Abstract
Summary The hypothesis that the introduced soil borne fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi causes the death of jarrah trees in south-west Western Australia, has been widely accepted for many years. Alternative hypotheses which have been given less prominence are that either jarrah deaths are caused by waterlogging alone, or by a combination of waterlogging damage and Phytophthora infection. This paper traces the development of these hypotheses, and details data which support or are inconsistent with them. It also describes a recent study where jarrah deaths are consistent with the trees having been killed by waterlogging. There appear to be several disorders which have been included in the name jarrah dieback: deaths of midand understorey species caused by P. cinnamomi, deaths of groups of jarrah caused by waterlogging, a background mortality of isolated jarrah deaths, and a crown decline of jarrah. On some sites all problems occur together.
Published Version
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