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Forests
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Effect of Vegetation Restoration on Forest Soil
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Effect of Vegetation Restoration on Forest Soil

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Soil".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 564

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Yong Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
Interests: restoration ecology; biodiversity; ecological risk assessment; ecological modelling; landuse change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ecosystem degradation is a critical global issue which is becoming increasingly concerning. It has serious negative impacts on the natural environment, human health, economic development, biodiversity, social stability, and cultural heritage, among many other aspects. As the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration moves forward, forest restoration on degraded and deforested land is expanding globally. Many field studies have assessed the ecological effects of restoration actions on plot and regional scales. However, the mechanisms of action of soil and vegetation remain unclear and need to be explored further. This Special Issue plans to explore the effects of vegetation restoration on soil health, as well as the mechanisms of action of soil and vegetation. This Special Issue is aimed at providing selected contributions on the sustainable development of ecosystems.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Effects of vegetation restoration;
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem function;
  • Action mechanisms of soil and vegetation;
  • Restoration outcome assessment;
  • Restoration strategies;
  • Role of soil microbes in vegetation restoration.

Prof. Dr. Yong Liu
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 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. Forests 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

  • vegetation restoration
  • biodiversity
  • functions
  • soil health
  • ecosystem sustainability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2675 KiB  
Article
Unveiling the Carbon Secrets: How Forestry Projects Transform Biomass and Soil Carbon on the Tibet Plateau
by Man Cheng, Xia Xu, Zhixuan Chen, Yun Xiang, Yongli Wen and Xiao Wang
Forests 2025, 16(4), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16040631 - 3 Apr 2025
Viewed by 208
Abstract
Afforestation is regarded as a crucial approach to enhancing terrestrial carbon sinks. Nevertheless, in ecologically fragile regions, the impacts of afforestation on carbon in biomass and soil remain highly uncertain. This study employed field investigations to explore the effects of forestry ecological projects [...] Read more.
Afforestation is regarded as a crucial approach to enhancing terrestrial carbon sinks. Nevertheless, in ecologically fragile regions, the impacts of afforestation on carbon in biomass and soil remain highly uncertain. This study employed field investigations to explore the effects of forestry ecological projects on carbon stocks in biomass and soil within the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, and to deeply analyze its key influencing factors. The key findings are summarized as follows: (1) The total vegetation carbon stocks of arbor forests and shrub forests (ranging from 7.7 to 24.0 Mg/ha) are 1.3–6.8 times that of grasslands (ranging from 3.5 to 6.1 Mg/ha). Afforestation-induced changes in biomass carbon are primarily attributed to the increase in carbon storage within the arbor-shrub layer, while exhibiting negligible effects on herbaceous layer carbon. (2) The soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks (0–100 cm depth) of forestland, shrubland, and grassland are 39.6–64.5 Mg/ha, 40.7–100.2 Mg/ha, and 43.1–121.9 Mg/ha, respectively. There are no significant differences in SOC stocks among shrubland, forestland, and grassland at either the 10- or 25-year development stage. The SOC stocks of 40-year-old shrubland and forestland are 1.5 and 2.3 times that of grassland, respectively. (3) For 10-year-old and 25-year-old arbor and shrub afforestation, biomass carbon increased while SOC decreased, showing a trade-off. In the case of 40- year-old afforestation, both biomass carbon and SOC increased synergistically. (4) Results from the random forest analysis indicate that the understory herbaceous diversity in this region has a significant impact on biomass carbon sequestration, and that soil total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen determine SOC sequestration. (5) Partial least squares analysis further demonstrates that afforestation promotes the retention of SOC stocks by increasing soil nutrients (especially nitrogen and nitrogen availability). Afforestation in alpine and arid regions, especially 40-year shrub afforestation, holds great carbon sequestration potential. The supplementation of soil nitrogen and phosphorus can enhance the carbon sequestration of this system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Vegetation Restoration on Forest Soil)
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