Response of Plants to Drought in Forests
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 148
Special Issue Editors
Interests: drought stress; water conservation; water and fertilizer coupling; physiological response; forest management; soil moisture
Interests: forest growth; drought sensitivity; extreme climate; resilience; hydraulic traits; forest dynamics; carbon starvation; heatwave; recovery
Interests: drought stress; phytohormones; soil moisture; water conservation; physiological response
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Drought stress, intensified by global climate change, poses a severe and escalating threat to forest ecosystems and plant survival worldwide—it is responsible for widespread tree mortality, reduced forest productivity, and compromised ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, water regulation, and biodiversity conservation. Notwithstanding significant advances in plant physiology and forest ecology, a comprehensive understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying plant drought response and effective mitigation strategies remains a formidable challenge. Therefore, developing novel insights and practical solutions for enhancing forest resilience is urgently needed.
This Special Issue aims to compile a collection of cutting-edge research and reviews that illuminate the multifaceted responses of plants and forests to drought stress, and seeks to bridge the gap from fundamental molecular mechanisms to large-scale ecological impacts and sustainable management practices.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Molecular Mechanisms Revealed by Multi-Omics: Integration of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics with stress experiments.
- Sustained Physiological Responses to Long-Term Drought: Carbon starvation, hydraulic failure, osmotic adjustment, and resource allocation shifts in trees.
- Large-Scale Drought Impact Assessment: Utilizing remote sensing, ecological modeling, and dendrochronology to monitor forest decline and vegetation dynamics.
- Silvicultural Practices and Drought Resilience: Thinning, irrigation, selective breeding of drought-tolerant species, and other management interventions.
- Synergistic Effects and Legacy Effects: Interactions between drought and other stressors (e.g., heatwaves, pests, and pathogens) and the long-term impact of drought events.
- Responses of Soil Properties to Drought: Carbon Sequestration in Soil, Soil Quality Degradation, Decline in Microbial Function, and Changes in Nutrient Forms.
Prof. Dr. Qian He
Prof. Dr. Xiuchen Wu
Guest Editors
Dr. Juanjuan Liu
Dr. Linnan Ouyang
Guest Editor Assistants
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
- hydraulic failure
- drought stress
- water conservation
- leaf wilting
- ecosystem impact
- forest management
- heat stress
- soil moisture
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