Integrated Management and Innovative Practices for Invasive Tree Pathogens

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2022) | Viewed by 8704

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Almas Allé 8, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
2. Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry & Forest Melioration, 86 Pushkinska St., 61024 Kharkiv, Ukraine
Interests: forest pathology; forest health and forest protection; tree devastating insects and vectored microorganisms biology and control of invasive tree pests and pathogens; pests and diseases in forest nurseries and afforestation
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Guest Editor
Department of Fungal Forest and Crop Plant Diseases, Division of Plant Health and Biotechnology, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Pb. 115, NO-1431 As, Norway
Interests: basic research on ecology; genetics; infection biology and impact of fungi pathogenic to trees; research and development to facilitate economically sustainable forest management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forest ecosystems throughout the world are increasingly affected by changing climate, international trade and transport systems. Growing global trade has facilitated the introduction of numerous new tree pathogens into new regions.  The focus in a lot of forest research is on modern mechanisms for prevention and management of potential invasions of forest pathogens as well as mitigating the impact of invasive pathogens within forest ecosystems.

Less knowledge is available on the biological and chemical control of invasive pathogens. The prevention and control of new invasions is a promising tool to improve forest health in the face of increased climate warming. The emergence of a new invasive forest pathogen appears to demand resources for developing countermeasures, such as breeding resistance programs, development of fungicide, and biocontrol agents. Therefore, there is an urgent need to introduce and synthesize the information that illustrates the impacts of invasions of tree pathogens, their biology, forest management, control measures and their interactions, as well as methods to predict, assess and mitigate these impacts.

This Special Issue welcomes studies that consider the recent advances in the development of different measures to prevent the entry and expansion of invasive forest pathogens including their biology, monitoring, epidemiology, ecology, diagnostics, and disease management and control. Thus, this Special Issue promotes the dissemination of knowledge in forest protection for the preservation of diversity and resilience of forest ecosystems. Studies conducted in forests and laboratories, as well as theoretical approaches and literature reviews, are of interest. We encourage studies from broad research topics related to invasive forest pathogens.

Dr. Kateryna Davydenko
Dr. Ari M. Hietala
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • invasive pathogens
  • disease outbreaks
  • forest health
  • forest biodiversity
  • tree pathogens
  • disease management
  • biocontrol
  • fungicide
  • natural enemies
  • tree–pathogen interactions
  • climate change
  • forest management

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3464 KiB  
Article
Suppression of Ganoderma boninense Using Benzoic Acid: Impact on Cellular Ultrastructure and Anatomical Changes in Oil Palm Wood
by Rozi Fernanda, Yasmeen Siddiqui, Daarshini Ganapathy, Khairulmazmi Ahmad and Arthy Surendran
Forests 2021, 12(9), 1231; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12091231 - 10 Sep 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3446
Abstract
Basal stem rot (BSR) caused by a wood degrading fungus, Ganoderma boninense, is the major constraint in palm oil production. It degrades the wood components and causes palms to collapse, leading to heavy losses. Inefficacy in controlling this disease could be caused [...] Read more.
Basal stem rot (BSR) caused by a wood degrading fungus, Ganoderma boninense, is the major constraint in palm oil production. It degrades the wood components and causes palms to collapse, leading to heavy losses. Inefficacy in controlling this disease could be caused by the lack of understanding in how the pathogen establishes itself on the host concerning wood decay stages. This study aimed to understand and determine the role of benzoic acid on the suppression of G. boninense and production of ligninolytic enzymes responsible for wood decay. Further, the alteration in wood component structure due to G. boninense infection and its prevention were studied. Benzoic acid treatment resulted in more than 80% of inhibition in G. boninense growth. SEM and HR-TEM analysis confirmed the antifungal activity of benzoic acid by disruption of mycelial morphology and cellular ultrastructure. Moreover, the membrane permeability assay recorded enhanced cell mortality in benzoic acid treated mycelium. The degradation of oil palm woodblock caused 58.86 % wood dry weight loss at day 120. In contrast, reduction in dry weight loss (58.82%) was recorded in woodblock treated with concentrations of benzoic acid of 5 mM and above. It is concluded that the use of benzoic acid could inhibit or delay pathogen establishment in oil palm wood, leading to the sustainable management of BSR disease. Further, glasshouse and field trials are required to prove the consistency in current findings which may contribute to reduced land expansion to create new disease-free land for oil palm planting. Full article
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8 pages, 876 KiB  
Communication
Detectability of Pseudomonassyringae pv. aesculi from European Horse Chestnut Using Quantitative PCR Compared with Traditional Isolation
by Salome Schneider, Christopher Schefer and Joana Beatrice Meyer
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1062; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081062 - 10 Aug 2021
Viewed by 1948
Abstract
Bleeding cankers on horse chestnut trees (Aesculushippocastanum and Aesculus × carnea), caused by Pseudomonassyringae pv. aesculi, have been reported across Europe. In the present study, we show the successful detection of P. syringae pv. aesculi on symptomatic [...] Read more.
Bleeding cankers on horse chestnut trees (Aesculushippocastanum and Aesculus × carnea), caused by Pseudomonassyringae pv. aesculi, have been reported across Europe. In the present study, we show the successful detection of P. syringae pv. aesculi on symptomatic horse chestnut trees in Switzerland using quantitative PCR (qPCR). However, P. syringae pv. aesculi was also detected by qPCR on trees from which no isolate was obtained through cultivation. Reduced isolation success and low copy numbers of the target gene were correlated with the increasing age of symptomatic horse chestnut trees. The potential of detecting non-viable P. syringae pv. aesculi by qPCR was evaluated using an inoculation experiment with dead bacteria and detection by qPCR and cultivation. The detectability of DNA from P. syringae pv. aesculi cells dropped by 34.5% one day after inoculation and then decreased only slightly until the end of the experiment (22 days after inoculation). In contrast, no bacterial growth was observed at any time point after the inactivation of the bacteria. To protect horse chestnut trees, evaluating the viability and actual infection stage of the bacterium may play an important role. Full article
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12 pages, 2985 KiB  
Article
Differing Responses to Cryphonectria parasitica at Two Indiana Locations
by Shaneka S. Lawson, Aziz Ebrahimi and James R. McKenna
Forests 2021, 12(6), 794; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12060794 - 16 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2521
Abstract
Chestnut blight, a disease that has spread rampantly among American (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.) and European chestnut (C. sativa Mill.) trees, results from infection by the fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) M.E. Barr (C. parasitica). This fungus was introduced [...] Read more.
Chestnut blight, a disease that has spread rampantly among American (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.) and European chestnut (C. sativa Mill.) trees, results from infection by the fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) M.E. Barr (C. parasitica). This fungus was introduced in the early 1900s and has almost functionally eliminated chestnut trees from the North American landscape. In 2017, we collected chestnut blight samples from two sites (Site B, (Fulton Co., IN) and Site C (Marshall Co., IN)). At the Fulton County planting, Site B, cankers had formed, healed over, and the trees were healthy. However, at the second site in Marshall County, (Site C), cankers continued to propagate until all of the chestnut trees had died back to the ground. Research evidence worldwide has indicated that these visual clues likely result from the presence of a hypovirus. Upon closer inspection and the subsequent isolation and reproduction of spores, no hypovirus has been identified from either site. Here, we present a curious coincidence where one site has completely succumbed to the disease, while the other has been able to spring back to health. Full article
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