Infection by Armillaria mellea and some Factors Affecting Host Resistance and the Severity of Disease

Infection by A. mellea in Britain occurs by means of rhizomorphs;the transfer of mycelium at root contacts is probably not importantas a means of spread. Following the initial phase of rhizomorphpenetration, established infection in the cambium is precededby ectotrophic spread of mycelium in the bark scales. Field investigation confirmed reports in the literature thatin susceptible conifers the greatest number of deaths generallyoccurs approximately 6–8 years after planting. However,attacks can also occur in much older crops and the reasons forthis are discussed. Inoculation experiments showed that suppressed trees and thoseexperiencing conditions of reduced light intensity are moresusceptible to infection than dominant trees and trees in fulllight. Species susceptibility in a variety of soils was studiedby inoculation of trees 20–30 cm tall. Of the coniferstested Pseudotsuga menziesii and Abies grandis were more resistantthan Picea abies, P. sitchensis, Larix kaempferi and Pinus sylvestris.Quercus robur and Fagus sylvatica were more resistant than allthe conifers except A. grandis. Soil type influenced diseasedevelopment and the proportion of trees infected was higherin an acidic sand soil than in an alkaline clay soil.     

A Reappraisal of the Importance of Cronartium ribicola on Pinus strobus in Great Britain

Because of the possibility of serious infection by Cronartiumribicola (White pine blister rust), Pinus strobus, the Weymouthpine, is now very rarely planted in British forests. An assessment,in 1962, in a number of experimental forest plots of P. strobusestablished in 1953 and 1954 showed that initial infection ofthe trees while growing in the nursery may be an important factorin causing later damage and losses in the forest. The resultsalso indicated that the risk of infection in plantation cropsas a result of spore dispersal from black currants in the localityis much lower than is generally thought. It is suggested thatif P. strobus is raised in nurseries which are relatively isolatedfrom currants and if protective chemical spraying against thedisease in the nursery is carried out, the incidence of infectionin plantations at least half a mile from the nearest currantsis likely to be low. The disease cannot spread within a pinecrop by direct transmission from tree to tree.     

Examination of low-pathogenicity isolates of Armillaria mellea from natural stands of Picea abies in Middle-Europe

In certain indigenous Picea abies Karst. stands in the Thuringian Forest (Middle-Europe), the incidence of butt rot and die-back of saplings caused by Armillaria mellea (Vahl ex Fr.) Karst. is conspicuously low in spite of a general spread of this fungus on stumps of clear-fellings. The majority of 43 isolates of A. mellea recovered from 13 highland infection centres were unable to form the brown type of rhizo-morphs (BR) in soil but could form the white type rhizomorphs (WR) on sterile substrates. In contrast, 17 isolates from lowland hardwood stands of average disease incidence produced both types of rhizo-morphs on both substrates. Results of inoculation of excised stem and root sections of Picea abies and Fagus sylvatica L. and saplings of P. abies associated with soils of different fertility levels indicated that the low disease index of certain P. abies stands is caused by the dominance of low-pathogenicity strains of A. mellea which lack the ability to form BR and penetrate non-injured bark of roots. Moreover, the poor podzolic highland soil types may contribute more to increase the survival rate and resistance of transplanted P. abies saplings than to reduce the spread of A. mellea.     

Penetration and colonization of oak roots by Armillaria mellea in Wisconsin

The level of Armillaria mellea activity on root systems of living and herbicide-killed oâks was assessed. Epiphytic rhizomorphs were almost always present on living and dead oak roots. After an oak was killed or completely defoliated, A. mellea usually penetrated directly through the root-collar bark and spread rapidly in the cambium. Sapwood in the root collar and main lateral roots was colonized within 2 years. The production of thizomorphs from this region was assessed on trees that had been killed by herbicide sprays 2 to 14 years before sampling.     

