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LinkedInPosts Tagged: bark beetle
Entomological Association of Southern California Quarterly Meeting
The Entomology Association of Southern California will be holding a quarterly meeting at the Los Angeles Arboretum. These meetings address a variety of entomological related subjects relevant to local and state pest issues and are a great way to meet and share information with other individuals who are interested in this area of science.
Presentations on:
- Bark beetle-caused tree mortality and risk following various management regimes in south California.
- Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer/Fusarium dieback: Recognizing symptoms and removing hosts.
- Observations on the control of bark boring and other wood boring beetles in landscape trees.
- Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer - a voracious Ambrosia Beetle threatening California's crops and native plants.
- Environmental effects on Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer.
- Influence of air pollution on bark beetle outbreaks.
This association has an annual membership fee of $45. Memberships cover annual registration for all four quarterly meetings in December, March, June and September.
If you are interested in attending:
Date: September 9, 2014
Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 am
Location:
Los Angeles Arboretum
301 North Baldwin Ave.
Arcadia, CA
Contact: Dr. Jim Downer, 805-645-1458 or ajdowner@ucanr.edu
Decline of Coast Live Oak Trees in Southern California Is Due to Fungus
We've been getting reports of coast live oak decline along the coast, well, here's one of the causes:
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A fungus associated with the western oak bark beetle is causing a decline in coast live oak trees in Southern California by spreading “foamy bark canker disease.”
“We have found declining coast live oak trees throughout urban landscapes in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Monterey counties,” said Akif Eskalen, an assistant specialist in cooperative extension in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at the University of California, Riverside.
Eskalen recovered the fungal species, Geosmithia pallida, from tissues of infected coast live oak trees and performed pathogenicity tests on it in his laboratory at UC Riverside. The tests showed that the fungus is pathogenic to coast live oak seedlings and produces symptoms of foamy canker.
The western oak bark beetle, which spreads the fungus, is a small beetle — about 2 millimeters long — that burrows through the bark of the coast live oak tree, excavating shallow tunnels under the bark across the grain of wood. Brown in color, this beetle is native to California. Female beetles lay their eggs in the tunnels. It is not known at this time if the beetle infects trees other than coast live oak trees.
Symptoms of foamy bark canker disease include wet discoloration on the trunk and main branches of the infected coast live oak tree. This discoloration surrounds the entry holes that the western oak bark beetle makes to burrow into the tree. Multiple holes can often be seen on an infected tree.
“When you peel back the outer bark of the infected area, you see bark (phloem) necrosis surrounding the entry hole,” Eskalen said. “As the disease advances, a reddish sap may be seen oozing from the entry hole, followed by a prolific foamy liquid. This foamy liquid, the cause of which remains unknown, may run as far as two feet down the trunk.”
Eskalen explained that when the infection is at an advanced stage, the coast live oak tree dies. Currently, no control methods are in place to control the fungus or the beetle.
If you suspect your coast live oak tree has the symptoms described above, please contact your local farm advisor, pest control advisor, county agricultural commissioner's office or Eskalen at akif.eskalen@ucr.edu.
foamy bark oak
