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This sounds like when - to protect the American Chestnut from blight - we destroyed nearly all the American Chestnuts and their genetic diversity (including div
by goodluckchuck 2y ago
This sounds like when - to protect the American Chestnut from blight - we destroyed nearly all the American Chestnuts and their genetic diversity (including diversity that may have provided resistance).
- itsanaccount 2y agoI'm watching the hundreds black ash trees struggle against the emerald ash borer. They don't live more than 10? years at max though I wonder if that's true for the new ones. But under the pressure of the borer they seed immensely. For every one tree that dies 20 spawn around it. I'm letting the field of them do their thing, hoping at minimum they maintain themselves in their stunted form as a population until we can introduce a resistant tree.
- giantg2 2y agoI generally agree with this sentiment - I'm a treatment-free (disclaimer to prevent hate responses: I use IPM practices, I'm not a complete idiot) beekeeper. Burning the AFB hives and even other proximal ones makes sense. In theory the resistant hives wouldn't develop AFB and wouldn't be burned in the first place. The number of hives required to be burnt in any year is extremely low, so that'd not a factor in the diversity. Large operations are inherently a threat to diversity. Stuff like package mills supplying most of the country. The large producers could reduce their risks of needing to burn all their equipment by managing multiple smaller apiaries separate from each other. This would limit disease speed and potentially increase diversity (or at least preserve it better).