Impact of Global Change on Soil Carbon Storage and Biogeochemical Cycles in Tropical Forest Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few years, responses of tropical forests to global change have received increasing attention, underlying the sensitivity of this ecosystem to temperature rise, precipitation regime modifications and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂). Furthermore, the extremely high tropical tree diversity also showed a large panel of responses to global change. However, less attention was done on how global change, i.e., increased of drought, temperature, CO₂ and nitrogen (N) deposition, influences the belowground compartment, while it shows a main role in carbon (C) sink and biogeochemical cycles. In light of the recent COP21 Paris Agreement, it is essential to better understand the impacts of global change on soil C stock and storage to determine the level of climate mitigation required to achieve the agreed temperature goals. Tropical forests are currently subject to different antagonist processes which disrupt the soil C storage and alter the soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes, creating a potential feedback mechanism for climate change.

The articles in this Special Issue will contribute to increasing our knowledge on the main environmental drivers, and their interactions, that are behind tropical forest soil functioning, including microorganism activities, stoichiometry diversity, soil–plant interactions and carbon storage mechanisms.

Dr. Clément Stahl
Dr. Laetitia Brechet
Guest Editors

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