Conservation & Ecology
The recent outbreak of tree diseases in the UK and Ireland has raised the awareness of the general public to the potential impact of alien pests and pathogens on the wider environment, as well as the economic effects on areas of activity such as agriculture, horticulture and forestry
Not welcome in Australia! Golf club with soil and sand residues in grooves
A
sh dieback, the most recent of these unwelcome arrivals, is caused by the fungus Chalara fraxinea and was first identified in Poland in 1992. It is believed that the fungus
was an accidental introduction from Asia and, since its first appearance, it has spread across Europe causing serious losses of ash trees (e.g. 60-90% of ash in Denmark). The fungus can spread naturally through wind-borne movement of spores, but its arrival in the British Isles in 2012 was the result of the importation of infected trees.
Since then, we have witnessed multiple
outbreaks in woodland containing imported ash, and the first appearance of the disease in native ash trees, presumably as a result of spores being blown from infected plantings. Even more extensive damage has been caused by the fungus-like pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum which has caused extensive damage to oak trees in the USA, where it is known as sudden oak death. In Britain and Ireland, P. ramorum disease has resulted in the destruction of hundreds of hectares of the economically important larch, as well as the infection of other woodland plants, including rhododendron and native bilberry. Imports of infected rhododendron may actually be the original source of the disease, again highlighting the disease risks associated with the worldwide trade in plants and plant products.
It is worth having a look at the website of the European Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) to get an appreciation of the hundreds of viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes and insects which currently pose a threat to European plants and plant production. So, how do we protect ourselves from this diverse array of pests and diseases? Well, in the EU, legislation governs plant health checks which usually occur at the site of plant production. Plant material which hosts the most serious (“quarantine”) pests and diseases also
88 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
Biosecurity in the turfgrass industry
Bark staining on an ash tree, characteristic symptom of Chalara fraxinea
(Photograph courtesy of Mark Wilson AFBI)
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