Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Advances in Forest Health: Invasive Species, Insects and Diseases

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2023) | Viewed by 2524

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-Forestali (TESAF), University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, I-35020 Legnaro, Italy
Interests: forest pathology; molecular ecology; fungal endophytes; invasive Phytophthora species; diversity, biology, pathogenicity and taxonomy of Botryosphaeriaceae species
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Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: diversity and evolution of oomycetes and fungal species; oomycetes and fungal diseases diagnosis; emerging plant diseases; plant disease management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce this Collection titled “Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Advances in Forest Health: Invasive Insects and Pathogens”. This issue will be a collection of papers from researchers invited by the Editorial Board Members.

The aim is to provide a venue for networking and communication between Forests and scholars in the field of forest health. We are committed to collecting a variety of research, including new diagnostic tools and techniques in forest pathology and entomology, the impact of alien and invasive pathogens and insects, the breeding and genetics of disease resistance in trees and the management of forest tree diseases. All papers will be published with full open access after peer review.

Dr. Benedetto T. Linaldeddu
Dr. Roberto Faedda
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 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

  • climate change
  • emerging forest diseases
  • pest outbreaks
  • biological invasions
  • natural enemies
  • tree breeding
  • forest management

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1769 KiB  
Article
Development of a Real-Time PCR Assay for the Early Detection of the Eucalyptus Pathogen Quambalaria eucalypti
by Roberto Faedda and Gabriela B. Silva
Forests 2024, 15(2), 375; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020375 - 17 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1165
Abstract
Quambalaria eucalypti is a fungal pathogen that causes leaf spot, shoot blight, and stem canker on Eucalyptus spp. Early diagnosis of the disease is difficult, although the symptoms are clear in its advanced phase. To enable a rapid and sensitive screening of asymptomatic [...] Read more.
Quambalaria eucalypti is a fungal pathogen that causes leaf spot, shoot blight, and stem canker on Eucalyptus spp. Early diagnosis of the disease is difficult, although the symptoms are clear in its advanced phase. To enable a rapid and sensitive screening of asymptomatic or latently infected plant material for Q. eucalypti, a SYBR green-based real-time PCR assay targeting the partial histone-H3 region was developed. The assay demonstrated specificity for Q. eucalypti, not showing cross-reactivity with other Quambalaria species or the other eucalyptus fungal pathogens tested. The primers developed in this study ensured high analytical sensitivity, allowing the detection of Q. eucalypti DNA concentrations as low as 10 fg DNA from asymptomatic plants. The robustness and efficacy of the assay was demonstrated by interlaboratory comparisons with similar results. This newly developed quantitative PCR assay can be used for more comprehensive epidemiological investigations, testing the plant material in known Q. eucalypti distribution areas for early management strategies, or collecting data for resistance breeding programs. Full article
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14 pages, 3198 KiB  
Article
Infestation by Ips amitinus (Eichhoff, 1872), Its Associated Fungi, and Butt Rots in Stands of Pinus sibirica in South-Western Siberia
by Igor N. Pavlov, Rimvydas Vasaitis, Yulia A. Litovka, Anton A. Timofeev and Audrius Menkis
Forests 2023, 14(12), 2383; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14122383 - 6 Dec 2023
Viewed by 947
Abstract
In 2019, the bark beetle Ips amitinus (native to central Europe) was identified in south-western Siberia at a distance exceeding 2500 km east of its previously known easternmost location in the European part of Russia. In Siberia, its invasive populations are characterised by [...] Read more.
In 2019, the bark beetle Ips amitinus (native to central Europe) was identified in south-western Siberia at a distance exceeding 2500 km east of its previously known easternmost location in the European part of Russia. In Siberia, its invasive populations are characterised by high abundance and harmfulness. Here, I. amitinus accomplishes primary attacks on standing vital trees of Pinus sibirica with a lethal outcome. This invasion has already resulted in massive dieback in stands of pine over a large geographic territory. By, 2021, the invaded area was estimated to cover at least 31,200 km2. The objectives of this study were to investigate fungi associated with/vectored by I. amitinus in its invasive area in south-western Siberia and wood decay fungi that cause root and butt rots to P. sibirica. This led to the following conclusions: (i) DNA analysis of sixty adult beetles of Ips amitinus collected from P. sibirica in south-west Siberia revealed the presence of 143 fungal taxa; (ii) species richness was significantly higher in beetles collected from dead branches than from (more recently infested) dying branches; (iii) fungal communities were >90% dominated by yeasts, among which the most common were Nakazawaea holstii, Kuraishia molischiana, and N. ambrosiae; (iv) entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana s.l. was the most common fungus isolated from dead/mycosed beetles of I. amitinus, followed by Lophium arboricola and four Ophiostoma spp.; and (v) Heterobasidion parviporum was the most common decay fungus detected, which was causing heart rot in stems of P. sibirica. Full article
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