Woody Plants in Response to Heavy Metal Exposure and Synergistic Abiotic Factors in Forests
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 February 2027 | Viewed by 130
Editors
Interests: biotechnology in forestry; forest ecology; phytoremediation; environmental protection; environmental exposure, risk, and impact assessment of pollutants; environmental toxicology of heavy metals
Interests: genetics and breeding of forest and ornamental trees; agroforestry; seed science and nursery production; forest genetic resources
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The alarming rise in pollutant levels has made mitigating risks to the environment and human health a critical global challenge. Due to the complexity of pollution sources and the emergence of new toxic substances from modern technology, ecosystems and human survival have faced significant threats. Addressing these issues requires an urgent shift from past irresponsible resource management toward sustainable environmental protection.
Soil contamination, driven by heavy metals and chemical pollution, specifically poses a major threat to forest ecosystems and biodiversity. Plants respond to such stressors through complex physiological, biochemical, molecular, and structural changes. These responses depend on pollutant concentration and duration of exposure species sensitivity, and environmental conditions driven by climate change (e.g., increased insolation, drought). Understanding these mechanisms is vital for evaluating plant tolerance and their potential for habitat restoration and phytoremediation.
This Special Issue highlights recent advancements in how plants respond to pollutants, focusing on mechanisms of tolerance, accumulation, and detoxification. We invite original research and reviews on topics such as oxidative stress, growth alterations, pollutant-soil interactions, and ecological consequences. As pollutants often interact with stressors such as drought, high light, high temperature, salinity and others, contributions focused on woody species seedlings or adult trees responses to these abiotic stressors are also welcome. By integrating diverse scientific disciplines, this issue aims to enhance our understanding of pollutant impacts as well as protective plant mechanisms and support the development of sustainable strategies for environmental monitoring, ecosystem restoration, and protection.
Prof. Dr. Dragica Stanković
Prof. Dr. Saša Orlović
Dr. Srdjan Stojnić
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 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. 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
- plants
- pollutants
- soil contamination
- pollution-induced stress
- tolerance mechanisms
- phytoremediation
- oxidative stress
- physiological adaptation
- ecophysiology
- environmental monitoring
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