Susceptibility of native Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) to Dothistroma septosporum following natural inoculation at Torrs Warren, Galloway 2013-2015

There are eight Scottish Scots pine populations (Ballochbuie, Blackwood of Rannoch, Beinn Eighe, Coille Coire Chuilc, Glen Affric, Glen Loy, Glen Tanar, Rothiemurcus) with four families per population each consisting of six individuals = total 192 trees. The trees were grown from seed collected at each site, and germinated in spring 2007 at CEH Edinburgh. They were transplanted in 2013 when they were six years old. The transplantation site at Torrs Warren was adjacent to stands of Corsican and lodgepole pine which were infected with Dothistroma needle blight.

The trees were transplanted in 6 litre pots and were staked to the ground at 0.5 m spacing. A guard row of Scots pine trees (also at 0.5 m spacing) was placed around the edge of the trial to minimise edge effects.

Weeding, to cut back brambles and bracken surrounding the trees, was performed annually in the summer.

The trial consists of six randomised blocks each containing one individual per family.

The data were collected as part of the PROTREE project (funded jointly by a grant from BBSRC, Defra, ESRC, the Forestry Commission, NERC and the Scottish Government, under the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Initiative) and Annika Perry's PhD studentship which was funded by NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Forest Research.