US army may have killed Italian trees

Nature ^ | 4/6/04 | Helen R. Pilcher

[LibWhacker]

The US Army may have unwittingly killed hundreds of pine trees in an Italian hunting estate. Genetic analysis suggests that the trees were infected with an American fungus, imported by US troops during the Second World War.

The Presidential Estate of Castelporziano, not far from Rome, was once home to 60 square kilometres of native Italian flora, including the Italian stone pine (Pinus pinea). Twenty years ago, estate staff noticed that the pine were beginning to rot. Today, a 100-metre barren gash reminds them where the trees once stood.

In an attempt to track down the killer, researchers studied DNA from fungi at the base of infected trees. The fungi were an American form of Heterobasidion annosum, a pest that makes trees rot from the inside out, the team report in Mycological Research1.

The fungi probably arrived with the US army, says team member Matteo Garbelotto from the University of California, Berkeley. American troops set up camp on the estate shortly after capturing Rome in 1944.

The pathogen probably stowed away in transport crates or other military equipment made from wood from infected trees, the researchers say.

"It's a plausible explanation," says tree pathologist Joan Webber from the UK Forestry Commission. H. annosum spreads from tree root to root, and can travel through the air as spores - but it's unlikely spores blew across the Atlantic.

The findings sound a warning bell for future military operations. "When planning military operations abroad, there is a need and a responsibility to check for potential microorganisms that could be introduced into foreign lands, and to take measures to prevent them from spreading," says Garbelotto.

Slow death

Fungal DNA taken from seven infected Castelporziano pines matched American, not European samples of the fungus, the team found.

Samples from the trees differed genetically. This shows infection occurred decades ago, giving the fungus time reproduce and generate diverse offspring.

H. annosum kills trees over many decades, says forest patholgist Jan Stenlid from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. So trees infected in 1944 might not have displayed symptoms until the 1980s.

Researchers are watching to see if the disease spreads beyond the estate. The fungus can infect pine, fir and spruce trees.

The disease can be contained, says Stenlid, by spraying anti-fungal agents onto exposed stumps or bark to block the fungi's point of entry into the tree. When conifers are pruned or thinned, their exposed surfaces can be treated immediately to lower the risk of infection, says Stenlid.

[Youngblood]

"When planning military operations abroad, there is a need and a responsibility to check for potential microorganisms that could be introduced into foreign lands, and to take measures to prevent them from spreading," says Garbelotto.

What is ridiculous about that recommendation? The author is suggesting a solution to the problem. Its up to governments whether they heed the advice or consider it impractical.

[Youngblood]

Where are reparations mentioned? I doubt if any government wants to start down the road of suing for the negative effects of introduced species.

Of course the fungus could have arrived by other means. The author is inferring a likely means of entry given that the fungus is most probably of American origin, that US troops were stationed in the estate and the infection occurred decades ago. I'm sure that in researching the comings and goings at the estate (which probably has good records being a Presidential one) that the investigators looked at all possible modes of introduction.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[LibWhacker]

Check or sterilize every piece of wood, every splinter, every mote of dust that we carry with us, not only for every harmful microorganism that we already know about, but for every microorganism that we don't know about, but that may be potentially harmful to somebody, or something, somewhere in the world, 40 years from now? I'd say that qualifies for ridiculous.

[Youngblood]

Yes, what you state, taking checks to the nth degree, is obviously ridiculous. I doubt very much that this is what the author envisioned. Maybe making a start, (presuming that one has not already been made) by spot-checking for signs of diseased wood or treating wood for known diseases at the source would be something that could be done. Despite the dismissals of some, these are serious issues for industries such as forestry, farming and fisheries, not to mention human health and wildlife conservation.