NPDN 2007 Meeting - National Phytophthora ramorum Early Detection Surveys for Forests 2003-2005

NPDN National Meeting 2007

Poster Abstract

National Phytophthora ramorum Early Detection Surveys for Forests 2003-2005

Authors: STEVEN W. OAK (1), Borys M. Tkacz (2), William D. Smith (3), Edwin K. Yockey (1)

Affiliations: (1) USDA Forest Service, Asheville, NC, USA; (2) USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC, USA; (3) USDA Forest Service, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Phytophthora ramorum diseases in US forest landscapes were first detected in central coastal CA in the mid-1990's. The vulnerability of other ecosystems is suggested by brisk trade in woody ornamental hosts; greenhouse inoculation trials of other nursery and forest plants; and the discovery in Europe of disease in hosts which are abundant in eastern US oak forests. Federal and state forest management agencies in seven eastern states joined in pilot tests of early detection forest survey methods in 2003. Climatic variables, putative host abundance and distribution, and potential pathways of introduction were combined in a hazard map used to guide sampling. The survey was expanded to 38 states in 2004 after it was learned the pathogen had been introduced throughout the US on infected woody ornamental plants from a CA nursery. Smaller introductions were repeated in 2004 through 2006 from CA, OR, and WA nurseries. As a result, 24 states have confirmed P. ramorum in nurseries, presenting a risk of establishment in forests. This poster reports results of forest surveys for the period 2003-05.

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