Mapping oak shoot browning in SW Spain using online imagery as virtual prospecting tool

Plant Pathogenic Fungi Associated with Coraebus florentinus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Attacks in Declining Oak Forests

“…Whether the fungal species isolated in this study can promote the attacks of C. florentinus remains to be clarified, but the combined effect of C. florentinus and D. corticola on Mediterranean oak ecosystems could have a strong ecological impact, as recently observed in Spain by Torres-Vila et al [55]. The co-occurrence of multiple adverse factors in the oak decline onset, such as C. florentinus and D. corticola, together with inappropriate agroforestry activity [69] and climatic change [70], suggest that a multidisciplinary approach is essential for developing adequate management strategies to preserve these important and vulnerable ecosystems in the future.…”

“…The findings obtained in this study allowed us to characterize, for the first time, the fungal communities associated with C. florentinus attacks in declining oak woodlands in Sardinia, contributing to expanding the knowledge on the bioecology of this emerging insect pest in the Mediterranean region. Coraebus florentinus is an insect pest able to attack apparently healthy plants and cause extensive wilting and branch dieback, which contribute to a general and progressive decline of oak trees [24,55]. After mating in summer, C. florentinus females lay eggs in the bark of twigs and after about 2 weeks, emerging larvae feed in the inner bark, burrowing downward sinuous galleries in the sapwood [25].…”

Victims or perpetrators: contribution and response of insects to forest diebacks and declines

“…Climate change can promote thermophilous species through direct selective effects of warming on developmental and behavioral traits (Bale et al 2002), and also through direct and indirect effects on forest health (Seidl et al 2017). Several recent contributions to the journal deal with insects (often Mediterranean species) showing a recent increase in damage levels, or an extension of their geographical range (Bellahirech et al 2019;Poole et al 2019;Sánchez-Osorio et al 2019;Torres-Vila et al 2019;Sallé et al 2020).…”

“…This reflects growing concerns worldwide surrounding these two groups of wood borers. Both groups include several prominent invasive species (e.g., Orlova-Bienkowskaja et al 2020;Coleman et al 2019) and also some thermophilous secondary pests, in particular buprestids, which are favored by both direct and indirect impacts of climate change (Bellahirech et al 2019;Poole et al 2019;Torres-Vila et al 2019;Sallé et al 2020).…”

“…The management of these growing issues requires tools to monitor damage distribution and evolution. Torres-Vila et al (2019) propose a novel method, using Google Street View, to detect and map oak shoot browning at a regional scale. Oak shoot browning is a potential inciting factor of oak decline in the Iberian Peninsula and is caused either by a pathogen, or Coraebus florentinus Herbst.…”