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Patterns and Biotic Drivers of Tree Mortality in Diverse Forests...
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Patterns and Biotic Drivers of Tree Mortality in Diverse Forests in the Anthropocene

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 January 2024) | Viewed by 4307

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Kateryna Davydenko

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Almas Allé 8, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
2. Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry & Forest Melioration, 86 Pushkinska St., 61024 Kharkiv, Ukraine
Interests: forest pathology; forest health and forest protection; tree devastating insects and vectored microorganisms biology and control of invasive tree pests and pathogens; pests and diseases in forest nurseries and afforestation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forest ecosystems across the world are facing high pressure due to the effects of climate change and numerous disastrous events. Moreover, forest dieback is predicted to continue at an elevated rate, with rising temperatures and prolonged droughts. Tree mortality is a complicated process that typically involves several different predisposing, inciting, and contributing climatic and biotic factors, resulting in tree decline and dieback. For instance, drought and bark-beetle outbreaks are major and often interrelated factors in forest dieback. Determining where and why tree mortality events increase, and how these drivers affect certain tree taxa, are central questions in the study of forest processes. Numerous studies on tree mortality are advancing the representation of biology, dynamics, and ecologically different biotic drivers, but require more empirical knowledge regarding the most common drivers and their subsequent mechanisms. An awareness of the biotic drivers of tree mortality can also contribute to the understanding of associated ecological and evolutionary consequences of biotic interactions along environmental gradients.

This Special Issue welcomes recent research focused on elucidating mechanisms driving massive and background tree mortality, with special emphasis on different biotic drivers. Thus, this Special Issue promotes the dissemination of knowledge in the preservation of diversity and resilience in forest ecosystems.

Dr. Kateryna Davydenko
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • forest disturbance
  • forest dynamics
  • tree pest
  • forest health
  • forest biodiversity
  • tree pathogens
  • climate change
  • forest management

