Defra Climate Services Biodiversity - Forest Research

This work aims to meet Defra's government requirements to enhance the pest risk analyses and emergency outbreak management response work of the plant pest/pathogen risk experts in Defra. The proposed work will focus on the influence of future climate changes on UK plant pest and/or pathogen risks. It will integrate the most up-to-date climate monitoring and projection data with expertise on analysing and managing pest and pathogen risks to UK host plant species. The work will also build on previous web tool and microclimate developments to deliver climate-pest/pathogen risk outputs on a user-friendly web tool that consider both the influence of future climate changes and microclimate characteristics on the locations and species most at risk. The work progresses the long-term aim of this climate service to develop an integrated climate-plant pest risk system for the UK.