Fraxinus sogdiana, a Central Asian Ash Species, Is Susceptible to Hymenoscyphus fraxineus

摘要

Susceptibility of new host trees is an essential prerequisite for the alien pathogens. Today, an acute problem in Europe is ash dieback, caused by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Among the possible invasion routes of this fungus to Europe from its natural range in easternmost Asia, an arrival alongside the unbroken, passing the whole Eurasia chain of ranges of ash species should not be ignored, at least not before the determination of the western extent of the natural range of the pathogen. We established that in Estonia the ash species Fraxinus sogdiana, growing naturally in the "bottleneck" of that belt, in Central Asia, is susceptible to H. fraxineus. It is the first record of H. fraxineus on a Central Asian ash species.