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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: closed (31 March 2026) | Viewed by 7638

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 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-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 (7 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1974 KB  
Article
The Transport and Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Across the Hengduan Mountains, Southwest China
by Dongxia Luo, Kun Cheng, Yanbin Wang, Ting Xie and Ruiqiang Yang
Forests 2026, 17(4), 502; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17040502 - 18 Apr 2026
Viewed by 184
Abstract
Despite recent advances in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) research on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), studies investigating the transport potential and accumulation dynamics of these contaminants in the Hengduan Mountains, especially in forest soils which are important sinks for atmospheric PAHs, remain scarce. In [...] Read more.
Despite recent advances in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) research on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), studies investigating the transport potential and accumulation dynamics of these contaminants in the Hengduan Mountains, especially in forest soils which are important sinks for atmospheric PAHs, remain scarce. In the present study, soil and lichen samples (partially located under the forest canopy) were concurrently collected from 62 sampling sites across the Hengduan Mountains to characterize the occurrence, spatial distribution patterns, and underlying controlling factors of PAHs. The total concentrations of the 16 US EPA priority PAHs (∑16PAHs) in soils and lichens ranged from 59.8 to 1163 ng/g and 174 to 3362 ng/g, respectively—values consistently higher than those reported in corresponding matrices from the northern and northwestern TP. Further, concentrations of PAHs in both soil and lichen under the forest canopy are significantly higher than those on the leeward slope without forest. Compositional fractionation of PAHs along the longitudinal and latitudinal gradients of sampling locations indicates significant modulation of PAH distribution by both the Indian monsoon and East Asian monsoon, a pattern further corroborated by air mass backward trajectory analysis. Our results confirm that PAHs can be transported to the southeastern TP slope via long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Notably, the combined effects of mountain cold-trapping and forest filtering jointly govern the deposition and spatial distribution of PAHs in this region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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22 pages, 4073 KB  
Article
Measurement of Forest Soil Conservation and Evaluation of Its Ecosystem Service Value Based on GIS-RUSLE Model Coupling: A Case Study of the Qilian Mountains Area in China
by Lili Hu, Yiwei Ma, Xiaojuan Sun, Shuwen Niu and Zhen Li
Forests 2026, 17(4), 455; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17040455 - 4 Apr 2026
Viewed by 373
Abstract
Forest soil conservation is pivotal for controlling soil erosion and ensuring ecological security. Taking the Qilian Mountains Area in China as the research region, this study used ArcMap 10.8 software to process data for six prefecture-level cities in the area from 2008 to [...] Read more.
Forest soil conservation is pivotal for controlling soil erosion and ensuring ecological security. Taking the Qilian Mountains Area in China as the research region, this study used ArcMap 10.8 software to process data for six prefecture-level cities in the area from 2008 to 2023. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model was applied to quantify the forest soil conservation amount and evaluate its ecosystem service value (ESV). Their spatiotemporal variations and dynamic evolution patterns were analyzed, alongside the influence of soil organic matter (OM) and nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents. The results showed that the average contents of OM, N, P and K in the forest soils of the Qilian Mountains Area were 24.22 g·kg−1, 1.54 g·kg−1, 0.70 g·kg−1, and 19.96 g·kg−1, respectively, with significant regional heterogeneity. Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (HBTAP) had the highest while Jinchang City (JC) had the lowest. From 2008 to 2023, the average annual forest soil conservation amount and its ESV of the region were 1.749 × 109 tons and 2.0444 × 1010 yuan, respectively, both showing a fluctuating trend of initial increase followed by a decrease. Spatially, HBTAP ranked first in average annual forest soil conservation amount per unit area and ESV. Jiuquan City (JQ) had the lowest forest soil conservation amount per unit area, and JC the lowest ESV. Forest soil conservation and its ESV in the region were affected by the contents of soil nutrients (OM and N, P, K elements), vegetation types and quality, topography, climate, and human activities (including ecological governance), which collectively intensified the spatiotemporal heterogeneity. These findings provide a theoretical basis for precise regional ecological protection and differentiated restoration strategies in arid regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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19 pages, 1918 KB  
Article
Retention of Atmospheric Particulate Matter and Dissolved Trace Elements by Picea crassifolia Forest in the Qilian Mountains in Northwest China
by Wenfang Zeng, Jiechang Chen, Yan Zhang, Wenzhe Lang, Zheng Yao, Fei Zang and Hu Hao
Forests 2026, 17(1), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17010140 - 21 Jan 2026
Viewed by 509
Abstract
Forest canopies effectively remove airborne particles, reducing the frequency of atmospheric haze and improving air quality as well as playing a crucial role in maintaining human health. In this study, we examined the retention of particulate matter by Picea crassifolia Kom. (P. [...] Read more.
