An automated early warning system for pine and oak forest mortality has been developed.

Córdoba, June 25 (EFE).- The Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (IAS) of the CSIC (National Forestry Commission) has developed an automated early warning system for forest vulnerability, that is, to warn of the early mortality of pine and oak forests.

The European project, called Tread—Resilience Monitoring and Early Disturbance Assessment, uses functional characteristics and thermal remote sensing to identify pine and oak forests susceptible to pests, as well as the early symptoms of disease.

CSIC researcher at the IAS and project coordinator, Alberto Hornero, noted in a statement that "forest decline caused by biotic and abiotic disturbances—for example, microorganisms—and non-living organisms, such as soil or water, represents a serious risk to ecosystems and has devastating economic and environmental consequences." "Hence the importance of early detection of disease symptoms, which is crucial for managing and mitigating forest mortality through precision forestry," Hornero says.

However, "the development of early warning models remains a challenge due to limited knowledge of the physiological changes that affect plant traits under stress," the project coordinator said.

He noted that plant traits "derived from remote sensing have demonstrated great potential for quantifying the structure and biochemical composition of vegetation, providing insight into pest susceptibility and early disease symptoms."

However, their specific responses to different stressors "remain poorly understood, as does the spatial and temporal transferability of detection models, limiting their effectiveness in predicting forest decline."

Specifically, Tread will allow for the establishment of physiological and thermal reference values ​​for healthy trees and compare them with abnormal trajectories. In this way, it aims to provide objective and reproducible indicators that allow action to be taken before damage becomes irreversible, thus strengthening the resilience of Mediterranean forests and minimizing the economic and ecological impact of their decline.

Beyond the algorithms, the project will launch an open database with an online viewer that will integrate field observations and aerial and satellite imagery. The project, which involves the University of Córdoba and the Portuguese private research organization CoLAB ForestWISE, has received European funding from the European Forest Institute in Finland. The initiative will be developed over the next two years with a budget of nearly €150,000. EFE

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