FORSAID and STELLA conduct joint fieldwork in Greece

The latest synergy between FORSAID and its sister project STELLA occurred between 16 and 27 May on the Greek island of Euboea. It involved the former’s consortium member Alberto Santini (CNR) and the latter’s coordinator, Dimitris Tsistigiannis (AUA), along with their respective staff. Their shared objective was to conduct parallel measurements in three plane tree forest areas on the island that have been affected by the canker stain disease.

The fungus responsible for the damage bears the Latin name Ceratocystis platani and is one of the ten target species of the FORSAID project. It poses a threat to trees in both urban and natural ecosystems, having been detected in Europe within Albania, France, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Türkiye. As such, although native to North America, it has been established in Europe for decades.  

Remote sensing was the chosen method for taking the measurements, which in turn are meant to facilitate the early detection of the disease. More specifically, two drones equipped with multispectral (AUA) and hyperspectral (CNR-IPSP) cameras were flown. The collected data will be shared and analysed in order to find the indicator best suited to the detection of the damage. This is all part of a broader effort to deliver an improved monitoring system that alerts stakeholders prior to the appearance of symptoms.

More on FORSAID’s vision for innovating the management of forest pests across Europe can be found here. Details on all the project's ongoing synergies have been compiled on this page.