Sustainable Application and Functional Roles of Microbial Communities in Soil, Sludge and Sediments
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 66
Special Issue Editors
Interests: soil microbiome; microbial ecology; environmental microbiology; biogeography; biogeochemical cycles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant invasion; soil ecology; soil carbon cycling; soil–plant feedback; soil microplastic pollution; microbial communities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant–microbe–soil interactions response to climate changes; linking biodiversity to ecosystem functions relevant to carbon and nutrient cycles; roles of root exudates and mycorrhizal networks in plant–plant interactions; stable and active isotopes tracking; microbiome and metabolism analysis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Soil, sludge, and sediments are fundamental environmental matrices that support diverse and complex microbial ecosystems. These microbial communities play pivotal roles in ecosystem stability, biogeochemical cycling, and pollutant degradation. With the advancement of high-throughput sequencing, metagenomics, and metabolomics, our understanding of the structure, function, and ecological dynamics of microbial communities in these environments has significantly expanded.
This Special Issue aims to highlight cutting-edge research on the ecological functions, environmental adaptations, and sustainable applications of microbial communities in soil, sludge, and sediments. We welcome original research articles and comprehensive reviews from the fields of environmental microbiology, soil ecology, and bioremediation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) microbial diversity, community dynamics, and ecological interactions in soil, sludge, and sediments, with a focus on community composition, succession, and functional roles; (2) mechanisms underlying microbial degradation of heavy metals and organic pollutants, as well as strategies to enhance bioremediation efficiency; (3) microbial contributions to biogeochemical cycling, particularly in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics; (4) applications of microbial communities in soil health assessment, soil amendment, and plant–microbe interactions, with implications for sustainable agriculture; (5) advances in microbial ecological engineering, bioaugmentation, and synthetic biology approaches for environmental restoration and sustainability.
We look forward to your valuable contributions to this Special Issue.
Dr. Ke Dong
Dr. Guanlin Li
Dr. Lingling Shi
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 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
- microbial communities
- soil, sludge and sediment
- microbiome
- environmental adaptation
- bioremediation
- soil health
- microbial ecological engineering
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