Scientists and conservationists have warned that a little-known but deadly disease is destroying trees and causing massive damage to Australia’s ecosystem.
Ginger bark disease, which occurs in drought-stressed gum trees, is devastating Tasmania’s forests and has also affected Western Australia.
Large tracts of forest in the island state are turning brown and dying, something Dr Tim Wardlaw from the University of Tasmania first observed in 2013 when working with Forestry Tasmania.
“During routine inspections we found that many of the trees in their plantations across northern Tasmania had stem ginger, a sort of red spot on the stems,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“And when we look more closely at a sample of those trees, we cut them up and dissect them, and Instead of just limited veins of gum, they had large pockets of gum just beneath the crust.
‘The best explanation for that was that the very hot weather we had that year made the stems think they were being damaged and they basically had this great response to injury…
“And that seeps through and gives the wood that characteristic red color,” he said.
Dr Wardlaw said that while the problem was more to do with high temperatures than a lack of water reaching the trees, “they tend to go hand in hand, which is why we had a large mortality episode”.
Scientists have warned that a little-known but deadly disease called ginger bark syndrome (pictured) is destroying trees and causing massive damage to Australia’s ecosystem.
Although Dr Wardlaw first observed the condition in northern Tasmania, a prolonged drought means the south of the state is now also affected.
Sean Tooker, a conservationist and forest regenerator, was driving through the Huon Valley when he saw “large areas of trees that looked like they had recently died”.
“It was almost like a suicide of trees of all ages, from young trees to old trees and other places,” he said. ABC radio.
“I was looking at trees I’ve seen for decades. Big, beautiful, old Tasmanian blue gums, all bleeding. They were stained with sap.”
Dr Wardlaw said: “The autumn was very dry and much warmer than normal.”
‘Basically they form air bubbles in the xylem, transporting water (in trees) and those air bubbles when they fall in response to drought transporting water, “That’s when the trees start to die.”
He said humid forests They were originally thought to be immune to most climatic impacts because they very rarely experienced droughts.
But it has not been like that and, in fact, they are ‘‘It’s very sensitive to rising temperatures,’ Dr Wardlaw said.
Forest ecologist Dr. Jennifer Sanger said The ecosystem may not recover.
“Most people are used to seeing trees affected by fire. And when a fire occurs, many species can grow back,” he said.
Dr Sanger said many people “are assuming this will happen after this drought event (in southern Tasmania).”
Ginger bark disease (pictured), which occurs in drought-stressed gum trees, is devastating Tasmania’s forests and has also affected Western Australia.
Dr Tim Wardlaw (pictured) from the University of Tasmania first observed it in 2013 while working with Forestry Tasmania.
“But that’s not the case because the internal cavities of these trees are kind of shriveled up and they can’t recover from drought stress like this, which is very unfortunate,” he said.
He pointed out that Western Australia has also been affected.
‘They’ve been really affected across a huge stretch of coastline and in some areas it’s been so severe that environmentalists have described it as an ecosystem collapse.
“There will be some plants that will grow back, but it will probably be a very different mix of species than there is now,” Dr Sanger said.
