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RE: The Amateur Mycologist Tree Health Special - A Crash Course In Trees, Fungal Infections, And The Ailing Giants Of Central Park
That was really educational. Thank you for the very well-made post expounding the plight of these old hardwoods. Would the environment and spacing that these trees are growing in (in the midst of NYC pollution/ growing sparsely) make them more susceptible to these issues, or is it simply a matter of time and a common way that all hardwoods meet their demise?
My intuition tells me that it would be much less of an issue in an area dense with biodiversity without so many environmental stressors, but I'm curious.
That's a great question, and I really don't know the answer. Certainly the exposure to foot traffic and human vandalism is a major factor in opening weaknesses for fungus to invade.
Common sense would seem to dictate that pollution and/or the artificial environments for street trees probably aren't a net positive - but that would just be a guess.
As to whether the lack of biodiversity hurts things, again I can't say anything concrete, but perhaps it makes it more likely for spores to land on target rather than on nearby, more inhospitable life. Again though, that's pure guesswork.
Whatever is urging it on, there's no doubt the problem is real. And of course the information is applicable for hardwoods everywhere - its just particularly visible in the city