Recent pine woodland dynamics in east Glen Affric, northern Scotland, from highly resolved palaeoecological analyses

Glen Affric, a National Nature Reserve of international conservationimportance for plant and animal communities associated withScots pine (Pinus sylvestris) woodland is managed for natureconservation and woodland restoration at a landscape scale.Management plans have drawn on information on current standstructure and variation but have not used in any detailed waythe analyses of past tree population changes from sources, suchas pollen analyses. This paper reports the results of pollenanalyses from three small peat hollows at the head of Loch Beinna' Mheadhoin. The analyses demonstrate, first, that woods inthe east of the reserve several centuries ago were differentin species composition and were more varied than they are todayand, second, that the currently patchy Pinus wood in the westof the reserve, at the head of Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin, is theresult of recent spread westward onto former heathland. Thistemporal and spatial variability in the recent past has implicationsfor the future management of the woods because future woodsmay not develop with the characteristics of the current stands,and may not be stable over time.     

Fomes annosus (Fr.) Cke. and other Root-rotting Fungi in Conifers on ex-Hardwood Sites

The development of root rot and butt rot caused by Fomes annosusin conifer crops planted on ex-hardwood ground is slower thanthat in second-rotation conifer plantations. This is apparentlydue to competition from other fungi, notably Artnillaria mellea.Excavations on ex-hardwood sites showed that F. annosus waspresent in conifer thinning stumps, and that transference ofinfection occurred, causing butt rot. The investigations confirmedthe need for stump protection of all conifer crops planted onex-hardwood sites. Short accounts are given of the activityof A. mellea and Polyporus schweinitzii, the other two importantroot-rotting fungi on these sites.     

Growth and provenance of Norway maple (Acer platanoides) in lowland Britain

The results of an experiment to investigate the early growthand form of ten different provenances of Norway maple (Acerplatanoides L.) are described. Two sites were planted and after8 years survival was 88 per cent and 95 per cent and heightincrement was 402 cm and 201 cm; confirmmg the potential ofNorway maple to be a productive forest tree. Provenances thatperformed well were from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark andYugoslavia; exact locations were not known for all seed collections.A provenance from Russia was included, material from this fareast has rarely been tested in Britain. However, as expected,its performance was relatively poor. The main constraint tofurther planting of Norway maple is the palatability of thebark to grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis Gmelin.). However,it is a useful tree for high pH and heavy soils and as an alternativespecies to sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.).     

Modelling the diameter distribution of Pinus sylvestris, Pinus nigra and Pinus halepensis forest stands in Catalonia using the truncated Weibull function

Parameter prediction models for the diameter distribution ofPinus sylvestris L., Pinus nigra Arn. and Pinus halepensis Mill.in Catalonia were developed using the truncated Weibull functionas the theoretical distribution. The parameter models allowone to use individual-tree models in the simulation of standdevelopment when only stand-level data are collected in forestinventories. Parameter models for the diameter distributionof stand basal area were developed. The data consisted of permanentsample plots from the Spanish National Forest Inventory in Catalonia.A total of 1780 empirical distributions of P. sylvestris, 1204distributions of P. nigra and 1535 distributions of P. halepensiswere used as modelling data. The empirical data represent left-truncateddistributions, as the smallest diameter measured in the fieldwas 7.5 cm. Two different approaches, namely, regression (two-stepmethod) and optimization approach (one-step method), were usedto find the coefficients of the parameter models. In the two-stepmodelling method, the Weibull parameters were first estimatedseparately for every empirical distribution by maximizing thelog-likelihood function of the Weibull density function. Inthe second-step, regression analysis was used to find the relationshipbetween Weibull parameters and stand basal area, number of treesper hectare and elevation of the site. The one-step method usedoptimization to find such coefficients for the parameter models,which minimized the mean of the squared differences betweenempirical and predicted cumulative tree frequencies in the wholemodelling data. The one-step optimization method performed betterthan the two-step regression method for all tree species. Theparameter prediction models developed in this study enable theprediction of the diameter distribution of P. sylvestris, P.nigra and P. halepensis in Catalonia from limited stand information.     

