Forest Growth and Soil Properties
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Soil".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 18
Special Issue Editors
Interests: soil; water; plant and farming technology
Interests: soil erosion; soil survey; soil characterization; digital soil mapping
Interests: forestry; silviculture; modeling; biomass; stand structure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Site quality, genetic factors, and chosen forest management method are crucial factors in the productivity of forest species. In homogenous landscape units, from a climatic and physiographic point of view, soil quality determines the variability of the surrounding physical environment and the productive potential of a forest ecosystem.
In addition to its support function, soil is a source of water and nutrients for terrestrial plants. Poor performance of these functions can make the soil a limiting factor for tree growth and the productivity of forest stands. The physical, chemical, and biological properties of each soil, resulting primarily from the formation and development of its profile, directly affect its ability to provide the resources needed for forest growth, that is, its fertility.
In turn, soil formation is one of the most important services that forests provide to societies. Forests provide natural protection against erosion and excessive evaporation, promote aeration and water infiltration by improving the soil structure due to the rooting of forest species, and even enrich the soil with organic matter and nutrients. Given the amount of biomass produced and retained by forests, forest-covered soils are one of the planet's largest carbon reservoirs.
Only knowledge of this reciprocity can guarantee the sustainable management of forest resources, that is, forest growth, especially yields and productivity, without compromising other natural resources, especially soil resources.
This Special Issue provides examples of this mutualistic relationship collected from ongoing experiments in the scientific community, namely those that demonstrate the influence on forest growth. Contributions should also help to better clarify the concept of forest soils.
Dr. José Alexandre Varanda Andrade
Dr. Carlos A. Alexandre
Dr. Ana Cristina Gonçalves
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 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. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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
- forest growth
- forest soil
- soil properties
- site quality
- forest productivity
- forest ecosystems
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