Drivers of Forest Pathogen Invasions: The Roles of Global Trade and Climate Change

In the past 25 to 30 years, a marked increase has occurred in numbers of invasive alien pests and pathogens recorded, damaging agriculture, horticulture and forest environments. The reasons for this upsurge are clear: all involve human-driven factors, with, arguably, global trade as the most important component in the complex. Climate change is another major factor. Each plant transported through trade could carry cryptic pests or pathogens, which may be introduced into previously naïve environments and lead to major health issues on previously unaffected plants. Global trade in plants is a complex system, driven by a desire to use large plants in landscapes and demand for varied species for gardens. Examples of invasive alien pathogens causing wide-spread problems on a global scale currently include many Phytophthora species, Dothistroma needle blight of pines, and Xylella fastidiosa on a wide range of trees. A striking example recently was the spread of the Dutch elm disease pathogen, Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, in North America and Western Europe. Many invasive pathogens cause problems in localized regions, including Ceratocystis platani, killing Platanus in some European countries. Other examples include the threat of pine wilt nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), damage to Cupressus in Mediterranean landscapes caused by Seiridium cardinale, dieback of sweet chestnut (Castanea) caused by the canker pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica, and many others. In addition to global trade, climate change appears to be exacerbating the problems, with major influences on establishment and spread of alien invasive species. Hope lies in the enormous genetic ‘power’ of plants: humans could establish selection and breeding programmes that will ultimately enable us to plant trees with greater tolerance of changing climate and pests and pathogens, whether native or invasive

First report of Lecanosticta acicola on pine and non-pine hosts in Turkey

Acknowledgements We would like to thank İstanbul Bahçeköy Forestry Enterprise for allowing us to sample in the Arboretum, and to Merve Kartaloğlu Sönmez the manager of the Arboretum, for her hospitality. This study was partly supported by the Estonian Science Foundation grant PSG136, the Ministry of Rural Affairs of Estonia, and the Euphresco projects; Lecanosticta - Brown spot disease of pines – spread in European forest ecosystems: impact on pines, predisposing and contributing factors, control (BROWNSPOTRISK) and the International Plant Sentinel Network as an early warning system; research on future pest threats (IPSN II).Peer reviewedPostprin

Seydişehir İlçesi, Toros Göknarı meşcerelerinde Heterobasidion abietinum tarafından kaynaklanan çürüklüğün gövde içindeki gelişimi ve mücadelesi

Bu çalışmada, Seydişehir Orman İşletme Şefliği sınırları içinde yer alan karışık ve saf Toros göknarı meşcerelerinde bazı biyolojik etmenlerin ve kimyasalların, göknarlarda kök ve alt gövde çürüklüğüne neden olan Heterobasidion abietinum’ u engelleme üzerine etkileri ve bu ağaç türünde çürüklüğün gövde içindeki gelişimi araştırılmıştır. Arazi denemelerinde biyolojik mücadele etmenleri olarak, birer adet Trichoderma harzianum ve Phlebiopsis gigantea izolatı, kimyasallar olarak %30 üre (Tekkim) sulu solüsyonu ve boraks tozu kullanılmıştır. Çürüklüğün ağaç içindeki gelişiminin tespitine yönelik gerçekleştirilen çalışmada, biyolojik ve kimyasal muamelelerin yapıldığı alanlardan seçilen ağaçlardan, 1’er m aralıklarla diskler kestirilmiştir. Dip kütüğü seviyesinden başlayarak, her bir ağaçtan altı adet, toplamda 120 adet disk, laboratuvar koşullarında H. annosum s.l’a ait konidioforların varlığı açısından incelenmiştir. Toros göknarı meşcerelerinde H. abietinum’a karşı kimyasal ve biyolojik mücadele yöntemlerinin araştırıldığı bu denemelerde sırasıyla, üre, T. harzianum, boraks ve P. gigantea ile %98,90- 96,37- 96,25 ve 72,32 ortalama değerleri ile kontrole göre koruyuculuk sağlanmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra, patojen tarafından meydana getirilen çürüklüğün gövde içerisinde 5,5 m yüksekliğe kadar ulaştığı belirlenmiştir. Anahtar kelimeler: H. abietinum, Toros göknarı, Konya-Seydişehir, çürüklük, biyolojik mücadel

Cryptic Risks to Forest Biosecurity Associated with the Global Movement of Commercial Seed

Funding: This research was funded by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS grant number 2018-00966, and the UK Forestry Commission. Support was also provided by the EU-COST Action FP 1406 “Pine pitch canker - strategies for management of Gibberella circinata in greenhouses and forests” (PINESTRENGTH). Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge laboratory support from Mohammed Elsafy, and the Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate for providing the Turkish seeds. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Alberto Santini from the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection - C.N.R. in Italy for providing information on documented seed introductions to Europe from the international database he maintains.Peer reviewedPreprintPublisher PD

The possible usage of mycoviruses in biological control against tree pathogenic fungi

Mycoviruses in many organism including plant pathogenic fungi. They are mostly spread intracellularly via asexual and sexual reproduction of the fungi and cause some changes on them. Although many mycoviruses have no clear effect on their hosts, there are also many reports that they cause some phenotypic chances. Especially, they have effect on plant pathogenic fungi by increasing or decreasing their virulence. When they reduce the virulence of the host like in Chestnut canker sample, it is possible to use them in biological control. In this review, mycoviruses detected on some important fungal pathogens of forest trees both in our country and world were introduced and the studies carried out were summarized

Invasive forest pathogens in Europe: Cross-country variation in public awareness but consistency in policy acceptability

Political action can reduce introductions of diseases caused by invasive forest pathogens (IPs) and public support is important for effective prevention. The public’s awareness of IP problems and the acceptability of policies aiming to combat these pathogens were surveyed in nine European countries (N = 3469). Although awareness of specific diseases (e.g., ash dieback) varied, problem awareness and policy acceptability were similar across countries. The public was positive towards policies for informational measures and stricter standards for plant production, but less positive towards restricting public access to protected areas. Multilevel models, including individual and country level variables, revealed that media exposure was positively associated with awareness of IP problems, and strengthened the link between problem awareness and policy acceptability. Results suggest that learning about IPs through the media and recognizing the associated problems increase policy acceptability. Overall, the study elaborates on the anthropogenic dimension of diseases caused by IPs