European forests are under increasing pressure from global change-driven invasions and accelerating epidemics by insects and diseases

Rising temperatures attributed to anthropogenic climate change have held a firm grip on European forests for over two decades now and disturbances have increased substantially, mainly from insects and pathogens. Empirical evidence suggests a direct linkage between rising temperatures and increasing damage from native insects. Although the rapid spread of non-native invasive pests and pathogens is mainly driven by globalized trade and lacking tree species adaptation to locally new threats, climate change favors rapid range expansion of some invasive pests. Here, we present some examples of tree-insect-pathogen interactions in native and non-native systems that have experienced climate change-induced severe outbreak dynamics. We document the spread of damaging insects and pathogens into previously climatically unsuitable regions and underscore the severe forest damages such species distribution shifts can cause. Although systematic assessments are still pending, the information provided here by multiple independent empirical evidences is highly valuable for identifying some of the most pressing issues in European forest protection. Our work can guide forest protection agencies in preparing mitigating strategies for upcoming decades.

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Publication Details

Journal
DORA WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)
Published
2024-10-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5073/jfk.2025.02.02
Primary Topic
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

European forests are under increasing pressure from global change-driven invasions and accelerating epidemics by insects and diseases

Eckehard G. Brockerhoff, Åke Olson, Markus Melin, György Csóka et al.
DORA WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
article

European forests are under increasing pressure from global change-driven invasions and accelerating epidemics by insects and diseases

Eckehard G. Brockerhoff, Åke Olson, Markus Melin, György Csóka, Juraj Galko, Milan Pernek, Andrej Kunca, Audrius Menkis, Rainer Hurling, Gernot Hoch, Henrik A. Hartmann, Andrea Battisti, Marta Bełka, Matilda Stein Åslund, J. Rousselet, Eeva Terhonen, Rico Fischer, Malin Elfstrand, Márton Paulin, F. De Prins, Jonàs Oliva, Kateryna Davydenko, Milan Zúbrik, Tiina Ylioja, Ke Zhang, Hervé Jactel, Sebastian Preidl
article en

Abstract

Rising temperatures attributed to anthropogenic climate change have held a firm grip on European forests for over two decades now and disturbances have increased substantially, mainly from insects and pathogens. Empirical evidence suggests a direct linkage between rising temperatures and increasing damage from native insects. Although the rapid spread of non-native invasive pests and pathogens is mainly driven by globalized trade and lacking tree species adaptation to locally new threats, climate change favors rapid range expansion of some invasive pests. Here, we present some examples of tree-insect-pathogen interactions in native and non-native systems that have experienced climate change-induced severe outbreak dynamics. We document the spread of damaging insects and pathogens into previously climatically unsuitable regions and underscore the severe forest damages such species distribution shifts can cause. Although systematic assessments are still pending, the information provided here by multiple independent empirical evidences is highly valuable for identifying some of the most pressing issues in European forest protection. Our work can guide forest protection agencies in preparing mitigating strategies for upcoming decades.

DORA WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)
CEA CESTA (FR), Julius Kühn-Institut (DE), University of Padua (IT), Universitat de Lleida (ES), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), Forest Research Institute (HU), Centre National de la Propriété Forestière (FR), National Forest Centre (SK), UMR BIOdiversity, GEnes & Communities (FR), Nordwestdeutsche Forstliche Versuchsanstalt (DE), Austrian Research Centre for Forests (AT), Croatian Forest Research Institute (HR), University of Life Sciences in Poznań (PL), University of Göttingen (DE), University of Sopron (HU)
Openalex Percentile: Top 79%
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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