Long-term impacts of harvest residue management on nutrition, growth and productivity of an exotic pine plantation of sub-tropical Australia

Residue retention is an important issue in evaluating the sustainability of production forestry. However, its long-term impacts have not been studied extensively, especially in sub-tropical environments. This study investigated the long-term impact of harvest residue retention on tree nutrition, growth and productivity of a F1 hybrid (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii × Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis) exotic pine plantation in sub-tropical Australia, under three harvest residue management regimes: (1) residue removal, RR₀; (2) single residue retention, RR₁; and (3) double residue retention, RR₂. The experiment, established in 1996, is a randomised complete block design with 4 replicates. Tree growth measurements in this study were carried out at ages 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 years, while foliar nutrient analyses were carried out at ages 2, 4, 6 and 10 years. Litter production and litter nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) measurements were carried out quarterly over a 15-month period between ages 9 and 10 years. Results showed that total tree growth was still greater in residue-retained treatments compared to the RR₀ treatment. However, mean annual increments of diameter at breast height (MAID) and basal area (MAIB) declined significantly after age 4 years to about 68–78% at age 10 years. Declining foliar N and P concentrations accounted for 62% (p < 0.05) of the variation of growth rates after age 4 years, and foliar N and P concentrations were either marginal or below critical concentrations. In addition, litter production, and litter N and P contents were not significantly different among the treatments. This study suggests that the impact of residue retention on tree nutrition and growth rates might be limited over a longer period, and that the integration of alternative forest management practices is necessary to sustain the benefits of harvest residues until the end of the rotation.     

Tree Seed Production and Food Conditions for Rodents in an Oak Wood in Southern England

Seed production and seed losses were monitored in an oak (Quercusrobur) wood in southern England between 1975 and 1988. In additionto acorns, seeds from several large beech (Fagus sylvatica)and sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) trees which occurred withinthe wood, and from the understorey of hazel (Corylus avellana)trees, were also monitored. The seeds from these four tree speciesare all subject to heavy predation by rodents, as well as otherseed-eaters such as birds and insects. Seed fall tended to be irregular and three years, 1976, 1985and 1987 were considered oak mast years. There were too fewyears with large acorn crops to examine whether resource depletionin these years resulted in poor crops in subsequent years. Therewas no correlation in seed production between the four treespecies which does not agree with one of the predictions ofthe predator satiation theory of masting behaviour. The effectsof weather on seed production were investigated but few significantcorrelations were found. In general the results tended to supportprevious findings. Between 1980 and 1982 a serious outbreakof Tortrix moth caterpillars occurred within the wood and mayhave affected acorn production. A negative relationship wasfound between oak defoliation and acorn production in the subsequentyear. The loss of seeds from the forest floor was initially rapidand in 9 years no seeds survived into the following year andfood conditions were poor for granivores. In 3 of the remaining4 years acorns survived well into spring and early summer providinggood food conditions for forest rodents through to the timeswhen alternative food supplies became available. Although oaktrees contributed most seed energy in good years, the othertree species, especially beech, became important when acornproduction was poor. Predispersal losses due to predators werefrequently high and averaged 80 per cent, 40 per cent, 38 percent and 33 per cent in hazel, sweet chestnut, oak and beechrespectively. On average, hazel nuts tended to fall first, some6 weeks before acorns which tended to be the last seeds to fallof the four tree species. Knopper galls and weeviled acornsfell earlier than sound acorns. A key-factor analysis indicatedthat a failure to mature, predispersal predation and insectinfestation from weevils and Knopper galls contributed equallyto changes in numbers of acorns among years.     

