British ash woodland is evolving resistance to ash dieback - Queen Mary University of London
New research indicates that natural selection is working to combat ash dieback, a fungal disease that has devastated ash trees across Europe.
Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Queen Mary University of London have discovered that a new generation of ash trees, growing naturally in woodland, is showing greater resistance to the disease than the older trees.
Natural selection
They found that natural selection is working in the ash DNA across thousands of locations, driving the evolution of resistance. The study, published in Science, offers renewed hope for the future of ash trees in the British landscape and provides compelling evidence for a long-standing prediction of Darwinian theory.
Ash dieback, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, arrived in Britain in 2012, prompting an emergency COBRA meeting. The disease has since wrought havoc on the British countryside, leaving behind skeletal remains of dying ash trees. Past predictions estimate that up to 85% of ash trees will succumb to the disease, with none displaying complete immunity.
The new study compared the DNA of ash trees established before and after the fungal invasion. Researchers observed subtle shifts in the frequencies of DNA variants associated with tree health across thousands of locations in the genome. These shifts indicate that the younger generation possesses greater resistance than their predecessors, offering hope for the survival of ash trees.
Posted On: 30/06/2025
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