West Virginia's abundant forest resources face dangers in the form of disease and pathogens. Researchers at West Virginia University's College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences and West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station are working to mitigate those dangers. William MacDonald, a professor in the WVU College's Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, is looking at the causes and possible cures of chestnut blight and oak wilt. MacDonald is part of a multistate research project sponsored by the Northeastern Regional Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (NERA) centered on the biological improvement of chestnut and management of the chestnut pathogens and pests. The project, initiated in 1981, has achieved substantial gains in understanding the blight that has ravaged millions of acres of American forest. The objectives of the research are twofold: (1) to improve chestnut trees for timber and nut production, and to determine the cultural requirements of chestnut seedlings in nurseries and natural settings; and (2) to better understand the interactions and ecology of the host/pathogen/parasite systems at the molecular, organismal, and environmental levels in order to develop effective biological controls for chestnut blight. Research at WVU has focused on naturally occurring viruses that debilitate the blight fungus, resulting in biological control of the disease. MacDonald and his colleagues have studied the field biology of these viruses in an effort to understand how they become established and how they can be employed to achieve biological control. In 1998, a large-scale experiment deployed hypoviruses as biological control agents for chestnut blight involving a stand of more than 2,500 mature American chestnut trees near LaCrosse, Wis. This stand represents the largest surviving group of American chestnuts in North America, but, unfortunately, it was infected by a strain of the blight fungus. MacDonald is also studying oak wilt, a fungus-borne vascular disease currently known only in the United States. According to MacDonald, it is as potentially destructive as the causal agent of Dutch elm disease, particularly in Europe. The objective of the oak wilt research is to evaluate the susceptibility of the major European oak species to the fungus by comparing symptom development to that of their North American counterparts. Collections of acorns were made throughout northern and southern Europe during the early 1980s. The acorns were then sent to South Carolina and West Virginia for planting and management. In 1996, the seedlings, along with resistant and susceptible American oak species, were inoculated with the fungus. Symptom development was observed and evaluated. Disease development was evident in both test locations one month after inoculation, and it increased during the 1996 season. The trees most hard-hit by the effects of the fungus were European white oaks; there was a 100 percent mortality rate among the West Virginia specimens. MacDonald's ground-breaking work has been recognized in a variety of impressive venues. In 1998, he received the designation of Benedum Distinguished Scholar. This award reflects a career of achievement in scholarly activity and is the highest award bestowed upon research faculty at WVU. In 1997, the NERA team studying chestnut blight earned the Secretary's Honor Award of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA's Secretary's Honor Awards recognize outstanding contributions to agriculture, to consumers of agricultural products, and to the ability of the department to serve America. MacDonald has also presented his work at an event in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Entitled "How Agricultural Science Research Serves the Nation: A University Exhibition and Reception on Capitol Hill," the event featured exhibitions of more than 40 displays from researchers around the country. For more information on the programs of the WVU College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences and the West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, visit its Internet site ( http://www.caf.wvu.edu/ ). |