Productivity of Pinus elliottii, P. caribaea and their F1 and F2 hybrids to 15 years in Queensland, Australia

Growth data are presented to 15 years of age from a genetic study involving factorial matings within and between P. elliottii var. elliottii and P. caribaea var. hondurensis, planted across three sites in southeast Queensland. Specific volume equations developed using the centroid method for each taxon/site combination as well as a generic (i.e. conical) volume equation, were used to estimate the mean annual increment (MAI) at 10 and 15 years of age. MAI estimated using the conical volume equation were downwardly biased by 18% in P. elliottii but the bias was less than 2% in P. caribaea var. hondurensis, and yielded different rankings of taxa at each site compared to the taxon/site specific volume equations. At all three sites, P. caribaea var. hondurensis and the F₁ and F₂ hybrids significantly exceeded the productivity of P. elliottii; however, differences between P. caribaea var. hondurensis and hybrid pine were generally small. Assuming a realistic contribution of the three site-types to the population of deployment environments, average MAIs for southeast Queensland were estimated as: 17.6, 23.0, 23.7 and 23.5 m³ ha^?1 y^?1 for Pee, Pch, F₁ and F₂ respectively.     

The influence of fertilizers on the occurrence of Armillaria mellea in Scots pine plantations

The spread of Armillaria mellea inside fertilized (with NPKCaMg) and non-fertilized roots of pine was evaluated by: growth of mycelium on extracts from roots with bark, de-barked roots and from bark with bast, hygroscopic property, water saturation, weight loss and microscopical observations. Negative as well as positive influences of fertilizers were observed. The problems of the multi-aspect influence of fertilizers on the development of disease are discussed.     

The lichens of the Scottish native pinewoods

During the last 30 years, 434 epiphytic lichen taxa have beenrecorded from the native pinewoods of Scotland. Of these lichens,about 219 have been recorded from the bark, lignum or stumpsof pine (Pinus sylvestris) itself. Eighteen species are, inthe British Isles, confined to these native pinewoods, whichare themselves confined to the Scottish Highlands. A resumeis presented of the habitats and niches available to lichensin the native pinewoods, using examples of the most characteristicspecies for each. The ‘pinewood habitat’ for epiphyticlichens is by no means restricted to pine, but also includesassociated trees, shrubs and subshrubs, especially birch, rowan,holly, aspen, juniper and heather. The strong east–westvariation in the composition of the lichen flora is outlined.By comparison of species lists from pinewood stands of knownancientness with those from mature plantations distant fromthe ‘core’ pinewoods, an additional c. 60 speciescan be considered as indicative of an ecological continuityof the pinewood habitat. From this pool of c. 77 species, aNative Pinewood Index of Ecological Continuity is presentedas a useful tool for biodiversity assessments of pinewoods.     

Sawn-timber and kraft pulp properties of Pinus elliottii × Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis and Pinus patula × Pinus tecunumanii hybrids and their parental species

A study was undertaken to evaluate the quality of the timber produced by Pinus elliottii × Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (PECH) and the Pinus patula × Pinus tecunumanii low elevation (PPTL) and high elevation (PPTH) hybrids and their parent species for both kraft pulp and sawn-timber production. Trees were taken from unthinned tree improvement trials managed for pulpwood, ranging in age between 15 and 19 years. All sawn boards produced by study trees met the minimum wood density requirement for S5-grade structural timber (360 kg m^?3), but approximately 17% of the boards failed to meet the other requirements for the grade, largely due to knot-related defects. Results of dynamic modulus of elasticity assessments performed on all of the boards suggested that a large percentage of boards would not meet the specified average stiffness (7 800 MPa). This was confirmed by the results of static bending tests performed on a subsample of boards. All boards tested for all species and hybrids met the required fifth percentile bending strength value for grade S7 (15.8 MPa) according to SANS 6122 (2008) specifications. The kraft pulping results indicated that the samples taken from the upper part of the stem yielded slightly better results on average than the samples representing the whole tree with respect to uniformity in the kappa vs charge and temperature, and yield vs kappa traits, with slight improvement of pulp yield (52% vs 50%) and some strength properties compared with whole tree pulping. Samples from the upper part of the stem had a close delignification rate in the 60–80 kappa range. The delignification rate for PPTL in the 60–80 kappa range was slower and the yield was slightly lower than P. patula (53.17% vs 52.72%) despite a higher kappa number. The pulp strengths short-span compressive test, breaking length and tearing strength of PECH were similar to those of P. elliottii, which were in turn generally lower than those of P. patula. The pulp strengths of PPTL and PPTH were similar to those of P. patula, whereas P. caribaea strengths were intermediate between those of P. patula and P. elliottii. With the exception of a slightly lower pulp yield, PPTL emerged as the best all-round hybrid for both pulp and sawn-timber properties.     

