Forest Growth, Soil Properties and Climate

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 362

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada, Departamento de Engenharia Rural, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Apartado 94, 7002-544 Évora, Portugal
Interests: soil; water; plant and farming technology

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada, Departamento de Engenharia Rural, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Apartado 94, 7002-544 Évora, Portugal
Interests: soil erosion; soil survey; soil characterization; digital soil mapping

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada, Departamento de Engenharia Rural, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Apartado 94, 7002-544 Évora, Portugal
Interests: forestry; silviculture; modeling; biomass; stand structure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Site quality, genetic factors, and forest management are crucial to forest stand productivity. In physiographically homogeneous landscape units, soil quality, climate, and microclimate determine the variability of the physical environment and the productive potential of a forest ecosystem.

In addition to its support function, soil is a source of water and nutrients for terrestrial plants. Poor performance of these functions can make soil a limiting factor for tree growth and the productivity of forest stands. The soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties, primarily emanating from its profile, directly affect the soil’s ability to provide the necessary resources for forest growth. The climate also plays a major role in tree growth, both by directly affecting vital functions and by influencing the soil's productive capacity. Both soil and climate set limits for fundamental forest planning and management decisions.

In turn, soil formation is a major service provided by forests to society. Furthermore, forests provide protection against erosion and excessive evaporation, promote water drainage and aeration, improve soil structure, and enrich the soil with organic matter and nutrients. By directly interfering in the water cycle, forests also shape the climates within their perimeters and in the surrounding areas. Given the amount of biomass produced, forest soils are one of the largest carbon reservoirs on the planet.

Only a deep knowledge of these mutual influences can guarantee the sustainable management of forest resources, i.e., promoting forest growth, yield, and productivity without compromising other natural resources, particularly soil resources. This Special Issue will focus on examples of these relationships, resulting from ongoing experiments in the scientific community. The contributions should also help to clarify the concept of forest soils, as well as the relative importance of each climatic factor in forest growth.

Dr. José Alexandre Varanda Andrade
Dr. Carlos A. Alexandre
Dr. Ana Cristina Gonçalves
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 growth
  • forest soil
  • soil properties
  • site quality
  • forest productivity
  • forest climatology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 15686 KiB  
Article
Soil Moisture Loss in Planted Forests and Its Driving Factors: A Case Study of the Nanpan River Basin
by Huan Yu, Wengang Cui, Zhonghua He, Mei Yang, Hongmei Tan and Qiuyun Yang
Forests 2025, 16(4), 665; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16040665 - 10 Apr 2025
Viewed by 201
Abstract
Soil moisture is a critical factor influencing the growth and development of terrestrial ecosystems and vegetation. In this study, we utilized data on meteorology, soil moisture, soil texture, and the spatial distribution of planted and natural forests to examine the spatial distribution characteristics [...] Read more.
Soil moisture is a critical factor influencing the growth and development of terrestrial ecosystems and vegetation. In this study, we utilized data on meteorology, soil moisture, soil texture, and the spatial distribution of planted and natural forests to examine the spatial distribution characteristics of soil moisture across soils with varying textures and depths. Geodetector models were constructed to analyze the driving mechanisms behind soil moisture dynamics. The key findings are as follows: (1) Soil moisture consumption in planted forests was significantly higher than in natural forests, with the magnitude of the difference taking the following order: coarse-textured soils > medium-textured soils > fine-textured soils. (2) The spatial differentiation of moisture content across soil layers was primarily determined by the 10–40 cm layer, while soil moisture in the 0–10 cm layer was more strongly influenced by wind speed. (3) The dominant plantation species in the watershed, Eucalyptus and Cunninghamia, have main roots extending to depths of 100–200 cm. The presence of these species in this soil layer contributes significantly to the spatial differentiation of soil moisture. This study reveals that planted forests planting consumes huge amount of soil moisture and affects the spatial differentiation of soil moisture, which provides theoretical guidance for the management of ecological restoration projects in this area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Growth, Soil Properties and Climate)
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