Mechanisms of Forest Defense against Abiotic Stress and Genetic Evolution

Dear Colleagues,

Forest ecosystems, as one of the most complex ecological units on Earth, face a series of abiotic stress factors such as salinity stress, drought, and extreme temperatures, challenging their survival and prosperity. In such a constantly changing environment, forests are not just a collection of individual plant entities, but as a whole, they have developed complex sensing and response mechanisms to counter external pressures through their constituent plant populations. These mechanisms span from the molecular regulation of individual plants to the dynamic adaptability of the entire forest ecosystem. To adapt to diverse stress conditions, forests have evolved a variety of regulatory pathways through genetic evolution, enabling them to respond to different stress signals. In the face of such conditions, forests activate internal regulatory mechanisms to enhance their overall resistance. Therefore, exploring the response of forests to abiotic stress as well as their genetic evolutionary mechanisms is of great significance for understanding the adaptability, stability, and biodiversity maintenance of forest ecosystems. This Special Issue warmly welcomes the latest research results on the defense mechanisms of forests against abiotic stress and genetic evolution, with the goal of advancing research in forest ecology, genetics, biodiversity conservation, and other related fields.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Abiotic stress;
• Genetic adaptability and evolution of forest ecosystems under abiotic stress conditions;
• The impact of abiotic stress on the growth and ecological functions of forests;
• The maintenance and evolutionary mechanisms of genetic diversity in forests under environmental stress;
• The role of genetic expression regulation mechanisms in forests in responding to abiotic stress.

Prof. Dr. Cuihua Gu
Prof. Dr. Fan Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• abiotic stress
• forest
• plant growth and development
• genetic evolution processes
• role of epigenetic mechanisms