About this Research Topic
In recent decades, insect and pathogen pandemics have increased in frequency and severity, likely due to the unprecedented growth in global trade and a variety of environmental factors, threatening the world’s wild forests and forest plantations. This has led the research and forest management communities to implement strategies to increase forest resilience and mitigate the loss of forest products (timber and non-timber), benefits, and services. One such strategy that has been implemented in the agricultural industry is selective breeding to create crops that are more productive and less susceptible to pests/disease. However, selective breeding in forests is more complex and time-consuming, and there has been a decrease in the number of tree breeding programs in the past decades. With the threat of future pandemics rising, more proactive research is needed to inform practitioners and future tree breeding programs globally.
This Research Topic aims to find original solutions and management strategies for future emerging challenges. We welcome submissions related to novel and established resilience strategies aimed at protecting forests from pest/pathogen pandemics, and the multifaceted impacts of implementing these strategies in the short, mid, and long-term. This is not solely restricted to timber forests or plantations, but also encompasses food products that are produced in forest settings (e.g., olive and palm oil and fruit trees). We are particularly interested in submissions on using multiple trait selection strategies to build forest resilience to a variety of biotic and abiotic stressors. This includes:
• Genetic markers used to select for multiple traits.
• Metabolomic/proteomic markers.
• Phenomic selection.
• Management strategies that maximize resistance and/or resilience.
• Instances of community-centered breeding or management approaches.
This Research Topic aims to find original solutions and management strategies for future emerging challenges. We welcome submissions related to novel and established resilience strategies aimed at protecting forests from pest/pathogen pandemics, and the multifaceted impacts of implementing these strategies in the short, mid, and long-term. This is not solely restricted to timber forests or plantations, but also encompasses food products that are produced in forest settings (e.g., olive and palm oil and fruit trees). We are particularly interested in submissions on using multiple trait selection strategies to build forest resilience to a variety of biotic and abiotic stressors. This includes:
• Genetic markers used to select for multiple traits.
• Metabolomic/proteomic markers.
• Phenomic selection.
• Management strategies that maximize resistance and/or resilience.
• Instances of community-centered breeding or management approaches.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
