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Forests
Special Issues
Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in Forest Ecosystems
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Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in Forest Ecosystems

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2023) | Viewed by 7425

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xinli Chen

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Guest Editor
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Interests: biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships; soil carbon cycling; soil nutrient cycling; soil microbial community
Dr. Eric B. Searle

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Guest Editor
Ontario Forest Research Institute, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada
Interests: biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships; climate change effects; forest management; silviculture
Dr. Masumi Hisano

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Guest Editor
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: biodiversity; ecosystem ecology; plant ecology
Dr. Chen Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada
Interests: biodiversity; ecosystem ecology; plant ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Humanity’s domination of Earth’s ecosystems has led to excessive biodiversity loss and ecosystem function degradation. This loss of biodiversity is alarming, not only because of the inherent value of biodiversity itself, but also because biodiversity has consistently been shown to have a positive effect on ecosystem function and service provision. Forests cover about one-third of the global land surface and harbour most of the earth’s terrestrial biodiversity. There is increasing concern that biodiversity loss will lead to decreased ecosystem functioning in forests, such as primary productivty, nutrient cycling, and water quality. In addition, biodiversity is expected to buffer against the impacts of global environmental changes (e.g., rising atmospheric CO2 concentration, warming, and altered precipitation). Therefore, understanding biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships in forest ecosystems is of great importance to develop strategies for both biodiversity conservation and mitigation of global environmental change.

This Special Issue is aimed at exploring the contribution of terrestrial forest biodiversity to the supply of ecosystem functions and to potentially mitigating the negative impacts of environmental change on forest ecosystems.

We encourage contributions from multiple potential topics including, but not limited to:

  • Responses of forest biodiversity to climate change and anthropologic activities;
  • Forest diversity and primary productivity/tree mortality;
  • Forest biodiversity, soil microbial communities, and soil functioning;
  • Forest diversity and carbon storage;
  • The role of forest biodiversity in mitigating the impacts of environmental change.

Dr. Xinli Chen
Dr. Eric B. Searle
Dr. Masumi Hisano 
Dr. Chen Chen
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

  • forest biodiversity
  • climate change
  • primary productivity
  • soil functioning
  • mitigation
  • carbon storage

