This time Delfi delivers the laughs not in the headline, but right in the news story. We simply couldn’t live without this knowledge – what crisis could possibly matter when root rot is devouring trees!
Root rot named Fungus of the Year 2009
The Latvian Society of Mycologists and Lichenologists has named root rot (Heterobasidion annosum) the Fungus of the Year 2009. This was announced by the head of the society, Diāna Meiere.
Tālis Gaitnieks, a leading specialist at the Latvian State Forest Research Institute, explained that root rot causes mottled rot in wood and roots and is also a dangerous parasite of conifers (pines, spruces, and firs), causing trees to die off on a massive scale.