Forest canopies effectively remove airborne particles, reducing the frequency of atmospheric haze and improving air quality as well as playing a crucial role in maintaining human health. In this study, we examined the retention of particulate matter by Picea crassifolia Kom. (P. crassifolia) needles using an aerosol regenerator in two typical catchments, while the concentrations of dissolved trace elements (Na, Zn, Pb, and Cd) were determined only in the Tianlaochi catchment. The results showed that the retention of airborne particles was lower in the Tianlaochi catchment (e.g., total suspended particles (TSP): 0.0049 μg cm−2 in summer) than in the Sancha catchment (e.g., TSP: 0.0145 μg cm−2) in summer and autumn, while the opposite trend was found in winter and spring, with Tianlaochi catchment reaching higher TSP levels (0.0230 μg cm−2 in spring) compared to Sancha catchment (0.0205 μg cm−2). The big tree exhibited the highest particulate retention, with a maximum flux of 84.870 μg cm−2, indicating it was the most effective at particle trapping. The highest Na, Zn, Cd, and Pb values absorbed by the needle samples were 1.794 mg L−1, 11.345 μg L−1, 0.081 μg L−1, and 4.316 μg L−1, respectively. P. crassifolia needles absorbed more Na, Zn, and Cd in July and August than in June. The absorption capacity of the needles decreased in the order Na > Zn > Pb > Cd. P. crassifolia forest can effectively reduce airborne particulate matter. Our study provides a theoretical foundation to examine the role of forest ecosystems in the retention of atmospheric particulate matter in the Qilian Mountains region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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12 pages, 2014 KB  
Article
Leaf–Litter–Soil C:N:P Coupling Indicates Nitrogen and Phosphorus Limitation Across Subtropical Forest Types
by Bin Wang, Yongjun Yu, Nianchun Jiang, Jianwu Wang and Yuandan Ma
Forests 2026, 17(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17010068 - 4 Jan 2026
Viewed by 546
Abstract
Ecological stoichiometry provides a useful lens for linking nutrient status to ecosystem functioning, but cross-compartment (green leaves, surface litter, and topsoil) evidence for subtropical secondary forests is still limited. In particular, it remains unclear how forest type regulates coupled carbon (C), nitrogen (N), [...] Read more.
Ecological stoichiometry provides a useful lens for linking nutrient status to ecosystem functioning, but cross-compartment (green leaves, surface litter, and topsoil) evidence for subtropical secondary forests is still limited. In particular, it remains unclear how forest type regulates coupled carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) patterns in leaves, litter, and soils on P-retentive Acrisols and how these patterns can be used to infer nutrient limitations. We measured C, N, and P concentrations and stoichiometric ratios in leaves, surface litter, and topsoil (0–10 cm) from 38 plots representing four dominant forest types (shrub, coniferous, mixed coniferous–broadleaf, and broadleaf) in subtropical public welfare forests of eastern China. We compared elemental concentrations and ratios among forest types and compartments and examined cross-compartment associations. Forest-type differences in stoichiometric patterns were most pronounced for leaf and soil concentrations/ratios, whereas litter metrics were comparatively conservative. Coniferous stands had the highest leaf C concentration and the highest litter C:N and C:P ratios, together with relatively low soil N and P concentrations. Broadleaf stands had the highest soil C and N concentrations and the highest litter and soil N:P, suggesting a tendency toward P limitation under comparatively N-rich conditions. Shrub and mixed forests were intermediate, with shrubs exhibiting the lowest litter N:P. Leaf N:P averaged 7.5 in coniferous stands and 12.5–14.9 in mixed and broadleaf stands. Coherent correlations of C:P from leaves to litter and soils and a negative relationship between leaf N:P and soil C:N suggested coordinated stoichiometric linkages along the leaf–litter–soil continuum. Overall, the results show that forest type organizes plot-scale C:N:P coupling on Acrisols and that leaf–litter–soil stoichiometry can be used as a practical framework for identifying whether N- versus P-related constraints are more likely to dominate different subtropical forest types and for informing nutrient-aware restoration and management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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17 pages, 2936 KB  
Article
Soil Carbon Sequestration by Biological Crusts in Photovoltaic Power Stations: Southern Tengger Desert and Artemisia ordosica Shrubland Restoration
by Chunli Su, Jingjing Wu and Shengli Wang
Forests 2025, 16(9), 1396; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16091396 - 1 Sep 2025
Viewed by 1105
Abstract
This study investigates the effects of different photovoltaic (PV) panel types on soil and biological soil crusts (BSCs) under vegetation restoration in sandy areas. A 150 MW PV power plant in Huanghuatan, located in the Tengger Desert, was selected as the research site. [...] Read more.
This study investigates the effects of different photovoltaic (PV) panel types on soil and biological soil crusts (BSCs) under vegetation restoration in sandy areas. A 150 MW PV power plant in Huanghuatan, located in the Tengger Desert, was selected as the research site. Soil and BSC properties, as well as carbon sequestration, were evaluated under three PV panel types: fixed-axis (FA); horizontal single-axis (HSA); and tilted single-axis (TSA). The objective was to clarify how these panel types influence soil quality and carbon storage during Artemisia ordosica Krasch. restoration in sandy environments and to explore the underlying mechanisms. The results showed that, compared with the surrounding pristine desert (PD), PV development significantly altered soil water content (WC), saturated water content (SWC), soil organic matter (SOM), and carbonate levels in soil and BSCs. Specifically: (1) FA and HSA panels increased WC in the BSCs and sub-crust soil, although water-holding capacity decreased in the HSA area; (2) SOM in the BSCs was notably lower under HSA and TSA panels; (3) HSA and TSA panels enhanced carbonate accumulation in non-crusted soil, while the lowest carbonate content in BSCs occurred under FA panels. The sub-crust soil in all PV areas had lower carbonate content than PD; and (4) Estimated carbon storage effectiveness was ranked as follows: HSA > TSA > PD > FA. This study provides theoretical support for ecological restoration in desert PV power plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental Cycling in Forest Soils)
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19 pages, 5425 KB  
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 4 | Viewed by 1223 | 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 KB  
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
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2701
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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