Each year at the Agronomy and Physiology Conference of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, a special symposium is organized that brings together speakers with expertise in a common topic. In the past, speakers from these symposia, along with additional invited experts, have contributed chapters to topical books for The Cotton Foundation Reference Book Series. Recent book examples include Stress Physiology in Cotton (2011), Flowering and Fruiting in Cotton (2012), and Linking Physiology to Management (in press). The special symposium at the 2015 Beltwide Conferences addressed Carbon Dynamics in Cotton, and it was decided at that time to submit a collection of papers on this topic to the Journal of Cotton Science. Consequently, the collection of review articles presented in the current issue addresses photosynthetic carbon acquisition, respiratory carbon losses, translocation of assimilate from source to sink, carbohydrate balance, and carbon partitioning in response to genotype, management, or environment. This special issue brings together physiologists with extensive experience in their chosen review topic and will provide readers with a valuable reference on carbon dynamics in cotton.
