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Use of DNA sequence data to identify wood-decay fungi likely associated with stem failure caused by windthrow in urban trees during a typhoon

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Molecular biology methods identified wood-decay fungi in wind-thrown trees. The stem failure height was in accordance with the colonization strategies of each fungal species. The dominant fungus was Polyporus squamosus.

Abstract

Decay reduces wood strength and can lead to the collapse of urban and roadside trees, which can occasionally cause extensive property damage or injury to people. For managing trees in urban green areas, it is essential to assess the risk of stem failure by detecting fungal species that act as decay agents. Wood decay was found in the stems of many trees broken by a windthrow during a typhoon in an urban green area dominated by Japanese elm. We measured the height of failure in the sampled trees to compare the fungal infection and point on the stems and the strategies of colonization of each fungal species. No fruit bodies of fungi were found on the stems of broken tress in the damaged area for species identification based on morphological characteristics. Therefore, we used rDNA-ITS sequence data to identify species of wood-decay fungi at the point of stem failure caused by windthrow. The stem failure height was in accordance with the localization of each fungal species, i.e., above or below the ground level. In the Japanese elm, the dominant fungus was Polyporus squamosus, which was detected in large trees with diameter breast height ranging from 89 to 230 cm. P. squamosus infection is considered particularly hazardous as it increases the risk of large tree falling. The mean stem failure height of the trees infected with P. squamosus infection was 6.4 m. We speculated that this fungus had penetrated the tree via stem wounds, thereby causing stem failure.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor H. Fujita and members of the Laboratory of Forest Resource Biology and the Laboratory of Timber Engineering, Hokkaido University, for their support in the field investigations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan

    Yoshie Fukui

  2. Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan

    Toshizumi Miyamoto, Yutaka Tamai, Akio Koizumi & Takashi Yajima

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  1. Yoshie Fukui
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  2. Toshizumi Miyamoto
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  3. Yutaka Tamai
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  4. Akio Koizumi
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  5. Takashi Yajima
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Contributions

YF contributed to DNA analysis, data interpretation, and the writing of the initial draft of the manuscript. TM designed the study and contributed to data collection and the writing of the final version of the manuscript. YT, AK, and TY contributed to data collection and interpretation. All authors discussed and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Toshizumi Miyamoto.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by T. Speck.

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Fukui, Y., Miyamoto, T., Tamai, Y. et al. Use of DNA sequence data to identify wood-decay fungi likely associated with stem failure caused by windthrow in urban trees during a typhoon. Trees 32, 1147–1156 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-018-1679-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-018-1679-y

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