Restoring Forest Landscapes: Impact on Soil Properties and Functions

Dear Colleagues,

Restoring depleted ecosystems is among the main goals that most national and international institutions will unavoidably have to tackle in the coming decades. The twenty-first century could become the ecological restoration century, once we are already looking into the eyes of the global change and its effects (biodiversity crisis, humanitarian crisis, desertification). New ecological restoration programs will require a greater balance between environmental, economic, and social objectives, and the commitment of all main stakeholders. New approaches towards more resilient forests will be based not only on new ecotechnological tools and the work of multidisciplinary teams but also on a deep knowledge of ecological theory.

We are looking for manuscripts on methods, results, and ideas on forest restoration and management that pursue not only the establishment of forest covers but also attempt to restore plant dynamics and plant–soil interactions as a first step towards a sustainable mid- to long-term recovery of functions, from ecosystem properties to goods and services. Experiments and studies focused on promoting or assessing how plant–soil microbe interactions synergistically affect the provision of different soil ecosystem functions are especially welcome. Any contributions related to promoting or improving the plant–soil interface of forest landscapes in drylands and desertification-prone areas are also appreciated.

Dr. Jose Antonio Navarro Cano
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-anonymized 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.