Root anchorage and stem strength of black spruce (Picea mariana) trees in regular and irregular stands

A tree winching experiment was conducted, simulating wind actionand resulting damage, in order to assess mechanical resistanceof black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) trees in standsof regular and irregular structures. The critical bending moment(M_c) of winched trees was determined and the relationship betweenM_c and tree and stand characteristics was investigated throughstatistical analyses. Stem mass (SW), average spacing betweentrees (S) and height:diameter ratio (H/d.b.h.) were initiallyselected by a screening procedure to predict M_c. Potential differencesbetween stand structures were tested in mixed models using differentsubsets of the data. Included fixed effects varied between thedifferent models. SW was the most useful and significant variablein all models and H/d.b.h. was significant only when snappedtrees were included in the analysis. When decayed samples wereexcluded, resistance to uprooting was higher in irregular stands.Decay seemed to play an important role in irregular stands andshould be investigated further. Since no difference was observedin the relationship between stem mass and critical turning momentbetween distant sites, relationships should be applicable acrosswide regions. This study provides some of the basic relationshipsrequired to model windthrow risk in irregular stands. However,the effects of stand structure on wind load for individual treeswill also need to be considered.     

History of Peridermium Stem Rust of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Thetford Forest, East Anglia

‘Peridermium’ stem rust (Peridermium pini (Pers.)Lev.) has been present in Thetford forest for at least 40 years,but has only become a major problem during the last decade.Survey data are presented which show that there has been a dramaticincrease in the disease in crops of Scots pine between 1964,when with less than one per cent of the trees showed symptoms,and 1979, when the figure was 10 per cent. The disease has apparentlyspread outwards from a central focus in the middle of the forest.In four plots the proportion of trees with visible symptomshas increased in five years from an average of 28 per cent to46 per cent. However, only 1–2 per cent of the trees havedied annually, and it appears that many trees with ‘deadtops’ may survive for long periods. The situation in Thetfordseems to contrast with that in north-east Scotland, where limiteddata suggest there has been no appreciable increase in diseaseincidence during recent years. There are only two records ofthe disease on Corsican pine (P. nigra var. maritima (Ait.)Melville) in Thetford.     

杨树溃疡病引致幼树的生长量损失估测*

杨树溃疡病经常在幼树干部形成大溃疡斑，造成枝枯和死树。以胸径下病斑面积与树周面积的比值计算的发病程度（X5）与胸径年生长量（Y2）之间呈显著相关。通过回归建立了三个品种不同病情下的生长量模型：美×559：Y2＝0．15406＋118．52194／（102．9113＋X^25)加杨：Y2＝－0．4136＋278．32113／（133．0115＋X^25)小×黑：Y2＝－0．08487＋110．16972／（131．4548＋X^25)三个估算模型经数学检验合理；坐标曲线符合植物病理学原理，可作为该病病情分级和生长量损失估算的参考。     

Studies on Ulmus: VI. Fenland Elms

A biometrical study of the leaves of the elms of the Isle ofEly and of the Parts of Holland, Lincolnshire, is presented.The number of samples totalled seventy. Elms are sparsely distributedin the Fenland except in the Island of Ely. Most of the samplespertain to one of four groups of U. carpinifolia, to U. procera,to U. glabra or to the Dutch Elm. No type of elm is believedto be indigenous in the area. The only elms likely to be ofancient standing are two of the groups of U. carpinifolia inthe Island of Ely, one of which was probably introduced fromthe Cam valley and the other from Huntingdonshire about theRoman era. The mosaic of elm types in the northern Fens arebelieved to be much more recent, in many cases post-medieval;some of these, as at Thorney, were probably introduced as seedfrom the continent.