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Forests
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Deadwood Decomposition and Its Impact on Forest Soil
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Deadwood Decomposition and Its Impact on Forest Soil

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2025) | Viewed by 1022

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Chunsheng Wu

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Guest Editor
School of Soil and Water Conservation, Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang 330099, China
Interests: carbon and nitrogen cycle; forest ecology; litter and wood decomposition
Prof. Dr. Yuanqiu Liu

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Guest Editor
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Forest Resources Cultivation, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Zhimin Road 1101, Nanchang 330045, China
Interests: forest ecosystem structure and function; degraded ecosystem vegetation restoration; soil and water conservation; urban forest; forest health care
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In forest ecosystems, the natural death of trees during their growth process, as well as death, lodging, breakage, and various natural or human disturbances (such as logging), can all lead to the formation of deadwood. Deadwood is the structural and functional unit of forest ecosystems, playing an important role in carbon cycling and balance. Some 44% of the world's forest carbon is stored in soil, 42% in live biomass, 8% in deadwood, and 5% in litter. Deadwood is therefore an important component of forest ecosystem carbon pools, and the decomposition of deadwood is of great significance to the forest carbon cycle. This decomposition is a complex ecological process that is influenced by a series of environmental factors (temperature, water, light, and nutrient deposition), substrate characteristics, and biological communities, which cannot be separated from their interactions with soil. However, further exploration is needed regarding the driving factors of the decomposition process of deadwood and its impact on the physicochemical processes in the soil. This Special Issue will keep researchers and other stakeholders on the cutting edge of the latest developments in the field of deadwood decomposition and its impact on forest soils, and those interested in this topic are welcome to collaborate and share their more recent results in this field.

Dr. Chunsheng Wu
Prof. Dr. Yuanqiu Liu
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • coarse woody debris
  • deadwood
  • fallen trees
  • fallen wood
  • soil microbes
  • soil fauna
  • tree traits
  • soil characteristics

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3393 KB  
Article
Response of Soil Properties, Bacterial Community Structure, and Function to Mulching Practices in Urban Tree Pits: A Case Study in Beijing
by Yi Zheng, Jixin Cao, Ying Wang, Yafen Wei, Yu Tian and Yanchun Wang
Forests 2025, 16(10), 1573; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16101573 - 12 Oct 2025
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Abstract
Soil degradation and poor fertility severely constrain vegetation growth in urban ecosystems, particularly in compacted and nutrient-depleted tree pits. Mulching has emerged as an effective strategy to improve soil quality and regulate soil–microbe–plant interactions, yet the combined use of organic and inorganic mulching [...] Read more.
Soil degradation and poor fertility severely constrain vegetation growth in urban ecosystems, particularly in compacted and nutrient-depleted tree pits. Mulching has emerged as an effective strategy to improve soil quality and regulate soil–microbe–plant interactions, yet the combined use of organic and inorganic mulching in urban landscapes remains underexplored. In this study, a one-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of four mulching treatments on soil bacterial community diversity and functional potential. Four treatments were applied green waste compost + wood chips (GW), green waste compost + wood chips + volcanic rocks (GWV), green waste compost + wood chips + pebbles (GWP), and a non-mulched control (CK). Organic mulching (GW) effectively reduced bulk density, enhanced cellulase and protease activities, increased bacterial community richness and balance, and enriched microbial genes associated with carbon and nitrogen metabolism, while organic–inorganic mulching further promoted soil nutrition and reshaped bacterial community structure. Soil pH, nitrogen content, and protease activity served as key drivers of bacterial community structure and function. These findings demonstrate that different mulching practices provide distinct ecological advantages, and together highlight the role of mulching in regulating soil–microbe–plant interactions and improving urban tree pit management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deadwood Decomposition and Its Impact on Forest Soil)
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17 pages, 3983 KB  
Article
Reduced Precipitation Alters Soil Nutrient Dynamics by Regulating the Chemical Properties of Deadwood Substrates
by Laicong Luo, Xi Yuan, Chunsheng Wu, Dehuan Zong, Xueying Zhong, Kang Lin, Long Li, Bingxu Yang, Xuejiao Han, Chao Luo, Wenping Deng, Shijie Li and Yuanqiu Liu
Forests 2025, 16(7), 1112; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16071112 - 4 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Global climate change has intensified the heterogeneity of precipitation regimes in subtropical regions, and the increasing frequency of extreme drought events poses a significant threat to biogeochemical cycling in forest ecosystems. Yet, the pathways by which reduced precipitation regulates deadwood decomposition and thereby [...] Read more.
Global climate change has intensified the heterogeneity of precipitation regimes in subtropical regions, and the increasing frequency of extreme drought events poses a significant threat to biogeochemical cycling in forest ecosystems. Yet, the pathways by which reduced precipitation regulates deadwood decomposition and thereby influences soil nutrient pools remain poorly resolved. Here, we investigated a Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook. plantation in subtropical China under ambient precipitation (CK) and precipitation reduction treatments of 30%, 50%, and 80%, systematically examining how reduced precipitation alters the chemical properties of deadwood substrates and, in turn, soil nutrient status. Our findings reveal that (1) as precipitation declined, soil water content decreased significantly (p < 0.01), while deadwood pH declined and total organic carbon (TOC), nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs), and lignin content markedly accumulated (p < 0.01); (2) these shifts in deadwood chemistry affected feedback mechanisms, leading to the suppression of soil nutrient pools: extreme drought (80% reduction) significantly reduced soil TOC, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) (p < 0.01) and inhibited N and P mineralization, whereas the 30% reduction treatment elicited a transient increase in soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), indicative of microbial acclimation to mild water stress; and (3) principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the 80% reduction treatment drove lignin accumulation in deadwood, while the 30% reduction treatment exerted the greatest influence on soil DOC, TOC, and MBC; partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) further demonstrated that soil water content and deadwood substrate properties (pH, lignin, soluble sugars, TOC, C/N, and lignin/N) were strongly negatively correlated (r = −0.9051, p < 0.01), and that deadwood chemistry was, in turn, negatively correlated with soil nutrient variables (pH, TOC, DOC, MBC, TP, TN, and dissolved organic nitrogen [DON]; r = −0.8056, p < 0.01). Together, these results indicate that precipitation reduction—by drying soils—profoundly modifies deadwood chemical composition (lignin accumulation and NSC retention) and thereby, via slowed organic-matter mineralization, constrains soil nutrient release and accumulation. This work provides a mechanistic framework for understanding forest carbon–nitrogen cycling under climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deadwood Decomposition and Its Impact on Forest Soil)
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