Increased risk of damage from Phytophthora diseases under climate change

Sudden Oak Death and other Phytophthora tree diseases are predicted to be the most damaging of all tree diseases if climate change makes conditions in Western North America wetter and warmer.  This finding is one of the conclusions from "A Risk Assessment of Climate Change and the Impact of Forest Diseases on Forest Ecosystems in the Western United States and Canada," by John Kliejunas.  Drawing on a large body of published research, the report details the effects of eight forest diseases under two climate-change scenarios – warmer and drier conditions, and warmer and wetter conditions. The likelihood and consequences of increased damage to forests from each disease as a result of climate change were analyzed and assigned a risk value of high, moderate, or low.  The risk value is based on available biological information and subjective judgment.  Free copies of the report are available via download or by mail at http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr236/.  Funded by the USDA Forest Service's Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center and the Pacific Southwest Research Station, the risk assessment was conducted as part of the Climate Change and Western Forest Diseases initiative.
Kliejunas, J.T. 2011. A risk assessment of climate change and the impact of forest diseases on forest ecosystems in the Western United States and Canada. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-236. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 70 p.

From COMTF April Report