Colleagues - Please forward to others that might be interested... Now available.... A risk assessment of climate change and the impact of forest diseases on forest ecosystems in the Western United States and Canada http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr236/ By, John T. Kliejunas Description: This risk assessment projects the effects of eight forest diseases under two climate-change scenarios (warmer and drier, warmer and wetter). Examples are used to describe how various types of forest diseases may respond to environmental changes. Forest diseases discussed in this report include foliar diseases, Phytophthora diseases, stem rusts, canker diseases, dwarf mistletoes, root diseases, and yellow-cedar decline. The likelihood and consequences of increased damage to forests from each disease as a result of climate change are analyzed and assigned a risk value of high, moderate, or low. The risk value is based on available biological information and subjective judgment. Although results suggest that climate change will affect forest health, uncertainty arises regarding the degree of climate change that will occur; pathogen biology under changing climate; the effects of changing climate directly on the host; and the interactions between the pathogen, host, and climate. Keywords: Climate change, forest pathogens, environmental risk assessment, foliar diseases, Phytophthora, Armillaria, stem rusts, canker diseases, dwarf mistletoe, root diseases, yellow-cedar decline. Citation: Kliejunas, John 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. To order a free hardcopy: email Richard Schneider, rschneider@fs.fed.us<mailto:rschneider@fs.fed.us> with your mailing address and the name of the publication. (Sorry if you received several copies of this message.) - Susan Susan J. Frankel Biologist, Sudden Oak Death Research USDA-Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station Mailing address: PO Box 245 Berkeley, CA 94701 Street address: 800 Buchanan Street, West Annex Building, Albany, CA 94710-0011 Phone: 510-559-6472 FAX :510-559-6440 sfrankel@fs.fed.us<mailto:sfrankel@fs.fed.us> This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.