Agronomy journal, Vol. 67 No. 2-4, 2005.
Conference paper
The role of diseases and pests in tree species selection in landscape arhitecture
Danko Diminić
Boris Hrašovec
Abstract
The knowledge of tree species, its biological features and susceptibility to pests and diseases plays an important role in the process of tree species selection in landscape arhitecture. The research in this field in Croatia in the last decade revealed some cases of severe pest and disease related problems in some tree species, both in urban forests and in parks and tree lanes. Some of these are well known from the past but several are quite new and poorly known. These problems are even more accentuated in harsh urban environment. Aside from negative abiotic impacts (drought, high temperatures, air pollution, soil pollution, and other), biotic agents appear to be at least equally important and sometimes even detrimental to tree's health (parasitic fungi, parasitic weeds, insects, mites, etc.).
Simultaneous action of several detrimental factors may add significantly to trees health status. One of the dominant in the past few years, drought, acted as a predisposing factor enabling some pathogens to successfully invade stressed trees. Such was the case of pine trees and fungal pathogen Sphaeropsis sapinea. Aerial pollutants like SO2, may additionally cause water imbalance in the tree and make it more prone to disease attack.
Various maple species, due to their thin bark, are prone to sun scorch and develop bark cancer and suffer from bark pathogens like Schizophyllum commune and Trametes hirsuta which cause wood decay.
There are many examples of insects acting as damaging factors, especially those with narrow food preference, attacking only single or several tree species (Cameraria ohridella on Aesculus hippocastanum, Corythuca ciliata on genus Platanus, Tomostethus nigritus on Fraxinus excelsior and others).
Consequently, a list of threats and their severity on various urban tree species has emerged through the years. It is based upon international and domestic operative experience and reflects specific problems connected with pests and diseases affecting trees used in landscape arhitecture. There are some which host numerous pest species, not necessarily severe and phisiologically or aesthetically important (poplars, willows, hawthorns). On the other hand, some of these can be the sole cause of serious problems in tree physiology and/or aesthetically even affecting the survival of some tree species (elm, horse chestnut).
In the paper, some cases from personal experiences are presented in comparison with neighbouring geographical regions. The scope of the paper is to point out the importance and need for appraisal of pests and diseases in the process of landscape design, namely the tree species selection
Keywords
tree; health condition; pathogenic funghi; insect pests; sunscorch injuries; landscape arhitecture
Hrčak ID:
2248
URI
Publication date:
10.5.2005.
Visits: 6.603 *