Forestry
The sector represents a major component of Scotland’s rural economy – providing significant employment and raw materials for wood processing industries. Sustainable forest management seeks to deliver these economic benefits alongside important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and flood mitigation, provision of wildlife habitat and opportunities for recreation and a range of leisure activities. Pests and diseases threaten the continued long-term delivery of these benefits.
The forest area of Scotland expanded during the twentieth century through the efforts of the Forestry Commission and private owners to develop a domestic wood supply and provide rural employment. A number of introduced species, such as Sitka spruce, were key to afforestation of marginal agricultural sites and now are central to the wood processing industry. Woodland now occupies approximately 17% of the land area of Scotland and provides 44% of the GB softwood harvest, producing about 1.5 million m3 of sawn softwood. Plant health threats to the forestry sector include a number of recently introduced pests and diseases (e.g. Phytophthora ramorum, pine tree lappet moth, ash die-back), on-going management of endemic ones (e.g. large pine weevil and Heterobasidium annosum) and risks of those yet to arrive (emerald ash borer, Ips typographus and many other organisms potentially introduced through trade in plants, wood and packaging).
Knowledge Bank
Projects
Impact: Determine the main barriers to ensuring that future planting for environmental restoration and conservation will minimise plant health risks.
Impact: Provide Scottish Government policy with an assessment of the major biosecurity pitfalls and opportunities arising from large-scale landscaping plantings.
Impact: This project will enable policy to identify and prioritise plant biosecurity vulnerabilities from non-specialist and online horticultural sales.
Impact: Timely management and prioritisation of policy to manage P. ramorum and facilitate early forecasting of other Phytophthora outbreaks.
Impact: Expand the PHC online resource to create a comprehensive and unique signposting resource for plant health information for all sectors.
Impact: Informed the control efforts of Scottish Forestry by predicting the spread of D. micans in Scotland and identifying the high-risk areas of colonisation. This project built on methods developed under the RESAS SRP and led to work commissioned by Scottish Forestry to inform their surveillance and control programme in 2018.
Impact: Add to the evidence base underpinning public and sector-facing biosecurity campaigns and improve disease management and restrict spread of the disease.
Impact: This project will contribute to Scottish Government’s preparedness measures for the possible arrival of Xylella fastidiosa by ensuring surveillance monitoring is effective and by identifying the key knowledge gaps for effective surveillance.
Impact: Improved understanding of costs and benefits of pesticide use across Scottish sectors and an impact analysis for the most likely withdrawal scenarios such that key gaps can be identified and their impact quantified in order to inform pesticide policy.
Impact: Easily accessible tool for PHC and government plant health officials to assess possible impacts of climate on pests and pathogens in Scotland.
Pagination
Publications
Expansion of PHC Online Plant Health Resources
This project has expanded the PHC online Resource Bank for plant health threats to the Natural Environment sector in Scotland to include information sources for the remaining three sectors (Forestry, Agriculture and Horticulture). Information sources for Forestry, Agriculture and Horticulture were compiled and evaluated, and a Knowledge Bank relevant to each sector is now online at the PHC website, creating a comprehensive and unique signposting resource for plant health information with relevance to Scotland.
Impact of climate change on the spread of pests and diseases in Scotland
This project constructed a modelling framework which combined epidemiological and economic modelling. The modelling framework was used to study predictions of spread and economic impact of pests which are not currently in the UK, including Xylella fastidiosa, Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (Zebra chip) and Ips typographus (Eight toothed Spruce Bark Beetle).
Impact: A web/desktop application is available to the PHC and Scottish Government to analyse the effects of climate change on the spread and economic impact of new threats.
Modelling Framework for invasive pests: Emerald ash borer as a case study
This project investigated whether modelling could aid preparation for a potential bark beetle and wood borer invasion of Scotland. This was achieved by: (i) reviewing suitability of modelling results and frameworks in literature; (ii) recommendations on how these could be rapidly adapted for Scottish and UK plant health context and (iii) case study on Emerald ash borer to exemplify approach.
18-Month Review Summary Leaflet
The Plant Health Centre completed an in-depth review of its first 18-months of activity for our funder (the Scottish Government through RESAS) in September 2019. While the full report is not yet available to the public, we have created a summary leaflet that outlines out achievements over this period.
Threat: Oak Processionary Moth
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from Oak Processionary Moth to Scotland.
Threat: Bud worm
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from the Eastern spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana), Western spruce budworm (C. freeman) and Black headed budworm (Acleris gloverana and A. variana) to Scotland
Threat: Emerald ash borer and Bronze birch borer
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from Emerald ash borer and Bronze birch borer to Scotland
Threat: Larger Eight toothed spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus)
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from the larger eight toothed spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) to Scotland
Threat: Longhorn beetles
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from longhorn beetles to Scotland
Threat: Phytophthora ramorum
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from Phytophthora ramorum to Scotland
Threat: Xylella fastidiosa
Status, Scottish specific issues, Plant Health Centre perspective and Key priorities and recommendations concerning the threat from Xylella fastidiosa to Scotland
Development of an online, user friendly plant health resource bank for the Scottish Natural Environment
The aim of the project PHC2018/11 was to compile a resource to be embedded within the Scottish Plant Health Centre (PHC) website, with the following three main purposes: 1) To direct users to existing, comprehensive and reliable plant health information resources; 2) To provide information on selected plant health threats to the natural environment, particularly invasive non-native species; and 3) To direct users to appropriate government agencies and resources and advise users on steps to take should a suspected statutory pest or disease be encountered.
Webpages have been developed which provide the following:
1) a listing of the first most pressing plant health threats to the natural environment in Scotland;
2) a user-friendly web template, populated with links to information about these major threats and other topics relevant to plant health in the Scottish natural environment; and
3) summary pages providing guidance on biosecurity and control of diseases in this sector, for which other resources were not easily available.
The use of mobile technology to enhance plant health monitoring and awareness in Scotland
The aim of the project was to review existing websites and smartphone apps currently available and applied in the plant health sector and to assemble a detailed overview covering the following points:
- What options are available in terms of mobile software applications for plant health?
- What is their primary purpose?
- Who is the target audience (growers, plant health professionals, citizen science, …)?
- Which plant health sectors do they cover?
- Are they reliable and accurate?
- Is information submitted to a central database? If so, how is this information used?
- Could they be used globally, or are they limited to certain geographic regions?
Difficult choices to protect gardens and the environment
Heritage gardens play an important role in plant conservation. They house collections gathered over decades or even hundreds of years, including varieties of plants that may be overlooked elsewhere, fostering heirloom varieties and preserving biological diversity that is the raw material of adaptation. As well as being beautiful and tranquil sites of cultural heritage, these ex-situ resources are treasure troves of biological diversity. Arduaine Gardens shows us that tough choices can be necessary and important to preserve these collections and the surrounding environment.
Spatio-temporal modelling of great spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus Micans) in Scotland
This project conducted a proof of principle study to assess whether developed computational tools could add value to the field data in annual surveys by Scottish Forestry to parameterise models of the spread of Dendroctonus Micans in space and time. The fitted model was also used to project scenarios of future spread.