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Ireland's trees are under attack from a deadly disease, which
experts have warned poses a huge threat to Irish biodiversity.
The Native
Woodland Trust said last week's confirmation that
a fungal disease, sometimes known as 'Sudden Oak Death',
had spread to Ireland could be a disaster for the country's
few remaining native forests.
The fungal disease has been likened to Dutch Elm Disease,
which wiped out millions of trees across Ireland and Europe
in the 1970s.
The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that it was investigating
an outbreak of the fungal disease - phytophthora ramorum
- which, so far, has affected a small number of Japanese larch
trees in the Tipperary/Waterford region.
Beech trees growing in close proximity to the diseased larch
trees had also been infected, as had two noble fir trees.
The department said the disease had also been found in Northern
Ireland and it was liaising closely with the North's
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
"The department is taking all necessary measures to establish
the extent of the infection and control the spread of the
disease," it said in a statement.
The disease is a fungus-like organism which causes trees
to bleed a thick red sap and can damage and kill them. It
spread from the US, where it killed millions of trees, into
Britain and then reached Ireland.
Japanese larch trees represent 3pc of the total forest tree
population in Ireland and can produce billions of spores which
have the potential to spread the disease widely, with felling
of infected trees the only way to eradicate it.
Native Woodland Trust Director, Jim Lawlor said an outbreak
of this fungus, which is related to the potato blight, could
pose a particular threat to Ireland's precious remaining oak
forests if Irish oaks proved susceptible to the strain.
"It is not just the oak trees themselves that are at risk,
it is all the insects and birds that they support," he said.
"It could change the entire landscape if it spreads."
A good example is the spotted woodpecker - it became extinct
in Ireland before re-establishing itself in Wicklow National
Park, but would not survive if the oak trees that hosted it
succumbed to disease.
Just 0.1pc of Ireland's native woodlands still survive, so
it would be a disaster if this disease spread to the remaining
oak trees.
The eradication of all mature elms in the last century showed
the impact tree diseases could have on the landscape, Mr Lawlor
said. He called on the authorities to step up the removal
of rhododendron from woodlands as a priority, as they were
a "complete pest" to other species.
This new disease could also have a serious economic impact
on the forestry industry as it could spread like wildfire
among plantations of single species, Mr Lawlor said.
The department said wood from infected trees could be used
in the normal way if the necessary hygiene measures were taken
when felling and in sawmills.
Source - The Irish Independent
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