PROGRAMME

Biodibersity conservation

Non-destructive diagnostics for estimating fungal infection in resin-tapped and non-tapped pine trees

Poster area Monday 1 August 13:03 - 13:03

In pine stands systematic harvesting of forest products, such as resin extraction, are known to affect trees’ vitality and consequently their response to fungal diseases. The latter constitutes a serious threat for standing vigorous trees, thus early warning signals and short diagnosis time of fungal pathogens, are crucial for designing effective forest management practices. In this study, the potential detection of fungal infection in managed pine stands was evaluated, using non-destructive diagnostics. Specifically, indices related to canopy structure and trunks’ temperature distribution in 334 resin-tapped and 185 non-tapped pine trees, in 21 stands, on Lesvos Island, Greece, were developed by analysing hemispherical and infrared photographs. In each stand, tree cores were extracted from the 34% of the total trees, while the fungal presence was confirmed (a) by the sudden change in boring resistance and sound during the core extraction and (b) by the discoloration of the tree cores. Logit models were developed to estimate the fungal presence explained by non-destructive diagnostics, both in resin-tapped and non-tapped pine trees. Results showed that fungal presence was successfully classified in (a) 92.6% of the cases as predicted by the canopy structure indices and in (b) 89.8% of the cases explained by the thermal indices. The effectiveness of these non-destructive diagnostics has demonstrated the accurate assessment of pines’ fungal infection, in order to prevent or mitigate forest stands' degradation.