1. Spread of Beech Bark Disease in the Eastern United States and its Relationship to Regional Forest Composition Randall Morin, Sandy Liebhold, Patrick Tobin, Kurt Gottschalk, and Gino Luzader USDA Forest Service World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling June 14-7, 2005 Humboldt State University

2. Uses of American Beech Valuable for wildlife Only nut producing tree species in the northern hardwood forest type Beech wood has many uses

3. Sites of Nectria infection become walled off with callus tissue, which gives the tree a pockmarked appearance and an exotic or native canker fungus Nectria coccinea var. faginata or the native Nectria galligena Beech Bark Disease Beech bark disease is an insect-fungus complex involving the beech scale insect Cryptococcus fagisuga

4. Research Questions Is the spread of BBD characterized by continuous radial expansion or by a more complex pattern of discontinuous spread? Is the rate of spread affected by beech density? What is the effect of BBD on regional forest species composition?

5. Historical Spread

7. Current (2003) 27% of habitat 57% of host

12. New York

13. Vermont

14. Conclusions BBD is characterized by continuous radial expansion and a more complex pattern of discontinuous spread Rate of spread does not seem to be affected by beech density BBD may result in increases in associated species

15. QUESTIONS? CONTACT INFORMATION Randall Morin 11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200 Newtown Square, PA 19073 610-557-4054 rsmorin@fs.fed.us