Pedobiologia

Journal of Soil Ecology publishes high-quality, mechanistic, and integrative research advancing understanding of soil as a dynamic biological system. The journal aims to serve as a leading platform for the best research in soil ecology, with a strong emphasis on soil microbiome while maintaining a broad and inclusive scope across all soil biota, including fauna, flora, and microorganisms.

Soil represents the most biodiverse habitat on Earth, yet the ecological processes governing belowground communities remain poorly resolved. The journal therefore particularly encourages research that moves beyond descriptive surveys towards process-based understanding of how soil organisms interact across spatial, temporal, and organizational scales, and how these interactions regulate ecosystem functioning, resilience, and biogeochemical cycling.

The journal welcomes empirical, theoretical, and synthesis research spanning the full spectrum of soil ecology, from viruses and prokaryotes to macrofauna and plant root systems. Particular areas of interest include:

• Soil microbiome, including microbial diversity, community assembly, biogeochemical functions, diversity–function relationships, and the ecological roles of bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and viruses.

• Soil animal diversity, ecological function and their interactions with factors in their biotic and abiotic environments.

• Multi-taxa soil ecology and soil food webs, including interactions among faunal, microbial and plant communities, plant–soil feedbacks, and rhizosphere ecology.

• Ecological responses of soil communities to global change drivers, disturbance, land use, and conservation interventions.

• Soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning under natural, managed, changing environmental conditions, and in the Anthropocene.

The journal builds upon its historical strengths in soil faunal ecology while actively encouraging high-impact contributions in soil microbiology, microbial ecology, and integrative multi-taxa research that advance contemporary soil ecological theory and understanding.