Copper wires crossed: THE AERIAL ONSLAUGHT ON DOTHISTROMA

摘要

Phytophthora ramorum is ripping apart Japanese larch while Chalara fraxinea is cutting up common ash, but another exotic pathogen, in the UK since the 1950s and taking off in the 1990s, has already effectively removed one of the UK's premium timber trees from plantation forestry. Red band needle blight, renamed 'Dothistroma needle blight' by UK plant health authorities, is caused by the fungus Dothistroma septosporum. The disease currently affects the vast majority of Corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) stands across the UK, and has essentially destroyed Corsican pine, which is no longer planted by the FC.