Reviews on Innovative Monitoring and Diagnostics for Forest Health

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 995

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests around the world are facing increasing threats from a combination of both natural and anthropogenic disturbances, including climate change, invasive species, pests, pathogens, pollution, and land use change. These factors interact in complex ways and present challenges that necessitate advanced approaches for the early detection, monitoring, and diagnosis of forest health to support sustainable management and conservation strategies.

This Special Issue aims to garner cutting-edge research and reviews that demonstrate innovative technologies, methodologies, and interdisciplinary approaches for forest health assessment. Emphasis will be placed on novel diagnostics, sensor-based monitoring, artificial intelligence, data fusion, and early-warning systems that improve forest resilience and decision making.

This Special Issue seeks reviews of topics pertaining (but not limited) to the following areas:

  • The remote sensing and UAV-based monitoring of forest health.
  • AI and machine learning in disease/pest detection and forest condition classification.
  • In situ sensor networks for real-time forest diagnostics (e.g., for moisture, temperature, CO2, VOCs).
  • Early-warning systems for forest pests and diseases.
  • Digital phenotyping and bio-indicators for stress detection.
  • Molecular and genomic diagnostics for identifying pathogens and pests.
  • Forest health data integration platforms and cloud-based monitoring tools.
  • Citizen science and participatory monitoring approaches.
  • The policy, management implications, and scalability of innovative monitoring systems.

This Special Issue aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for forest managers, ecologists, researchers, and policymakers. By highlighting current advancements and real-world applications, it hopes to foster cross-sector collaboration and inform actionable strategies for proactive forest health management in an era of environmental uncertainty.

Prof. Dr. Young-Seuk Park
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 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

  • forest health
  • pest
  • pathogen
  • climate change
  • disturbance
  • management
  • policy
  • monitoring
  • methods
  • innovative approach

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

33 pages, 2271 KB  
Review
Cross-Ecosystem Transmission of Pathogens from Crops to Natural Vegetation
by Marina Khusnitdinova, Valeriya Kostyukova, Gulnaz Nizamdinova, Alexandr Pozharskiy, Yerlan Kydyrbayev and Dilyara Gritsenko
Forests 2026, 17(1), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17010076 - 7 Jan 2026
Viewed by 607
Abstract
Cross-ecosystem transmission of plant pathogens from crops to natural forests is increasingly recognized as a key factor in disease emergence and biodiversity loss. Agricultural systems serve as major sources of inoculum, with landscape interfaces—such as crop–forest edges, riparian zones, abandoned orchards, and nursery–wildland [...] Read more.
Cross-ecosystem transmission of plant pathogens from crops to natural forests is increasingly recognized as a key factor in disease emergence and biodiversity loss. Agricultural systems serve as major sources of inoculum, with landscape interfaces—such as crop–forest edges, riparian zones, abandoned orchards, and nursery–wildland transitions—acting as active epidemiological gateways. Biological vectors, abiotic dispersal, and human activities collectively enable pathogen movement across these boundaries. Host-range expansion, recombination, and hybridization allow pathogens to infect both cultivated and wild hosts, leading to generalist and recombinant lineages that survive across diverse habitats. In natural ecosystems, such introductions can alter community composition, decrease resilience, and intensify the impacts of climate-driven stress. Advances in molecular diagnostics, genomic surveillance, environmental DNA, and remote sensing–GIS (Geographic Information System) approaches now enable high-resolution detection of pathogen flow across landscapes. Incorporating these tools into interface-focused monitoring frameworks offers a pathway to earlier detection, better risk assessment, and more effective mitigation. A One Health, landscape-based approach that treats agro–wild interfaces as key control points is essential for reducing spillover risk and safeguarding both agricultural productivity and the health of natural forest ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reviews on Innovative Monitoring and Diagnostics for Forest Health)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop