Happy spring mallards (courtesy of A. Jackson). Got a good photo? Send it my way to be featured in an upcoming newsletter! | |
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Hi all,
It’s been a great quarter. Time seems to have flown by but the weather sure has been weird in OH, I’m blaming El Niño. We are looking forward to the coming growing season: It’s a great time for assessing lingering ash and beech. Be sure to also keep an eye out for large survivor American elms.
-Rachel Kappler
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It’s great to share news about the progress that is being made by the collaborators within the Tree Species in Peril project, which focuses on ways to advance tree breeding programs and genetic research for hemlock, beech, elm and ash within areas east of the Great Lakes. Recently, Holden hosted their group meeting and updates can be found in the appropriate tree section below. |
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Dutch elm disease resistance is assessed by inoculating American elm saplings with the disease. In order to get results faster, researchers at the U.S. Forest Service and their collaborators are working on a method where American elm individuals can be tested as 1-year old seedlings.
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The GLB FHC is now assisting with coordination of resistance breeding activities for American elm! We look forward to hearing from partners what their work has entailed so far and how the GLB FHC can help. Please reach out if you would like to share your efforts with elm and if you have any questions.
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Report a survivor American elm. Besides using Treesnap to report large (>22 inch DBH) American elms, you can also use ArcGIS survey123.
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Results are on the way from work at the Holden Arboretum. Last fall, beech trees were inoculated with the nematode L. crenatae in order to assess differences between potentially resistant individuals. This spring, the trees have leafed out, revealing their symptoms (or lack thereof). The statistical results are still to come.
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Development of an online BLD story map is in progress for future public consumption. If you have any photos or pdfs you’d like to add to it please contact Dani Martin at danielle.k.martin@usda.gov.
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Would any professionals be interested in a working group to define best practices regarding when to look for lingering beech and what one looks like? If you would like to be a part of this working group please reach out.
| The most up-to-date BLD map. (Credit: Cleveland Metroparks & USDA Forest Service) | |
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Researchers at PSU (Dr. Jill Hamilton, Kyra LoPiccolo, Dr. Anthony Melton) have collected samples from across the range of green ash, white ash and black ash to assess genetic variation at the population level. This work will allow them to identify populations at risk of major decline and location to target future tree collections.
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Researchers at UTN (Dr. Staton, Dr. Romero-Severson, Zane Smith) have lots of work advancing genomics of ash species for conservation and resistance breeding advancements. They are working on long read assemblies of five ash species, are assessing naturally occurring Fraxinus hybridization, evaluating selective sweeps across lingering ash genomics for EAB resistance, and conducting parentage analyses of the U.S. Forest Service collected lingering ash parents.
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Cornell Botanical Garden had major success with their lingering ash grafts with help from Coldwater Ponds Nursery in NY. This is the first year NY lingering ash trees have been grafted, a major step for future EAB resistance breeding.
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We’ve noticed a lack of lingering ash reports from Pennsylvania outside of Allegheny National Forest. If you are in Pennsylvania, please keep a look out for lingering ash in your state and report them to your local PA service forester, myself, or on the Treesnap app.
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We’re looking for more organizations that can host a long-term fenced lingering ash progeny orchard/planting in the future. Please reach out if you are potentially interested, and let us know how much space you have and whether you’d need funding to help get it started. Already-running nurseries and orchards are great contenders, but planting fenced trees on state land or conservation easements may also be possible.
|  | Green ash seed at Holden F&G. (Photo: R. Kappler) |
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This fall/winter we are encouraging areas that have HWA but low hemlock mortality to set up a monitoring plot that will not receive pesticides. We aim to learn more about the local infestation timeline and gather data on trees that persist after others have died.
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HWA genome sequencing and assembly is underway to better understand range diversity and mechanisms between HWA and hemlock. Researchers Gaelen Burke (UGA), PhD student Dustin Dial (UGA), Jill Wegrzyn (UConn), and Nicole Pauloski (UConn) are involved.
