Impact of Pests, Climate and Other Factors on Forest Health

Dear Colleagues,

The impact of climate on forest health is of growing interest globally as weather continues to be erratic and more and more of a challenge to traditional forest managment strategies. Today we need also to engage emerging issues such as the growing need for forest canopy enrichment, economic sustainability and post-pandemic worker challenges. Add to this the growing threats of biological invasions, pests and diseace outbreaks as trees become more stressed in periods of drought or compromised during excessive rains and floods. Additionally, large tracts of land are now periodically subject to wildland fires. To assist in engaging these and other impact factors while instituting enhanced forest management practices we need today to embrace technological innovation and data-driven analytics and metrics. For example, as the need to more aggressively counter invasive species and mitigate against future invasions, we will need to focus on improving our engagement in human-related aspects of our work with suitable research, development and technical transfer and training. Technological advances offer tools that can assist in such fields as insect molecular diagnostics, tacking pests and disease spread, remote sensing and the ability to plan and deploy strategies effectively. A multidisciplinary approach will help on aspects of improving tree canopy health and ultimately deliver on tree species richness, enhanced stewardship, biodiversity and resiliency of Forests. 

Biology and ecology of forest pests both traditional and invasive, treatment of insect and diseases that inpact on forest health. Forest biodiversity asserssments in forested ecosystems at the canopy level and undercanopy.New invasive plant species introductions in forested areas and managment. New technology that helps guide forestry practices. Forestry tree canopy health assessments and mapping using remote sensing and other artificial intelligence. Soil considerations for healthy forests. Climate related inpacts and tracking change in forest compostion with climate. Forestry technological transfer and tracking success of new strategies. 

Submitted manuscripts must be original contributions; not submitted to other journals. Papers published or submitted for publication in conference proceedings may be considered if revised to fit the requirements of expanded journal articles. 

Dr. Anand B. Persad
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.

• invasive spp
• climate change
• biodiversity
• treatments
• technology
• stewardship
• resiliency