AoB PLANTS is soliciting submissions for an upcoming Special Issue titled ‘The Role of Below-Ground Processes in Mediating Plant Invasions.’  Published by Oxford University Press, AoB PLANTS is an open-access, nonprofit journal that has been publishing peer-reviewed articles since 2010 (http://aobplants.oxfordjournals.org).  The journal is indexed in Web of Science as well as other Thomson Reuters products, and its first Impact Factor Score will be released in June 2014. 

Edited by Inderjit (University of Delhi), this special issue will focus on the wide range of below-ground processes and characteristics that can influence the success of plant invasions and their impacts on novel environments.  It will explore plant-soil feedbacks and the various mechanisms by which below-ground processes can mediate the dynamics of plant invasions. 

The following papers are scheduled for inclusion in this special issue, and others will be added in the coming weeks:

Inderjit (University of Delhi) and Sharon Strauss (University of California, Davis)
Mechanisms underlying plant invasions driven by soil processes

Tanja Speek, Joop Schaminee, Jeltje Stam, Lambertus, A. P. Lotz, Wim Ozinga and Wim van der Putten (Netherlands Institute of Ecology)
Local dominance of exotic plants declines with residence time: patterns and possible mechanisms

Loralee Larios (University of Montana) and Katharine Suding (University of California, Berkeley)
Plant neighbors and soil resource availability alter native and exotic plant-soil feedbacks

Ian Dickie (Lincoln University)
Co-invasions and novel mutualisms: networks of trees and fungi

Keith Clay, Heather Reynolds, James Bever and Richard Phillips (Indiana University)
Causes and consequences of soil microbial community changes with plant invasions

Pamela Belter and James Cahill (University of Alberta)
Disentangling root system responses to neighbors: implications for invasion and coexistence

Sara Grove (University of California, Santa Cruz), Ingrid Parker (University of California, Santa Cruz), and Karen Haubensak (Northern Arizona University)
Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in Douglas fir forests and clearcuts dominated by Cytisus scoparius, an invasive shrub

Susana Rodríguez Echeverría (Universidade de Coimbra) and Anna Traveset (Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies)
Plant invasions: putative linkages between below- and above-ground mutualisms

Robin Duponnois (National de Baillarguet)
The importance of mycorrhizal symbiosis in plant invasion processes

Mette Vestergård, Regin Rønn and Flemming Ekelund (University of Copenhagen)
Invasive organisms below- and above-ground

Christina Birnbaum (Murdoch University), Andrew Bissett (CSIRO), Peter Thrall (CSIRO) and Michelle Leishman (Macquarie University)
Role of nitrogen fixing bacterial communities in Acacia species invasion in Australia

Johannes Le Roux and Allan Ellis (Stellenbosch University)
Phylogenetic diversity of alpha and beta rhizobia associated with invasive wattles (genus Acacia) in South Africa’s Cape Floristic Region

If you are interested in submitting a paper for inclusion in this Special Issue, please send details to SI Editor Inderjit ([log in to unmask]) and the Chief Editor of AoB PLANTS, Hall Cushman ([log in to unmask]).  The deadline for submitting to this special issue is August 15, 2014. 

Papers submitted to AoB PLANTS undergo double-blind peer evaluation and receive first decisions quickly (typically within 30–40 days of submission).  Additionally, all open-access fees for AoB PLANTS have been waived until 2015.