Tree fungal infections can hurt, or help, in fight against mountain pine beetles - The Weather Network

"That's a great contribution to our understanding of that defence," said Hamelin, who researches diseases in trees.

But, he said, "there's still a long way to apply that to potentially manage outbreaks of pests and diseases."

Mountain pine beetle devastation in the Hinton, Alta., region, in 2019.(Government of Alberta)

Fungal pathogens play an important role in the mountain pine beetle establishing itself under the tree's bark, said Jakub Olesinski, a forest health specialist with Parks Canada who wasn't involved with the study.

Beetles build tunnels under the tree's bark, called galleries. When they build egg galleries, "the sapwood of the tree is inoculated with spores of the blue stain fungus," Olesinski said.

He said the fungus prevents the tree from repelling and killing the attacking beetles.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiiAFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGV3ZWF0aGVybmV0d29yay5jb20vZW4vbmV3cy9uYXR1cmUvb3V0ZG9vcnMvdHJlZS1mdW5nYWwtaW5mZWN0aW9ucy1jYW4taHVydC1vci1oZWxwLWluLWZpZ2h0LWFnYWluc3QtbW91bnRhaW4tcGluZS1iZWV0bGVz0gEA?oc=5

2024-01-28 14:18:00Z
CBMiiAFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGV3ZWF0aGVybmV0d29yay5jb20vZW4vbmV3cy9uYXR1cmUvb3V0ZG9vcnMvdHJlZS1mdW5nYWwtaW5mZWN0aW9ucy1jYW4taHVydC1vci1oZWxwLWluLWZpZ2h0LWFnYWluc3QtbW91bnRhaW4tcGluZS1iZWV0bGVz0gEA