Urban Tree Biosecurity

Urban trees are essential for creating healthier, more resilient, and more liveable cities. They cool urban environments, improve air quality, support biodiversity, store carbon, and enhance human well-being. Yet these benefits are increasingly threatened by invasive pests and pathogens, climate change, global trade, and the environmental stresses associated with urbanization. Urban Tree Biosecurity explores how cities can prevent, detect, and respond to these emerging threats. Bringing together expertise from across Europe, this open access book presents urban tree biosecurity as an integrated framework that connects prevention, surveillance, early detection, rapid response, long-term management, and resilience building. The volume examines the biological and environmental factors that influence urban tree health, the diversity and dynamics of pests and pathogens, and the pathways through which harmful organisms are introduced and spread. It also reviews current and emerging approaches for monitoring and management, including molecular diagnostics, environmental DNA, sensor technologies, remote sensing, decision-support systems, and participatory monitoring. Beyond technical solutions, the book highlights the importance of governance, policy, communication, and citizen engagement, demonstrating how collaboration among researchers, practitioners, authorities, and communities can strengthen urban forest resilience in an increasingly interconnected world. Combining scientific foundations with practical perspectives, this volume will be an essential resource for researchers, advanced students, urban foresters, arborists, plant health specialists, landscape planners, environmental managers, policymakers, and all those involved in safeguarding the future of urban trees.