What can be done about the ash decline?

2008.12.17

What can be done?

Without knowing the basic biology of the fungus it is difficult to take appropriate actions against the disease, it is like fighting an invisible enemy. Some governments have decided to put restrictions on transfer of seeds and reproductive material between infected and uninfected areas. This may delay the spread of the disease. Norway has previously imported infected ash from the Netherlands, but this is no longer possible after updating the regulations. NordGen Forest has decided that the Nordic countries should collect seeds from a number of populations to establish a Nordic seed bank for ash at Alnarp. This work has now (autumn 2008) been started and will ensure that a large proportion of the genetic variation of ash in the Nordic countries will be conserved. Dry ash seeds stored properly may maintain viable for at least 10 years. This collection could be used to re-establish ash and for research purposes. Research undertaken by Skov & Landskab, University of Copenhagen, has shown that there is a big difference between different ash clones in resistance against the ash decline. This represents a possibility to find resistant clones on which future ash forests should be based.

Research

Pathcar and Genecar are Nordic research networks for pathology and genetics in forest trees, respectively (see

and

). The two networks discussed cooperation at a common meeting in Helsinki in November 2008. The ash decline was mentioned as a prioritised field because of the great need to increase our knowledge about spread, reproduction and genetic variation of the fungus - and the variation in resistance and the course of infection of the host trees. It is not difficult to encircle basic objectives for future research. It is more challenging, however, to provide the financial funding for a common Nordic approach to study the ash decline thoroughly.