Microbial Community Composition and Function in Forest Soil

Dear Colleagues,

As an important part of the forest ecosystem, soil microbes play important roles in maintaining multiple ecosystem functions and driving biogeochemical cycles. They can be the key indicators for evaluating soil health and fertility, and the effectiveness of vegetation restoration. Meanwhile, biotic and abiotic factors including climate, vegetation type and soil properties can change the composition and activity of soil microbes, then affect ecological processes and functions.

However, microbial communities are very complex and sensitive to the environment. Compared with the above-ground ecosystem, much less is known about the microbial diversity, composition and functions. In recent years, with the development of microbial determination technology, there has been an increasing number of diverse research studies on soil microbes. Under the background of climate change and ecological restoration, many unknowns and uncertainties exist in the spatial and temporal patterns, functions and influencing factors of forest soil microbes. A better understanding of forest soil microbes will facilitate the understanding of ecological processes and services that can be applied to ecological and forestry practices.

We encourage research in all these areas, including but not limited to: the microbial community composition and diversity; community assembly; growth and metabolic activity and biomass; soil enzymes; stoichiometric characteristics; functional genes; special groups of microbes; plant-microbe interactions; microbial functions (such as involved in elemental biogeochemical cycles, carbon fixation, soil quality, soil formation, pollutant degradation, litter decomposition, and etc.), and their biogeographic patterns; temporal dynamics; and responses to vegetation succession and environmental and climate changes. 

Dr. Yujing Yang
Prof. Dr. Xiankai Lu
Dr. Xiong Fang
Guest Editors

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