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Forests
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Forest Soil Stability in Response to Global Change Scenarios
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Forest Soil Stability in Response to Global Change Scenarios

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1427

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Oladele Awe

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Guest Editor
Department of Nuclear Energy, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Interests: soil and environmental sciences
Dr. Miriam Fernanda Rodrigues

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Soils Department, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria 97105-900, Brazil
Interests: soil physics; soil conservation practices; soil erosion; hydrological processes; sedimentological processes; soil and water management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forest soil plays an important role in providing ecosystem functions through numerous services. Thus, the aim of forest soil management is to restore soil organic carbon in order to enhance soil structure and fertility and to help counter the atmospheric greenhouse effect. There have been reports, views, concepts, and hypotheses that natural regeneration, reforestation, and soil remediation techniques are effective approaches to restore degraded forest soils using natural and anthropogenic actions. However, there is still a knowledge gap as regards the mechanism of the stabilization processes as the soil has been tagged a ‘black box’. Therefore, it becomes important to explore the magnitude and direction of how forest soils stabilize and maintain the functions under global change drivers of increased temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide, nutrient pollution, as well as changing precipitation regimes.

This research topic aims to provide an overview of the current concepts and knowledge of the effects of various global change scenarios on the stabilization of forest soils under managed or rehabilitation programs and to specifically elucidate the magnitude of crucial processes and the underlying mechanisms (physical, chemical, and/or biotic) that drive forest soil stabilization.

We welcome novel contributions on forest soil stabilization under major trajectories of global change, including climate warming, drought, forest conversion, and soil remediation. We encourage studies from a wide range of approaches including field and laboratory experiments, modeling, and synthesis in the form of reviews, mini reviews, meta-analyses, perspectives, and original research.

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Oladele Awe
Dr. Miriam Fernanda Rodrigues
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 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

  • forest soil
  • soil management
  • soil stabilization
  • global change

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 8401 KB  
Article
Soil Pore Architecture and Hydraulic Functioning of Native Forest and Sugarcane Systems with and Without Cover Crop Intercropping Revealed by X-Ray Computed Tomography
by Gabriel Oladele Awe, Ademir de Oliveira Ferreira, Brivaldo Gomes de Almeida, Williams Ramos da Silva, Antonio Celso Dantas Antonino and José Miguel Reichert
Forests 2026, 17(3), 365; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17030365 - 14 Mar 2026
Viewed by 375
Abstract
Soil pore architecture and hydraulic functioning strongly regulate water flow and retention. However, despite the growing application of X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) in soil science, its application in characterizing the pore system and hydraulic functioning of native forest soils converted to sugarcane [...] Read more.
Soil pore architecture and hydraulic functioning strongly regulate water flow and retention. However, despite the growing application of X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) in soil science, its application in characterizing the pore system and hydraulic functioning of native forest soils converted to sugarcane production systems in northeast Brazil is still poorly known. This study therefore quantified the soil structure, pore system, and hydraulic functioning of a native forest (NF) and an adjacent sugarcane field receiving vinasse and managed without intercropping (sole sugarcane (SG)) and with Brachiaria ruziziensis intercropping (SG + Bra intercrop) in northeastern Brazil, using conventional soil physical measurements and X-ray CT, in three soil layers (0–10, 10–20, and 20–40 cm). Soil physical and hydraulic properties, as well as soil water retention, were quantified. The native forest soil exhibited a uniformly sandy texture across all depths, whereas sugarcane systems ranged from loam to sandy textures in surface layers due to long-term management. Soil organic matter and total nitrogen in the 0–10 cm layer were approximately 75 and 65% higher, respectively, in sole Sole SG and SG + Bra intercrop than in NF. Soil bulk density increased with depth under sugarcane, reaching values about 10%–13% higher than NF in the 20–40 cm layer. Saturated hydraulic conductivity in the surface layer was higher in the NF, approximately five to nine times greater than in sole SG and SG + Bra intercrop, respectively. Conventional water retention analysis showed that sole SG and SG + Bra intercrop had greater total porosity (0.49–0.55 m3 m−3), microporosity (0.26–0.36 m3 m−3), field capacity (0.19–0.33 m3 m−3), and plant available water (0.09–0.15 m3 m−3) in the upper 20 cm compared with the NF (≤0.10 m3 m−3 available water). In contrast, X-ray CT revealed higher macroporosity (0.20–0.23 mm3 mm−3) and pore connectivity in the NF across all depths, with predominantly complex, inclined to near-horizontal pores and low anisotropy. Intercropping sugarcane with Brachiaria did not significantly alter (p > 0.05) bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, or CT-derived pore connectivity relative to sole sugarcane. The degree of anisotropy and fractal dimension derived from X-ray CT were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with conventionally measured hydraulic properties. The X-ray computed tomography proved effective in linking pore-scale architecture to soil hydraulic functioning, providing insights beyond conventional measurements. The short-term inclusion of Brachiaria as a cover crop at 10 kg seed ha−1 did not result in significant improvements in soil pore structure, indicating that longer-term adoption and/or higher planting densities may be required to induce measurable changes in pore system architecture and soil hydraulic functioning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Soil Stability in Response to Global Change Scenarios)
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16 pages, 4352 KB  
Article
Impacts of Forest-to-Pasture Conversion on Soil Water Retention in the Amazon Biome
by Moacir Tuzzin de Moraes, Luiz Henrique Quecine Grande, Geane Alves de Moura, Wanderlei Bieluczyk, Dasiel Obregón Alvarez, Leandro Fonseca de Souza, Siu Mui Tsai and Plínio Barbosa de Camargo
Forests 2026, 17(2), 157; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17020157 - 24 Jan 2026
Viewed by 664
Abstract
Land-use conversion from forest-to-pasture in the Amazon can affect soil physical quality and hydraulic functioning. The study evaluates the effects of land use (forest and pasture) and soil texture (fine and coarse) on soil structure and hydraulic properties, using the soil water retention [...] Read more.
Land-use conversion from forest-to-pasture in the Amazon can affect soil physical quality and hydraulic functioning. The study evaluates the effects of land use (forest and pasture) and soil texture (fine and coarse) on soil structure and hydraulic properties, using the soil water retention curve as an integrative indicator. The study was conducted with soil samples from the Tapajós National Forest region, Pará State, Brazil, with eight sites (four forest and four pasture), balanced by texture. Undisturbed samples were collected from five profile layers (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm) for each site, totaling 160 samples. Samples were saturated and measured at soil water matric potentials from −0.1 to −15,000 hPa to obtain the soil water retention curve, which was fitted using the van Genuchten–Mualem model. Pore size distribution was derived from the relationship between soil water matric potential and equivalent pore diameter. Results are reported for the 0–40 cm soil profile (integrating the four sampled layers). Forest-to-pasture conversion altered soil pore structure and water retention in a texture-dependent manner. For fine-textured soils, bulk density increased from 1.03 to 1.31 Mg m−3 (+27%) from forest to pasture. In coarse-textured soils, the drainable pore volume up to −15,000 hPa, equivalent diameter > 0.2 µm) decreased from 0.296 to 0.147 m3 m−3 (−50%) from forest to pasture. Plant-available water across the 0–40 cm profile ranged from 0.107 m3 m−3 (pasture, fine-textured) to 0.137 m3 m−3 (forest, coarse-textured). Coarse-textured soils showed a marked reduction in macroporosity, water retention, and plant-available water, whereas fine-texture soils showed smaller changes in water availability but reduced aeration associated with macropore reduction. These results indicate higher physical quality vulnerability of coarse-textured soils following forest-to-pasture conversion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Soil Stability in Response to Global Change Scenarios)
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