Soil Organic Matter: Recent Advancements in Exploring Its Dynamics, Stabilization and Prediction

Dear Colleagues,

Despite its low participation (5%) in the soil solid phase, soil organic matter (SOM) is an important component of soil, influencing soil chemical, physical and biological properties; it is commonly referred to as soil quality indicator. SOM preservation, further accrual and stabilization are key to sustain not only soil security and food production, but also to mitigate global warming; thus, SOM is of paramount importance to humanity. Hence, understanding the main processes and drivers of SOM formation and persistence in soils is increasingly important to control emissions of greenhouse gases. Moreover, digital soil mapping approaches to spatially and temporally monitor soil carbon stock in a large scale are essential for land use and management decision making.

This Special Issue, ‘Soil Organic Matter: Recent Advancements in Exploring Its Dynamics, Stabilization and Prediction’, invites authors to submit their manuscripts addressing new findings as well as technological achievements in analyzing SOM. Some potential topics include nutrient cycle; biogeochemistry; soil carbon stocks and stabilization; measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification of soil organic carbon in agricultural landscapes; soil carbon stocks maps; and organic farming. Papers that link SOM dynamics, stocks and stabilization processes to large-scale processes such as carbon and nitrogen cycle are encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Érika Flávia Machado Pinheiro
Prof. Dr. Marcos Ceddia
Guest Editors

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. Soil Systems is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1800 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 organic matter
• soil carbon predictions
• soil carbon monitoring protocols
• soil C and N dynamics
• productivity pasture
• integration crop livestock
• integration crop livestock forest
• no-till
• soil C persistence in soils
• soil carbon stock in forest and agroecosystems