Tree-killing disease spreading rapidly across Japan's Hokkaido
Oak wilt, a lethal disease attacking Mizunara and Kashiwa oaks, is spreading quickly across Japan's Hokkaido, Kyodo reported.
Rising temperatures are allowing the oak ambrosia beetle - the insect responsible for transmitting the pathogen - to survive the winter, fueling the outbreak, experts warn.
The insect was first confirmed in southern Hokkaido in 2020.
Officials confirmed 1,637 trees were damaged this year across two cities and nine towns in southern Hokkaido, compared with just 213 in three towns last year and 15 in two towns in 2011.
"It's difficult to stop it," Takuya Kobayashi, a senior researcher at the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute's Hokkaido branch, says. "The more it spreads, the more budget and manpower we need, and we can't keep up with extermination and countermeasures."
The disease threatens both ecosystems and industries. Oaks make up 7% of Hokkaido’s forests, with Mizunara prized for furniture.
The ecological stakes are also important.
"There are many wildlife species that depend on oak, including brown bears that feed on acorns and insects that feed on leaves," Kobayashi notes. "We are concerned about the impact on industry and the ecosystem."
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that red-listed Alatau Crocus blossomed near Almaty.