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 4480 KiB  
Article
Tree Species Mixtures Can Improve the Water Storage of the Litter–Soil Continuum in Subtropical Coniferous Plantations in China
by Ni Ding, Yunxing Bai and Yunchao Zhou
Forests 2023, 14(2), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020431 - 20 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2271
Abstract
Increasing evidence has shown that introducing broadleaved trees into coniferous plantations can regulate hydrologic stores and fluxes; however, the effects and regulatory mechanisms of species mixing on the water conservation capacity of the litter–soil continuum remain poorly understood, and differences among tree species [...] Read more.
Increasing evidence has shown that introducing broadleaved trees into coniferous plantations can regulate hydrologic stores and fluxes; however, the effects and regulatory mechanisms of species mixing on the water conservation capacity of the litter–soil continuum remain poorly understood, and differences among tree species may appear. Herein, we investigated and compared the water conservation capacity of the litter layer (semi-decomposed and decomposed layer) and soil layer (0–100 cm) in a monoculture plantation (Pinus massoniana) and five mixed plantations (Pinus massoniana mixed with Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Manglietia chingii, Camellia oleifera, Michelia maudiae, and Bretschneidera sinensis) and comprehensively considered their potential influencing factors. We discovered that the identity of broadleaved tree species significantly affected the water storage of litter and soil in the mixed plantations (p < 0.05). The effective water-holding capacity of the litter (13.39 t·ha−1) was low due to the coniferous litter’s simple structure and challenging breakdown, despite the fact that the litter stock of the monoculture plantation was substantially larger than that of the mixed plantation (14.72 t·ha−1). Introducing deep-rooted tree species (e.g., Bretschneidera sinensis and Camellia oleifera) into Pinus massoniana farmsteads improved the soil-pore structure and aggregate stability, thereby significantly increasing the 0–100 cm soil water storage. Furthermore, we found that litter storage, soil organic carbon, and litter thickness, as key influencing factors, have complex effects on the water storage of the litter–soil continuum. Generally, these findings demonstrated that mixed plantations can potentially improve the water conservation capacity of the litter–soil system. Nevertheless, special attention should be given to the complementarity between tree species combinations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in Forest Ecosystems)
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22 pages, 3738 KiB  
Article
Differences of Moss Mites Communities at Different Vegetation Succession Stages in Subalpine Wetland (Jiulongchi, Fanjing Mountain), Southwest China
by Hu Chen, Yuanyuan Zhou, Yifan Fei and Qiang Wei
Forests 2023, 14(2), 332; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020332 - 7 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2637
Abstract
Fanjing Mountain, China, is a World Man and Biosphere Reserve, a World Natural Heritage Property, and a Nature Reserve in China. Mites communities have been reported from the Fanjing Mountain. Wetland moss microhabitats provide a unique habitat for mites, and our objective is [...] Read more.
Fanjing Mountain, China, is a World Man and Biosphere Reserve, a World Natural Heritage Property, and a Nature Reserve in China. Mites communities have been reported from the Fanjing Mountain. Wetland moss microhabitats provide a unique habitat for mites, and our objective is to document moss mites communities in the subalpine wetlands of Fanjing Mountain (Jiulongchi), with a particular focus on trends in moss mites at different stages of vegetation succession in the wetlands, which have rarely been described, and the research will provide fundamental data for biodiversity conservation in the face of global climate change. The succession sequence from bryophyte (hygrophyte) to shrub (mesophyte or xerophyte) in the open area of Jiulongchi wetland successively includes Polytrichum commune Hedw. (PC), Eleocharis yokoscensis (Franch. et Sav.) Tang et-Cypers sp. (EY-C), Senecio faberii Hemsl (SF), and Indocalamus longiauritus Hand.-Mazz. (IL) four typical communities. In April 2016, we collected moss samples under the four typical communities mentioned above, and analyzed the difference of moss mite communities using PCA, Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric test, and ANOVA. The results showed the following: (1) A total of 9058 moss mites belonging to 49 genera in 3 orders and 69 families were captured in the four plant communities, with the moss mites Parachipteria, Fuscozetes, and Tectocepheus being the dominant taxa of moss mites in Jiulongchi wetland. The core taxa of moss mites at different successional stages were 12 genera, with IL having the largest number of exclusive taxa (20 genera). (2) The abundance of moss mites showed an overall increasing trend from PC to IL habitats, with the number of families and genera showing a pattern of IL > EY-C > SF > PC. The diversity index SF habitat possessed the maximum value, followed by IL, both of which were significantly different from PC. (3) The results of PCA analysis of moss mites showed that the mite community composition of PC habitats differed more from SF and IL, respectively, and less from EY-C. (4) There existed differences in the ecological taxa of predatory moss mites at different successional stages, with the Poronota group dominating the ecological taxa of oribatida. The research indicated that moss mites communities in subalpine wetlands were rich in species composition, and with the succession of vegetation from hygrophyte to mesophyte or xerophyte, the moss mites group as a whole develops in a direction favorable to its diversity, and the differences in moss mites ecological taxa also demonstrated the variability and complexity of the Jiulongchi wetland environment. This research presents the distribution pattern of moss mites in different vegetation succession stages in subtropical subalpine herbaceous wetlands. The moss mites evolution trend in response to climate-change-induced plant community succession needs further investigation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in Forest Ecosystems)
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16 pages, 2768 KiB  
Article
Inconsistent Response of Abundant and Rare Bacterial Communities to the Developmental Chronosequence of Pinus massoniana
by Qianbin Cao, Yunchao Zhou, Hui Zhao and Yunxing Bai
Forests 2022, 13(11), 1904; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13111904 - 12 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1907
Abstract
There are differences in the environmental adaptability and regulation of nutrient cycling between abundant and rare bacterial communities during the development of planted forest ecosystems. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the relationships between the soil characteristics and the composition and diversity [...] Read more.
There are differences in the environmental adaptability and regulation of nutrient cycling between abundant and rare bacterial communities during the development of planted forest ecosystems. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the relationships between the soil characteristics and the composition and diversity of abundant and rare bacteria across a chronosequence (i.e., 13-yr, 25-yr, 38-yr, 58-yr-old stands) of Pinus massoniana. Abundant bacterial OTUs, richness, and Shannon index showed a different variation with stand age compared with the rare taxa bacterial community. Both abundant and rare bacterial communities showed significant differences between the 13-yr and 25-yr-old stands, but were similar in the 38-yr and 58-yr-old stands. The dominant phyla were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, and Planctomycetes in both abundant and rare taxa. However, the same phylum of abundant and rare taxa was inconsistent across the four forest ages. Network analysis further demonstrated that rare taxa had a greater network scale and complexity than abundant taxa, which may contribute to buffering the environmental stress. The Mantel test showed that soil pH, nitrogen pool (i.e., MBN, NH4+, NAlkali), and enzyme activities were the key factors that were associated with the changes in abundant bacterial diversity and structure during the development of P. massoniana. However, more soil variables (i.e., pH, SW, MBN, NH4+, NAlkali, AP, nitrite reductase, and sucrase) regulated the rare bacterial communities. Our results indicate that rare taxa are important contributors to soil bacterial community diversity, and their community dynamics responded to changes in soil physicochemical properties significantly distinct from the abundant taxa. We suggest that future studies should focus more on the response of different taxa subcommunities, rather than on the community as a whole, when studying the changes in microbial community dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in Forest Ecosystems)
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