Modeling the potential distribution of white pine blister rust in the central Rocky Mountains.

Abstract

Cronartium ribicola (J. C. Fischer ex Rabh.), the causal agent of white pine blister rust (WPBR), was introduced to western North America via infected nursery stock imported from France to Point Grey near Vancouver, British Columbia (Mielke 1943). Primary infection of white pines occurs on the needles where fungal spores land, enter through stomata, grow within the vascular tissue, and then enter branches and stems. The fungus grows in the intercellular spaces within the bark of white pines where the production of spores breaks apart the bark causing the girdling of branches and stems; the ultimate result of which is tree death (Tainter and Baker 1996). White pine blister rust through its disruption of vascular tissues and bark affects white pines by reducing their growth and reproductive potential, eventually killing the pine host and, in turn, affecting community structure and composition by removing the host from the community (Kendall and Arno 1990).

Citation

Kearns, Holly S. J.; Jacobi, William R. 2006. Modeling the potential distribution of white pine blister rust in the central Rocky Mountains. In: Guyon, J.C. comp. Proceedings of the 53rd Western International Forest Disease Work Conference; 2005 September 26-30; Jackson, WY. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Region, Ogden UT.