#Great basin killer Patch

But there is little that can be done to stop its progress as it moves from one mountain range to another, as airborne spores. It could take many years or even decades for mature trees to succumb to the fungus.

#Great basin killer Patch

Schoettle is leading research efforts on the threat to bristlecones and other species of five-needle pines, and strategies for sustaining them.Д«lister rust is a slow-moving, slow-acting disease that appears as an orange patch on a tree. вЂњSo really weвЂ™re in uncharted territory,вЂќ she said.Дr. Anna Schoettle, a Forest Service ecologist in Fort Collins, Colo., said, вЂњNeither the bristlecones nor their ancestors have been faced with a disease like this, and they have not evolved tolerances.вЂќ Only now is it reaching the high-elevation bristlecone. It spread to Europe from Asia in the 19th century and then was shipped unknowingly to the East and West Coasts of North America around the turn of the last century on nursery trees. Now, however, scientists say these ancient trees may soon meet their match in the form of a one-two punch, from white pine blister rust, an Asian fungus that came to the United States from Asia, via Europe, a century ago, and the native pine bark beetle, which is in the midst of a virulent outbreak bolstered by warming in the high-elevation West.Д«lister rust is a new challenge to the pines.

The oldest living bristlecone, named Methuselah, has lived more than 4,800 years. Living in extreme conditions about two miles above sea level, they have become the oldest trees on the planet. В— For millenniums, the twisted, wind-scoured bristlecone pines that grow at the roof of western North America have survived everything nature could throw at them, from bitter cold to lightning to increased solar radiation.