Nitrogen Cycling in Permafrost Soils, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is causing the most profound changes in northern latitudes, where temperature increases have been predicted to be the largest. Warming and permafrost thawing in the Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine regions are potential tipping points for climate breakdown because they increase the risk of releasing vast carbon and nitrogen reserves stored in permafrost soils in the form of greenhouse gases. While carbon dynamics in permafrost regions have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to the fact that the Arctic also holds significant amounts of nitrogen in its soils. Moreover, the fate of this N is largely unknown. Since nitrogen regulates key components of the carbon cycle and mineral N forms are substrates for the powerful greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, studying the N cycle and pools in the Arctic ecosystem should be a key research priority.

This Special Issue aims to advance our current understanding of nitrogen cycling and carbon–nitrogen interactions in permafrost soils. This Special Issue will include original articles, case studies, and critical review papers covering the following topics:

Nitrogen pools and fractions in permafrost soils;

Mineralization, nitrification, and denitrification rates in permafrost soils;

Microbes and soil fauna involved in nitrogen cycling processes of permafrost soils;

Inputs of nitrogen (e.g., deposition, N load from animals, fertilization, and N2 fixation) into permafrost soils;

Nitrogen uptake by Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine plants and interactions of carbon and nitrogen on primary productivity;

Nitrogen loss pathways to the atmosphere and aquatic ecosystems (e.g., N leaching, fire, and gaseous losses);

Novel modelling and experimental and upscaling approaches to investigate and extrapolate nitrogen cycling in permafrost soils;

Future predictions regarding permafrost nitrogen climate feedback.

We welcome you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue.

Dr. Christina Biasi
Guest Editor

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. Nitrogen is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1200 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.