On 22–26 September 2025, the Czech Republic hosted the biennial international conference “Forests of the Future”, bringing together researchers of forest pest outbreaks, foresters, and forest ecosystem specialists from all over Europe.
Nick Schafstall, a postdoctoral fellow at NRC Laboratory of Quaternary Research, presented the results of his doctoral studies analyzing 1,000-year-old pest remains recorded in sediments. The research reveals that these records may be linked to past pest outbreaks, forest fires, and landscape changes. Such data provides a better understanding of the development of forest ecosystems and their resistance to environmental changes and helps predicting future trends in pest outbreaks in the context of climate change.
According to the scientist, research into historical pests in the forests of Central and Eastern Europe has a great scientific potential, and proposals based on this topic have already been submitted to the European Research Council.
This study is an important step towards a better understanding of the long-term consequences of human-nature interactions on forest ecosystems and strengthening international cooperation between forestry and geological research.
