Bacteria: Advancement of Control and Knowledge to Save Threatened Oak and Protect them for Future Generations

橡树在英国是标志性的，对我们的自然世界和经济都很重要。不幸的是，他们正受到一种新出现的疾病急性橡树衰退(AOD)的威胁。受影响的树木有由细菌腐烂的内部组织造成的渗出的树干斑块，这些组织携带着对树木生命至关重要的食物和水，幼虫以橡树金龟子(Agilus Biguttatus)为食。疾病扰乱了树上的食物和水的流动，往往会导致树的死亡。管理和保护树木的解决方案对于确保不列颠橡树的未来至关重要。甲虫在AOD中扮演的角色仍然没有答案，但它被认为参与了疾病的过程和传播。如果是这样的话，它处于生命周期的哪个阶段？甲虫是如何找到合适的树来觅食和产卵的？引起腐烂的细菌会吸引甲虫吗？我们将使用对照实验来测试这些问题。树木产生各种气味，以植物为食的甲虫，如金龟子，利用它们的嗅觉来寻找合适的树木和配偶来觅食和繁殖。通过捕捉这种树释放的气体，将它们呈现给甲虫，并监测它们的反应，我们可以找出哪些气体吸引了甲虫。这种相互作用可以被利用来保护树木，方法是使用诱人的气味将甲虫拉入陷阱。阿基罗属物种只能在衰弱的树木上定居，之前的研究表明，特定的环境压力使橡树更容易受到AOD的影响。主要的压力是干旱和土壤营养失衡，特别是氮和磷的缺乏。这些对树木新陈代谢和功能以及对自然土壤和树木微生物区系的影响将在受控条件下进行测试。这将提供有关可能的微生物添加剂的重要信息，这些添加剂可能与土壤营养改良剂一起使用，以加速树木恢复。在这些问题得到解答之前，无法实施对甲虫的控制，也无法引入土壤改良和适当的管理措施，以使树木更耐受攻击。研究将提供更好的理解，了解谁与橡树健康有利害关系。将审查人们、专业人员和政策制定者的价值观、态度和行动，以帮助了解对疾病控制的反应和反应，以及如何共同努力制定和实施适当的管理和控制。我们将与利益相关者和科学家合作，在现有经验的基础上，确定价值观、态度和行动，探索与城市和农村环境中的橡树相关的知识和意识，以促进和促进参与保护橡树的集体行动。最后，我们将解决以下问题：在橡树上出血的细菌是否也出现在其他阔叶树的疾病症状中，如果是这样的话，是否与AOD有相似之处，这将有助于了解AOD的感染和腐烂过程。此外，由于细菌性树木病害普遍被忽视，而且缺乏有关它们的信息，因此对树木寄主物种的风险未知，对控制细菌传播的影响也是未知的。森林研究的树木健康诊断和咨询服务(THDAS)的记录显示，在过去5年中，已报告了550多例树干出血，其中40%是橡树上的，但约10%有未诊断的疾病原因。通过实验室微生物培养过程，我们将从一系列有茎出血症状的阔叶树中分离、鉴定和测试细菌的致病能力。关于这些树木上细菌的信息将有助于管理AOD，也有助于评估细菌对可能易受AOD和其他细菌物种影响的其他重要原生林木物种的风险。这一跨学科项目将提供新的证据，有助于更好地了解适当和可接受的橡树健康和弹性管理做法。

Oak trees are iconic in Britain and important to our natural world and economy. Unfortunately, they are under threat from an emerging disease Acute Oak Decline (AOD). Affected trees have weeping stem patches caused by bacteria rotting inner tissues that carry food and water vital for tree life, and larval feeding galleries the oak jewel beetle (Agrilus biguttatus). Disease disrupts the flow of food and water in the tree often leading to its death. Solutions to manage and protect trees are vital to ensure the future of British oak. The role the beetle plays in AOD remains unanswered, but it is thought to be involved in disease process and transmission. If so, at what stage of its lifecycle? How does the beetle find suitable trees to feed and lay eggs on? Do the rot-causing bacteria attract the beetles? We will test these questions using controlled experiments. Trees produce various odours, and plant-feeding beetles such as A. biguttatus use their sense of smell to find suitable trees and mates for feeding and reproduction. By capturing gases given off by the tree, presenting them to beetles and monitoring their response we can find out which ones attract beetles. This interaction can be exploited to protect trees by using attractive odours to pull beetles into traps. Agrilus species can only colonise weakened trees and previous research shows that specific environmental stresses make oak more susceptible to AOD. Main stresses are drought and imbalanced soil nutrition, specifically nitrogen and phosphorous deficiencies. These effects on tree metabolism and function as well as on natural soil and tree microflora will be tested under controlled conditions. This will provide important information about possible microbial additives that could accompany soil nutrition amendments to hasten tree recovery. Until these questions are answered, control of the beetle cannot be implemented and soil amendments and suitable management practices to make trees more robust to attack cannot be introduced.Research will provide a better understanding of who has an interest and stake in oak health. The values, attitudes and actions of people, professionals and policy makers will be examined to help understand reactions and responses to control of the disease and how to work together to develop and implement appropriate management and control. We will collaborate with stakeholders and scientists, build on existing experience, identify values, attitudes and actions and explore knowledge and awareness associated with oaks in urban and rural environments that will be used to promote and facilitate engagement in collective action to protect oak trees.Finally, we will address the question of whether the bacteria present in AOD bleeds on oak are also found in disease symptoms on other broadleaf trees, and if so, are there similarities to AOD that would help understand the infection and rotting processes in AOD. Furthermore, as bacterial tree diseases are generally under-regarded and there is a lack of information available concerning them, the risks to tree host species are unknown as are the implications for control of bacterial spread. Records from Forest Research's Tree Health Diagnostic and Advisory Service (THDAS) show that in the past 5 years over 550 cases of stem bleeding have been reported, 40% of these were on oak but approximately 10% had undiagnosed disease cause. Through laboratory microbial culturing processes from a range of broadleaved trees with stem bleeding symptoms we will isolate, identify and test bacteria for their disease-causing ability. Information about bacteria on these trees would be helpful to manage AOD and also to assess the risks of bacteria to other important native forest tree species that might be susceptible to AOD and other bacterial species. This interdisciplinary project will provide new evidence that can feed into a better understanding of appropriate and acceptable management practices for oak health and resilience.