Leptographium terebrantis has been implicated as a contributing factor of P. taeda decline and mortality over the past several decades. We examined the potential of L. terebrantis to cause decline symptoms and determined the relationship between pathogen spread and the formation of new sapwood. The study was undertaken in a 13-y-old P. taeda plantation using artificial inoculations of fungal-colonized, sterilized toothpicks. We found that L. terebrantis was not only re-isolated from dying inoculated trees but caused decline symptomology and mortality at a high inoculum density. It was found that 20% mortality and severe growth loss among surviving trees occurred with L. terebrantis infection at the high density. At lower inoculum densities, trees produced a complete ring of new sapwood that appeared to sustain tree physiology. This suggests that management practices in P. taeda plantations which minimize bark beetle infestation and pathogen inoculum densities allow adequate sapwood function for sustained growth.

在过去的几十年中，已将terebrantis Leptographium视为ta.taeda下降和死亡率的重要因素。我们检查了L. terebrantis引起衰退症状的可能性，并确定了病原体传播与新边材形成之间的关系。这项研究是在13岁的taeda taeda人工林中进行的，该人工林接种了真菌定殖的无菌牙签。我们发现，terebrantis不仅从垂死的接种树木中重新分离出来，而且在高接种密度下会导致症状下降和死亡率下降。发现在存活的树木中，L。terebrantis发生了20％的死亡率和严重的生长损失。高密度感染。在较低的接种密度下，树木产生了完整的新边材环，看起来可以维持树木的生理功能。这表明，在ta.taeda人工林中的管理实践可以最大程度地减少树皮甲虫的侵扰和病原体接种物的密度，从而使边材具有足够的功能来持续生长。