WE NEED better ash. To combat the fungus that is killing ash trees in the UK, government scientists are counting on finding trees with natural resistance to the disease.
A new survey suggests chalara ash dieback may have been in the UK for several years, despite only being spotted in the wild last month. The disease spreads in leaf litter, so destroying infected wild trees will not stop it. Instead, the government will hunt for resistant trees, both in the UK and in mainland Europe, where the disease originated.
"By next spring, we could have resistant forms of ash growing in this country," says Ian Boyd, chief scientist at the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The government is also identifying and destroying infected trees and saplings in nurseries, and imports have been banned for now. About 100,000 nursery trees have already been destroyed.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
Have your say
Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.
Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article
Subscribe now to comment.
All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.
If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.
grammy award winners the band perry grammy awards whitney houston autopsy dobie gray bruce springsteen grammy nominations
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.