Ashes to ashes

[Gob]

The ash tree is likely to be wiped out in Europe, according to a review of the evidence.



The trees are being killed off by the fungal disease ash-dieback along with an invasive beetle called the emerald ash borer.

According to the research, published in the Journal of Ecology, the British countryside will never look the same again.

The paper says that the ash will most likely be "eliminated" in Europe.

This could mirror the way Dutch elm disease largely wiped out the elm in the 1980s.

Ash trees are a key part of the treescape of Britain. You don't have to go to the countryside to see them. In and around towns and cities there are 2.2 million. In woodland, only the oak is more common.

However, according to a review led by Dr Peter Thomas of Keele University and published in the Journal of Ecology, "between the fungal disease ash dieback and a bright green beetle called the emerald ash borer, it is likely that almost all ash trees in Europe will be wiped out - just as the elm was largely eliminated by Dutch elm disease".

Ash dieback, also known as Chalara, is a disease that was first seen in Eastern Europe in 1992. It now affects more than 2 million sq km, from Scandinavia to Italy.

[Crackpot]

We've been dealing with that for years. Those green little buggers shred trees

[Lord Jim]

Sorry about the trees, but when I saw the subject line I was expecting yet another tedious thread about the contest for that gum ball machine toy trophy....

[oldr_n_wsr]

We have the Southern Pine beetle killing the pine barrens here on Long Island.
I think Jersey has been affected also

[Bicycle Bill]

The ironic thing is that the ash trees were recommended and planted in large quantities throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a replacement for the elms lost to Dutch elm disease.

One of the less-beneficial effects of our modern global economy.  No one knows for sure, but it is believed that the emerald ash borer hitch-hiked its way into the US lurking in wooden pallets/crates made from infested wood, in much the same way that zebra mussels are believed to have found their way into the Great Lakes and other waterways through contaminated bilge/ballast water pumped out from ships when reaching the American ports and harbors.  

You'd think we'd have learned after going through similar problems with the sea lamprey and the Dutch elm beetle, but ....

-"BB"-