Estimating coextinction risks from epidemic tree death: affiliate lichen communities among diseased host tree populations of Fraxinus excelsior.

ABSTRACT: At least 10% of the world's tree species are threatened with extinction and pathogens are increasingly implicated in tree threats. Coextinction and threats to affiliates as a consequence of the loss or decline of their host trees is a poorly understood phenomenon. Ash dieback is an emerging infectious disease causing severe dieback of common ash Fraxinus excelsior throughout Europe. We utilized available empirical data on affiliate epiphytic lichen diversity (174 species and 17,800 observations) among 20 ash dieback infected host tree populations of F. excelsior on the island Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Sweden. From this, we used structured scenario projections scaled with empirical data of ash dieback disease to generate probabilistic models for estimating local and regional lichen coextin

SUBMITTER: Jonsson MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3458109 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature