Soil Organic Matter and Soil Multifunctionality in Forest Ecosystems—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Soil organic matter (SOM), as an organic component in soil, plays a significant role in maintaining soil fertility, ecosystem function, food security, and global change. Globally, soil scientists have made long-term efforts to improve our understanding of the dynamics and functions of SOM and its responses to global environmental change. Soil multifunctionality is an important part of ecosystem multifunctionality. Studying soil multifunctionality and its driving factors can help us better understand the comprehensive functions of soil, providing a reference for the reasonable management and evaluation of soil ecosystems. With the long-term efforts of soil scientists and the application of new technologies and methods, studies of SOM cycling and soil multifunctionality have made significant progress, despite facing many difficulties and challenges, especially in the context of global environmental change. A better understanding of forest SOM cycling and soil multifunctionality will facilitate an understanding of soil ecological processes and ecosystem service functions that can be applied to ecological and forestry practices. This Special Issue aims to present selected contributions investigating advances in soil SOM cycling and soil multifunctionality in the forest ecosystems of a changing world.

We encourage the submission of research in areas, including, but not limited to, the following: SOM formation and decomposition; soil carbon, nitrogen, or phosphorus cycling; greenhouse gas emissions from soil; the mechanisms of SOM biogeochemistry; soil multifunctionality; soil ecological stoichiometry; biodiversity; forest restoration; forest management; forest succession; and climate change.

Dr. Xiong Fang
Dr. Yuzhe Wang
Prof. Dr. Xingkai Xu
Prof. Dr. Xiankai Lu
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.