Special Issue "Truffle Hunting and Mushrooms Ecology in Forest Ecosystems"
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2023 | Viewed by 3165
Special Issue Editors
Interests: mushroom biotechnology; food safety; wood degradation
Interests: food toxicology; mushrooms; trace elements; heavy metals and radionuclides; ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Mushrooms are a distinct group of living organisms of considerable nutritional, pharmaceutical, and ecological value. They play an extremely important role in the unfolding of ecological processes in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in forests. By decomposing dead organic matter (including poorly degradable plant cell wall components), they enable the cycling of organic matter, without which no life would be possible. A very important role for the forest ecosystem is played by symbiotic fungi, especially mutualistic ones, which contribute to plant nutrition. In addition, mushrooms are capable of accumulating very high concentrations of toxic substances, which is why they are often used as biological indicators of the state of the ecosystem. Among forest mushrooms truffles, fruiting bodies of hypogeous mutualistic ascomycetes occupy a special place. There are several species of truffles, generally belonging to the genus Tuber, some of which are geographically widespread, while others are restricted to certain areas, with some available almost all year round and others only at certain times. Nevertheless, their availability does not meet market demand, and therefore, truffles are among the most expensive mushrooms. Local communities can benefit economically from the presence of truffles in their area, but uncontrolled hunting could cause ecological stress to the forest.The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the latest findings on truffles, truffle hunting, and mushrooms in general in the forest ecosystem. We invite all colleagues working in this field to present their work in this issue.
Potential topics include but are not limited to:
- Truffles—distribution, ecology, genetics, taxonomy;
- Mutualistic mushrooms—distribution, ecology, taxonomy;
- Wood decaying and pathogenic mushrooms;
- (Heavy) metal accumulation.
Dr. Slaven Zjalić
Dr. Ivan Širić
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. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.
Keywords
- forests
- symbiosis
- truffles
- mushrooms
- bioaccumulation
- bioindicators
