PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #41: Invasive Species Ecology: Woodlands.
Wednesday, August 7. Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC

Butternut (Juglans cinerea L.) distribution for estimating butternut canker mortality impacts and potential reintroduction of resistant trees.

Gottschalk, Kurt^*,1, Ostry, Michael², Morin, Randall¹, Liebhold, Andrew¹, ¹ USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, Morgantown, WV² USDA Forest Service, North Central Research Station, St. Paul, MN

ABSTRACT- Butternut (Juglans cinerea L.), a widespread but rare tree, is being affected by a lethal canker disease caused by the Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum fungus. The fungus was probably introduced from outside North America and is possibly spread by insects. The first butternut deaths were reported in 1967 and butternuts of all ages are dying throughout the range of butternut in North America. Mortality from the fungus has resulted in the proposed listing of butternut as a threatened species in several states. We evaluated the distribution of live and dead butternut trees in the eastern United States using U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot data. Butternut occurrence was then classified by ecoregion province and section levels. Significant differences in butternut occurrence existed at both levels. Across the east, 0.7% of FIA plots contained butternut while 2.1% of the plots in the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Continental Province (222) and 10.9% of the plots in the North Central U.S. Driftless and Escarpment Section (222L) contained butternut. Other sections with high occurrence included the St. Lawrence Valley Section (212E, 6.4%) and the Hudson Valley Section (221B, 4.4%). Kriging was used to derive a probability map of butternut occurrence across the eastern United States. This map was then overlaid by forest density data, resulting in an adjusted probability map of butternut occurrence in eastern forests. Candidate areas for resistant butternut reintroduction have been identified by this analysis.

KEY WORDS: Juglans cinerea , Butternut canker disease, species distribution, ecoregions