Forest Fine Roots in Changing Climate
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2017) | Viewed by 44341
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Healthy forests depend on their successful adaptation to changing climate. However, current rising global temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, frequent droughts, and an increased length of growing season pose challenges for forests. Climatic changes influence forest trees in many intricate ways, with consequences for their vitality, productivity, and soil–carbon balance. As fine roots are the principal organs for absorption of water and nutrients, their growth patterns control forest health and sustainability. In addition, fine roots are often associated with ectomycorrhizas, which also have an impact on carbon stores in forest soils. Thus, root dynamics affect, not only nutrient cycling in ecosystems, but also the carbon budget in forest soils. Our current ability to predict the effects of climate change on root growth dynamics is limited by the general difficulties in measuring below-ground processes.
The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the importance of fine roots in forest adaptation to climatic changes. We invite manuscripts that document the impact of climatic changes on the processes, function, and dynamics of forest-tree fine roots. We encourage topics on the development of new methods for fine root assessment, which can improve measurements or model inputs, and enhance our understanding of the role of fine roots in the complex carbon source–sink relationship.
Dr. Isabella Børja
Guest Editor
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
- Extreme Climatic Events
- Fine Root Dynamics
- Fine Root Respiration
- Fine Root Turnover
- Fine Root Biomass
- Carbon Sequestration
- Ectomycorrhiza
- Ecosystem Services
- Modelling
- Forest Management