May 11, 2009
The continuing efforts of UC scientists to battle Sudden Oak Death were featured today on Quest, KQED's radio program about Northern California science and environment.
The story opens with UC Davis plant pathologist David Rizzo describing why the term "Sudden Oak Death" is a misnomer.
The disease, he said, "is not particularly sudden, it doesn’t just infect oaks and it doesn’t result in death of all plants."
The six-minute radio story includes interviews with Matteo Garbelotto, an extension specialist in forest pathology at UC Berkeley. He told reporter David Garn that bay laurel trees are harboring the pathogen in oak woodlands.
"One of the things we try to work with is reducing the number of bay laurels," Garbelotto said.
Thinning out bay laurels, however, is almost impossible. They grow like weeds.
Innoculating trees against Sudden Oak Death has proven effective, but, at $200 per tree for a two-year treatment, cost prohibitive for most of the millions and millions of valued oaks in Coastal Northern Califrornia.
Finally, the story reports that scientists are looking for genetic resistance to the pathogen that causes Sudden Oak Death in hopes of replanting areas that have been devastated by the disease.
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