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Large eastern hemlock at Canters Cave, Ohio. (Photo: R. Kappler) | |
Have an update to share in the next GLB FHC newsletter? Email us! | |
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Lingering Trees: In the upcoming quarter, the number one thing we need from our partners and allies is: Lingering Trees! From June to August is a great time to look for ash and beech that are lingering in otherwise infected areas and may be resistant to their respective pests. It’s an enormous help to us to know where these trees are located! We work with our partners near each reported tree to get it incorporated into breeding programs.
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Report tree sightings with the TreeSnap app or by emailing them to us directly. Training workshops to help with tree ID, using the TreeSnap app, and more are available online or in-person, with more to come in the future at other partner locations across the Great Lakes — contact us today to sign up, or to set one up for your organization!
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Set up a workshop. As always, we offer online or in-person training workshops to help with monitoring, seed collection, tree propagation, grafting, using the TreeSnap app. Contact Rachel Kappler today to set one up for your organization!
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Northwest Ohio floodplain forest with downed dead ash. Photo: R. Kappler |
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In a riparian forest, canopy gaps following EAB-caused ash mortality had significantly higher soil moisture and significantly lower depth to water. “Within the gap, prolonged saturation of the near surface may be contributing to a shift from a forested riparian ecosystem to herb and sedge-dominated wetland.” [Krzemien et al. 2024 Hydrological Processes]
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Tree regeneration in EAB infested NW Ohio forested wetlands over 17 years showed variation in advanced regeneration among species, tree size classes and sites. A common occurrence was growth of already present shade tolerant species such as American elm. All together 39 tree taxa were recorded. [Abella et al. 2024 Forest Ecol & Mgmt]
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Fluopyram comes out on top of tested BLD treatments. Researchers tested abamectin, acephate, emamectin benzoate, potassium phosphite, fluopyram, and oxamyl on nematode-infested beech trees. Properly timed foliar applications of fluopyram reduced counts of live nematodes by >90%; other methods were not effective. [Loyd et al. 2024 J Env Horticulture]
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Evidence that birds can disperse BLD nematodes. Examination of fecal, feather, and ectoparasite samples from wild birds caught in BLD-infested areas confirmed the presence of Litylenchus crenatae subsp. mccannii. Researchers used microscopy and PCR (DNA). [S.R. Parkinson Master’s Thesis, West Virginia University]
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Early detection of BLD symptoms in F. sylvatica is possible via visual assessment of bud scale morphology. In two cultivars of European beech, BLD-causing nematodes cause visible physical changes and arrangements of cells in the bud scale, which reveal a mechanism for symptom development and also serve as a simple, early diagnostic. [Wolf & Vieira 2024 Forest Pathology]
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How to use citizen science observations to inform research and management of hemlock wooly adelgid. Six years of citizen science observations, submitted by volunteer members of the public through the project Nature’s Notebook, provides key information about timing of egg laying and estivation break in different areas. These data will support research and can be used to inform the timing of releases and monitoring of biological control agents. [Diestchler et al. 2024 J Economic Entomology]
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Canadian hemlock woolly adelgid experienced significant mortality in February 2023 during a significant cold event — the coldest temperatures on record at some sites. Unfortunately, the widespread mortality did not eradicate HWA from these areas. [MacQuarrie et al. 2024 Current Research in Insect Science]
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Northward shift of HWA predicted under climate change. Researchers modeled the potential distribution areas of HWA on a global scale, based on hemlock range and relevant climate factors, such as precipitation and winter cold. They predict that HWA will continue to shift northward and could potentially expand throughout the entire hemlock range. [Sang Jeong et al. 2024 Glob Ecol & Conserv]
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Researchers examined the leaf microbiomes of two native (HWA-susceptible) and two non-native (HWA-resistant) hemlock species growing in a common garden in Ohio. All four had significantly different bacteria and fungi. Application of the pesticide dinotefuran to T. canadensis significantly altered the bacteria, but not fungi, communities. Notably, abundance of Methylobacterium, which produce metabolites that influence plant growth, was virtually absent in treated trees. [Burke et al. 2024 Phytobiomes Journal]
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The Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative is an initiative co-sponsored by Holden Forests & Gardens and the USDA Forest Service, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative | |
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