Jennifer Davidson
Non Forest Service
My most exciting moment as a scientist came while walking in the forest in the rain, collecting bay laurel leaves infected by sudden oak death and quickly taking them to the field station for viewing under the microscope. There, on the underside of the leaves, were hundreds of spore sacs. Some had already released spores that were swimming in the film of rainwater across the surface of the leaf. In that one moment, I saw the power of this invasive, disease-causing organism. Each leaf had thousands of swimming spores and there were hundreds of infected leaves on most of the bay laurel trees that year. The forest was swarming with spores to be carried in the rain onto oak trees. In this photo, I am testing diseased oaks in Mexico. Photo by Melissa Morris, University of California, Davis.
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Sudden oak death is a new disease of trees and plants in the United States and Europe. Although scientists are not certain, they believe the fungus-like organism that causes sudden oak death was brought...Moving Spore-adically: The Spread of Sudden Oak Death in California Forests
Sudden oak death is a new disease of trees and plants in the United States and Europe. Although scientists are not certain, they believe the fungus-like organism that causes sudden oak death was brought...
