Genetic Mechanisms of Environmental Adaptability of Forest Tree Species

Dear Colleagues,

The adaptability of forest trees to varying environmental conditions is a cornerstone for maintaining forest ecosystems, ensuring biodiversity, and providing essential resources and services. With the increasing impacts of climate change, understanding the genetic mechanisms behind environmental adaptability in forest trees has become more critical than ever. Recent advancements in molecular biology, genomics, and high-throughput sequencing technologies have opened new avenues for exploring these genetic mechanisms.

This Special Issue of the journal Forests focuses on the genetic basis of environmental adaptability in forest trees. We invite articles that delve into the genome-wide identification and analysis of genes and genetic pathways that enable forest trees to withstand various environmental stresses, including drought, temperature extremes, pathogens, and soil nutrient deficiencies. Studies that leverage cutting-edge techniques such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS), quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) are particularly welcome.

We aim to showcase research that enhances our understanding of how genetic variation, gene expression, and epigenetic modifications contribute to the resilience of forest trees. Contributions that improve identification methods, analyze population-level genetic diversity, or provide the functional verification of key adaptive genes are highly encouraged. This Special Issue seeks both theoretical insights and empirical findings that will guide future conservation efforts, breeding programs, and the development of climate-resilient forest tree populations.

Dr. Mingcheng Wang
Dr. Shanshan Zhu
Dr. Lei Zhang
Dr. Yonghua Zhang
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.