For centuries, forests have supported human societies with essential ecosystem services and great economic values. Climate change increasingly threatens these values, dramatically intensifying forest disturbances caused by forest pests and pathogens. Large-scale tree mortality due to pests and pathogens is economically and ecologically devastating, with global consequences, since dying trees convert forests from carbon sinks to carbon sources as dead trees decay. We can try to protect our forests by developing new methodologies in the area of forest pest and pathogen management. To accomplish such ambitions, enrichment of our knowledge of forest pests and pathogen ecology at the molecular level is of utmost importance. Recent omics advancements open many doors for a better understanding of forest pests, pathogen biology, and ecology. More in-depth knowledge can lead to formulating sustainable and eco-friendly methodologies to mitigate current forestry issues caused by pests and pathogens.

Under this topic, we will address the extent of advances, highlighting initiatives and demonstrating applications of cutting-edge molecular and omics tools to further our understanding of the biology, ecology, and management of forest pests and pathogens under increasingly challenging abiotic conditions. This article collection aims to address the potential that these advances have for pest and pathogen population manipulation and forest protection.
This Research Topic aims to bring together relevant scientific contributions on omics-based approaches used for revealing unknown facts about forest pests and pathogens and their interactions under climate change challenges.

Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
- Genome initiatives of forest pests and pathogens
- Transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics on host- pest-pathogen interactions
- Metagenomic, metatranscriptomic and metaproteomic studies explaining symbiotic interactions in the forest ecosystem
- Characterizing genes that can be targeted in future forest pest and pathogen management
- Tree defence against forest pests and pathogens
- Molecular tools such as RNAi as forest protection products.

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Frontiers in Forests and Global Change

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