The viability of a breeding programme for ash in the British Isles in the face of ash dieback

Plumb, William J.; Coker, Timothy L. R.; Stocks, Jonathan; Woodcock, Paul; Quine, Christopher P.; Nemesio‐Gorriz, Miguel; Douglas, G. C.; Kelly, Laura J.; Buggs, Richard J. A.

doi:10.1002/ppp3.10060

Cited by 22 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…A further decline without joint rescue efforts at European level could cause non-reversible loss of genetic diversity which in turn could cause a critical minimum population size vital for long-term survival. Although a minor proportion of ash trees is likely inheriting resistance against ADB 32 , 33 , this alone will not guarantee that the ash population will recover after the disease has reached an equilibrium state. Evans 34 simulated that long-term recovery of ash is highly dependent on the proportion of ash trees carrying natural resistance and secondly on the degree of heritability of resistance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

European-wide forest monitoring substantiate the neccessity for a joint conservation strategy to rescue European ash species (Fraxinus spp.)

George

Sanders

Timmermann

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and narrow-leafed ash (F. angustifolia) are keystone forest tree species with a broad ecological amplitude and significant economic importance. Besides global warming both species are currently under significant threat by an invasive fungal pathogen that has been spreading progressively throughout the continent for almost three decades. Ash dieback caused by the ascomycete Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is capable of damaging ash trees of all age classes and often ultimately leads to the death of a tree after years of progressively developing crown defoliation. While studies at national and regional level already suggested rapid decline of ash populations as a result of ash dieback, a comprehensive survey at European level with harmonized crown assessment data across countries could shed more light into the population decline from a pan-European perspective and could also pave the way for a new conservation strategy beyond national boarders. Here we present data from the ICP Forests Level I crown condition monitoring from 27 countries resulting in > 36,000 observations. We found a substantial increase in defoliation and mortality over time indicating that crown defoliation has almost doubled during the last three decades. Hotspots of mortality are currently situated in southern Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe. Overall survival probability after nearly 30 years of infection has already reached a critical value of 0.51, but with large differences among regions (0.20–0.86). Both a Cox proportional hazard model as well as an Aalen additive regression model strongly suggest that survival of ash is significantly lower in locations with excessive water regime and which experienced more extreme precipitation events during the last two decades. Our results underpin the necessity for fast governmental action and joint rescue efforts beyond national borders since overall mean defoliation will likely reach 50% as early as 2030 as suggested by time series forecasting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

European-wide forest monitoring substantiate the neccessity for a joint conservation strategy to rescue European ash species (Fraxinus spp.)

George

Sanders

Timmermann

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…If EAB were to arrive in the UK, it would encounter an F. excelsior population which has already been weakened by exposure to H. fraxineus. The combined effect of the two bioantagonists may prove highly destructive, at least until resistance to H. fraxineus becomes widespread (Plumb et al, 2019), at which point the partial resistance of F. excelsior to EAB may protect trees that have not been severely damaged by ash dieback.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) saplings to larval feeding by the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)

Showalter

Saville

Orton

et al. 2019

Plants People Planet

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“…Its populations are being severely reduced by the invasive alien fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus , which causes ash dieback 4 . Several previous studies have shown that there is a low frequency of heritable resistance to ADB in European ash populations 5 . Estimates of breeding values of mother trees based on observed ADB damage in their progeny have an approximately normal distribution, hinting that resistance is a polygenic trait 6 that would respond well to selection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Genomic basis of European ash tree resistance to ash dieback fungus

Stocks

Metheringham

Plumb

et al. 2019

Preprint

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15Populations of European ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) are being devastated by the invasive alien 16 fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, which causes ash dieback (ADB). We sequenced whole 17 genomic DNA from 1250 ash trees in 31 DNA pools, each pool containing trees with the same 18 ADB damage status in a screening trial and from the same seed-source zone. A genome-wide 19 association study (GWAS) identified 3,149 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated 20 with low versus high ADB damage. Sixty-one of the 203 most significant SNPs were in, or close 21 to, genes with putative homologs already known to be involved in pathogen responses in other 22 plant species. We also used the pooled sequence data to train a genomic prediction (GP) model, 23 cross-validated using individual whole genome sequence data generated for 75 healthy and 75 24 damaged trees from a single seed source. Using the top 30% of our genomic estimated breeding 25 values from 200 SNPs, we could predict tree health with over 90% accuracy. We infer that ash 26 dieback resistance in F. excelsior is a polygenic trait that should respond well to both natural 27 selection and breeding, which could be accelerated using GP. 28 29

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The viability of a breeding programme for ash in the British Isles in the face of ash dieback

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 22 publications

References 63 publications

European-wide forest monitoring substantiate the neccessity for a joint conservation strategy to rescue European ash species (Fraxinus spp.)

European-wide forest monitoring substantiate the neccessity for a joint conservation strategy to rescue European ash species (Fraxinus spp.)

Resistance of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) saplings to larval feeding by the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)

Genomic basis of European ash tree resistance to ash dieback fungus

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