If you were to go for a stroll
through the forests of New England around two hundred years ago you would have
seen many of the same trees you see today, such as oak trees and maple trees.
But there is one tree you would have seen back then that you don’t see much of now
and that’s the American chestnut tree. The American chestnut tree was a staple
of New England, as they were one of the most prominent hardwood trees found in
the area, but this all changed around the 1900’s when a fungus known as
chestnut blight appeared and began to decimate the American chestnut
population. Chestnut blight most likely originated from Japanese chestnut trees
that were brought to the United States around 1876, and within a relatively short
amount of time this blight had all but eliminated the mighty American chestnut
tree from our forests. But according to an article published in Nature Journal
there may be hope for these fallen giants after all.
The article states that
there has been an ongoing effort to cross breed the American chestnut tree with
Chinese and Japanese chestnut trees in hopes that they can create a tree that
maintains the appearance of an American chestnut tree but that also has the
blight resistance of its Chinese and Japanese relatives. The result of this
cross breeding is a new crop of what they’re calling the “restoration chestnut”
which is a chestnut tree that is 96% American and 6% Chinese chestnut tree,
that shows a strong resistance to the blight. For a tree lover like me this is
very encouraging news, and who knows maybe two hundred years from now people
will be hiking through the forests of new England and instead of seeing a
forest filled with oaks and maples maybe they’ll see a forest filled with
chestnuts.
David Rains, Group C
Cool post. It's strange to think about how there was once a tree more common to this region than oaks and maples. It's very fascinating that scientists are going to such great lengths to bring the chestnut (or a chestnut hybrid) back to our forests. I have to wonder why they are so intent on doing so, does the chestnut make for a more thriving ecosystem? Or is it just because we'd like to introduce them back into our forests where they belong? Good job.
ReplyDeleteErika Nevins
Well to answer your question, the chestnut tree did at one time serve as a major food source for many organisms, and while other trees such as oak trees have filled this ecological niche it would still be a big boost to other organisms to have another food source available.
DeleteDavid Rains, Group C
Great post, this is a really cool topic about something that is extremely relevant to us from New England. I think that it is really cool that we can cross these plants and make them resistant to a disease that otherwise would have completely destroyed the species. I wonder if this restorative chestnut would be able to fit into the environment now.
ReplyDelete-Madison Boone
Thanks for your comment. As far as whether or not this tree could be reintroduced into the forests of New England I think it could. I base this assumption of the observation of many other species that have been reintroduced into wild. One such example for me would be the Grey Wolf that was successfully reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park.
DeleteDavid Rains, Group C