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Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and...
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Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and Arid Areas) Interactions for a Better Eco-Environment and Sustainable Productivity

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2024 | Viewed by 4408

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hongbo Shao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Bioresources of Saline Soils, Jiangsu Synthetic Innovation Center for Coastal Bio-Agriculture, Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng 224002, China
2. Salt-Soil Agricultural Center(SSAC), Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences(JAAS), Nanjing 210014, China
Interests: plant stress biology; molecular biology and biotechnology; plant (vegetation)–environment interactions; soil biology; plant nutrition, physiology and ecology under abiotic stress; bio-measures for salt-affected soil improvement and costal zone eco-environmental restoration; eco-marine fishery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are generally sessile organisms and are frequently exposed to stressful environments such as salt, water deficit (drought), low and high temperatures (heat and cold damage), and deficiency as well as excess in mineral nutrients. All factors related to water (including ocean water), soil, air, and the biosphere will influence the growth, development, and productivity of plants. Plants have evolved an array of complicated mechanisms to cope with these stresses. Environmental plant science is a research area that aims to elucidate how plants respond and adapt to stressful environments by monitoring the responding process and is an important theme of contemporary plant biology. Only plants can provide oxygen, food, feed, fibers, and building materials, and they are a diverse source of industrial and pharmaceutical chemicals. In addition, they are centrally important to the health of ecosystems and the management and maintenance of a sustainable biosphere. So, in an ever-changing world, plant biology is of the utmost importance for securing humankind's future well-being. Currently, plant biology is diversified into agricultural science, marine science, aquaculture, and soil science from the molecular level to ecosystem scale. It uses the latest developments in computer science, optics, molecular biology, and multi-omics to address challenges in model systems and agricultural crops and explores the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of both higher and lower plants, as well as their interactions with other organisms throughout the biosphere.

For the past 3 decades, plants have been extensively, deeply, and systemically studied, especially in terms of gene expression and regulation, immunity communication, signal transduction and recognition, and gene editing, but less attention has been paid to plant–environment interaction processes, especially in salt-affected soil, coastal zones and arid environments, including low-producing arable land. The above land area makes up about 50% of China’s arable land and 30% of the coastline area of China. Based on plant measures (as the first productivity or environmental indicators), how to monitor the plant (vegetation)–environment interaction process, how to improve soil-affected soils (low-productivity land), how to conduct eco-marine aquaculture, and how to ecologically protect and restore soil environments and coastal zones for sustainable development will remain a global challenge for a long time. All the traditional and modern practical measures for agriculture and eco-environmental construction aim to better manage and regulate plant–environment corresponding relationships, and all their actions and interactions are made true under the SPAC (soil–plant–atmosphere continuum) system, which aims at managing and regulating plant (vegetation)–environment (soil-affected land, coastal zone, and arid areas) interactions for a better eco-environment and sustainable productivity. These actions include various kinds of fertilization, irrigation, and pest control, and interactions include processes, mechanisms, and function performance. Therefore, this Special Issue will mainly focus on, but is not limited to, soil-affected land (including low-productivity land) and the coastal zone environment in terms of improving soil-affected land, eco-marine aquaculture, and eco-restoring coastal zones (from nearshore aquaculture to marshy wetland to coastal zones with decreasing salt concentration). The main areas of interest are listed below:

  1. Salty soil improvement effect on plants (vegetation);
  2. Plant (vegetation) responses to the improvement in salt-affected soil and eco-restoration of coastal zones;
  3. Salty environment (arid land) monitoring for appropriate plant (vegetation) growth strategies;
  4. Climate factors' impacts on plant (vegetation) growth in salty environments and arid areas;
  5. Wetland ecology, eco-marine fishery, and impacts on phytoplankton, algae, and coastal plants;
  6. Monitoring aquaculture evolution and impacts on coastal zone environments;
  7. Bio-remediation for degraded soil (including polluted soil and low-productivity land ) in combination with microorganism methodology plus straw return land).

Prof. Dr. Hongbo Shao
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 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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • plant–environment interaction
  • salt-affected soil
  • arid environment
  • soil fertility increase and maintenance
  • costal zone
  • eco-marine fishery
  • eco-aquaculture
  • improvement
  • eco-restoration

