Abstract
Since its arrival in the late 1960s, the aggressive strain of Ceratocystis ulmi, the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease, has destroyed over 20 million elms in Britain and subsequently inflicted similar heavy losses across much of continental Europe1,2. Successful control of the disease has been achieved only locally, using intensive sanitation and fungicide injection programmes3,4. However, it has recently become apparent that disease spread may also be limited naturally. I present here evidence of a biological control of Dutch elm disease which could be exerting an important effect in some parts of Britain. This control process acts by preventing successful breeding of scolytid beetles which are the vectors of C. ulmi.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gibbs, J. N. & Brasier, C. M. Nature 241, 38–383 (1973).
Brasier, C. M. Nature 281, 78–80 (1979).
Gibbs, J. N. Arboric. J. 3, 110–114 (1978).
Dutch Elm Disease Control (East Sussex County Council Publ. No. P/131, 1977).
Peace, T. R. Bull For. Commn, Lond. 33 (1960).
Redfern, D. B. Scott. For. 31, 105–109 (1977).
Webber, J. F. thesis, Univ. Wales (1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Webber, J. A natural biological control of Dutch elm disease. Nature 292, 449–451 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292449a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/292449a0
This article is cited by
-
Complexities underlying the breeding and deployment of Dutch elm disease resistant elms
New Forests (2023)
-
Isolation, identification and bioactivity analysis of an endophytic fungus isolated from Aloe vera collected from Asir desert, Saudi Arabia
Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering (2021)
-
A cosmopolitan fungal pathogen of dicots adopts an endophytic lifestyle on cereal crops and protects them from major fungal diseases
The ISME Journal (2020)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.