Forest Research draws up canker plan

Forest Research is to develop guidance on managing and drawing up controlling strategies for the bleeding canker tree blight, reports Horticulture Week.
“This disease has rapidly become widespread throughout Britain over the past five years,” said a representative for the research arm of the Forestry Commission.
Bleeding canker of horse chestnut was caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas [...]

Climate ‘adds fuel to Asian wildfire emissions’

In the last decade, Asian farmers have cleared tens of thousands of square miles of forests to accommodate the world’s growing demand for palm oil, an increasingly popular food ingredient, reports Science Daily.
Ancient peatlands have been drained and lush tropical forests have been cut down.
As a result, the landscape of equatorial Asia now lies [...]

Wild fruit trees face extinction

Scientists have warned that the wild ancestors of common domestic fruit trees are in danger of becoming extinct, reports the BBC’s Victoria Gill.
Researchers have published a “red list” of threatened species that grow in the forests of Central Asia.
These disease-resistant and climate-tolerant fruit trees could play a role in our future food security.
But in the [...]

Key role of forests ‘may be lost’

Forests’ role as massive carbon sinks is “at risk of being lost entirely”, the BBC’s Mark Kinver has reported top forestry scientists as warning.
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change.
Forests could release vast amounts of carbon if temperatures rise 2.5C [...]

Old elm ‘may help save other trees’

Experts hope an elm tree that survived the ravages of Dutch elm disease could hold the key to the species survival in the UK, the BBC News website reports.

The elm was discovered in a Worcestershire hedgerow, near Pershore, two years ago.
It had remained unnoticed because it was assumed all elms in the area had been [...]

Top five invasive threats to US southern forests

Apologies that this post refers to information issued in a press release by the US Forest Service back in January, but it contains interesting data and links that could be of use to people – Take Cover team.
US Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) ecologist Jim Miller, considered to be one of the foremost authorities [...]

Twiglet: UK woodlands and forests

The social and environmental value of woodlands and forests in the UK is estimated to be in the region of £1bn, states a postnote from the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.

Once, most of the UK was covered in woodland but the cover was gradually depleted as the demand for timber, fuel and agriculture [...]

Challenge to plant methane link

The recent finding that plants could be a major source of the atmosphere’s methane is challenged by new research, reports BBC News environment correspondent Richard Black.

A 2006 study suggested plants could account for almost half of the global production of the greenhouse gas.
But a UK-based team now reports that under normal conditions, plants just convey [...]

Tropical farms ‘aid biodiversity’

A study has shown that certain farming methods can help sustain the biodiversity of tropical forests, reports BBC News’ environment reporter Mark Kinver.

Researchers found that an areca nut plantation in south-west India supported 90% of the bird species found in surrounding native forests.
The low-impact agriculture system has been used for more than 2,000 years and [...]

Forest diversity ’stems from specialisation’

The rich diversity of trees in tropical forests may be “the result of subtle strategies that allow each species to occupy its own ecological niche” rather than random dispersal, Mongabay.com reports.
Studying the traits of trees in Yasuni forest in Ecuador, Nathan Kraft and colleagues, writing in the journal Science, found evidence to support the theory [...]