At first, scientists did not know what was killing off what is said to be the rarest tree species in North America — the Torreya taxifolia.
But in 2007, UF forest pathology associate professor Jason Smith and a team of international scientists started researching and discovered the source: a rare fungus. The tree has been critically endangered since the 1980s, Smith said. There were more than 500,000 trees during the 1930s, and today there are fewer than 1,000 trees left.
“If we lose more of these trees in the wild, there will be consequences in the ecosystem,” Smith said.
The unknown fungal disease, Fusarium torreyae, has been killing trees. The fungus forces the tree bark to crack. It then expands and eats the tree, leaving only a stump behind.
In early March, the scientists held a seminar to try to find solutions to restore the trees, Smith said.
One plan was for scientists to try to genetically modify the trees to increase resistance to the fungus, said Douglas Soltis, a professor in the Florida Museum of Natural History and Department of Biology at UF.
Smith and Soltis hope to reproduce healthy trees in the wild within the next 10 years.
“We have the resources. We have great people working on this, and we have great favor in our diversity,” Smith said. “I think there is a real likelihood, maybe even before ten years.”
