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Spread of Beech Bark Disease in the Eastern United States and its Relationship to Regional Forest Composition. World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling June 14-7, 2005 Humboldt State University. Randall Morin, Sandy Liebhold, Patrick Tobin, Kurt Gottschalk, and Gino Luzader
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Spread of Beech Bark Disease in the Eastern United States and its Relationship to Regional Forest Composition World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling June 14-7, 2005 Humboldt State University Randall Morin, Sandy Liebhold, Patrick Tobin, Kurt Gottschalk, and Gino Luzader USDA Forest Service
Uses of American Beech • Valuable for wildlife • Only nut producing tree species in the northern hardwood forest type • Beech wood has many uses
Beech Bark Disease Sites of Nectria infection become walled off with callus tissue, which gives the tree a pockmarked appearance and an exotic or native canker fungus Beech bark disease is an insect-fungus complex involving the beech scale insect Nectria coccinea var. faginata or the native Nectria galligena Cryptococcus fagisuga
Research Questions • Is the spread of BBD characterized by continuous radial expansion or by a more complex pattern of discontinuous spread? • Is the rate of spread affected by beech density? • What is the effect of BBD on regional forest species composition?
Current (2003) 27% of habitat 57% of host
Conclusions • BBD is characterized by continuous radial expansion and a more complex pattern of discontinuous spread • Rate of spread does not seem to be affected by beech density • BBD may result in increases in associated species
QUESTIONS? CONTACT INFORMATIONRandall Morin11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200Newtown Square, PA 19073610-557-4054rsmorin@fs.fed.us