Effect of Tree Diversity on Insect Herbivory in Forest Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Trees and forests provide a wide variety of ecosystem services including the provision of timber, climate regulation and cultural services. Insect pests threaten such services, making the development of environmentally sustainable management strategies to protect trees and forests a high priority in forest research. Over the last decade, increasing evidence has demonstrated that mixed forests are generally more resistant to insect pests than monospecific stands, a phenomenon known as associational resistance. However, a substantial number of studies have reported the opposite trend, i.e., a greater susceptibility of mixed forests. This Special Issue addresses the well-studied but still largely debated relationship between tree species diversity and insect herbivory. It compiles studies exploring several ecological factors likely to explain such discrepancies, including differences in the feeding guild, diet breadth or mobility of insect pests, or changes in the functional and phylogenetic composition of mixed forests. By doing so, it aims to build a more general understanding of the diversity–resistance relationship in mixed forests, and therefore helps to formulate possible predictive rules to protect forests against insect pests.

Dr. Bastien Castagneyrol
Dr. Martin M. Gossner
Dr. Xoaquín Moreira
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.