Symptoms of P. ramorum infection in a tree in the UK. [Source:(2004) Stopping the Rot, PLoS Biology 2(7)]
I found this link in a National Phenology Network email update today. Scientists are concerned about the rise in the number of cases and the spread of the pathogen known as Phytophthora ramorum or sudden oak death in the Bay Area:
The findings are part of a major effort over the past four years to involve citizens in the battle against the mysterious pathogen, which has killed hundreds of thousands of oak trees from Big Sur to southern Oregon.
Arborists and ecologists are afraid that sudden oak death could eventually denude California's golden hills of its signature tree. As it is, experts predict as many as 90 percent of California's live oaks and black oaks could die from the disease within 25 years.
The citizen scientists, who were trained to detect disease symptoms, surveyed about 50,000 acres and collected samples from 2,000 oak and bay trees during a series of so-called SOD blitzes.
Read the rest of the story at www.sfgate.com
Related info and photos at Wikipedia page for sudden oak death.
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