Beech Bark Disease | National Invasive Species Information Center

Scientific Name

Neonectria spp. (Cale et al. 2015)

Common Name

Beech bark disease (BBD)

Native To

Unknown; the fungal pathogens may possibly be native, but the insect vector, Cryptococcus fagisuga, was introduced from Europe (Kasson and Livingston 2009; Gwiazdowski et al. 2006)

Date of U.S. Introduction

First appeared in Canada during the 1890s, and in the U.S. during the 1930s (Gwiazdowski et al. 2006; Houston 1994)

Means of Introduction

The insect vector (C. fagisuga) was introduced accidentally on imported European beech saplings (Gwiazdowski et al. 2006)

Impact

Fungal disease that kills American beech trees after being attacked by the beech scale insect (C. fagisuga) (McCullough et al. 2005)

Current U.S. Distribution

Northeastern U.S. and Great Lakes Region

Beech bark disease symptoms

Credit

Photo by Joseph O'Brien; USDA, Forest Service

Source

Find more images

Alien Forest Pest Explorer (AFPE)
- USDA. FS. Northern Research Station.
- The Alien Forest Pest Explorer (AFPE) is an interactive web tool which provides detailed spatial data describing pest distributions and host inventory estimates for damaging, non-indigenous forest insect and disease pathogens currently established in the U.S. The database is maintained as a joint effort of Purdue University, the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, and the U.S. Forest Service Forest Health Protection.

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

Partnership

Gallery of Pests - Beech Bark Disease
- Nature Conservancy. Don't Move Firewood.
Global Invasive Species Database - Neonectria faginata (fungus)
- IUCN. Species Survival Commission. Invasive Species Specialist Group.
Invaders Factsheet: Beech Bark Disease
- Ontario's Invading Species Awareness Program (Canada).
TISI Inventory - Beech Bark Disease Complex
- Texas State University System. Texas Invasive Species Institute.

Federal Government

Proceedings of the Beech Bark Disease Symposium
- 2005
- USDA. FS. Northern Research Station.
  
  Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-331.
- Contains invited papers, short contributions, abstracts, and working group summaries from the Beech Bark Disease Symposium in Saranac Lake, NY, June 16-18, 2004.
Nonnative Species - Beech Bark Disease
- DOI. NPS. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Michigan).

International Government

Forest Invasive Alien Species - Beech Bark Disease
- Natural Resources Canada. Canadian Forest Service.

State and Local Government

Forest Health - Beech Bark Disease
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Forest Pest Index - Beech Bark Disease
- Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. Maine Forest Service.

Academic

Invasive Forest Pests - Beech Bark Disease
- Jun 2022
- North Carolina State University. Cooperative Extension.
Beech Bark Disease
- Jul 2018
- Ohio State University. Extension.
Is it Beech Bark Disease?
- Nov 11, 2016
- Michigan State University Extension.
Beech Scale, A Potential Threat in the Landscape [PDF, 392 KB]
- Jun 2006
- University of Tennessee Extension.
- See also: Publications for more resources
IPM Scouting in Woody Landscape Plants - Beech Bark Disease
- Michigan State University. Integrated Pest Management Program.
- See also: IPM Scouting in Woody Landscape Plants for more pests and diseases (Publication E2839)
Fact Sheets - Diseases: Beech Bark Disease
- University of Massachusetts Extension. Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry Program.

Professional

Citations

Cale, J.A., S.A. Teale, M.T. Johnston, G.L. Boyer, K.A. Perri, and J.D. Castello. 2015. New ecological and physiological dimensions of beech bark disease development in aftermath forests. Forest Ecology and Management 336:99-108.
Gwiazdowski, R.A., R.G. Van Driesche, A. Desnoyers, S. Lyon, S. Wu, N. Kamata, and B.B. Normark. 2006. Possible geographic origin of beech scale, Cryptococcus fagisuga (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae), an invasive pest in North America. Biological Control 39(1):9-18.
Houston, D.R. 1994. Major new tree disease epidemics: beech bark disease. Annual Review of Phytopathology 32:75-87.
Kasson, M.T., and W.H. Livingston. 2009. Spatial distribution of Neonectria species associated with beech bark disease in northern Maine. Mycologia 101(2):190-195.
McCullough, D.G., R.L. Heyd, and J.G. O'Brien. 2005. Biology and Management of Beech Bark Disease [PDF, 2.77 MB]. Michigan State University. Extension Bulletin E-2746.