New special issue : Entomological issues during forest diebacks
We are launching the topical collection “Entomological issues during forest diebacks”.
This collection (virtual special issue) will gather articles about the involvement of insects in the processes of forest decline and about the outcomes of declines on forest insect species or communities.
Forest diebacks are multifactorial processes resulting from complex interactions among both biotic and abiotic factors, with prevailing factors varying among tree species and location. Factors involved in tree declines can be arranged as predisposing, contributing or inciting factors and can take place successively or simultaneously during the decline process. Due to global change, declines are expected to increase in the future as a result of biological invasion and increased frequency and intensity of droughts.
During this process, insects may play key roles as contributing factors, when for instance repeated defoliations by moths act as intense and punctual perturbations, triggering declines. Bark and wood borers like Platypus sp., Agrilus sp. or bark beetles may also act as inciting factors, aggravating the deleterious effects of contributing factors, and ultimately killing the trees. Declines also modify stand microclimates and tend to foster the occurrence of microhabitats like dead branches or cavities. This can deeply change the communities of forest insects, like saproxylic species for instance, and promote populations of patrimonial or rare species.
Forest health – biodiversity – secondary pests
Our Guest Editors are Dr. Christophe Bouget and Dr. Aurélien Sallé.
Christophe Bouget is a Research associate at Irstea (National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France). He is a specialist in the area of forest biodiversity, e.g. saproxylic beetle diversity. His current research interests are:
- Forestry and biodiversity associated with dead wood and veteran trees
- Ecology of forest insects
- Sampling methods for insects, direct and indirect indicators of forest biodiversity
- Landscape ecology, forest fragmentation, old-growth forest networks and diversity of saproxylic beetles
- External forest edges, wild bees, ecosystem services
Aurélien Sallé is a Lecturer in ecology and entomology at the Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France and is already an Associate Editor for Annals of Forest Science. His research is focused on tree – insect interactions and aims to unravel the mechanisms and outcomes of the interactions for both the host and the parasite. More specifically, the models are bark beetles colonizing conifers, the woolly poplar aphid and buprestids associated with oak declines. His current research interests are:
- colonization strategies of insects developing on tree stems,
- resistance mechanisms of trees
- outcomes of the interaction on both insect populations and trees,
- environmental factor modulating the interaction (water constraints, fertilisation…)
Authors must follow the instructions for authors available on Springer website and may use the templates available for the Title page and the Research article. Upon submission in Editorial Manager, authors must select Insects and tree diebacks as Article type to assign their manuscripts to the right topical collection.
Please visit our current topical collections here.
Looking forward to receiving your manuscript and ready to answer any questions sent to annforsci@inra.fr, christophe.bouget@irstea.fr or aurelien.salle@univ-orleans.fr
