Abstract
Greenheart (Chlorocardium spp., Lauraceae) is one of Guyana’s most economically important timber species. It is a large evergreen canopy tree with desirable wood characteristics and no previously recorded pathogens. Recently, however, the fungal species Xylaria karyophthora was described from morbid Greenheart seeds found throughout central Guyana. For years, forestry stakeholders have postulated that the future of Greenheart in Guyana is threatened due to overharvesting. However, X. karyophthora may represent a new immediate threat to the Greenheart industry. The exact time of emergence of this fungus is unclear, although our examination of historical records indicates that it was sometime before 2000. In this review, we discuss the history of key silvicultural and mycological research in relation to Greenheart in Guyana and the threats to its production.
Highlights
The largely pristine forests of Guyana cover 76.6% (16.5 million hectares) of the total land area [1]
A culture-based study published by Cannon and Simmons in 2002 [63] on diversity and host preference of leaf endophytic fungi in the Iwokrama Forest Reserve, Guyana, found members of Xylariaceae were among the most frequently isolated from 12 tree species
Xylaria karyophthora is the first report of a Xylaria spp. associated with the fruits of a Chlorocardium species and possibly the first non-endophytic Xylaria associated with the seeds of any member of the Lauraceae
Summary
The largely pristine forests of Guyana cover 76.6% (16.5 million hectares) of the total land area [1]. Walsingham; Cladoctonus spp.) and rodents (e.g., Dasyprocta spp.) [19,20,21], attacks by seed pathogens are largely unknown This species was first commercialized during the late 18th century and dominated timber trade between 1954 and 1975 [7]. The push for sustainable forest management resulted in more than a century of silvicultural, ecological, mycofloristic, and mycological research as well as numerous surveys spanning a wide range of forestry issues Many of these studies emphasized aspects of sustainable management for Greenheart as a means to ensure future viability of this species [13,27,28,29,30]
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