Dynamic Plant–Soil–Microbe Interactions Mediating Forest Resilience and Ecosystem Multifunctionality Under Global Change
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Soil".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 55
Editors
Interests: forest ecosystem; global change; environment; biodiversity; soil organic carbon; ecological restoration
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Forest ecosystems are increasingly threatened by global change drivers such as climate warming, altered precipitation, and land-use intensification. The resilience and multifunctionality of these ecosystems heavily depend on the complex, dynamic interactions between plants, soil, and associated microbial communities. This Special Issue aims to synthesize cutting-edge research on how plant–soil–microbe interactions regulate key forest ecosystem functions, particularly carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and disease suppression, under both natural and anthropogenic stress. By bridging aboveground and belowground ecology, this Special Issue seeks to advance our mechanistic understanding of forest resilience and provide actionable insights for sustainable forest management and ecological restoration.
Historically, forest ecology predominantly focused on aboveground processes, treating belowground compartments as a “black box”. Over the past two decades, a paradigm shift has occurred with the recognition that soil microbiomes, mycorrhizal networks, and root exudates are fundamental drivers of forest health and biogeochemical cycles. Plants and microbes engage in highly dynamic, context-dependent mutualistic or antagonistic interactions that shape ecosystem trajectories.
However, as global change accelerates, these established interaction networks are being disrupted. Shifts in temperature and moisture regimes alter microbial community composition and enzyme activities, while elevated CO2 and nitrogen deposition modify plant carbon allocation and root exudation profiles. Understanding the historical context and the evolutionary trajectories of these interactions is crucial for predicting whether forests will act as future carbon sinks or sources, and how they will recover from disturbances such as wildfires, logging, or extreme droughts.
This Special Issue aims to collate novel research that explores the dynamic nature of plant–soil–microbe interactions in forest ecosystems and their implications for ecosystem resilience.
The scope includes, but is not limited to:
- Mechanisms of plant–microbe signaling and recruitment in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere.
- The role of mycorrhizal networks in carbon and nutrient exchange among forest trees.
- Responses of soil food webs and microbial communities to global change manipulations (warming, drought, nitrogen deposition).
- Linkages between plant functional traits and soil microbiome assembly.
- Microbiome-mediated forest resilience against pathogens and extreme climatic events.
- Applications of plant–soil–microbe interactions in forest restoration, afforestation, and sustainable management.
Dr. Xu Li
Dr. Kaijun Yang
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-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.
Keywords
- plant–soil-microbe interactions
- forest resilience
- soil microbiome
- ecosystem multifunctionality
- global change ecology
- rhizosphere processes
- mycorrhizal networks
- carbon and nutrient cycling
- forest restoration
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