Plant Community Structure and Its Interaction with Microbial Communities

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce this Special Issue of Plants, titled “Plant Community Structure and Its Interaction with Microbial Communities”. Original research and review papers covering any aspect of this topic are welcome.

The mechanisms of plant community structure and assembly receive more interpretations when we consider their interaction with microbial communities. Mycorrhizal fungi are the most prominent plant microbial partner, forming mutualistic to parasitic relationships with plants in every ecosystem. These interactions include arbuscular, ecto-, ericoid, orchid, and other less common mycorrhizal associations with both diverse and highly restricted plant groups. The outcome of these relationships shapes plant recruitment, competition, and the overall structure and assembly of plant communities. Plant communities, in turn, influence the types, diversity, and density of mycorrhizal fungal communities. These interactions between plants and mycorrhizal fungi are important drivers of primary productivity, plant community diversity, biological invasions, land management, climate change, phytoremediation, and many other important environmental considerations. All original articles covering any aspect of this relationship between plant community structure and mycorrhizal fungi are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Mingjian Yu
Dr. Ryan Busby
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. 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.