Insects as Vectors of Forest Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Insect pests are among the main threats to forest health, causing high ecological and economic impacts worldwide. Their effects are amplified by climate change and global trade. In many regions, the accidental introduction of exotic species has caused severe and destructive recent outbreaks of new emerging pests, frequently associated with native or exotic fungal forest pathogens. In fact, the main damage of many forest insects, namely bark, wood-boring and ambrosia beetles, is related to their capacity to transport phytopathogenic fungi, which are inoculated directly on the tree during the feeding and/or the boring activity. Besides fungi, insects can also carry other pathogenic agents, such as nematodes and bacteria, which can also cause diseases in tree hosts, although these interactions are less studied and understood. The purpose of this Special Issue is to invite submission of manuscripts, including original research papers and reviews, on this important and relevant topic, focusing on the role of insects as vectors of forest diseases in order to increase the general knowledge on insect-mediated disease transmission in forests and contribute to the characterization and understanding of these interactions.

Dr. Mercedes Fernández
Dr. Pedro Naves
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.