Balancing the Carbon Cycle: the Role of Plants in Natural, Urban, and Agroecosystems in Supporting Climate Change Mitigation

The carbon cycle is a natural process that plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system. However, human activities have significantly increased atmospheric CO₂ levels, disrupting global climate patterns and ecosystems. Plants are vital components of the carbon cycle, as they absorb CO₂ during photosynthesis and store it in their biomass, contributing to carbon sequestration. This process helps maintain a balance between carbon sources and sinks, reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and mitigating climate change. Disruptions in the carbon cycle can have severe consequences. Deforestation, land degradation, and poor land management practices release carbon stored in vegetation back into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change conditions. While the carbon balance of an ecosystem varies, with mature forests, for example, potentially approaching carbon neutrality, many ecosystems can be managed to function as significant carbon sinks. By absorbing more CO₂ than they release, these systems play a crucial role in stabilizing the climate. Therefore, accurately assessing carbon accumulation across diverse settings, including natural, urban, and agricultural environment, is essential for understanding the carbon cycle and determining how effectively different ecosystems function as sinks. This information is essential for developing strategies to enhance carbon storage and restore degraded ecosystems.

Climate change is accelerated by deforestation, fossil fuel use, and altered land use patterns, all of which increase CO₂ emissions. A key strategy to counter this trend is balancing carbon cycling and vegetation for climate resilience. Vegetation in natural, urban, or agricultural environments is especially important, as it supports long-term carbon storage, protects biodiversity, and maintains ecosystem stability, helping to stabilize global temperatures. Integrating practices such as reforestation, no-till farming, and soil conservation can restore balance to the carbon cycle and strengthen the planet’s resilience to climate impacts.

This Research Topic aims to gather high-quality original research and comprehensive information on the critical role of vegetation in maintaining a balanced carbon cycle and enhancing resilience to climate change. It seeks to underscore the impacts of land use changes on carbon emissions and to promote sustainable land management practices such as conservation, reforestation, and agroforestry as effective strategies for carbon sequestration and long-term climate stability.

We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Studies on carbon sequestration and cycling in natural ecosystems like forests, grasslands, wetlands, and native vegetation.

• Plant-Soil Interactions: Research on how vegetation influences soil carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and microbial communities.

• Investigations into the role of native plant diversity in enhancing carbon storage and ecosystem resilience.

• Vegetation dynamics and succession: studies on how plant community changes affect carbon fluxes over time.

• Use of remote sensing data to monitor vegetation health, biomass, and carbon stocks at ecosystem scales.

• Climate adaptation ecology: research on how native vegetation contributes to ecosystem resilience against climate extremes.

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
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

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

Article types

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

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Vegetation Carbon Sequestration, Carbon Cycle, Land Use Change, Ecosystem Resilience, Remote Sensing, Sustainable Land Management

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.