Acute Oak Decline (AOD) and Chronic Oak Dieback (sometimes called Chronic Oak Decline (COD)) are two concerning diseases affecting the UK’s iconic oak trees. Both seriously affect the health of oak trees, and both can eventually kill the tree. AOD inflicts blisters and black bleeds on the trunk and branches of the tree, while COD targets the tree’s ‘central nervous system’, its roots, truncating its ability to take up water and nutrients and forcing leaves and branches to dieback. They can be found together on the same tree, but more often they’re separate diseases.
While both diseases were identified in the UK about 30 years ago and are now widespread across the Midlands and South East England, scientists have been working hard to understand how they work and why they are having such serious impacts on oak trees. But the causes of these two disease have proven to be mysterious. Last week, a group of experts gathered to share a raft of recent research, hoping to cast some light on these issues.
