Ash trees and fungus

Ash Trees and Fungus Fungal spores are all around us. We live in a world of fungal spores. Some are good and some are bad. Some we have learned to live with and some are still being modified. Although we can kill fungal spores in enclosed spaces we cannot eliminate them from the world around us. Plants and trees growing in our countryside are affected by fungi just as much as ourselves. Trees have developed a symbiotic relationship with fungi such that fungi help tree roots to take up nutrients from the soil. Different types of tree use fungi in this way to a greater or lesser extent and it so happens that Ash trees are one of the few that do not rely on fungi to take up nutrients. Mature trees are much admired in the countryside and great weight is given to the largest or the oldest tree but apart from looking good do they provide a useful function? To put it to the Darwinian test do mature trees meet the survival of the fittest criteria? When walking in the countryside we are as likely to see a mature tree blown down by the wind as a young sapling eaten by a deer. The point is should we be trying to save our mature Ash trees or let them be killed by fungus disease. My own opinion is that we should let the fungus disease take its own course. We cannot hope to stop the fungal spores spreading even over a small area. Even if we did manage to contain a small area it is still susceptible to be reinfected from another place perhaps hundreds of miles away. The best course of action would be to identify those trees that are resistant to this particular fungus and develop saplings from its seed for future colonisation of infected areas. Ash trees are naturally vigorous and could reach a good height in less than ten years.