Dear Colleagues,

Of the principle taxonomic groups of organisms that cause biotic diseases in trees, fungi are by far the most important and consequential; this statement has even greater veracity if we include with the true fungi the many important tree pathogens in the morphologically similar but phylogenetically unrelated phylum, the Oomycota. Tree diseases caused by fungi can be grouped broadly according to the targeted host tissue and the pathogens’ principal mode of attack, resulting in a strong correlation between disease types and the fungal groups that cause them. Hence, most foliar diseases are caused by specific orders within the Ascomycota, as well as rusts in the Basidiomycota. Ascomycetes also predominate as canker-causing fungi as well as those that cause the devastating vascular wilts. Stem, butt, and root rots are caused principally by species in the Basidiomycota.

As trees of the forest—both urban and woodland—experience increasing stressors due to global warming, climate change, and the pressures of a growing human population, fungal pathogens will manifest synergistically with these stressors in increasingly greater expression of decline and disease.

For this Special Issue, we invite research papers and review articles covering all aspects of the biology and epidemiology of fungal pathogens of forest trees, particularly those that involve complex interactions with other biotic (e.g., insect vectors) and abiotic (e.g., climate change) stressors. We look forward to publishing your research results and review articles.

Dr. Robert E. Marra
Guest Editor

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• Forest pathology
• Mycology
• Ascomycota
• Basidiomycota
• Oomycota