Pathogen Introduction as A Collateral Effect of Military Activity

Alien fungal species distribution: the study case of Favolaschia calocera

“…Some non-intentional, human-mediated basidiomycete introductions are well known and have been proved (e.g. Coetzee et al 2001;Gonthier et al 2004Gonthier et al , 2007.…”

“…The most common pathways for the introduction of fungal pathogens are the movement of infected planting stock (Coetzee et al 2001;Milgroom and Peever 2003) or infested wood (Brasier 2001). Notorious examples of introduced and invasive plant pathogens include potato blight (Phytophthora infestans, Fry et al 1992Fry et al , 1993Andrivon 1996;Grünwald and Flier 2005), chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica, Heiniger and Rigling 1994;Gryzenhout et al 2006), Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma ulmi, Gibbs and Wainhouse 1986;Gilbert 2002), white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola, Maloy 1997;Sniezko 2006), Armillaria root rot (A. mellea s.s. in SouthAfrica, Coetzee et al 2001), and recently Puccinia distincta, the cause of a devastating rust disease of daisies (Preece et al 2000;Weber et al 2003) and North american strains of Heterobasidion annosum (Gonthier et al 2004(Gonthier et al , 2007.…”

Impacts of exotic forest pathogens on Mediterranean ecosystems: four case studies

“…What is not typical in Central Italian stone pine woodlands at the present time, is the tree mortality due to a legacy of the U.S. army World War II liberation campaign, i.e. the introduced North American fungal pathogen Heterobasidion irregulare (Gonthier et al 2004(Gonthier et al , 2007. The known natural range of H. irregulare includes Canada (Quebec and Ontario), most of the USA and Mexico where pine hosts are present, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic (Otrosina and Garbelotto 2010).…”

Comparing the influences of ecological and evolutionary factors on the successful invasion of a fungal forest pathogen

“…is among the most ecologically and economically severe pathogens in northern coniferous forests (Woodward et al 1998). The North American H. annosum P intersterility group (ISG) was introduced in coastal forests of Italy presumably during World War II, where its sister taxon, H. annosum sensu stricto (s.s.), is present (Gonthier et al 2004. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that the North American H. annosum P ISG and Eurasian H. annosum s.s. operational taxonomic units (OTUs) are sister taxa in a monophyletic clade and that the invasive genotypes likely originated in eastern North America (Linzer et al 2008).…”