Traveling in the Greek countryside, one of the most impressive images you can come across is a dense plane tree forest. Running waters, coolness and sounds of birds accompany the image that will surely be unforgettable. These images, however, seem to be in serious danger of becoming a thing of the past in some parts of Greece in the coming years. The cause is the metachromatic ulcer or the plane tree disease as is known to most who have heard of it. A disease that in recent years tends to take the form of an epidemic of plane trees in various parts of Greece, according to experts.
The disease of plane tree metachromatic ulcer is not just a disease that affects plane trees but a catastrophic and deadly disease for plane trees worldwide. The result is that even centuries-old (and many hundreds of years old) trees dry out and in many cases contaminate their surroundings.. And it may not be a recent emerging disease as it first appeared in America in 1935 and was detected in Greece in 2003, but in recent years the situation has worsened. In Europe, the fungus responsible for the infection (Ceratocystis fimbriata f. Sp. Platani) is thought to have come during World War II and tends to grow exponentially.
A typical example for Greece is the very recent decision of the Municipality of Ioannina to proceed with the cutting of 17 plane trees in the city (even on the famous lakeside road) so that other trees do not stick. In the same prefecture - where the plane trees cover large areas - the situation has been described as serious in the area of Acheron, Kalamas and Konitsa. Trees in Thessaly have been affected since 2011 and unfortunately the Peloponnese followed. In fact, 2016 and 2017 were a two-year period during which the metachromatic plane tree ulcer infected large and age-old plane trees in Central Greece, even in Evia.
He gave us interesting information about the transmission, the location and the procedure followed when a sick plane tree is found. Mr. Nikolaos Chatziroumbis, Forester and Phytosanitary Inspector at the Forest Service of Konitsa, Ioannina.
"It's a lot dangerous and contagious disease caused by traumatic fungus. "The main factors of transmission are anthropogenic through uninfected works machines, axes and other tools," he says. In other words, he emphasizes the need to always keep clean and disinfected cutting tools and construction machinery that move in forest areas and generally areas with trees. A typical example of the danger is that sick trees had to be cut down even in the Vikos-Aoos National Park.
- What is the procedure followed when a plane tree is identified that may be infected?
We take a sample from the tree and send it for testing to the Institute of Mediterranean and Forest Ecosystems. If we are told that the fungus exists, the tree should be killed, cut down and burned. Likewise, the trees that are ten meters away should be cut around the perimeter as the disease is transmitted even from the roots.
To the question we asked him if the disease is so threatening that we are talking about possible future extinction of large areas if no action is taken the answer is yes. "This is an extremely contagious traumatic fungus that can destroy, if left unchecked, very large areas throughout Greece," he said, stressing again the need to use clean machinery. In addition, there is still no vaccine to protect them plane trees while the equivalent for a disease that had infected chestnuts took 104 years to be found.
And as he told us, an inexperienced eye may not be able to immediately grasp a plane tree that is at the beginning of the infection, but the experienced scientists who deal with it even perceive the smell of the bark of the trunk. And they call on everyone to contribute to the protection of our forests, which are the source of our lives.
According to data from the Institute of Mediterranean and Forest Ecosystems, this dangerous and deadly disease has killed thousands of trees in our country and unless more serious measures are taken, the ecological catastrophe in the coming years is expected to be enormous.. And where you encounter green areas with running water and squares that lie in the shade of the plane trees, the landscape can be filled with dead tree trunks.. And it's a scenario for that distant future but much closer than we possibly imagine.
The dramatic forecast, as confirmed by the Decentralized Administration of Epirus - Western Macedonia, in case the situation is not addressed with coordinated moves and decisions, the dead plane trees in our country in a few years will be millions. And not only in some areas of Greece but where there is a plane tree forest, a village with plane trees or a park. In National Parks, traditional settlements and protected areas. And this means in practice images of Greek forests that we have not even imagined…