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3365 KiB  
Article
Biochar and Manure Co-Application Increases Rice Yield in Low Productive Acid Soil by Increasing Soil pH, Organic Carbon, and Nutrient Retention and Availability
by Dong Liang, Yunwang Ning, Cheng Ji, Yongchun Zhang, Huashan Wu, Hongbo Ma, Jianwei Zhang and Jidong Wang
Plants 2024, 13(7), 973; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13070973 - 28 Mar 2024
Viewed by 585
Abstract
In recent years, overuse of chemical fertilization has led to soil acidification and decreased rice yield productivity in southern China. Biochar and manure co-application remediation may have positive effects on rice yield and improve acid paddy soil fertility. This study was conducted to [...] Read more.
In recent years, overuse of chemical fertilization has led to soil acidification and decreased rice yield productivity in southern China. Biochar and manure co-application remediation may have positive effects on rice yield and improve acid paddy soil fertility. This study was conducted to understand the effects of co-application of wood biochar and pig manure on rice yield and acid paddy soil quality (0–40 cm soil layers) in a 5-year field experiment. The experiment consisted of six treatments: no biochar and no fertilizer (CK); biochar only (BC); mineral fertilizer (N); mineral fertilizer combined with biochar (N + BC); manure (25% manure N replacing fertilizer N) combined with mineral fertilizer (MN); and manure combined with mineral fertilizer and biochar (MN + BC). Total nitrogen application for each treatment was the same at 270 kg nitrogen ha−1y−1, and 30 t ha−1 biochar was added to the soil only in the first year. After five years, compared with N treatments, N + BC, MN, and MN + BC treatments increased the rice yield rate to 2.8%, 4.3%, and 6.3%, respectively, by improving soil organic matter, total nitrogen, and available phosphate under a 0–40 cm soil layer. MN + BC had the strongest resistance to soil acidification among all the treatments. The interaction between fertilizers and biochar application was significant (p < 0.05) in rice yield, soil electrical conductivity (10–20 cm), and soil available phosphate (20–40 cm). Principal component analysis indicated that the effect of manure on soil property was stronger than that of biochar in the 0–40 cm soil layer. The overall rice yield and soil fertility decreased in the order of biochar + mineral fertilizer + manure > mineral fertilizer + manure > biochar + mineral fertilizer > mineral fertilizer > biochar > control. These results suggest that biochar and manure co-application is a long-term viable strategy for improving acid soil productivity due to its improvements in soil pH, organic carbon, nutrient retention, and availability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and Arid Areas) Interactions for a Better Eco-Environment and Sustainable Productivity)
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17 pages, 2583 KiB  
Article
Effects of Priestia aryabhattai on Phosphorus Fraction and Implications for Ecoremediating Cd-Contaminated Farmland with Plant–Microbe Technology
by Shenghan Yang, Yiru Ning, Hua Li and Yuen Zhu
Plants 2024, 13(2), 268; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13020268 - 17 Jan 2024
Viewed by 750
Abstract
The application of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria has been widely studied in remediating Cd-contaminated soil, but only a few studies have reported on the interaction of P and Cd as well as the microbiological mechanisms with phosphate-solubilizing bacteria in the soil because the activity of [...] Read more.
The application of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria has been widely studied in remediating Cd-contaminated soil, but only a few studies have reported on the interaction of P and Cd as well as the microbiological mechanisms with phosphate-solubilizing bacteria in the soil because the activity of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria is easily inhibited by the toxicity of Cd. This paper investigates the phosphorus solubilization ability of Priestia aryabhattai domesticated under the stress of Cd, which was conducted in a soil experiment with the addition of Cd at different concentrations. The results show that the content of Ca2-P increased by 5.12–19.84%, and the content of labile organic phosphorus (LOP) increased by 3.03–8.42% after the addition of Priestia aryabhattai to the unsterilized soil. The content of available Cd decreased by 3.82% in the soil with heavy Cd contamination. Priestia aryabhattai has a certain resistance to Cd, and its relative abundance increased with the increased Cd concentration. The contents of Ca2-P and LOP in the soil had a strong positive correlation with the content of Olsen-P (p < 0.01), while the content of available Cd was negatively correlated with the contents of Olsen-P, Ca2-P, and LOP (p < 0.05). Priestia aryabhattai inhibits the transport of Cd, facilitates the conversion of low-activity P and insoluble P to Ca2-P and LOP in the soil, and increases the bioavailability and seasonal utilization of P in the soil, showing great potential in ecoremediating Cd-contaminated farmland soil with plant–microbe-combined technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and Arid Areas) Interactions for a Better Eco-Environment and Sustainable Productivity)
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16 pages, 4847 KiB  
Article
Biogas Slurry Significantly Improved Degraded Farmland Soil Quality and Promoted Capsicum spp. Production
by Zichen Wang, Isaac A. Sanusi, Jidong Wang, Xiaomei Ye, Evariste Gueguim Kana and Ademola O. Olaniran
Plants 2024, 13(2), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13020265 - 17 Jan 2024
Viewed by 832
Abstract
This study reports on the effects of pretreated biogas slurry on degraded farm soil properties, microflora and the production of Capsicum spp. The responses of soil properties, microorganisms and Capsicum spp. production to biogas slurry pretreated soil were determined. The biogas slurry pretreatment [...] Read more.
