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Emerging Tree Diseases Driven by Climate Change: A Critical Perspective on Current Challenges and Future Directions.
Nicolas Feau1, Pauline Hessenauer2, Cecile Robin3
11Pacific Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada ;
Annual Review of Phytopathology
|June 17, 2026
Summary
Climate change alters forest disease dynamics by affecting pathogen biology and tree health. This review explores how rising temperatures and changing weather patterns increase forest disease risks, impacting native and exotic pathogens.
Area of Science:
- Forestry and Environmental Science
- Plant Pathology
- Climate Change Science
Background:
- Climate change is fundamentally altering forest disease dynamics globally.
- Rising temperatures, altered precipitation, and extreme weather events disrupt host-pathogen interactions.
- These shifts drive disease emergence, impacting forest health and ecosystem services.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review how climate change exacerbates forest disease risks.
- To differentiate between climate-pathogen and climate-stress diseases.
- To identify knowledge gaps and future research directions for forest resilience.
Main Methods:
- Literature review synthesizing current research on climate change and forest diseases.
- Analysis of ecological relationships between trees, pathogens, and environmental factors.
- Exploration of disease dynamics across a spectrum from native to exotic pathogens.
Main Results:
- Climate change directly favors pathogen activity (climate-pathogen diseases) and indirectly stresses trees (climate-stress diseases).
- Ecological disruptions facilitate pathogen spread and establishment, affecting both native and exotic species.
- Existing research highlights significant knowledge gaps in understanding complex interactions.
Conclusions:
- Integrated approaches using genomics, remote sensing, and modeling are crucial for disease surveillance.
- Adaptive forest management must balance disease mitigation with climate adaptation strategies.
- Enhancing forest resilience is essential to address accelerating environmental change and its impact on forest health.
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