Upcoming Collections
- Shifting Sands to Sustainable Solutions – Advances in Sandy Soil Research and Management from the 2nd Global Conference on Sandy Soils
- Understanding China's Soils: Advances in Soil Hydraulic Properties Characterisation
Guest Editorial Team:
- Stephen Davies - Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
- Flavia dos Santos - Embrapa Maize and Sorghum, SeteLagoas, Brazil
- Yvette Oliver - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
- Gaus Azam - Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
- Therese McBeath - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
This special collection, Shifting Sands to Sustainable Solutions, showcases cutting-edge research and innovative strategies presented at the 2nd Global Conference on Sandy Soils. With over 900 million hectares of sandy soils worldwide—especially in arid and semi-arid regions—these fragile landscapes face numerous agronomic and ecological challenges, including low fertility, poor water and nutrient retention, acidity, water repellence, and subsurface hardpans.
This issue brings together contributions from international experts advancing our understanding of sandy soil formation, monitoring, and management across agricultural, natural, and engineered systems. It highlights multidisciplinary approaches to improve productivity and sustainability amid climate change pressures. Topics include soil mapping and sensors, fertility restoration, conservation practices, and overcoming biophysical constraints to plant growth.
By capturing the collective insights from global researchers, this issue aims to build a stronger knowledge base and collaborative network for both preserving natural sandy environments and transforming sandy soils from marginal lands into resilient, productive systems for the future.
Please submit your manuscript through the ScholarOne portal. This collection will also offer discounts on Open Access Publishing to contributing authors. Please enquire about discount availability with the Guest Editors or the Soil Research team.
Submission Deadline: 25 January 2026
China's vast and diverse landscapes present a unique challenge in characterising soil hydraulic properties (SHPs). These properties, encompassing soil water retention, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, infiltration rate and air-filled porosity, are fundamental for understanding soil water processes, nutrient cycling, and plant growth across the country. This special issue collection aims to showcase the latest advancements and regional considerations in SHP characterisation within China. It will highlight characterising the spatio-temporal variability of soil properties, and can also incorporate solute transport process and mechanisms of root water uptake in soil models.
This fully Open Access special issue welcomes original research articles, reviews, and methodological contributions that address various aspects of SHP characterisation in China. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Field-based and laboratory methods: Novel approaches and advancements in field and laboratory techniques used to measure SHPs in Chinese soils. This could include the application of new technologies, adaptations of existing methods for specific soil types, and evaluations of measurement uncertainties.
- Regional variations: Studies that investigate the influence of specific Chinese geographic regions on SHPs. This may involve the impact of soil types (e.g., Loess Plateau, black soils), land-use practices (e.g., deforestation, agriculture), and climatic conditions on water retention and flow characteristics.
- Modeling and prediction: Development and application of inverse modelling, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) and machine learning models for soil hydraulic properties characterisation. Research on regionalization of PTFs and exploring the potential of machine learning for robust predictions of SHPs under various scenarios are encouraged.
- From Soil Properties to Sustainable Practices: Contributions that demonstrate the practical application of SHP characterisation in China. This could encompass simulation of modelling of saturated unsaturated hydrological processes, soil water vapour heat transport processes, optimizing irrigation practices, managing water resources, mitigating soil erosion, and informing land-use planning decisions.
Li Na, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China
Wang Lichun, Tianjin University, China
Paolo Nasta, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Napoli, Italy
Yonghong Hao, Tianjin Normal University, China
Lingzao Zeng, Zhejiang University, China
Tiejun Wang, Tianjin University, China
Ying Zhao, Ludong University, China
Meng Mao, China Agricultural University, China
Submissions opening: September 2024
Articles accepted by: September 2025
Publication anticipated from: March 2025
