Sudden Oak Death Update: There is justifiable worry that Connecticut landscapes have been exposed to a strange, fungus-like organism

摘要

Sudden oak death is the popular name for an emergent and potentially destructive new disease in the United States, That name described the rapid decline of many native tree species hikers observed in coastal California forests in the mid 1990s, Treesin decline included tanoak (Lithocarpm densiflorus), California coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), and California black oak (Quercm kelloggii). In some sites, 100 percent of mature tanoaks and 45 percent of California coast live oaks had been killed bythis mysterious disease. An unidentified fungus-like organism was isolated from infected trees by forest pathologists in 2000 but the identity of this organism (Phytophthora ramorum) was not confirmed until 2001. To date, natural infections are limited to the West Coast, which includes several coastal counties in California and one county in Oregon. More recently, P. ramorum has also been detected in nurseries in California, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, Then the worries expanded to the national level in 2004, when several shipments of plants from nurseries in California and Oregon arrived in many states, including Connecticut, and were later determined to test positive for P. ramorum. As a result of these contaminated shipments, there is justifiable concern that Connecticut forests and landscapes may have been exposed to this pathogen.