Integrative Phytochemistry and Structural Traits of Forest Trees
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 38
Special Issue Editors
Interests: plant morpho-anatomy; taxonomy; micromorphology; phytochemistry; plant chemotaxonomy; secondary metabolites; biological activity
Interests: plant taxonomy; morpho-anatomy; micromorphology; chemotaxonomy; phytochemistry; secondary metabolites; biological activity; terpenes; essential oils; cuticular waxes; multivariant statistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Trees constitute the structural foundation of forest ecosystems, providing habitats and support for a diverse array of living organisms. They play a crucial role in regulating key ecological processes, such as energy and matter fluxes, water and nutrient cycling, biomass production, and soil formation. These biological and ecological functions of forest trees are largely determined by the morpho-anatomical characteristics of their cells, tissues, and organs. Additionally, their defense strategies rely on the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites such as terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolics, and cuticular waxes. Given the wide range of biological activities exhibited by these compounds, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, sedative, analgesic, diuretic, and anticancer effects, forests represent vast reservoirs of bioactive substances. Thus, the conservation of forest ecosystems is essential both for maintaining biodiversity and for safeguarding these invaluable biochemical resources.
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, which aims to provide new or comprehensive data on the relationship between the variability in secondary metabolite profiles (e.g., terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, n-alkanes, fatty acids, lipids, etc.) and the specific morpho-anatomical characteristics of the tree structures that synthesize them. Additionally, research on the potential of trees as sources of bioactive compounds, as well as studies exploring advanced extraction methods aimed at optimizing the recovery of specialized metabolites, is highly encouraged.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Relationship between the morpho-anatomical variability of tree structures and the chemical composition of the specialized metabolites they synthesize;
- Profiling of terpenes, flavonoids, and alkaloids in tree species, along with the evaluation of their bioactivity;
- Comparative assessment of different extraction techniques with respect to essential oil yield and chemical profiles;
- Influence of climatic, geographic, and orographic factors on the variability of morpho-anatomical traits and specialized metabolites in tree species;
- Micromorphology of wax crystalloids and the chemical composition of cuticular waxes in tree species.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Jelena Nikolić Dimković
Dr. Zorica S. Mitić
Dr. Bojan Zlatković
Guest Editors
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
- trees
- morpho-anatomy
- phytochemistry
- bioactivity
- plant waxes
- extraction methods
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