Urgent action must be taken to save Britain's forests from being devastated by a wave of new diseases brought by climate change and the global trade in plants, leading scientists have warned.

 

Species such as oak, ash, Scots pine, larch, beech, birch and juniper are all at risk from a host of new bugs, fungi and bacteria, some of which are already in the country. Others are expected to arrive soon.

 

One expert has warned that Britain's forests could suffer a similar fate to woodlands in much of the US, where vast stands of trees have been wiped out by beetles, whose numbers have exploded in the warmer temperatures.

 

In a special issue of the journal Forestry, published this month, researchers have laid out a number of techniques that could help build resistance to pests and diseases.

 

These include creating genetically modified trees designed to withstand conditions such as ash die-back, and persuading the forestry industry to plant more "natural" forests that are better able than regimented, single-species plantations to withstand such onslaughts.

 

There is also hope that "friendly bacteria" and other microbes that live on trees can be enlisted in the fight against their lethal cousins.

 

 

PHOTO: The New Forest; it is feared that Britain’s forests could suffer a similar fate to woodlands in much of the US, where vast stands of trees have been wiped out by beetles.

CREDIT: Getty.