About this Research Topic

Background

It is well known that agricultural and forest ecosystems are the most important carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystems, and therefore understanding the key processes and potential mechanisms of agricultural and forest ecosystems in response to climate change is critical for accurately estimating the carbon sinks in agriculture and forests. However, the response and adaptation of carbon-water-nitrogen processes in agricultural and forest ecosystems to climate change remain unclear. These knowledge gaps create significant uncertainties in future projections, and fully exploring the potential mechanisms and processes of agriculture and forests to climate change is pivotal to projecting the potential risk of climate change on global grain yield and forest carbon sequestrations.

In order to help fill these knowledge gaps, we organize this research topic to gain novel insights into the underlying mechanisms and processes of carbon-water-nitrogen in agricultural and forest ecosystems in response to climate change. We encourage studies on the ecosystem structure and function of agriculture and forest in response to global change, especially for those manuscripts based on experimental and modeling studies about carbon flux and sequestration, water cycling and use efficiency, plant growth, and grain yield as well as plant physiology and ecology in response to climate change throughout the world.

We welcome submissions of different article types, including original research papers, reviews, and methods, to address the following and other relevant subtopics:
• Plant physiological and ecological processes and adaptation at various levels, from molecular to ecosystem, in response to global environmental change (e.g., elevated CO2 levels, warming, drought, nitrogen deposition, and phosphorus deficiency)
• Structure and function of agricultural and forest ecosystems in response to future climate change, including carbon flux and sequestration, leaf photosynthesis and respiration, nutrient acquisition, etc.
• Projection of the carbon-water-nitrogen processes in agricultural and forest ecosystems under global change using eco-physiological models (e.g., photosynthesis adaptation/acclimation), land surface and Earth system models (e.g., the change of vegetation distribution).

Keywords: Flux and Sequestration of Carbon/Water, Plant Growth, Crop Grain Yield, Ecosystem Structure and Function, Carbon Budget, Ecological process models, Global Change

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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