Louise Barwell

1 Introduction Tree diseases and insect pests are an important constituent of forest ecosystems (Mordecai 2011). However, outbreaks of these species can be highly destructive, with major impacts on forest biodiversity and ecosystem services (Boyd et al. 2013; Freer-Smith and Webber 2017). Furthermore, anthropogenic global change is significantly altering the distributions and dynamics of tree pests and diseases (Ramsfield et al. 2016; Simler-Williamson et al. 2019).

Abstract Landscapes, intentionally or otherwise, are often planned and managed in ways that create determined outcomes involving production, conservation, and aesthetics. While the focus of much research is on how to plan landscapes more effectively, this article explores how uncertainty and indeterminacy are inevitably also part of the research process. We present the results of discussions among a multidisciplinary group of researchers across the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences.

1 INTRODUCTION Phytophthora is a diverse genus of filamentous oomycete plant pathogens that infect a broad range of herbaceous and woody plants with severe economic and ecological impacts in the agricultural, horticultural and forestry sectors worldwide (Barwell et al., 2021). One of the most notable examples is P. ramorum, the causal agent of ‘sudden oak death’ in the United States (Grünwald et al., 2012), ‘ramorum blight’ in Europe and ‘sudden larch death’ in the UK (Webber et al., 2010).