PARENT SESSION
Tuesday, August 8, 8:00-11:30 am
COS 29 - Forest ecology I
L-3, Lobby Level, Cook Convention Center
Presiders: C Tripler and C Wayson
Resistance to Beech Bark Disease: nature and nurture in the New England forest.
Coe, Natalie*,1, Valliere, Justin 1, Sleith, Robin1, George, Adam 1, Adirisio, Adam1, 1 Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT
ABSTRACT- The American Beech can grow to 100 feet and live for 400 years. Unfortunately, Beech Bark Disease (BBD), resulting from the commensalistic relationship of the exotic and invasive parthenogenetic, woolly beech scale (Cryptococcus fagisuga Lind.) and Nectria fungi (Nectria coccinea var. faginata, Nectria galligena Bres.), has spread relentlessly throughout New England and beyond. Fortunately, even among the most ravaged areas, certain beech trees will stand disease-free. Explaining why certain beech trees are resistant, and identifying pathways and specific genetic and environmental players, will increase our basic understanding of this pathology and provide a context for how we should look at forests currently at the killing front as well as those lying in the aftermath of BBD progression. Perhaps forests can be repopulated with diverse, yet resistant, beech trees, screened for genetic resistance to BBD. The specific aim of our research group is to identify genetic and environmental factors that increase susceptibility to BBD. Studies utilizing microarray analyses, allozyme analyses, and 2-D electrophoresis to differentiate patterns of gene and protein expression between beech resistant or susceptible to BBD have been initated. Concurring environmental assessment includes extensive soil analyses and vegetation surveys. Our study site is an 85-acre preserve located on the eastern slope of St. Catherine Mountain in Rutland County, VT. The extent of beech bark disease documented here ranges from mild to severe. The location of over 200 beech trees has been surveyed using an electronic total station. All survey data has been imported into ArcView GIS for analysis and for permanent electronic record. For each beech tree, the ArcView GIS program stores an assigned number (matching tag), thorough ranking information, understory, canopy, north and south facing photos, DBH, and beech bud sampling date(s). Careful monitoring of the disease state(s)complements ongoing studies focused on the genetic and environmental factors influencing disease resistance. Undergraduates are involved intensely in individual research projects tied to each aspect of the described work.
Key words: beech bark disease, allozyme analysis, genetic resistance