**About the Editors**

#### **Bo Sun**

Bo Sun was a professor at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and held several leadership positions in soil science research and practice. He was the Director of the National Agro-Ecosystem Observation and Research Station in Yingtan, the Director of the Key Laboratory of Farmland Conservation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Vice President of the China Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Society, and the President of the Jiangsu Soil Science Society. His research focused on soil nutrient cycling and soil quality evolution in agro-ecosystems from field to regional scales. He led the Soil Biological Special Survey of the Third National Soil Condition Census, two National Key R&D Programs, a key project of NSFC, and a National Key Technology R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. He also contributed to over 20 national and provincial-level projects. He published over 110 international academic papers (indexed by SCI) in journals such as *Nature Communications* and *PNAS*, over 170 papers in Chinese (indexed by CSCD), 5 monographs, and 3 national standards. He also obtained three invention patents. He received two second-class prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2004 (ranked sixth) and 2011 (ranked fourth), a second prize for scientific and technological progress in Jiangxi Province in 2021 (ranked first), and five other provincial- and ministerial-level awards.

#### **Ming Liu**

Ming Liu is currently an associate professor at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has long been engaged in research on the utilization of organic resources in red soil, soil improvement and fertilization, soil ecological restoration, and ecological planting. He has presided over or participated in nearly 20 national and provincial-level projects. He won one second prize for scientific and technological progress in Jiangxi Province in 2021 (ranked fourth), published more than 80 papers, served as an editorial board member of the "Terrestrial Microbiology" column of the journal *Frontiers in Microbiology*, authorized three invention patents and three software copyrights, formulated one local standard in Jiangxi Province, and participated in the compilation of one monograph.

#### **Yan Chen**

Yan Chen is an associate professor at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on plant rhizosphere microbial ecology, with a particular emphasis on interspecific plant root-microbial interactions. She has presided over or participated in three national and provincial-level projects and has published high-quality papers in international journals such as *Microbiome*, *Soil Biology and Biochemistry*, and *mBio*.
