The Current Situation of Ash Dieback Caused by Chalara Fraxinea in Austria. Kirisits, T., Matlakova, M., Mottinger-Kroupa, S., Cech, T. L., & Halmschlager, E. In Proceedings of the Conference of IUFRO Working Party 7.02.02, 11-16 May 2009, Eğirdir, Turkey, of SDU Faculty of Forestry Journal, pages 97–119.
The Current Situation of Ash Dieback Caused by Chalara Fraxinea in Austria [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
In many parts of Europe common ash, Fraxinus excelsior, is presently affected by a serious dieback of shoots, twigs and branches, causing decline and mortality of trees of all age classes. Initially thought to be primarily incited by abiotic damaging factors, accumulating evidence suggests that ash dieback is a new infectious disease caused by the hyphomycete Chalara fraxinea and its teleomorphic state, Hymenoscyphus albidus. In Austria, ash dieback was first observed in 2005 and in 2008 it occurred in all Austrian provinces. In heavily affected forests mortality is common amongst saplings and young trees. Moreover, in some areas dying of mature trees has started to occur. Chalara fraxinea was for the first time recorded in Austria in June 2007. Subsequent surveys have shown that the pathogen is widespread in the country. Until June 2009 it was isolated from symptomatic ash trees at 82 localities in eigth out of the nine Austrian provinces. Apart from F. excelsior, C. fraxinea was isolated from narrow-leaved ash, F. angustifolia subsp. danubialisand from weeping ash, F. excelsior 'Pendula'. Chalara fraxinea was consistently isolated at high frequencies from ash shoots, twigs and stems showing early symptoms of disease. In inoculation experiments using potted F excelsior and F. angustifolia seedlings, Kochs postulates were fulfilled for C. fraxinea, clearly suggesting that this fungus is the primary causal agent of ash dieback. It also displayed pathogenicity to Fraxinus ornus seedlings. Besides reviewing the situation of ash dieback in Austria and summarizing the results of some of our research since 2007, we generally review the knowledge on this emerging disease in Europe, describe its symptoms, present a hypothetic disease cycle for ash dieback and discuss options for disease management.

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