Pine Pitch Canker and Insects: Regional Risks, Environmental Regulation, and Practical Management Options

Department of Forest Protection, Wood Science and Game Management, Saint Petersburg State Forest Technical University, Institutskiy per., 5, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia

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Department of Biogeography and Environmental Protection, Saint Petersburg State University, 13B Universitetskaya Emb., 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia

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Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 49, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

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National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry “Marin Dracea”, Brașov Station, 13 Cloșca Str., 500040 Brașov, Romania

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Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

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Institute for Dehesa Research (INDEHESA), Ingeniería Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad de Extremadura, Avenida Virgen del Puerto 2, 10600 Plasencia, Spain

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Faculty of Forestry, University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”-Skopje, Goce Delcev 9, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

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Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences.; Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia

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Forest Research Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 132 St. Kliment Ohridski Blvd., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria

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Department of Plant Protection-Phytopathology, Akdeniz University, 07070 Campus Antalya, Turkey

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Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food & Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis, snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

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Institute of Forestry, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia

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Forest Research Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter, 65, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece

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University of Forestry, 10 St. Kliment Ohridski Blvd., 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria

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Faculty of Forestry, University of Sarajevo, Zagrebačka 20, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

¹⁹

Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Centro de Investigación Forestal (INIA-CIFOR), 28040 Madrid, Spain

²⁰

Department of Plant Production and Forest Resources, University of Valladolid, Avenida de Madrid 44, 34071 Palencia, Spain

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Forests 2019, 10(8), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080649

Received: 11 June 2019 / Revised: 22 July 2019 / Accepted: 25 July 2019 / Published: 1 August 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pine Pitch Canker—Strategies for Management of Gibberella Circinata in Greenhouses and Forests (PINESTRENGTH))

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Abstract

Pine pitch canker (PPC), caused by the pathogenic fungus Fusarium circinatum (Nirenberg and O’ Donnell), is a serious threat to pine forests globally. The recent introduction of the pathogen to Southern Europe and its spread in Mediterranean region is alarming considering the immense ecological and economic importance of pines in the region. Pines in forests and nurseries can be infected, resulting in severe growth losses and mortality. The pathogen is known to spread in plants for planting and in seeds, and results from recent studies have indicated that F. circinatum may also spread through phoretic associations with certain insects. With this review, we aim to expand the current understanding of the risk of insect-mediated spread of PPC in different parts of Europe. Through the joint action of a multinational researcher team, we collate the existing information about the insect species spectrum in different biogeographic conditions and scrutinize the potential of these insects to transmit F. circinatum spores in forests and nurseries. We also discuss the impact of environmental factors and forest management in this context. We present evidence for the existence of a high diversity of insects with potential to weaken pines and disseminate PPC in Europe, including several common beetle species. In many parts of Europe, temperatures are projected to rise, which may promote the activity of several insect species, supporting multivoltinism and thus, further amplifying the risk of insect-mediated dissemination of PPC. Integrated pest management (IPM) solutions that comply with forest management practices need to be developed to reduce this risk. We recommend careful monitoring of insect populations as the basis for successful IPM. Improved understanding of environmental control of the interaction between insects, the pathogen, and host trees is needed in order to support development of bio-rational strategies to safeguard European pine trees and forests against F. circinatum in future. View Full-Text

Keywords: pine pitch canker; vectors; carriers; wounding agents; agro-climatic risk zones of the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization; environmental factors; management; control; legislation compliance

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Fernández-Fernández, M.; Naves, P.; Musolin, D.L.; Selikhovkin, A.V.; Cleary, M.; Chira, D.; Paraschiv, M.; Gordon, T.; Solla, A.; Papazova-Anakieva, I.; Drenkhan, T.; Georgieva, M.; Altunisik, A.; Morales-Rodríguez, C.; Tabaković-Tošić, M.; Avtzis, D.N.; Georgiev, G.; Doychev, D.D.; Nacheski, S.; Trestic, T.; Elvira-Recuenco, M.; Diez, J.J.; Witzell, J. Pine Pitch Canker and Insects: Regional Risks, Environmental Regulation, and Practical Management Options. Forests 2019, 10, 649. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080649

AMA Style

Fernández-Fernández M, Naves P, Musolin DL, Selikhovkin AV, Cleary M, Chira D, Paraschiv M, Gordon T, Solla A, Papazova-Anakieva I, Drenkhan T, Georgieva M, Altunisik A, Morales-Rodríguez C, Tabaković-Tošić M, Avtzis DN, Georgiev G, Doychev DD, Nacheski S, Trestic T, Elvira-Recuenco M, Diez JJ, Witzell J. Pine Pitch Canker and Insects: Regional Risks, Environmental Regulation, and Practical Management Options. Forests. 2019; 10(8):649. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080649

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fernández-Fernández, Mercedes, Pedro Naves, Dmitry L. Musolin, Andrey V. Selikhovkin, Michelle Cleary, Danut Chira, Marius Paraschiv, Tom Gordon, Alejandro Solla, Irena Papazova-Anakieva, Tiia Drenkhan, Margarita Georgieva, Aliye Altunisik, Carmen Morales-Rodríguez, Mara Tabaković-Tošić, Dimitrios N. Avtzis, Georgi Georgiev, Danail D. Doychev, Sterja Nacheski, Tarik Trestic, Margarita Elvira-Recuenco, Julio J. Diez, and Johanna Witzell. 2019. "Pine Pitch Canker and Insects: Regional Risks, Environmental Regulation, and Practical Management Options" Forests 10, no. 8: 649. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080649

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