We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Giacomo Alessandro Gerosa has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of our journal Forests (ISSN: 1999-4907). With an extensive background in scientific research and publishing, he brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this role.

The following is an interview with Prof. Dr. Giacomo Alessandro Gerosa, who shared his academic background, his involvement with Forests, and his vision for the journal:

1. Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your academic background and what are your current interests?

I received an M.Sc. in environmental sciences and then a Ph.D. in agricultural ecology with a research focus on ozone fluxes in agricultural and forest ecosystems. After the Ph.D., I worked for 15 years as a researcher at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy, dealing with ecophysiology and the effects of air pollutants on plants. Once employed at the Italian National Scientific Habilitation as a professor of ecology, agricultural chemistry, and physics of the earth system, I was appointed associate professor of the latter subject by the Catholic University of Brescia, Italy. Then, following the second habilitation as full professor, I was promoted to my current position as a full professor of physics of the earth system, and was in charge of teaching micrometeorology, atmospheric physics, and ecology.

Even though my academic career may seem quite heretical for a forest scientist, I have worked with forests and forest trees. At the beginning, my research was aimed at studying the effects of air pollution on single forest trees, by means of fumigations and experiments in a controlled environment. Then, my interests turned to nature and forest ecosystems as a whole, particularly to monitor their matter exchange with the atmosphere. Measurements were taken in the Mediterranean holm oak forests, Mediterranean shrub maquis, Alpine larix forests, oak-hornbeam plain forests, both in Italy and in Europe, as well as in poplar plantations. I made significant contributions with these measurements and analyses to different national and European forest monitoring programs.  

My current research interests are the detailed characterization of the exchange processes of matter and energy between the atmosphere and ecosystems, with particular regards to the forests, both from an experimental and a modelist perspective. My current field work consists of the installation of micrometeorological towers in forest ecosystems to measure the vertical fluxes of many matter compounds, relating them with climate, plant, and soil parameters. My collaborators and I manage an ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System)-associated forest site in Northern Italy, where fluxes of carbon dioxide, water, ozone, nitrogen oxides, and particles are continuously measured. Our effort is to obtain as long a time series of measurements as possible in order to assess the interannual variation of fluxes and to calibrate models. An 11-year long series is already available for the ozone, water, and carbon dioxide.

2. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?

My answer is influenced by my interests. However, I think that the assessment of the combined effects of climate change and air pollution on forest ecosystems will be of paramount importance in the future, along with the studies of the best adaptation strategies. This could be addressed with experimental research in the field or in a controlled environment and by developing coupled land–atmosphere models as mechanistically as possible. The dynamics of different carbon sinks and sources in forests should be fully elucidated, along with their interactions with nutrient cycles such as nitrogen. Projections about the future are necessary, and forest scientists and ecologists will need to interact much more closely with atmospheric scientists in the near future. The spread of the IoT (Internet of Things) will allow for the more extensive, dense, and economical monitoring of forest ecosystems, and the same applies to UAV and satellite measurements. Interdisciplinarity could be a good strategy to push the limits of knowledge in forestry research.

3. As the Editor-in-Chief, what are your thoughts on the journal Forests, and what expectations do you have for the future?

The journal Forests has significantly increased its impact factor in recent years and has acquired a good reputation in the forest-related research community. Currently, it is ranked Q1 in forestry research. It is important to maintain and enhance this reputation in the future through the promotion and selection of the most innovative and high-quality research, thus increasing the number of external citations per article.

4. In your opinion, what can authors expect when they submit to Forests?

Authors can expect fair and rigorous reviews of their work, along with a rapid evaluation process. In my opinion, these are the benefits of this journal. Moreover, they have the opportunity to publish in an open-access journal of good reputation and IF.

We wish Prof. Dr. Giacomo Alessandro Gerosa every success in his new position as the Editor-in-Chief, and we greatly look forward to his contributions.