The New Disease That's Killing An Iconic Tree

[Music] greetings everyone I'm Adam Harrison today I'm spending time in a beautiful place with a beautiful tree this is American Beach American Beach is an iconic tree whose presence in this Forest is intimately connected to the lives of many animals plants and fungi should the health of this species ever be seriously compromised the composition and dynamics of the forest ecosystem would drastically change Now American beach has been the target of various attacks over the past Century some more serious than others but in recent years a new disease has been threatening the health of American Beach making some people wonder what the future holds for this dominant Forest tree the disease I'm referring to is known as Beach Leaf Disease and it was first detected in Lake County Ohio in 2012. since then Beach Leaf Disease has been rapidly expanding its range and is now found in at least a dozen states in the U.S as well as is in Ontario Canada The Telltale sign of beach leaf disease is a noticeable striping or banding pattern between the veins of the leaves with alternating dark and light green colors the affected leaves are thickened and they feel leathery yellowing and Browning of the leaves also occur and the affected leaves will often wither and fall off the tree prematurely all sizes of American Beach can be affected but in some areas mortality is greatest among smaller trees primarily among the sapling and pole-sized trees these smaller trees usually die within two to five years of infection among larger trees including the dominance and intermediates in the overstory occasional mortality has been observed within seven years of infection now you may be wondering what in the world is causing beach leaf disease is it bacteria is it a fungus is it an insect is it a virus well when the disease first appeared in Lake County Ohio researchers had no idea what was going on but after careful analysis a culprit was discovered under the microscope nematode or a nematode depending on how you prefer to pronounce it nematodes or nematodes are round worms that occupy a wide variety of habitats including soils human digestive tracts gold mines and the inner tissues of plants including the inner tissues of American beech trees the specific nematode associated with beach leaf disease is considered to be non-native to North America and researchers hypothesized that infection of a leaf starts with the presence of the nematode in the bud of the leaf some researchers think that the nematode Works in conjunction with bacteria to afflict damage to the tree but evidence to support this claim isn't conclusive what is known at this time is that the microscopic nematode is present in the majority of leaves affected by Beach Leaf Disease and trees that do succumb to the disease can die within a decade what does this mean for forests well I mentioned earlier that American Beach is no stranger to disease for over 100 hundred years American beach has been the target of a lethal condition known as Beach bark disease Beach bark disease is caused by the combined efforts of a scale insect and fungi and the disease affects all sizes of beach but it can disproportionately affect large diameter trees Beach Leaf Disease also affects trees in every canopy layer but as I mentioned before in certain regions symptoms are more severe in saplinks severe symptoms can lead to mortality and when smaller trees die in sufficient numbers the species cannot regenerate successfully from the sapling to the mature stage and according to some people that's a real problem but the targeting of smaller trees in some areas isn't necessarily a bad thing because American Beach is a prolific root sprouter and dense thickets of beech root Sprouts can actually interfere with the Regeneration of other Woody plant species ultimately causing a reduction in biodiversity so perhaps the removal of beach saplings in these crowded forests is a solution to a problem that some land owners Foresters and conservation groups have been contending with for some time but remember larger American beach trees also succumb to the disease and if our forests experience a reduction in the total number of beach trees this won't go unnoticed by Wildlife because American Beach is a significant Mast species whose nuts are eaten by squirrels Chipmunks black bear deer foxes and blue jays in the short term cavity nesting animals including Pileated woodpeckers might benefit from all the dead wood but long term these animals could be negatively affected by a reduction in the number of mature beach trees likewise the fungi that feasts directly on American Beach might benefit in the short term but the fungi that creates mutualistic symbioses with living Beech trees would be negatively affected because American beach in the northeastern forests often grows in association with sugar maple ecologists predict that should American Beach suffer major losses due to beach leaf and bark disease sugar maple Acer saccharum is likely to take its place as the dominant late successional Forest tree so what are we supposed to do about this is there anything we can do about this well I do not have the answers and researchers aren't entirely sure what's going on either because this is such a new phenomenon in our forests but I do know that some people are investigating the use of insecticides and other chemical treatments specifically a compound known as Emma mechan benzoate is being studied as a potential insecticide for its role in treating Beach Leaf Disease but it is worth noting that this compound is corrosive it's acutely toxic it's a health hazard it's an environmental hazard it's toxic if swallowed it causes damage to organs and it's very toxic to Aquatic Life with long lasting effects there is also a product known as polyphosphite 30 which is a fertilizer that is commonly used on golf courses polyphosphite 30 is recommended by some people as a treatment for Beach Leaf Disease but it is worth noting that this product is acutely toxic and hazardous to the Aquatic environment now remember I don't have the answers but I do have things that I wonder about and something that I wonder about is whether the long lasting impact of something like Emma Mech and benzoate or polyphosphite 30 is actually far worse to the land and to humans than is a reduction in the number of American beech trees and I also wonder if the presence of beech Leaf Disease is yet another symptom resulting from our intense desire to have whatever we want whenever we want from wherever in the world we want all while expecting the land to remain unaffected by these once I don't really know I do have some hunches ultimately I'm just here to report on something that's happening to the land where I live and I will encourage you to spend some time looking at the trees where you live and to notice what's going on with them what do you see what do you notice is it good is it bad or does thinking as the old saying goes make it so you tell me I'd be curious to hear your thoughts thank you so much for watching this video I truly appreciate it if you enjoyed it I encourage you to subscribe to the learn your land YouTube channel and to head on over to learn your land.com and sign up for the email newsletter so that we can stay in touch thanks again for watching I will see you on the next video [Music] foreign

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 194,997

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Id: shRMwiBsDg8

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 18 2023