Proactive intervention to sustain high-elevation pine ecosystems threatened by white pine blister rust

• Published in: Journal of forest research Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. 327 - 336
• Main Authors: Schoettle, Anna W, Sniezko, Richard A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Tokyo : Springer-Verlag 01-10-2007; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Coniferous forests; Cronartium ribicola; Ecological function; Ecosystems; Evolution of resistance; Exotic pathogen; Forest ecosystems; Forest management; Forests; Pests; Pinus albicaulis; Pinus aristata; Pinus flexilis
• ISSN: 1341-6979; 1610-7403
• DOI: 10.1007/s10310-007-0024-x

Only recently have efforts begun to address how management might prepare currently healthy forests to affect the outcome of invasion by established non-native pests. Cronartium ribicola, the fungus that causes the disease white pine blister rust (WPBR), is among the introductions into North America where containment and eradication have failed; the disease continues to spread. Ecosystem function is impaired by high rust-caused mortality in mature five-needle white pine forests. This paper evaluates five proactive management options to mitigate the development of impacts caused by white pine blister rust in threatened remote high-elevation five-needle pine ecosystems of western North America. They are: reducing pest populations; managing forest composition; improving host vigor; introducing resistant stock with artificial regeneration; and diversifying age class structure to affect the natural selection process for resistance. Proactive intervention to manage and facilitate evolutionary change in the host species may sustain host populations and ecosystem function during pathogen naturalization.