Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the upcoming Special Issue on Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy of Plants, titled “Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment”. Tree rings play a vital role in documenting a tree’s growth patterns, acting as valuable repositories of historical information in nature. Traditionally, annual rings in dendrochronology have been utilized primarily for dating archaeological samples or specific events and reconstructing past climates. However, a closer examination reveals that an annual ring, composed of wooden cells continuously produced by the cambium, contains detailed temporal and physiological information about the process of wood formation. Thus, the cell anatomical and chemical features of the xylem cells are not only influenced by a combination of genetic variants and biophysical constraints but also provide valuable insights into the processes of wood formation in response to environmental conditions. In essence, each annual ring encapsulates a narrative of the tree’s intra-annual interaction with its surroundings, offering a nuanced perspective on how plants adapt to the changing environment.

We invite submissions of all article types that offer novel perspectives, theories, methods, tools, and modeling approaches, focusing on the processes of wood growth at the intra-annual resolution. The studied species may originate from temperate, boreal, subtropical, and tropical ecosystems, both in forests and urban settings. Utilizing the methods of dendrochronology, wood anatomy and isotopes, and xylogenesis, contributors are encouraged to address fundamental and applied questions spanning ecophysiological, morphological, and phenological mechanisms, as well as the mathematical intricacies within trees. The goal is to systematically understand a tree’s function and its response to changing climate and environmental conditions. Additionally, we welcome studies on the xylem anatomy of popular plants that do not exhibit growth rings, such as bamboo.

Dr. Weiwei Huang
Dr. Patrick Fonti
Prof. Dr. Biao Pan
Dr. Junzhou Zhang
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

• dendrochronology
• wood anatomy
• ecophysiology
• climate change
• statistical modeling