Abstract
This is a preliminary, draft outline for organizing information on the relation of climate to western forest diseases. The question is how to assess the threat of these diseases under a regime of climate change. Although forest diseases are often important, assessment of disease-climate relations is a challenging problem due to the multiple values at risk and the complexity of these systems. Several approaches are described and illustrated with examples for mistletoes and stem rust. Only a sampling of examples is given to illustrate a variety of concepts; many additional examples are to be found in the literature. Knowledge gaps are identified.
Keywords
forest diseases,
climate relations,
dwarf mistletoe,
stem rusts
Citation
Geils, B. W. 2008. Western forest diseases and climate relations: General considerations, dwarf mistletoe and stem rusts. In: McWilliams, Michael; Palacios, Patsy, comps. Proceedings of the 55th Annual Western International Forest Disease Work Conference; 2007 October 15-19; Sedona, AZ. Salem, OR: Oregon Department of Forestry. p. 19-24.
