Soil Metabolism and Biogenic Emissions of CO₂ and N₂O

Dear Colleagues,

Soils provide many essential ecosystem services, such as climate mitigation and adaptation, as they constitute the main carbon reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems. The roles of soils and soil organic carbon (SOC) in the climate system and in the scenarios of climate change, land vertical development and degradation, biodiversity loss, and increased demand for food production have been widely recognized. Maintaining and increasing SOC stocks is not only crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing CO₂ from the atmosphere, but also to preserve soil health and fertility by improving resilience and resistance of all the terrestrial ecosystems. Moreover, C and nitrogen (N) sequestration as well as emissions are strongly influenced by soil processes and edaphic communities’ activity. Millions of organisms, micro- and mesofauna included, exert a variety of functions which contribute to ecosystem-level processes as they degrade organic compounds and release nutrients, by contributing to soil respiration, with oxygen consumption and CO₂ emission. In this context, new research should seek to fill the gaps into knowledge of the factors influencing soil metabolism, the fate of C and N along the soil profile, and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions in different environments, from forest to agroecosystems, by including urban contexts.

Prof. Dr. Anna De Marco
Prof. Dr. Claudio Colombo
Guest Editors
Pasquale Napoletano
Guest Editor Assistant

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