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Forests
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Diagnosing and Managing Forest and Tree Diseases: Advances, Challenges and...
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Diagnosing and Managing Forest and Tree Diseases: Advances, Challenges and Strategies

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 June 2026 | Viewed by 1731

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pratima Devkota

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Interests: forest health; forest pathology; root rot diseases; vascular pathogens; tree defenses; pathogen biology
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 biodiversity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The diagnosis and management of forest diseases are major concerns with far-reaching implications for biodiversity, ecosystems, and the forestry industry. As climate change and invasive species continue to place increasing stress on forest trees, timely and accurate diagnoses, along with effective disease management, are essential for protecting forest resources and mitigating damage. To achieve this, fundamental research and innovative approaches are necessary for developing more efficient diagnostic tools, management strategies, and enhancing forest health and resilience.

This Special Issue seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest research on diagnosing, managing, and understanding forest and tree diseases. It will highlight advancements in diagnostic technologies, disease management practices, and fundamental research that will deepen our understanding of pathogens and tree health.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Innovative management strategies for controlling forest and tree diseases.
  • Fundamental research on tree disease biology and pathology.
  • Advances in tree disease diagnostics and monitoring technologies.
  • Impact of invasive species on forest health.
  • Remote sensing and other monitoring tools for forest disease detection.
  • Enhancing forest resilience through disease management and restoration strategies.
  • Socioeconomic and policy aspects of managing forest health.

Dr. Pratima Devkota
Dr. Kateryna Davydenko
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

  • forests
  • forest pathology
  • tree physiology
  • invasive species
  • disease diagnosis
  • tree defenses

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 5798 KB  
Article
Fungal and Bacterial Communities of the Red Turpentine Beetle (Dendroctonus valens LeConte) in the Great Lakes Region, USA
by Andrew J. Mann, Rin M. Barnum, Benjamin W. Held, Kathryn E. Bushley, Brian H. Aukema and Robert A. Blanchette
Forests 2025, 16(10), 1604; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16101604 - 19 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1093
Abstract
Fungi and bacteria associated with bark beetles can facilitate successful tree colonization, and, in some cases, these fungi act as pathogens of trees. The red turpentine beetle (RTB, Dendroctonus valens) is a bark beetle native to North America that colonizes stressed pines, [...] Read more.
Fungi and bacteria associated with bark beetles can facilitate successful tree colonization, and, in some cases, these fungi act as pathogens of trees. The red turpentine beetle (RTB, Dendroctonus valens) is a bark beetle native to North America that colonizes stressed pines, rarely killing healthy trees. The fungal communities associated with RTB adults, larval galleries, and control tree phloem from red pine (Pinus resinosa) and white pine (P. strobus) forests in the Great Lakes region of the United States were characterized using both culture-independent and culture-dependent methods. Similarly, the bacterial communities associated with RTB adults in the same region were characterized using a culture-independent method. There were significant differences between the adult beetle fungal communities and the tree-based fungal communities. Culture-independent sequencing of RTB adults showed high abundances of the fungal order Filobasidiales (red pine: 28.71% relative abundance, white pine: 6.91% relative abundance), as well as the bacterial orders Enterobacterales (red pine: 53.72%, white pine: 22.15%) and Pseudomonadales (red pine: 15.86%, white pine: 12.91%). In contrast, we isolated high amounts of fungi in the orders Pleosporales (red pine: 21.79%, white pine: 15.90%) and Eurotiales (red pine: 15.38%, white pine: 16.51%) from the adult beetles by culturing. Culture-independent sequencing of beetle galleries yielded high abundances of fungi in the orders Helotiales (red pine: 22.23%, white pine: 23.21%), whereas culture-based isolation from the same galleries yielded high amounts of Eurotiales (red pine: 17.91%, white pine: 17.91%), Hypocreales (red pine: 16.42%, white pine: 16.42%), and Ophiostomatales (red pine: 23.39%, white pine: 23.39%). This contrasts with the culture-independent method, where, likely due to limitations in the sequencing method, the Ophiostomatales accounted for only around 2% of the fungi from RTB galleries in both pine species. We observed a high species-level diversity of Ophiostomatales associated with RTB, isolating 14 species from the Great Lakes region. Leptographium terebrantis, a species that has been described in association with RTB throughout the United States, was the most common species (e.g., >35% of the Ophiostomatales relative abundance in red pine environments and >14% of the Ophiostomatales relative abundance in the white pine environment). This study enhances our understanding of RTB-associated fungi and bacteria in the beetle’s native range at both the community and species levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosing and Managing Forest and Tree Diseases: Advances, Challenges and Strategies)
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