Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with declined Pinus pinaster stands in Spain

• Autores: Gonzalo Álvarez, Mercedes Fernández, Julio Javier Díez Casero
• Localización: Forest systems, ISSN 2171-5068, ISSN-e 2171-9845, Vol. 24, Nº. 1, 2015
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Aim of study: We studied the presence of fungi and distribution patterns in relation to the health status of declining Pinus pinaster trees.Area of study: Trees in two declining stands in Central Spain were allotted to three declining classes...Material and Methods: Trees in two declining stands in Central Spain were allotted to three declining classes (healthy, declining and recently dead) and 3 trees of each class were felled in each stand. Wood slides (phloem and xylem) were taken at six positions along the trees and samples collected from fungal identification.Main results: A total of 21 fungal taxa were isolated and identified; eleven of these species belonged to the Ophiostomatoid group. Ophiostoma minus was the most frequently isolated fungus and was identified in 22% of the samples, mainly associated to dead and diseased trees.Research highlights: Together these results suggest a putative association of O. minor with the decline in this area, and thus we suggest paying more attention to this fungus as a potential agent of decline in P. pinaster stands.Key words: Ophiostomatoid fungi; forest pathology; bluestain fungi; multivariate analyses.Abbreviations: UTM: Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system; MEA: Malt Extract Agar; DNA: Deoxyribonucleid acid; ITS: Internal Transcribed Spacer; BLAST: Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; CCA: Canonical Correspondence Analyses; PWN: Pine Wood Nematode.