Auburn University is continuing to make a difference across the globe. The Southern Forest Nursery Management Cooperative and Forest Health Cooperative are two research cooperatives in the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences that have received a $218,000 grant from the United States Forest Service.
The grant will be used to fund supplies for a three-year project to improve screening methods, rapidly detect and successfully prevent the spread of a fungus called Fusarium circinatum that causes Pitch Canker disease, which kills full grown conifer trees and seedlings, around the world.
According to authorities, the fungus is currently present in the southern part of the United States and California. The fungus has not reached the northern states, but research shows that trees in the North are susceptible to the fungus.
Dr. Scott Enebak is a professor, director of the Southern Forest Nursery Management Cooperative in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and serves as the co-principal investigator over the new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing method funded by the grant. “We are trying to prevent the movement of the pathogen to other places,” Enebak said. According to Enebak, the fungus is physically unrecognizable and is easily spread internationally. With the new testing method that will use plant DNA, the fungus will be detected quickly and easily.
The current testing method takes three or more weeks and is unreliable, but with the polymerase chain reaction testing method, the fungus will be detected after only half a day, according to Lori Eckhardt, assistant professor in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and serves alongside Enebak as the director of the Forest Health Cooperative.
From The Auburn Plainsman: https://www.theplainsman.com/view/full_story/25229057/article-School-of-Forestry-and-Wildlife-receives-$218-000-research-grant?instance=home_news_lead_story