Pests and Diseases

Abstract

It has long been recognised that climatic conditions influence the epidemiology and incidence of many pests and diseases. Now, with the growing acceptance that man’s activities are causing a gradual change in the global climate, there is an increasing need for research into the climate dependency of pathogen and insect outbreaks. Over the next century climate change is likely to have both direct and indirect effects on the environment and, in consequence, to alter the way we manage our forests and also how we combat the damage caused by pests and diseases. Some of these issues are highlighted in a recently published Forestry Commission Bulletin (Broadmeadow, 2002), which contains several chapters authored by Forest Research entomologists and forest pathologists.