Pinewood Nematode: A Threat to U.S. Forests?. Dropkin, V. H., Foudin, A., Kondo, E., Linit, M., Smith, M., & Robbins, K. 65(12):1022–1027.
Pinewood Nematode: A Threat to U.S. Forests? [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
In February 1979, a portion of the trunk of an Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) arrived in Einar Palm's diagnostic clinic at the University of Missouri, Columbia. The previous summer, with no warning, the 39-year-old tree suddenly died; the needles lost their green color and became reddish brown but were retained. Seiji Ouchi, a plant pathologist from Japan who happened to be visiting the clinic that day, suggested that a nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, might be involved. Much to the surprise of clinic personnel, the log contained a huge population of a nematode identified as this species by V. H. Dropkin and confirmed by Y. Mamiya, the scientist who had originally described the species in Japan. And so the fun began. After notice of the find was published (3), interest in the disease grew rapidly, and it has now been reported from about half the states in the United States (Fig. I). Nematodes are known to be associated with insects in two diseases of trees: red ring of coconut and sudden wilt of pines. In both examples, nematodes travel from diseased to healthy trees during the life cycle of an insect – transmitted by a weevil among coconuts and by a wood-boring beetle among pines. In both diseases, the parasites gain entry through wounds made by the insects, increase to enormous populations, invade the entire plant, and survive in dead trees. The vector insect oviposits in the infected tree, and the emerging adult carries the nematodes when it flies to a healthy tree. The occurrence of B. xylophilus in the United States has been documented in 18 species of pine in 28 states and in one species of larch in one state (Table I). Most of these finds have been assembled by foresters, county agents, and other observers rather than by systematic surveys. The nematode identifications have usually been confirmed by expe-rienced nematologists in Beltsville, Maryland, or in the various states. We suspect that the disease occurs throughout the United States. Although Japan is now experiencing a major epidemic in forests of P. thunbergii and P. densifTora (Fig. 2), the disease occurs sporadically elsewhere. Nematode-induced pine wilt is also known in France (1). The disease was first recorded in Kyushu, Japan, during the second decade of this century. It spread rapidly through Kyushu and Shikoku and into Honshu. During 1948, 1,280,000 m3 of pine wood were killed. Strenuous efforts to destroy wilted trees reduced annual losses to 400,000 m3, but the disease persisted, and in 1975 the loss rose to 1,000,000 m' (8). Current losses are high. All pines in some localities in the prefecture of Ibaraki, Honshu, have died. The pine forests of the United States have not suffered large losses from this disease until now.
@article{dropkinPinewoodNematodeThreat1981,
  title = {Pinewood Nematode: A Threat to {{U}}.{{S}}. Forests?},
  author = {Dropkin, V. H. and Foudin, A. and Kondo, E. and Linit, M. and Smith, M. and Robbins, K.},
  date = {1981},
  journaltitle = {Plant Disease},
  volume = {65},
  pages = {1022--1027},
  doi = {10.1094/PD-65-1022},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1094/PD-65-1022},
  abstract = {In February 1979, a portion of the trunk of an Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) arrived in Einar Palm's diagnostic clinic at the University of Missouri, Columbia. The previous summer, with no warning, the 39-year-old tree suddenly died; the needles lost their green color and became reddish brown but were retained. Seiji Ouchi, a plant pathologist from Japan who happened to be visiting the clinic that day, suggested that a nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, might be involved. Much to the surprise of clinic personnel, the log contained a huge population of a nematode identified as this species by V. H. Dropkin and confirmed by Y. Mamiya, the scientist who had originally described the species in Japan. And so the fun began. After notice of the find was published (3), interest in the disease grew rapidly, and it has now been reported from about half the states in the United States (Fig. I). Nematodes are known to be associated with insects in two diseases of trees: red ring of coconut and sudden wilt of pines. In both examples, nematodes travel from diseased to healthy trees during the life cycle of an insect -- transmitted by a weevil among coconuts and by a wood-boring beetle among pines. In both diseases, the parasites gain entry through wounds made by the insects, increase to enormous populations, invade the entire plant, and survive in dead trees. The vector insect oviposits in the infected tree, and the emerging adult carries the nematodes when it flies to a healthy tree. The occurrence of B. xylophilus in the United States has been documented in 18 species of pine in 28 states and in one species of larch in one state (Table I). Most of these finds have been assembled by foresters, county agents, and other observers rather than by systematic surveys. The nematode identifications have usually been confirmed by expe-rienced nematologists in Beltsville, Maryland, or in the various states. We suspect that the disease occurs throughout the United States. Although Japan is now experiencing a major epidemic in forests of P. thunbergii and P. densifTora (Fig. 2), the disease occurs sporadically elsewhere. Nematode-induced pine wilt is also known in France (1). The disease was first recorded in Kyushu, Japan, during the second decade of this century. It spread rapidly through Kyushu and Shikoku and into Honshu. During 1948, 1,280,000 m3 of pine wood were killed. Strenuous efforts to destroy wilted trees reduced annual losses to 400,000 m3, but the disease persisted, and in 1975 the loss rose to 1,000,000 m' (8). Current losses are high. All pines in some localities in the prefecture of Ibaraki, Honshu, have died. The pine forests of the United States have not suffered large losses from this disease until now.},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13504744,bursaphelenchus-xylophilus,forest-pests,forest-resources,pinewood-nematode,pinus-nigra,tree-diseases},
  number = {12}
}

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