycling
• carbon-cycle
• water-cycle
• ecosystem services
• planetary boundaries