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2131 KiB  
Article
Variability in Pine Pitch Canker Susceptibility among Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) Provenances in Eastern Europe
by Kateryna Davydenko, Natalia Łukaszewska-Skrzypniak, Katarzyna Sadowska, Justyna Anna Nowakowska, Kristina Raitelaitytė, Svetlana Markovskaja, Daiva Burokienė, Olena Shcherbak, Jorge Martín-García, Julio Javier Diez Casero, Tom Hsiang and Tomasz Oszako
Forests 2024, 15(4), 613; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f15040613 - 28 Mar 2024
Viewed by 790
Abstract
Pine pitch canker, caused by the ascomycete Fusarium circinatum, poses a substantial threat to pine trees and Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and has been identified as a pervasive issue in forests and nurseries worldwide, particularly in regions where susceptible conifers [...] Read more.
Pine pitch canker, caused by the ascomycete Fusarium circinatum, poses a substantial threat to pine trees and Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and has been identified as a pervasive issue in forests and nurseries worldwide, particularly in regions where susceptible conifers are cultivated. Given its prevalence in the Iberian Peninsula, assessments of the susceptibility of diverse European provenances of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)—specifically those from Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine—have been conducted. Preliminary evaluations of Polish provenances have raised concerns about the potential threat to Scots pine stands in Poland posed by pitch canker. Under controlled conditions, we examined the impact of F. circinatum inoculation on the survival of seeds and seedlings from ten provenances of Scots pine. In response, the initial assessment of F. circinatum pathogenicity was undertaken in a controlled greenhouse environment. This evaluation uncovered a heightened susceptibility of pine seedlings to pitch canker among the tested provenances. Notably, one Lithuanian provenance demonstrated superior resistance to pitch canker, while two Polish provenances exhibited a higher prevalence of symptomless seedlings. These findings underscore the need for further exploration and identification of resilient individuals within these provenances, offering valuable insights for developing strategies to mitigate the impact of pitch canker on Scots pine in Europe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patterns and Biotic Drivers of Tree Mortality in Diverse Forests in the Anthropocene)
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20 pages, 4588 KiB  
Article
Forest Site and Stand Structure Affecting the Distribution of Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), in Eastern Ukraine
by Valentyna Meshkova, Oleksandr Borysenko, Tetiana Kucheryavenko, Natalia Vysotska, Yuriy Skrylnyk, Kateryna Davydenko and Jaroslav Holusa
Forests 2024, 15(3), 511; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f15030511 - 9 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1028
Abstract
The Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), an invasive phloem-boring beetle, was first detected in the Luhansk Region of Ukraine in 2019. Subsequently, it rapidly expanded its presence to encompass a significant portion of the Kharkiv region and the [...] Read more.
The Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), an invasive phloem-boring beetle, was first detected in the Luhansk Region of Ukraine in 2019. Subsequently, it rapidly expanded its presence to encompass a significant portion of the Kharkiv region and the parks of Kyiv. Previous research has established that the climatic conditions in Luhansk and its neighboring regions are conducive to the EAB, and the absence of a host plant (Fraxinus sp.) does not act as a deterrent to the pest’s expansion in Ukraine. Recognizing the urgency of identifying infested trees, our current research aimed to identify the most attractive EAB forest subcompartments based on forest site conditions and stand structure. Utilizing the MaxEnt model, we achieved an average performance in predicting the potential distribution of the EAB (AUC = 0.842). The six most impactful variables, contributing to 88.2% of the model, include “age of trees, years”, “area of forest subcompartment, ha”, “mean height of trees, m”, “proportion of Fraxinus excelsior in the stand composition, %”, “hygrotope index (humidity level), point”, and “number of neighboring-non-forest subcompartments”. Most likely, EAB occurrence is expected in the driest forest site conditions; the well-lit and warmed-up parts of stands, in particular; small subcompartments surrounded by non-forest landscapes; and forest shelter belts near roads and fields. However, the data obtained can be considered preliminary. To enhance the accuracy of our forecasting, it may be imperative to consider data on road localization, along which the pest can spread passively, as well as dominant wind speed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patterns and Biotic Drivers of Tree Mortality in Diverse Forests in the Anthropocene)
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22 pages, 3032 KiB  
Article
Potential Westward Spread of Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from Eastern Ukraine
by Valentyna Meshkova, Oleksandr Borysenko, Tetiana Kucheryavenko, Yuriy Skrylnyk, Kateryna Davydenko and Jaroslav Holusa
Forests 2023, 14(4), 736; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f14040736 - 3 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2068
Abstract
Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is a phloem-boring beetle, native to East Asia that has become a serious invasive pest of ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees in North America and European Russia since the early 2000s. In 2019, EAB was detected in [...] Read more.
Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is a phloem-boring beetle, native to East Asia that has become a serious invasive pest of ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees in North America and European Russia since the early 2000s. In 2019, EAB was detected in Ukraine. It had spread over 300 km from the entry point over two years and killed hundreds of Fraxinus excelsior and F. pennsylvanica trees. EAB poses a threat to the ash forests of neighboring European countries, which have already been damaged by the invasive fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. The purpose of this research was (i) to reveal the traits of EAB and the climatic variables that affect its survival; (ii) to predict the EAB expansion range in Ukraine and westward; and (iii) to compare the most significant bioclimatic variables in the native, invasive ranges of EAB, as well as outside these ranges. The results demonstrated the following: (i) in all ranges, EAB has adapted to the seasonal temperature variations; (ii) the MaxEnt model predicted the potential distribution of EAB with high accuracy (AUC = 0.988); the predicted area of EAB invasion covered 87%, 48%, and 32% in Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions, respectively; and (iii) the ranges of climatic variables in EAB-inhabited regions demonstrated the high ecological plasticity of this pest. However, the predictions could be improved by considering forest structure, as well as the localization of roads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patterns and Biotic Drivers of Tree Mortality in Diverse Forests in the Anthropocene)
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