The University of Córdoba played a pivotal role in creating the first unified database that aggregates records of disturbances caused by insects and diseases in European forests. This initiative integrates remote sensing from satellites with field observations to build a comprehensive picture across eight European countries.
Forest health is increasingly challenged by insects and pathogens, a trend amplified by climate shifts. With warming reducing tree defenses, forests become more vulnerable, allowing diseases to spread more readily and intensify damage in many regions.
These disturbances diminish the essential services forests provide to the globe. They affect carbon storage, regulate water flow, supply timber, and maintain biodiversity. “Having a complete and coherent map of current and historical disturbances across Europe is crucial for understanding and predicting future events, which helps protect forests and their benefits,” state the authors of the report.
This European registry was not available before. An international team, led by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and involving researchers Rocío Hernández and José Luis Quero from the University of Córdoba, has created a new spatial database on forest disturbances caused by pathogens. The project is named DEFID2, short for European Forest Insect and Disease Disturbance Database.
“The common language of all the forests of Europe”
“Months of work with an expert committee led to the alignment of registration methods across nations and regions. A network of links created a robust, streamlined system that reduces subjectivity. This database can be accessed openly and translated into a shared language, DEFID2, enabling researchers and practitioners to coordinate efforts across Europe,” explains Rocío Hernández, describing a unified framework for European forest data. The aim is to ensure that every country can contribute and view records through this common lens.
The database contains more than 650,000 georeferenced records and offers a harmonized map of insects and diseases observed in European forests from 1963 to 2021. The eight participating countries gathered data through a mix of field surveys and modern remote sensing techniques, creating a durable, cross-border resource for researchers and policymakers alike.
“A key feature is the harmonized protocol that invites anyone to contribute. Expanding the dataset strengthens predictive models and reduces uncertainty,” notes Quero, highlighting the collaborative spirit behind this regional asset.
Integrating diverse data streams
DEFID2 records cover severity, damage patterns, pathogens, host tree species, climate-induced triggers, silvicultural practices, and sanitary conditions. An important aspect is the integration with remote sensing data. This fusion helps reveal spatial and temporal patterns, making it possible to track how disturbances spread and evolve across landscapes.
Satellite imagery from the Landsat series provides a time series of vegetation health, serving as a sensitive indicator for abrupt changes in forest condition. This capability allows researchers to pinpoint when disturbances begin, how long they persist, and how intense they are, all through visual evidence over time.
Beyond spatial and temporal trends, a third dimension considers the interaction of multiple factors. This layered perspective helps illuminate how biotic stressors interplay with abiotic events, painting a fuller picture of forest health dynamics.
As Quero explains, pathogen- and disease-caused damage is a biotic process, yet it carries an abiotic history tied to events like drought, wind, and fire. By combining remote sensing with this historical context, researchers can examine how past conditions influence current vulnerabilities and how future weather scenarios may foster new outbreaks or pathogen growth.
Spanish forests have shown notable cases of decline and decay in oaks, cork oaks, and conifers such as Scots pine, larch, and Spanish fir, based on a decade-long effort by the University of Córdoba. This long-term work demonstrates how remote sensing can document and analyze wood decay with unprecedented clarity.
For further reference, the foundational study appears in a key scholarly article published in a renowned journal (cited in the work of the DEFID2 team).