Soil Microbial Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus Cycling

Dear Colleagues,

Soil nutrient cycles involving microorganisms play a crucial role in enhancing soil fertility, promoting plant growth, controlling pathogens and pests, improving soil structure, and maintaining ecosystem functions. These processes are affected by environmental changes, such as global climate warming, nitrogen deposition, heavy metal pollution, waste disposal, and agricultural management practices. The role of soil microorganisms in organic matter turnover, nitrogen cycling, phosphorus transformations, and metal sequestration in natural and agricultural ecosystems is crucial for sustainable ecosystem management. This Special Issue aims to explore the functions of soil microorganisms in nutrient cycling and how they enhance the multifunctionality of ecosystems, providing fundamental and practical guidance for sustainable soil management. The potential topics include the following: 

1. Microbial involvement in soil nutrient cycling.
2. The diversity, community structure, and characteristics of key functional soil microorganisms and microbial food webs.
3. Applications of soil microorganisms in vegetation restoration and agricultural production.
4. The effects of global warming, nitrogen deposition, and agricultural management practices on soil microbial communities.
5. Soil microorganisms in environmental remediation and soil erosion control. This Special Issue is open to fundamental, applied, and field research and review manuscripts on all aspects of these topics.

Dr. Dan Xiao
Guest Editor

Prof. Dr. Yinhang Xia
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Microorganisms 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 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.

• soil microbiome
• nutrient cycling
• soil micro-food web
• land-use change
• ecosystem restoration
• agricultural management