Tree Care in 2020, the International Year of Plant Health

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 6128

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, viale dell’Università 16, I-35020 Legnaro, Italy
Interests: trees fitness; forest pathology; amenity trees pathology; host-parasite relationships; epidemiology; pest risk analysis and management; tree care
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH)—a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to raise global awareness on the importance of plant health.

This Special Issue is dedicated to news and innovations related to both forests and forest tree fitness and health from a socio-ecological perspective.

The main topics are: pest risk assessment and management, the trade of plants and plants parts, soil ecology including fertility and root symbioses, alien pests and parasites, integrated pest management, genetic selection, statistics and forecasting models, and biosecurity including citizen science.

Papers on new survey protocols, diagnostics, epidemiology, and environmentally friendly control methods are welcome.

Dr. Lucio Montecchio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • trees health
  • tree care
  • phytopathology
  • entomology
  • biosecurity

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2059 KiB  
Article
Diplodia fraxini and Diplodia subglobosa: The Main Species Associated with Cankers and Dieback of Fraxinus excelsior in North-Eastern Italy
by Benedetto T. Linaldeddu, Francesco Bottecchia, Carlo Bregant, Lucia Maddau and Lucio Montecchio
Forests 2020, 11(8), 883; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11080883 - 14 Aug 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3653
Abstract
In Italy, after the first report in Friuli-Venezia Giulia along the border with Slovenia in 2009, ash dieback has successively been reported in Veneto, Tuscany and Trentino-Alto Adige. Given its alarming expansion in European ash formations along the sub-montane belt of north-eastern Italy [...] Read more.
In Italy, after the first report in Friuli-Venezia Giulia along the border with Slovenia in 2009, ash dieback has successively been reported in Veneto, Tuscany and Trentino-Alto Adige. Given its alarming expansion in European ash formations along the sub-montane belt of north-eastern Italy and the limited information about the associated fungal microorganisms; since 2017, a study has been conducted in order to isolate and characterize the fungal species involved in the aetiology of the disease. The surveys were conducted in six ash–maple forests distributed along the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia pre-Alpine regions (Italy). In each site, the health status of ash trees was assessed and a sample (shoot or branch) with the typical symptoms of the disease was taken from ten trees to isolate the associated pathogens. The fungal colonies developed were identified using morphological features and DNA sequences. The 60 samples processed yielded a total of 109 fungal isolates belonging to 9 families including: Botryosphaeriaceae (62 isolates), Diaporthaceae (18), Nectriaceae (10), Didymellaceae (9), Helotiaceae (5), Diatrypaceae (2), Didymosphaeriaceae (1), Phaeosphaeriaceae (1) and Valsaceae (1). In particular, three species—Diplodia subglobosa, Diplodia fraxini and Diaporthe eres—were isolated with high frequency, while Hymenoscyphus fraxineus was isolated from only five plants distributed in four sites. The pathogenicity tests, conducted on 3-year-old seedlings, detached branches (3–4 cm diameter), and leaves of Fraxinus excelsior, showed that Diplodia fraxini is the most virulent species and the only one able to reproduce the symptoms observed in nature. Overall, the results obtained emphasize that several fungal pathogens are involved in the aetiology of the disease, many of which belong to the Botryosphaeriaceae family. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tree Care in 2020, the International Year of Plant Health)
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14 pages, 9735 KiB  
Article
Role of Root and Stem Base Fungi in Fraxinus angustifolia (Vahl) Dieback in Croatian Floodplain Forests
by Jelena Kranjec Orlović, Maja Moro and Danko Diminić
Forests 2020, 11(6), 607; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11060607 - 27 May 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2206
Abstract
Large-scale ash (Fraxinus spp.) dieback caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has been a major concern throughout Europe for more than two decades. Most of the related research has been focused on Fraxinus excelsior L., and there is still little information on [...] Read more.
Large-scale ash (Fraxinus spp.) dieback caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has been a major concern throughout Europe for more than two decades. Most of the related research has been focused on Fraxinus excelsior L., and there is still little information on fungal involvement in the dieback of Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl, especially in roots and stem bases, which play an important role in decline progress and tree stability. The objectives of this study were to identify fungi present in visually healthy and symptomatic wood tissues in basal parts of narrow-leaved ash trees in different decline phases, in order to determine the possible role of these fungi and their importance in the dieback process. The stem bases and roots of 90 trees in three different health categories, determined based on crown defoliation, were sampled in natural stands affected by ash dieback. Isolated fungal cultures were identified based on the rDNA ITS (Internal transcribed spacer) region and their association with tree health status was analyzed. In total, 68 different fungal taxa were confirmed, including Hymenoscyphus fraxineus and Armillaria spp., which were mainly present in roots, although overall in lower frequencies than on common ash in other studies. Most frequently isolated fungal taxa, which encompassed 51% of all obtained isolates, were Trichoderma spp., Ilyonectria robusta, Fusarium solani, Cladosporium cladosporioides, and Diaporthe cotoneastri. Their associations with tree health categories and presence in both symptomatic and visually healthy wood indicate that they act as opportunistic pathogens and early colonizers of weakened ash tissues. Research also revealed that, although the extent of crown defoliation and presence of root and stem necroses were associated, basal symptoms occurred on a number of trees with healthy looking crowns, meaning they can develop independently. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tree Care in 2020, the International Year of Plant Health)
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