Eeva-Liisa Terhonen, Jumoke Babalola, Risto Kasanen, Risto Jalkanen, Kathrin Blumenstein. (2021). Sphaeropsis sapinea found as symptomless endophyte in Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 55 no. 1 article id 10420. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.10420

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; Scots pine; Diplodia sapinea; Diplodia tip blight

Highlights: Sphaeropsis sapinea was found for the first time as an endophyte in healthy Scots pine in Finland; This finding confirms that S. sapinea can proliferate in a symptomless stage in Scots pine in Finland.

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The aim of this study was to determine if the ascomycete fungus Sphaeropsis sapinea (Fr.) Dyko & B. Sutton (syn. Diplodia sapinea (Fr.) Fuckel) could be cultured from surface sterilized Scots pine twigs presenting the endophytic stage of this fungus. This fungus causes the disease called Diplodia tip blight in conifers. Symptoms become visible when trees have been weakened by abiotic stressors related to temperature, drought and hailstorms. The disease is rapidly increasing and is observed regularly in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests in Europe. Changes in climatic conditions will gradually increase the damage of this pathogen, because it is favored by elevated temperatures and additionally the host trees will be more susceptible due to related environmental stress. Diplodia tip blight is emerging towards Northern latitudes, thus, actions to monitor the spread of S. sapinea in pine-dominated forests should be undertaken in Finland. Our aim was to search for S. sapinea in Scots pine along a transect in Finland. Branch samples were collected from healthy Scots pine, fungal endophytes were isolated and morphologically identified. Sixteen S. sapinea strains were found from four Scots pine trees from two locations. This finding confirms that S. sapinea is found as an endophyte in healthy Scots pine in Finland.

Terhonen, Forest Pathology Research Group, Department of Forest Botany and Tree Physiology, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Goettingen, Büsgen-Institute, Büsgenweg 2, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany E-mail: terhonen@uni-goettingen.de
Babalola, Forest Pathology Research Group, Department of Forest Botany and Tree Physiology, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Goettingen, Büsgen-Institute, Büsgenweg 2, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany E-mail: j.babalola@stud.uni-goettingen.de
Kasanen, Forest Pathology Lab, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: risto.kasanen@helsinki.fi
Jalkanen, Rovaniemi Research Unit, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Eteläranta 55, FI-96300 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: ristjal@gmail.com
Blumenstein, Forest Pathology Research Group, Department of Forest Botany and Tree Physiology, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Goettingen, Büsgen-Institute, Büsgenweg 2, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany E-mail: kathrin.blumenstein@uni-goettingen.de

Category : Research note

article id 22008, category Research note

Eeva Terhonen. (2023). First report of Diplodia tip blight on Scots pine in Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 56 no. 4 article id 22008. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.22008

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; drought; Diplodia sapinea; Sphaeropsis sapinea; emerging fungal disease

Highlights: Diplodia tip blight is a new disease on Scots pine in Finland; Diplodia sapinea can be identified reliably with the presented pipeline.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Diplodia sapinea (Fr.) Fuckel causes shoot blight on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). This fungus has been discovered in Finland as a saprophyte in 2015 on Scots pine cones. The endophytic mode of this fungus was later discovered in healthy Scots pine twigs. In 2021 the disease, Diplodia tip blight was observed on Scots pine in Finland. Currently, the disease symptoms are poorly identified so the role of D. sapinea in disease outbreaks in Finland are easily overlooked. The identification of the fungi is challenging in field conditions and requires targeted identification in laboratory. In this research note I report the first Diplodia tip blight outbreaks observed in Finland, the typical disease symptoms, and methodology for the species identification. Samples were collected from symptomatic trees based on observations made by the citizens. Diplodia sapinea was isolated from defoliated and surface sterilized twigs. The species identification by morphological characters was further confirmed with sequencing of ITS region of rDNA and with species-specific primers. A pathogenicity test confirmed that D. sapinea was the disease agent causing shoot blight. This is the first report of Diplodia tip blight on Scots pine in Finland.

Terhonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Forest health and biodiversity, Latokartanonkaari 9, FI‐00790 Helsinki, Finland 0000-0002-9288-440X E-mail: eeva.terhonen@luke.fi

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