Soil Contamination in Forest Ecosystem

Dear Colleagues,

Soil contamination is a major threat to terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Most contaminants that enter soil come from anthropogenic sources such as agricultural and forestry practices, industrial activities, and tourism, which result in a significant increase in the levels of potentially toxic contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants, or some emerging pollutants (e.g., nanoparticles, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, or plastics) in soil, which have harmful effects on ecosystem functions and consequently affect human health. Although a great amount of research has focused on pollution characterization, health risk assessment, and source apportionment of forest soil, a general solution for the control of forest soil contamination remains to be found, and new strategies for use in soil remediation and ecosystem restoration are urgently needed. This Special Issue plans to give an overview of the most recent advancements in the field of forest soil contamination and will provide selected contributions regarding the nature and extent of soil contamination and the state of novel methodologies and innovative techniques for soil remediation in forest ecosystems, including case studies, meta-analysis studies, and model studies, in order to promote knowledge and management strategies for forest ecosystems.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Inorganic and organic soil contaminants;
• Plant–soil interactions;
• Remediation actions/strategies in polluted soils;
• New methods/techniques for soil pollution diagnosis;
• Ecotoxicological effects of pollutants on soil living organisms;
• Effects of pollutants on soil functions and ecosystem services;
• Environmental factors affecting fate and toxicity of soil pollutants;
• Climate change effects in polluted soils;
• Risk assessment of polluted soils.

Prof. Dr. Ping Wang
Dr. Chao Huang
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.