An invasive plant disease may be ready to claim its first victim in the wild with Australia’s native guava now almost extinct, a study has found. Monitoring of 66 populations of native guava in Queensland and New South Wales has found 23% “could not be located” with another 61% reduced only to root suckers below a dead canopy. The fungal plant disease myrtle rust was first detected in Australia in 2010, but already has more than 350 known hosts across the country.
As an insurance policy, about 80 native guava have been cultivated and planted at two garden sites in southern Queensland run by Toowoomba Regional Council. Ian Thompson, Australia’s chief environmental biosecurity officer, said the disease was one of the most significant to enter the country. He said: “This research has highlighted the existing and potential impact of myrtle rust on many native species and underlines the importance of working to prevent new diseases entering and establishing in Australia.”
Botanist Bob Makinson, a myrtle rust expert with the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, said there was evidence that even though the native guava trees were dying, their root systems were still pushing up suckers almost a decade later. “They keep pushing up root suckers, but they get knocked back pretty quick. But that means more of the original stock of trees is still out there.”
Source: Guardian
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