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Forests
Special Issues
Impact of Afforestation on Soil and Hydrology in Agroecosystems
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Impact of Afforestation on Soil and Hydrology in Agroecosystems

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 July 2024) | Viewed by 2065

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Makki Khorchani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
Interests: ecohydrology; soil organic carbon; eddy covariance; carbon sequestration; greenhouse gasses; water use efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Rhae Drijber

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
Interests: carbon sequestration; soil organic carbon; soil microbes
Dr. Anastasios Mazis

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
1. Corteva AgriScience, Johnston, IA 50131-0184, USA
2. School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0961, USA
Interests: plant physiology; remote sensing; forestry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural lands represent more than one-third of the global land surface and are often subject to changes in their land cover and use due to multiple reasons. The conversion of agroecosystems to forest areas, with the objective of restoring degraded croplands and pastures or changing the land use (biofuel production, creation of recreation areas, etc.), is often accompanied by significant changes to soil properties and water fluxes. Many studies have highlighted the beneficial impacts on soil health after afforestation in agroecosystem lands; however, increased water use by tree vegetation is of high concern to policymakers, particularly in areas of water stress. These tradeoffs between the impacts of afforestation on soils and on the hydrological cycle have sparked criticism of implementing man-made forests in land restoration programs and in climate change adaptation and mitigation. This Special Issue aims to further our knowledge about these tradeoffs and the potential of afforestation to improve soil health without endangering water availability.

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

  • Soil organic carbon;
  • Water loss through evaporation and/or transpiration;
  • CO2, H2O, and CH4 fluxes;
  • Carbon sequestration;
  • Soil organic matter and soil nutrients;
  • Soil erosion and deposition;
  • Infiltration and soil moisture;
  • Invasive plant species;
  • Agroforestry.

Dr. Makki Khorchani
Prof. Dr. Rhae Drijber
Dr. Anastasios Mazis
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

  • afforestation
  • hydrology
  • soil health
  • carbon sequestration
  • water use
  • agroecosystems

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

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 8158 KiB  
Article
Afforestation, Natural Secondary Forest or Dehesas? Looking for the Best Post-Abandonment Forest Management for Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation in Mediterranean Mountains
by Melani Cortijos-López, Pedro Sánchez-Navarrete, Teodoro Lasanta, Erik L. H. Cammeraat and Estela Nadal-Romero
Forests 2024, 15(1), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15010166 - 12 Jan 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1470
Abstract
Forest expansion in Mediterranean mountain areas is a widespread phenomenon resulting from the abandonment of agricultural and pastoral activities during the last century. Therefore, knowledge of the long-term storage capacity of soil organic carbon (SOC) in Mediterranean forests is of great interest in [...] Read more.
Forest expansion in Mediterranean mountain areas is a widespread phenomenon resulting from the abandonment of agricultural and pastoral activities during the last century. Therefore, knowledge of the long-term storage capacity of soil organic carbon (SOC) in Mediterranean forests is of great interest in the context of global change. However, the effects of these land uses and covers (natural secondary forest, afforestation with conifers and silvo-pastoral ecosystems (dehesas)) on SOC dynamics are still uncertain. The main objectives of this study were to evaluate physico-chemical soil properties, SOC and nitrogen stocks, and SOC fractions in Mediterranean forests and to assess the effects of tree species, the soil environment (acidic and alkaline), and land management. We selected five land uses and land covers: managed and non-managed afforestation and dehesa (except for alkaline dehesa) and a stage of succession when tree species begin to become established after abandonment. This study concludes that although total SOC stocks are higher in afforested systems with conifers, SOC is stored in less stable carbon pools than in broadleaf forests. In addition, this study confirms that there are marked differences in the results between acidic and alkaline environments. Finally, the management system is also a significant factor, particularly for afforested sites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Afforestation on Soil and Hydrology in Agroecosystems)
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