Plant Adaptation and Responses to Stress in Forest Trees

Dear Colleagues,

Forest trees are long-lived organisms that are continuously exposed to a wide range of environmental stresses throughout their life cycles. Unlike annual plants, trees must cope with fluctuating and often simultaneous stress factors over extended temporal and spatial scales, which requires highly coordinated adaptive and regulatory mechanisms. Recent advances in molecular biology, physiology and high-throughput omics technologies have substantially improved our understanding of how forest trees perceive stress signals and translate them into adaptive responses. These responses involve complex interactions among signaling pathways, gene regulatory networks, metabolic reprogramming and physiological adjustments that ultimately determine stress tolerance, survival and productivity. This Special Issue, entitled “Plant Adaptation and Responses to Stress in Forest Trees”, aims to bring together recent advances and emerging perspectives on stress adaptation in forest tree species. By integrating studies across multiple levels of biological organization, this collection seeks to enhance our understanding of stress response mechanisms in trees and to provide scientific insights that support forest resilience, conservation and sustainable management in the face of increasing environmental challenges.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the adaptive strategies and stress response mechanisms of forest trees under diverse environmental challenges. The scope encompasses studies addressing both abiotic and biotic stresses, as well as their interactions, including, but not limited to, drought, salinity, temperature extremes, nutrient limitation, heavy metals, pests and pathogens.

We welcome contributions that explore the morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of forest trees to stress, with particular emphasis on regulatory mechanisms, signaling pathways and adaptive plasticity. Studies employing omics approaches (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics), integrative multi-omics analyses and systems biology frameworks are especially encouraged. In addition, this Special Issue invites research on stress tolerance, resilience and acclimation in natural forests and managed plantations, as well as studies linking molecular responses to tree growth, productivity, forest health and sustainable forest management under changing environmental conditions. Both original research articles and high-quality review papers are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Pengfei Wu
Dr. Lili Zhou
Dr. Yiquan Ye
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• forest trees
• timber
• plant adaptation
• stress response
• resistance mechanisms
• morphological response
• physiological response
• molecular response
• gene regulation
• metabolic reorganization