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Forests
Special Issues
Risk Assessment and Management of Forest Pest Outbreaks
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Risk Assessment and Management of Forest Pest Outbreaks

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2024 | Viewed by 1187

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rastislav Jakuš

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 960 01 Zvolen, Slovakia
Interests: bark beetles; remote sensing; pheromones; anti-attractants; forest protection; risk assessment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are becoming increasingly vulnerable to pest outbreaks as a result of climate change, resulting in more frequent and severe infestations that critically impact ecological health and sustainability. The changing climate, characterized by rising temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns, creates a hospitable environment for pests to reproduce and intensify their attacks on forested regions. This issue summarizes research that addresses risk assessment, early detection, and effective management to preserve the well-being of our invaluable forested landscapes. Remote sensing methods provide a comprehensive overview of forested areas, enabling the efficient monitoring and timely identification of areas impacted by pest infestations. As a result, this technology facilitates proactive measures to contain the spread of pests and mitigate potential damage. Risk assessment can also be linked to advances in molecular biology. Molecular biology-based approaches offer vital insights into the genetics and vulnerabilities of pest populations, making them crucial for accurate risk assessments. Additionally, these methods play a critical role in evaluating tree health, providing a deep comprehension of their physiological and genetic responses to pest infestations and environmental stressors. Furthermore, this Special Issue aims to showcase novel techniques in pest control, such as pheromones, anti-attractants, biocontrol agents, and precision application technologies. These methods considerably disturb the life cycle of pests and reduce their populations effectively.

Dr. Rastislav Jakuš
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.

Keywords

  • bark beetles
  • defoliators
  • semiochemicals
  • push–pull
  • repellents
  • smart forestry
  • traps
  • drones
  • satellite

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 25908 KiB  
Article
Spruce Protection against Ips typographus with Anti-Attractant Blend of Tree-Based Semiochemicals: From Small Experimental Plots to Stand Scales
by Rastislav Jakuš, Aleksei Trubin, Vivek Vikram Singh, Khodabakhsh Zabihi, Anna Jirošová, Roman Modlinger, Andrej Majdák, Nataliya Korolyova, Antonioni Acacio Campos Moliterno, Jaroslav Kašpar, Martin Slavík, Peter Surový, Marek Turčáni and Fredrik Schlyter
Forests 2024, 15(2), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020356 - 12 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 988
Abstract
Tree-killing bark beetles require rapid management, such as anti-attractants, to stop the enlargement of attack hot-spots. We tested two newer anti-attractant blends, both without verbenone and one with the addition of trans-4-thujanol, in traps against standard pheromone baits for inhibition of catch. [...] Read more.
Tree-killing bark beetles require rapid management, such as anti-attractants, to stop the enlargement of attack hot-spots. We tested two newer anti-attractant blends, both without verbenone and one with the addition of trans-4-thujanol, in traps against standard pheromone baits for inhibition of catch. Both blends provided effective catch reduction (>95%). We also tested these anti-attractant blends in tree protection experiments for two years. We had experimental plots with a center of an anti-attractant protected tree zone, with no traditional control area, but we followed tree kills in 10 m wide concentric rings to 100 m. In 2020, we had 12 plots, and 9 plots in 2021. Monitoring by low-strength pheromone traps followed beetle flight averaging 300/trap during the shorter period, August 2020, and 5000/trap during the longer period, May to August 2021. The blends of anti-attractants were 100% effective in avoiding tree mortality in both treated trees and their surroundings. There were no bark beetle attacks on any treated trees, and there was zero tree mortality up to 19 m in 2020, and up to 30 m in 2021, thus full protection to circa 20 m. The density of killed trees then increased from close to zero, over 20 to 50 m, reaching a level of ca 30 (trees/ha) then declined. The spatial pattern of tree mortality on our experimental plots was highly heterogeneous and individual 10m-ring data points on tree kill density could not be statistically separated. In contrast, a non-linear regression model showed a continuous increase of attacks over the distance from the center to a peak ca 60m, followed by a decline. This model agrees partly with the only similar study in the literature, but importantly, it does not give a peak of kill density at distances between the first and second rings close to treatment zones. Such patterns of close-quarter kills have been observed as a “switching” of attack in this and other scolytid systems manipulated by anti-attractants, but not in the present study, likely due to the elimination of verbenone from our blends. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment and Management of Forest Pest Outbreaks)
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