Frontiers | Microbial Community Ecology and Functional Roles in Salt Marsh Wetland Ecosystems

About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline 6 October 2025 | Manuscript Submission Deadline 7 January 2026
This Research Topic is still accepting articles.
1. Check author guidelines

Background

Salt marsh wetlands are vital coastal ecosystems that deliver essential ecological services, including shoreline stabilization, nutrient filtration, and substantial carbon sequestration (“blue carbon”). At the core of these services lie complex microbial communities, which perform pivotal roles in biogeochemical cycles—such as nitrogen transformation, carbon turnover, and sulfur cycling. These communities are highly sensitive to environmental gradients, such as salinity, tidal dynamics, and anthropogenic disturbances.

Advancements in molecular ecology, metagenomics, and stable isotope techniques have recently provided unprecedented insights into the diversity, structure, and functioning of salt marsh microbiomes. Despite this progress, our grasp of how these microbial communities regulate ecosystem processes under the dual pressures of climate change and human activity remains incomplete. Key questions persist regarding resilience, adaptability, and the mechanisms underpinning microbial-mediated ecosystem functions in the face of rising sea levels, increasing salinity, eutrophication, and warming.

This Research Topic seeks to advance our understanding of the diversity, structure, and functional interactions of microbial communities in salt marsh wetlands across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We aim to highlight the ways in which these communities respond to, and potentially buffer, environmental change—including climate-driven and anthropogenic stressors. Particular attention will be given to leveraging integrative approaches (multi-omics, stable isotope probing, experimental manipulation, and ecological modeling) to unravel the ecological roles and functional resilience of salt marsh microbiomes.

By assembling interdisciplinary research, we aspire to bridge knowledge gaps about microbial contributions to critical ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas regulation, and nutrient cycling. Further, we encourage work addressing the implications of microbial dynamics for salt marsh management, restoration, and conservation under global change scenarios.

We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspectives that explore the microbial dimension of salt marsh wetlands. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Microbial Community Structure and Dynamics:

Investigations into the composition, diversity, succession, and biogeography of microbial communities in salt marshes, including comparative studies across different wetland types (e.g., coastal salt marshes, mangroves, arid-region wetlands).

• Microbial Functional Roles and Biogeochemical Cycling:

Analyses of microbial-mediated processes involved in carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus cycling, and their contributions to ecosystem productivity and functioning across environmental gradients.

• Microbial Responses to Global Change:

Evaluations of microbial community responses to key drivers such as sea-level rise, altered salinity and hydrology, nutrient enrichment, temperature shifts, and other anthropogenic impacts.

• Integrative and Innovative Methodologies:

Application of -omics (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics), stable isotope techniques, and ecological modeling to advance mechanistic understanding of microbial roles in salt marsh ecology.

• Microbial Contributions to Ecosystem Services and Management:

Studies highlighting the links between microbial processes and broader ecosystem services, as well as implications for ecosystem restoration, resilience, and climate adaptation strategies.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

Brief Research Report
Data Report
Editorial
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Mini Review
Opinion
Original Research

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Keywords: salt marshes, microbial ecology, biogeochemical cycling, climate change, ecosystem functions, blue carbon

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.

Topic editors

Frequently asked questions

Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.
Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.
The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.
Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.
As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.
A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.
Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and it falls under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.
In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.
Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.
As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.
Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.
 
Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.
Check available article types here 
Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

Suggest your topic here 
A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.
The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.
As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 
 
You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.
As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).
If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.
Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.
Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.
As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.
Find out more about our Research Topics
Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.
Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.
In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.

Share on

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Biogeochemistry

Manuscripts can be submitted to this Research Topic via the main journal or any other participating journal.

Impact

204Topic views

View impact

Microbial Community Ecology and Functional Roles in Salt Marsh Wetland Ecosystems

About this Research Topic

Background

Article types and fees

Topic editors

zongxiao zhang

dengzhou gao

yaqi song

tongtong zhou

jamshed ali

Frequently asked questions

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Biogeochemistry