7.03.01 - Reproductive structure insects & pathogens

Coordinator:

Thomas Boivin, France

About Unit

This Working Party is concerned with all aspects of research on forest insects and pathogens associated with tree reproductive structures. These aspects include biology, ecology, genetics, impacts on forest natural regeneration and seed orchards management, monitoring and pest management in both angiosperms and gymnosperm host trees.

The Working Party aims at stimulating communication and cooperation among scientists, students, forest managers, and policy makers. It promotes the organization of meetings and special sessions in conferences. Interested parties should contact the Coordinator.

The Working Party maintains a distribution list, subscription to this list can be done through the Coordinator.


State of Knowledge

Reproductive structure insects and pathogens are considered the most important source of damage to tree seeds during the pre-dispersal phase of their development. Seed losses might result from damages caused by insects and pathogens to buds, flowers, fruits, cones or seeds themselves. These insects and pathogens are important factors in forest and tree health, and their economic and ecological impacts are a source of increasing concern to entomologists, pathologists and foresters. Damages have been particularly severe in seed orchards hindering genetic improvement programs and reforestation projects. In a context in which the effects of both climate change and biological invasions are increasingly prevalent, experimental and theoretical contributions to the likelihood of life-cycle disruptions between plants and their specialized herbivores, and to how these changes may generate novel dynamic patterns in each partner of the interaction are increasingly critical. In our changing world, ongoing experimental and theoretical contributions to the understanding and to the prediction of such tree-insect/pathogen interactions are increasingly critical.