Insecticidal fungi' discovered to combat Spain's forest pests
Insecticidal fungi' discovered to combat Spain's forest pests
Researchers at the University of Valladolid find species that can save holm oaks, oaks and cork oaks
Researchers from the University of Valladolid at the campus of Palencia have detected several fungi with insecticidal capacity that could be used in the control of pests and forest diseases that affect oaks, holm oaks and cork oaks.
The Forest Pathology Group of the Institute of Sustainable Forest Management (IuFOR) has developed this research in the Laboratory of Forest Pests and Diseases of Palencia, within the European Life Miycorestone project that seeks entomopathogenic fungi (capable of killing insects), as reported by the UVa in a statement.
The interest of the project lies in the selection of fungi native to the areas of application, which are able to infect and kill these harmful insects, controlling pests and carrying out an environmentally friendly control.
In this way, the introduction of allochthonous species or individuals in forests with a behaviour that is difficult to predict would be avoided. Some of these insects are the Coraebus undatus (cork shrew) and the Cerambyx welensii (holm oak borer), which mainly affect species of the Quercus genus (oak, holm oak and cork oak).
To carry out the research, the UVa has used various model insects in order to test a large number of fungi isolated from areas affected by the disease.
To do this, the research team has inoculated and evaluated the different fungi selected on insects, detecting several individuals with high insecticidal capacity.
The identification of these fungi is still pending, and will be carried out in the coming weeks, but it is not ruled out that they are unknown species so far.
The researchers point out that in the current context of climate change, Mediterranean forests, especially dehesa ecosystems, are affected by numerous problems that threaten their viability and have a cumulative effect on trees.
Diseases in the dehesas
An important factor in this equation are the insect pests that attack the dehesas, favouring their deterioration, the spread of diseases and the loss of quality of their bark (cork oak cork), the latter being one of the causes of the decay and death of a large number of trees, and as a consequence, the loss of economic viability of forestry operations.
El trabajo cuenta con financiación europea y se enmarca dentro del proyecto Life Miycorestone en el que participa la Universidad de Valladolid en colaboración con el Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IRNASA, Salamanca), el National Research Council (Italia),y varias empresas nacionales como Micelio, Volterra o IDForest o internacionales como la portuguesa Colquida.
El grupo de Patología Forestal de Palencia se constituyó hace más de dos décadas y ha trabajado en numerosos proyectos de investigación financiados por la Unión Europea, el Ministerio de Ciencia e innovación, la Junta de Castilla y León y por empresas privadas, y es uno de los grupos de referencia internacional en investigación en este campo, donde ha publicado gran número de trabajos en revistas internacionales.
