Dutch Elm Disease
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A diseased English elm felled in Magdalen College, Oxford in 1920s
A great avenue of English elms before the pandemic of DED in Christ Church Meadows, Oxford
DED can spread to neighbouring trees via natural root grafts, creating lines of infection
Felling of an elm tree with DED in Magdalen College, Oxford in 1970s
Rehearsal of the Magdalen Players in a circle of still healthy elm trees in Magdalen College, Oxford in 1955
A large English elm preventatively felled in Magdalen College, Oxford in 1970s
Our lab started an outreach project on Dutch Elm Disease in celebration of the International Year of Plant Health 2020.
Dutch Elm Disease is caused by the microfungi Ophiostoma ulmi and novo-ulmi, two plant pathogens that devastated elm populations in North America, Europe and Asia in the 20th century.
The English elm in particular was severely affected and very few mature trees are still left in the UK. To shine a light on this plant pandemic whilst keeping social distancing, we created a trio of information boards on this topic, including a board on the impact of Dutch Elm Disease on Oxford.
If you would like to learn more about this, we encourage you to visit the Harcourt Arboretum at Oxford from June 2021 to see the finished information boards.
An audiodescription of the boards is available here .
Scolytus scolytus - The large elm bark beetle
Children-friendly activities!
We are aware that young children may find information boards a bit dull. Why not do some fun puzzles centered around Dutch Elm Disease together as a family?
You can download our booklet of children’s activities here.
Do send us photos of your completed booklets at planthealth@plants.ox.ac.uk , we’d love to see the work of young plant scientists!
Do you remember Dutch Elm Disease?
Dutch Elm Disease first appeared in the 1920s in Europe, but was most severe in the 1960s and 70s in the UK. Many of you may remember giant elms being felled, or public campaigns for preventative felling of elms.
We are interested to hear from you: what are your memories of English elms and/or Dutch Elm Disease?
During the course of this project, we have compiled a photo gallery of the most striking photos of Oxford before the Dutch Elm pandemic together with photos of the fellings which you can see in the photo gallery above.
If you would like to contribute to this repository with photos, drawings or testimonies, please contact us at planthealth@plants.ox.ac.uk, we would love to hear from you.
The Dutch Elm Disease lifecycle, illustrated by Rosemary Wise
About this outreach project:
A PhD student of our lab, Julianna Piat, led this project as part of her DTP internship together with co-organisers Dr Lauren Chappell, Prof Gail Preston, Ben Jones, and Chris Thorogood.
The British Society for Plant Pathology (BSPP) and UKRI-BBSRC have generously funded this project.
Julianna also created a series of vlogs hosted by BSPP’s website in which she describes how this project was organised. She also shares her insights in outreach and science communication. These videos can be found by clicking here
Acknowledgments:
Many thanks to people and organisations that made this project possible by giving us sharing rights to their photos and graphics. Special thanks to Prof Joan Webber, Prof Clive Brasier, Prof Gail Preston, Ben Jones, Dr Lauren Chappell, Dr Chris Thorogood, Prof Simon Hiscock, John James and Roz Chalmers for their expertise on DED, tree health and science communication. This project was generously funded by BSPP and UKRI-BBSRC.
Last updated: 27/05/2021 by Julianna I. O. Piat
Dutch Elm Disease, the biggest tree pandemic of the 20th century. This is the first of a series of 3 boards on Dutch elm Disease displayed at the Harcourt Arboretum in Oxford.
Click here to view/download a full size version of this Board.
Dutch Elm Disease : Is it still a problem ? Should we be worried ? This is board number 2 in our series of information boards currently on display at the Harcourt Arboretum.
Click here to view/download a full size version of this Board.
The impact of Dutch Elm Disease in Oxford. This is the third and final information board on the topic currently displayed at the Harcourt Arboretum.
Click here to view/download a full size version of this Board.
