Data from: Phenotypic interactions between tree hosts and invasive forest pathogens in the light of globalization and climate change

Invasive pathogens can cause considerable damage to forest ecosystems.
Lack of coevolution is generally thought to enable invasive pathogens to
bypass the defence and/or recognition systems in the host. Although mostly
true, this argument fails to predict intermittent outcomes in space and
time, underlining the need to include the roles of the environment and the
phenotype in host–pathogen interactions when predicting disease impacts.
We emphasize the need to consider host–tree imbalances from a phenotypic
perspective, considering the lack of coevolutionary and evolutionary
history with the pathogen and the environment, respectively. We describe
how phenotypic plasticity and plastic responses to environmental shifts
may become maladaptive when hosts are faced with novel pathogens. The lack
of host–pathogen and environmental coevolution are aligned with two global
processes currently driving forest damage: globalization and climate
change, respectively. We suggest that globalization and climate change act
synergistically, increasing the chances of both genotypic and phenotypic
imbalances. Short moves on the same continent are more likely to be in
balance than if the move is from another part of the world. We use
Gremmeniella abietina outbreaks in Sweden to exemplify how host–pathogen
phenotypic interactions can help to predict the impacts of specific
invasive and emergent diseases. This article is part of the themed issue
‘Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and
ecosystem resilience’.