Tools and Resources
We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use forestresearch.gov.uk, remember your settings and improve our services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
The incidence of acute oak decline is on the increase as it spreads across Britain
Acute oak decline (AOD) is a new disease mainly affecting native oak trees in Britain first observed here 30‑35 years ago. It is most prevalent on English or pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea), thousands of trees are affected, many die.
Recent spatial epidemiology studies show that the disease can spread from tree to tree and that newly infected trees cluster around those already infected.
It is necessary to know where the disease occurs at the landscape level as well as its distribution within sites. With this knowledge in hand, we can map the distribution of AOD, monitor spread of the disease and predict at risk areas.
Knowing the distribution of the disease on the landscape also enables us to find out whether there are any correlations between the occurrence of the disease and particular environmental effects. Currently FR is analysing soil properties and chemistry together with leaf chemistry to find out whether particular environmental factors are associated with trees more susceptible to AOD. First results of analyses of correlations between AOD and certain factors at the landscape scale indicate that there are strong correlations between the occurrence of AOD and rainfall, air temperature and elevation (height above sea level).
Rainfall: There was a significant correlation between the occurrence of AOD and rainfall. AOD tends to occur in dryer parts.
Temperature: There was a significant correlation between the occurrence of AOD and temperature. AOD tends to occur in warmer parts where longer growing seasons are experienced and does not occur in cold parts of the country.
Atmospheric pollutants: At the landscape level occurrence of AOD is correlated with high levels of atmospheric dry nitrogen (NOx).
Dry NOx deposition
There are also correlations with AOD occurrence and low levels of sulphur.
Trees affected by AOD tended to occur on soil types that were seasonally waterlogged or that had high clay content.
Current research is further investigating these relationships at tree scale by comparing healthy and diseased trees at different sites in England.
This research will lead to both proactive and restorative management through amelioration and site management e.g. drainage and improved soil condition.
Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.
We use cookies to store information about how you use the dwi.gov.uk website, such as the pages you visit.
Find out more about cookies on forestresearch.gov.uk
We use 3 types of cookie. You can choose which cookies you're happy for us to use.
These essential cookies do things like remember your progress through a form. They always need to be on.
We use Google Analytics to measure how you use the website so we can improve it based on user needs. Google Analytics sets cookies that store anonymised information about: how you got to the site the pages you visit on forestresearch.gov.uk and how long you spend on each page what you click on while you're visiting the site
Some forestresearch.gov.uk pages may contain content from other sites, like YouTube or Flickr, which may set their own cookies. These sites are sometimes called ‘third party’ services. This tells us how many people are seeing the content and whether it’s useful.