Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Interaction for Sustainable Management and Development: Experimental Insights and Multiscale Modelling Approaches

Introduction

Understanding the interaction between soil, vegetation, and atmosphere (SVA) is crucial for improving the prediction, performance, and sustainability of geotechnical systems exposed to environmental loading. The SVA interaction unfolds within a dynamic environmental domain encompassing rooted soils, plant systems, and atmospheric processes, each of which governs the boundary conditions for water and energy exchanges in natural and engineered landscapes.

Advancing the experimental characterisation and numerical modelling of the coupled thermo-hydraulic, bio-chemo-mechanical, and energy-related processes that define SVA interaction is now recognised as a key priority. These processes, such as water infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, runoff, and root reinforcement, play a critical role in slope stabilisation, erosion control, water management in both rural and urban settings, as well as the design of sustainable land use strategies. Their understanding is essential for the development and implementation of sustainable land use strategies, climate change adaptation frameworks, and nature-based solutions.

Despite the rapid progress in experimental techniques and modelling strategies, a significant gap persists between small-scale laboratory investigations and full-scale field implementation. This is largely due to the inherent complexity, multiscale coupling, and variability of bio-geotechnical systems in real-world settings.

The Special Issue welcomes contributions from geotechnical engineers, hydrologists, soil scientists, plant scientists, and environmental modellers that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Experimental investigations on the thermo-hydraulic properties of rooted soils, including effects of vegetation on evaporation, transpiration, and water retention.
• Monitoring and interpretation of site-scale hydrological processes such as runoff, leaf interception, and water balance under vegetated conditions.
• Development of novel sensor networks and monitoring strategies for characterising dynamic SVA processes in real-time.
• Coupled thermo-hydraulic and bio-chemo-mechanical modelling of rooted soil systems, with applications to slope stability, erosion prevention, and energy/water flux prediction.
• Multiscale experimental and modelling approaches to describe the mechanical response of vegetated soils under static and seismic loading.
• Integration of laboratory, field, and numerical data to derive robust, transferable design criteria for nature-based and bio-engineered solutions.
• Quantification of root architecture effects on soil strength, permeability, and stiffness, including the influence of plant species and root morphology.
• Upscaling methodologies: from micro-scale interactions to field-scale implementation in engineering design and ecosystem-based management.
• Case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of SVA-informed interventions in controlling landslides, improving soil resilience, or adapting to climate extremes.
• Review and synthesis articles on current methods, challenges, and opportunities in SVA interaction research.

This Special Issue will serve as a focused, multidisciplinary platform to consolidate cutting-edge research on soil–vegetation–atmosphere interaction, highlighting recent experimental and modelling advances with a strong emphasis on real-world geotechnical applications. Contributions from geotechnical engineering, hydrology, plant science, soil physics, ecology, and environmental modelling are especially welcome, with particular attention to interdisciplinary studies that foster knowledge transfer between researchers and practitioners and support the development of resilient, adaptive infrastructure and nature-based solutions.

Submissions that focus purely on ecological or climatic themes without a clear geotechnical or applied environmental engineering component will not be considered.

List of topic areas

• Thermo-hydraulic behaviour of rooted and vegetated soils
• Experimental and field-scale monitoring of SVA processes
• Evaporation, transpiration, and root water uptake
• Coupled thermo-hydro-bio-chemo-mechanical modelling
• Vegetated slope stability under static and dynamic loading
• Role of root systems in soil reinforcement and water regulation
• Development of sensor networks for SVA characterization
• Upscaling methodologies from lab to field application
• Nature-based and bio-engineered geotechnical solutions
• Case studies addressing climate-induced geohazards
• Integrated modelling frameworks for sustainable land management
• Review articles on state-of-the-art SVA modelling and experimentation

Conference and Paper Selection Process

This Special Issue stems from the 3rd International Workshop on Soil–Vegetation–Atmosphere Interaction, to be held in November 2025 in Bari, Italy. The workshop brings together geotechnical engineers, hydrologists, ecologists, soil and plant scientists, and environmental modellers with the shared aim of building an integrated, multidisciplinary understanding of SVA processes. Emphasis is placed on bridging the gap between detailed experimental studies and the deployment of scalable nature-based and bio-engineered solutions.

Following the conference, the best papers from the sessions will be invited for submission to this Special issue. These papers will undergo a rigorous peer-review process in accordance with Emerald's editorial policies.

Submission Information

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