Urban forests are widely recognised as a nature-based solution to mitigate the effects of climate change; however, urban forests are also vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, there is a need to improve species selection to ensure the delivery of ecosystem services by urban forests now and in the future. Research on the impacts of climate change on urban forests requires investigation to capture the complexities associated with species identity and growing conditions. Yet, such studies remain rare in urban contexts, highlighting the need for expanding collaborative research in cities. Here, we present a nation-wide urban trial network established across four states in Australia, showcasing stakeholder collaboration aimed at advancing urban forest research. The network consists of 11 standardised plantings of tree and/or shrub species aimed at testing species' growth and performance (i.e., stress tolerance) in cities across a range of climatic conditions. To test these differences, we measured height and diameter relative growth rates (RGR) and leaf damage caused by stress at each site one month after planting (2018-2020) and at the end of the austral summer in 2024. We used generalised linear mixed-effects models for RGR and ordinal logistic regressions for leaf damage to test the effects of annual maximum temperature (TMAX) and the Pinna Combinative Index (IP, a climate-drought index). By 2024, across all sites, we found 23 % of the originally planted individuals had died or were missing. We recorded significant differences in height and diameter RGR and leaf damage among sites, and IP was significantly and negatively related to both RGR and leaf damage. The network serves as an example of how stakeholder collaboration can broaden the scope of urban forest research that evaluates plant growth and performance across regions and environmental conditions.

Fall armyworm resistance into maize breeding programs is a vital approach to combatting the widespread and destructive impact of this pest. Nine maize genotypes i.e. FH-1046, YH-201, FH-1036, YH-1898, FH-949, YH-202, Sahiwal-2002, Golden and Neelam were assessed for relative resistance to fall armyworm ( Spodoptera frugiperda) on leaf and kernel damage basis at 14, 21, 28 and 42 days after infestation (DAI). Leaf and kernel damage ratios were correlated with morphological plant characters i.e. leaf area (cm(2)), leaf trichome (cm(2)), cob length (cm) and cob height (cm). Results revealed that FH-1046, YH201 and Neelam were relatively more resistant with leaf damage of 3.41, 3.81 and 3.89, respectively. FH-1046 and Golden showed more resistance with least kernel damage of 3.27 and 3.80, respectively while FH-949 and YH-202 were highly susceptible. Leaf damage had a strong and positive correlation with leaf area (r=0.920) and was negatively correlated with leaf trichome density (r=-0.842) with 84.64 and 0.95 % impact, respectively. Kernel damage had a significant and positive correlation with cob length (r=0.969), whereas cob height had a minimal effect (r=-0.896) with 93.88 and 0.95 % impact, respectively. Overall, leaf area and cob length are stronger predictors of damage than trichome density and cob height from soil level. Larval attraction time (min), duration (day) and growth rates were ranged from 0.5-1.7, 11.5-14.6 and 0.16-0.21, respectively. Genotypes FH-1046, YH-201 and Neelam with shorter larval attraction times tended to have shorter larval durations and lower growth rates, indicating that longer larval attraction times are associated with longer larval development and higher growth rates.

DOI: 10.18474/JES23-104 Abstract Systena frontalis (F.) is an insect pest of nursery production systems in the Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast regions of the United States. Adults feed on plant leaves and can reduce salability of container-grown nursery plants. Limited management options are available to protect plants from S. frontalis adult feeding damage. Insecticide spray applications to plant leaves are labor-intensive and not cost-efficient. Systemic insecticide applications to the growing medium may protect plants from S. frontalis adult feeding. In 2023, we conducted two laboratory and two greenhouse experiments to assess the residual activity of the systemic insecticides dinotefuran, thiamethoxam, and acephate against field-collected populations of S. frontalis adults. In the laboratory experiments, growing medium containing Itea virginica L. 'Little Henry' plants were treated with these three systemic insecticides. Twenty-five and 45 d after treatments were applied, leaves were collected and placed into petri dishes with a single S. frontalis adult. In the greenhouse experiments, Itea plants were placed into plastic observation cages. Eight S. frontalis adults were released into each cage with a single Itea plant. In the laboratory experiments 25 and 45 d after application of dinotefuran and thiamethoxam, the S. frontalis adults in the dishes with treated leaves had 66-90% mortality after 72 h. In the greenhouse experiments, dinotefuran and thiamethoxam protected Itea plants from S. frontalis adult feeding 45 d after application; 2.4 and 2.8 mm2 of leaf area were fed upon by S. frontalis adults. These results indicate that systemic insecticides can reduce feeding damage by S. frontalis adults on container-grown nursery plants.

The phyllosphere is an important but underestimated habitat for a variety of microorganisms, with limited knowledge about leaf endophytes as a crucial component of the phyllosphere microbiome. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of communities and co-occurrence networks of leaf endophytes in response to forest thinning in a temperate forest. As we expected, contrasting responses of fungal and bacterial endophytes were observed. Specifically, the diversity of leaf endophytic fungi and the complexity of their co-occurrence networks increased significantly with thinning intensity, whereas the complexity of endophytic bacterial co-occurrence networks decreased. In particular, microbiota inhabiting damaged leaves seem to be more intensively interacting, showing an evident fungi-bacteria trade-off under forest thinning. In damaged leaves, besides the direct effects of thinning, thinning-induced changes in neighbor tree diversity indirectly altered the diversity of leaf fungal and bacterial endophytes via modifying leaf functional traits such as leaf dry matter content and specific leaf area. These findings provide new experimental evidence for the trade-offs between leaf endophytic fungi and bacteria under the different magnitudes of deforestation, highlighting their dependence on the presence or absence of leaf damage.