SPORTING ANSWERS

Will all of our ash trees die?

WOODLAND

Q The ash trees in our woods are beginning to die in big numbers and I am guessing ash dieback disease is the main cause. Is there any hope of survivors, or will we lose the lot?

A Ash dieback is caused by a fungus from Asia, where closely related species to our own ash have sufficient resistance to live with the disease. We should probably expect that most of our ash trees will become infected and that a large proportion will die.

However, there are trees with resistance and there is hope that some will survive. Fortunately, there is considerable diversity in the ash gene pool, so even if only a few trees make it, we can expect that they will be able to pass on their genes for resistance to a new generation.

In this regard, we