This study reports on the effects of pretreated biogas slurry on degraded farm soil properties, microflora and the production of Capsicum spp. The responses of soil properties, microorganisms and Capsicum spp. production to biogas slurry pretreated soil were determined. The biogas slurry pretreatment of degraded soil increases the total nitrogen (0.15–0.32 g/kg), total phosphorus (0.13–0.75 g/kg), available phosphorus (102.62–190.68 mg/kg), available potassium (78.94–140.31 mg/kg), organic carbon content (0.67–3.32 g/kg) and pH value of the soil, while the population, diversity and distribution of soil bacteria and fungi were significantly affected. Interestingly, soil ammonium nitrogen, soil pH and soil nitrate nitrogen were highly correlated with the population of bacteria and fungi present in the pretreated soil. The soil with biogas slurry pretreatment of 495 m3/hm2 favored the seedling survival rate, flowering rate and fruit-bearing rate of Capsicum spp. and significantly reduced the rate of rigid seedlings. In this study, the application of 495 m3/hm2 biogas slurry to pretreat degraded soil has achieved the multiple goals of biogas slurry valorization, soil biofertilization and preventing and controlling plant diseases caused by soil-borne pathogenic microorganisms. These findings are of significant importance for the safe and environmentally friendly application of biogas slurry for soil pretreatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and Arid Areas) Interactions for a Better Eco-Environment and Sustainable Productivity)
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19 pages, 6335 KiB  
Article
Effect of Intertidal Vegetation (Suaeda salsa) Restoration on Microbial Diversity in the Offshore Areas of the Yellow River Delta
by Zhaohua Wang and Kai Liu
Plants 2024, 13(2), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13020213 - 11 Jan 2024
Viewed by 864
Abstract
The coastal wetlands in the Yellow River Delta play a vital role in the ecological function of the area. However, the impact of primary restoration on microbial communities is not yet fully understood. Hence, this study aimed to analyze the bacterial and archaeal [...] Read more.
The coastal wetlands in the Yellow River Delta play a vital role in the ecological function of the area. However, the impact of primary restoration on microbial communities is not yet fully understood. Hence, this study aimed to analyze the bacterial and archaeal communities in the soil. The results indicated that Marinobacter and Halomonas were predominant in the bacterial community during spring and winter. On the other hand, Muribaculaceae and Helicobacter were prevalent during the core remediation of soil, while Inhella and Halanaerobium were predominant in non-vegetation-covered high-salinity soil. The bacterial Shannon index showed significant differences in vegetation-covered areas. For archaea, Salinigranum, Halorubrum, and Halogranum were dominant in vegetation areas, while Halolamina, Halogranum, and Halorubrum were prevalent in non-vegetation areas. The colonization of Suaeda salsa led to differences in the composition of bacteria (22.6%) and archaea (29.5%), and salt was one of the significant reasons for this difference. The microflora was more diverse, and the elements circulated after vegetation grounding, while the microbial composition in non-vegetation areas was similar, but there was potential competition. Therefore, vegetation restoration can effectively restore soil ecological function, while the microorganisms in the soil before restoration provide germplasm resources for pollutant degradation and antimicrobial development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and Arid Areas) Interactions for a Better Eco-Environment and Sustainable Productivity)
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15 pages, 3984 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Evolution of Aquaculture along the Bohai Sea Coastline and Implications for Eco-Coastal Vegetation Restoration Based on Remote Sensing
by Zhaohua Wang and Kai Liu
Plants 2024, 13(2), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13020160 - 06 Jan 2024
Viewed by 751
Abstract
The expansion and intensification of coastal aquaculture around the Bohai Sea in China has reduced the tidal flats and damaged the coastal vegetation environment. However, there are few studies on the relationship between the evolution of coastal aquaculture and the variability of coastal [...] Read more.
The expansion and intensification of coastal aquaculture around the Bohai Sea in China has reduced the tidal flats and damaged the coastal vegetation environment. However, there are few studies on the relationship between the evolution of coastal aquaculture and the variability of coastal vegetation, which limits our understanding of the impact of human activities on the coastal ecosystem. In this study, based on remote sensing technology, we firstly used a combination of a neural network classifier and manual correction to monitor the long-term dynamic changes in aquaculture in the Bohai Sea from 1984 to 2022. We then analyzed its evolution, as well as the relationship between the evolution of coastal aquaculture and the variability of coastal vegetation, in detail. Our study had three main conclusions. Firstly, the aquaculture along the coast of the Bohai Sea showed an expanding trend from 1984 to 2022, with an increase of 538%. Secondly, the spatiotemporal changes in the aquaculture centroids in different provinces and cities varied. The centroid of aquaculture in Liaoning Province was mainly distributed in the Liaodong Peninsula, and moved northwest; that in Hebei Province was distributed in the northeast and moved with no apparent pattern; the centroid of aquaculture in Tianjin was mainly distributed in the southeast and moved westward; and the centroid of aquaculture in Shandong Province was mainly distributed in the northwest and moved in a northwesterly direction. Finally, the expansion of aquaculture of the Bohai Sea has increased the regional NDVI and length of the corresponding coastline, and has made coastlines move toward the sea. Our results provide reliable data support and reference for ecologically managing aquaculture and coastal environmental protection in the Bohai Sea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Managing and Regulating Plant (Vegetation)–Environment (Soil-Affected Land, Coastal Zone and Arid Areas) Interactions for a Better Eco-Environment and Sustainable Productivity)
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