Monitoring air spreading of Lecanosticta acicola: From the traps to the apps

Pinus radiata suffers from a number of highly damaging diseases of which needle blights are the most serious ones affecting the tree health in Spain. The largest impact of needle diseases in the recorded history of Pinus radiata in the North of Spain, was from 2018 to 2020. The severity of the disease has led to a significant modification of the landscape derived from a serious reconsideration of silviculture in the forestry sector. Despite the fact that 3 species were detected in the studied area: Dothistroma needle blight (DNB), caused by D. septosporum and brown spot needle blight (BSNB) caused by Lecanosticta acicula, L. acicola are by far the most frequent and abundant. In order to minimize the infection of L. acicola through forest activities, it is important to understand the dynamics of spore dispersal and the favorable environmental conditions for the infection so that those activities that may work as measures to reduce the disease impact, may be temporarily displaced at times in which the effect of them could be more efficient against the disease. The objective of this study was to to quantify the precise amount, timing of air dispersal of spores of L. acicola in Pinus radiata ecosystem representative of the Atlantic climate, with the aim of modelling disease pressures and in the end to be able to predict disease risks in decision support systems of forest management. A total of 15 spore traps were placed in Pinus plantations. Captured spores and weather variables were modeled to analyze the spore abundance dependency to weather conditions and to create a management app available to forest owners and managers