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Forests
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Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils
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Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2025 | Viewed by 1905

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Shengli Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
Interests: soil; heavy metals; remediation; restoration; metal mine; desert
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Exploring elemental cycling in forest soils offers an exciting and valuable research opportunity. Soil is one of the most important natural resources on Earth, crucial for maintaining ecosystem stability and human survival. The cycling of soil elements is an important component of the material cycle in soil ecosystems and a necessary condition for maintaining the life cycle of organisms in terrestrial ecosystems. Soil element cycling refers to the process of transformation and migration of elements in soil, including nitrogen cycling, carbon cycling, phosphorus cycling, and heavy metal cycling. The process of soil element cycling can help us understand the transformation and migration of substances in soil, thereby revealing the biogeochemical processes in soil. It is also of great significance for forestry production and environmental concerns, such as the eutrophication of water bodies, global warming, heavy metal pollution, etc.

This Special Issue plans to provide an overview of the most recent advances in the field of elemental cycling in forest soils. It is aimed at providing selected contributions on advances in the biogeochemical cycles of soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, and trace elements in forest ecosystems.

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

  • C:N:P stoichiometry in soils and plants;
  • Soil organic carbon sequestration;
  • Influence mechanisms of elemental cycling;
  • Soil element cycling under different forest types;
  • Soil element cycling under different ecological restoration methods in different regions;
  • Heavy metal pollution and remediation of soils;
  • Soil environmental quality and water environmental quality;
  • Applications in the performance evaluation of ecological restoration projects and forest management.

Prof. Dr. Shengli Wang
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

  • soil nutrients
  • stoichiometry
  • soil organic carbon sequestration
  • ecological restoration
  • heavy metals
  • soil environmental quality
  • water environmental quality
  • forest management
  • different forest types

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5425 KiB  
Article
Effects of Oasis Evolution on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Function in Arid Areas
by Junhu Tang, Haiqiang Zhu, Xinyu Ma, Zhaolong Ding, Yan Luo, Xiaofei Wang, Rui Gao and Lu Gong
Forests 2025, 16(2), 343; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16020343 - 14 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 506 | Correction
Abstract
Soil is an important link in the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements. The soil environment, especially the soil water, nutrients, and salts, undergoes profound changes in the process of oasis evolution. As a key component of the soil ecosystem in an [...] Read more.
Soil is an important link in the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements. The soil environment, especially the soil water, nutrients, and salts, undergoes profound changes in the process of oasis evolution. As a key component of the soil ecosystem in an oasis, soil microbial communities are strongly influenced by environmental factors and have feedback effects on them. However, the response of the soil microbial community structure and function to the process of oasis evolution and its mechanism is still unclear. In this study, the effects of different land-use types, including cotton field (CF), orchard (OR), forest land (FL), waste land (WL) and sand land (SL), on the soil microbial community structure and function were analyzed by metagenomic sequencing. The results showed that the cotton field had the highest soil water content, showing a significant difference compared with the other land-use types. Forest land had the highest soil pH, also showing a significant difference compared with the other land-use types. Among the land-use types with different degrees of oasis evolution, Pseudarthrobacter and Actinomycetota were the dominant phyla, with higher relative abundance. The main metabolic pathways in the cotton field, sand land, and waste land were L-glutamine biosynthesis, ornithine cycle, and nitrate reduction V. The soil total salt, moisture content, pH, and available potassium were the important soil physicochemical factors influencing soil microorganisms. This study will deepen our understanding of the role of soil microbial communities in the process of oasis evolution and provide a scientific basis for ecological restoration and desertification control in arid areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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17 pages, 7230 KiB  
Article
Importance of Patches in Maintaining Forest Landscape Connectivity: A Case Study of Barluk, Xinjiang, China
by Yujie Zhang, Yan Luo, Lei Han, Keyu Chen, Zhi Wang and Qifan Yang
Forests 2025, 16(1), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16010074 - 5 Jan 2025
Viewed by 954
Abstract
Habitat loss and fragmentation are two main threats to biodiversity. Forest landscape connectivity can directly affect many ecological processes, such as plant seed dispersal and animal migration, and is an important framework for determining strategic priorities for biodiversity conservation. This study examines the [...] Read more.
Habitat loss and fragmentation are two main threats to biodiversity. Forest landscape connectivity can directly affect many ecological processes, such as plant seed dispersal and animal migration, and is an important framework for determining strategic priorities for biodiversity conservation. This study examines the Barluk Mountain Nature Reserve in Xinjiang as a case study to evaluate changes in connectivity at different diffusion distances based on graph theory. Our results showed that Barluk consists predominantly (62%) of small patches (<1 hm2) and a relatively limited number (7%) of large patches (>10 hm2). By simulating a forest loss scenario and assessing the importance of individual patches, we found that large patches played an important role in maintaining connectivity. Further, by calculating the delta number of components (dNC), we found that not all small patches contribute to maintaining connectivity, and small patches (with dNC < 0 and area < 1 hm2) that act as “stepping stones” within large patches should also be prioritized for protection. Therefore, priority identification of patches that contribute the most to connectivity will provide effective forest management strategies, help enhance the functioning of forest ecosystems, and protect fragmented ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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