As organisers of a dedicated Mechanical Ecology symposium at the 2021 SEB Conference in Antwerp, Simon Poppinga and I have been given the opportunity to guest-edit a special issue on the topic in the Journal of Experimental Botany. The issue will compile predominantly review papers on the topic, but original research contributions are also considered. The focus should be on combining biomechanics with ecological – ideally field – research. We would like to encourage anyone interested in contributing an article to contact us directly.