Research
Welsh Plant Health Surveillance Network
Research Status:current
The Welsh Plant Health Surveillance Network (WPHSN) is a ground-breaking Welsh Government funded project designed to monitor native and invasive pests and pathogens that can pose a threat to health of plants and trees across Wales. Insect and spore traps installed at strategic woodland sites will allow us to record presence and/or abundance of insects and fungal spores. The insect samples are typically analysed by staff in Wales while others, and all the collected spores, are sent to our state-of-the-art plant health facilities at Alice Holt for in-depth laboratory testing. Data from the WPHSN will be used to inform the development of priority goals and policies relating to woodland management in Wales.
Full reviews of the first two fieldwork seasons are available for download below. These documents describe and report on the activities undertaken in each year of this innovative project. We have also produced a brief summary of key information contained in the 2023 report.
The objective of this ongoing research is to deliver the tree-based component of the Welsh Plant Health Surveillance Network (WPHSN), a Welsh Government plant health initiative. Biological samples collected by FR staff based in Wales are securely sent for analysis and diagnosis by Tree Health Diagnostic and Advisory Service laboratory staff based at Alice Holt and the Northern Research Station. Within the WPHSN, we will:
An account of the activities and outcomes of the first year of this study.
An account of the activities and outcomes from the second full year of fieldwork.
Racheal Lee (2024) The Welsh Plant Health Surveillance Network BGjournal. Volume 21 (2), pp. 60-62. (Reproduced by kind permission of Botanic Gardens Conservation International.)
This work is funded by the Welsh Government.This Report describes the biological and environmental factors that influence attack frequency and severity from Ips bark beetles and assesses strategies for their management, with emphasis on the major threat posed by I. typographus.
