The Threat of the Combined Effect of Biotic and Abiotic Stress Factors in Forestry Under a Changing Climate

Abstract

Plants encounter several biotic and abiotic stresses, usually in combination. This results in major economic losses in agriculture and forestry every year. Climate change aggravates the adverse effects of combined stresses and increases such losses. Trees suffer even more from the recurrence of biotic and abiotic stress combinations owing to their long lifecycle. Despite the effort to study the damage from individual stress factors, less attention has been given to the effect of the complex interactions between multiple biotic and abiotic stresses. In this review, we assess the importance, impact, and mitigation strategies of climate change driven interactions between biotic and abiotic stresses in forestry. The ecological and economic importance of biotic and abiotic stresses under different combinations is highlighted by their contribution to the decline of the global forest area through their direct and indirect roles in forest loss and to the decline of biodiversity resulting from local extinction of endangered species of trees, emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds, and reduction in the productivity and quality of forest products and services. The abiotic stress factors such as high temperature and drought increase forest disease and insect pest outbreaks, decrease the growth of trees, and cause tree mortality. Reports of massive tree mortality events caused by “hotter droughts” are increasing all over the world, affecting several genera of trees including some of the most important genera in plantation forests, such as Pine, Poplar, and Eucalyptus. While the biotic stress factors such as insect pests, pathogens, and parasitic plants have been reported to be associated with many of these mortality events, a considerable number of the reports have not taken into account the contribution of such biotic factors. The available mitigation strategies also tend to undermine the interactive effect under combined stresses. Thus, this discussion centers on mitigation strategies based on research and innovation, which build on models previously used to curb individual stresses.

Global Warming, Climate Change, and Environmental Pollution: Recipe for a Multifactorial Stress Combination Disaster

“…Interestingly, in a recent study on the combination of high light and heat stress it was found that heat stress-driven regulation of stomata (stomata opening) overcomes high light-driven stomata regulation (stomata closure) to result in stomata opening during the stress combination [47]. In addition to stomatal responses, root architecture is also altered during a stress combination [58,59], and nutrient availability plays a key role in this response [58,60,61]. In addition to studies examining the simultaneous exposure of plants to two or more stresses (described in the preceding text), studies of sequential exposure of plants to different stresses, or their combination, revealed a similar complexity in plant responses to a stress combination [61][62][63].…”

Effect and Response of Quercus ilex subsp. ballota [Desf.] Samp. Seedlings From Three Contrasting Andalusian Populations to Individual and Combined Phytophthora cinnamomi and Drought Stresses

“…In nature, plants are simultaneously exposed to a combination of biotic and abiotic stresses (Ramegowda and Senthil-Kumar, 2015 ; Pandey et al, 2017 ; Teshome et al, 2020 ). In a previous study, our group used molecular methods to investigate the individual effects of P. cinnamomi and drought, which are the two main stresses leading to oak decline (Jorge et al, 2006 ; Echevarría-Zomeño et al, 2009 ; Sghaier-Hammami et al, 2013 ; Valero-Galván et al, 2013 ; Simova-Stoilova et al, 2015 , 2018 ; San-Eufrasio et al, 2020 ), on Q. ilex seedlings and their response to these two stresses.…”

The Contrivance of Plant Growth Promoting Microbes to Mitigate Climate Change Impact in Agriculture

“…The predominant signs of climate change are elevated mean surface temperature, ice melting, sea level rise and extreme weather events [ 3 , 4 ]. As a result of these rapid global alterations, crops are increasingly facing abiotic stresses, mainly drought, salinity and heat stress [ 2 , 9 , 12 , 13 ]. The demand for food is constantly increasing due to the growing population.…”