The Integrated Land Ecosystem–Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS) is a core research project of the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP). The scientific goal of iLEAPS is to provide understanding of how interacting physical, chemical and biological processes transport and transform energy and matter (e.g., water and carbon) through the land–atmosphere interface. iLEAPS was established in March 2004 within the framework of the second phase of IGBP. The research planned for iLEAPS covers the basic processes that link land–atmosphere exchange with vegetation/ecosystem processes, and with atmospheric dynamics, tropospheric chemistry and physical climate. The University of Helsinki, Finland, had been in charge of the international project office (IPO) since the establishment of iLEAPS. The IPO moved to the Nanjing University, China, in January 2015. Taking this opportunity, further involvement of Asian countries in iLEAPS-related activities is expected. Japan has contributed to the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) since the establishment of iLEAPS. Dr. Kazuyuki Yagi, with the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), was the first Japanese SSC member (2004–2008); Dr. Nobuko Saigusa, at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, was the second (2008–2013); and Dr. Tetsuya Hiyama, Nagoya University, is the current SSC member. IGBP, the umbrella project of iLEAPS, converges with a new global research initiative, Future Earth (FE), in 2015. iLEAPS is expected to also contribute to FE successively (for detailed information, please visit http://www.futureearth.info/).
iLEAPS–Japan is a Japanese national subcommittee under the Joint Committee of IGBP/WCRP/DIVERSITAS in the Science Council of Japan (WCRP, World Climate Research Programme; DIVERSITAS, International Programme of Biodiversity Science). iLEAPS–Japan is aiming to facilitate information exchange among scientists related to land–atmosphere interaction studies. Japanese SSC members have successively chaired iLEAPS–Japan. Land–atmosphere is an important interface in cycles of energy, water, carbon, nitrogen and other materials in the Earth system. Past iLEAPS activities have mainly focused on tropospheric processes and interface processes (e.g., exchange fluxes of energy and matter between land ecosystems and the atmosphere). However, soils and plants are key components in the land–atmosphere interface, and are subject to global environmental changes such as elevated carbon dioxide levels and climate change. The roles of soils and plants in the land–atmosphere interface should be highlighted more than ever for better understanding of the nature of land–atmosphere processes and their responses to environmental changes. This was the motive for planning the special section of iLEAPS in collaboration with the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition.
We would like to thank all the authors and reviewers for their contributions to the special section. We deeply respect the efforts of the Editorial Board of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition to compile the special section, especially Dr. Tomoko Nakano, Chuo University, as a guest editor, and Dr. Kentaro Hayashi, NIAES, as the editor-in-chief of the special section. We hope the special section provides inspiration to readers for future research.
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