[ad_1]
Traveling through the Greek countryside, one of the most impressive images you can come across is a dense banana grove. Running waters, freshness and sounds of birds accompany the image that will surely be unforgettable. However, these images appear to be in grave danger of becoming a thing of the past in some parts of Greece in the next few years. The cause is metachromatic ulcer or banana disease as it is known to most of those who have heard of it. A disease that in recent years tends to take the form of a banana epidemic in various parts of Greece, according to experts.
Banana metachromatic ulcer disease is not just a disease that affects bananas, but a catastrophic and deadly disease for the banana forest around the world. The result is that trees that are even centuries old (and many hundreds of years old) dry out and in many cases infect people close to them.. And it may not be a recent emerging disease, as it first appeared in the United States in 1935 and was detected in Greece in 2003, but in recent years the situation has worsened. In Europe, it is believed that the fungus responsible for the infection (Ceratocystis fimbriata f. Sp. Platani) appeared during World War II and tends to grow exponentially.
Thousands of dead bananas in Greece
A typical example from Greece is the recent decision by the municipality of Ioannina to proceed with the felling of a total of 17 plane trees in the city (including on the famous road by the lake) so that other trees do not stick together. In the same prefecture, where bananas cover large areas, the situation has been described as serious in the Acheron area, Kalamas and Konitsa. Trees in Thessaly have been affected since 2011 and sadly the Peloponnese followed. In fact, 2016 and 2017 were a two-year period during which the metachromatic banana ulcer infected large, ancient bananas in central Greece, including in Evia.
He gave us interesting information about the transmission, the location and the procedure that is followed when a diseased banana is found. Mr. Nikolaos Chatziroumbis, Forest Inspector and Phytosanitary Inspector, Konitsa Forest Service, Ioannina.
“Its alot dangerous and contagious disease caused by traumatic fungi. “The main transmission factors are anthropogenic through uninfected work machines, shafts and other tools,” he says. That is, it emphasizes the need to always keep cutting tools and construction machinery clean and disinfected that move in forest areas and in general areas with trees. A typical example of the danger is that diseased trees had to be cut down even in Vikos-Aoos National Park.
– What is the procedure followed when identifying a banana that may be infected?
We took a sample of the tree and sent it for analysis to the Institute of Forest and Mediterranean Ecosystems. If we are told that the fungus exists, the tree must be killed, cut down and burned. Likewise, trees that are ten meters away must be cut around the perimeter since the disease is transmitted even from the roots.
To the question we asked If the disease is so threatening that we are talking about a possible future extinction of large areas if measures are not taken the answer is yes. “This is an extremely contagious traumatic fungus that can destroy, if left unchecked, very large areas throughout Greece,” he said, again emphasizing the need to use clean machinery. Also, there is still no vaccine to protect them. bananas while the equivalent of a disease that had infected chestnuts took 104 years to find.
And as he told us, an inexperienced eye may not be able to immediately grasp a banana found at the beginning of the infection, but the experienced scientists who treat it may even smell the bark of the trunk. And they ask everyone to contribute to the protection of our forests, which are the source of our lives.
According to data from the Institute of Mediterranean and Forest Ecosystems, this dangerous and deadly disease has caused the death of thousands of trees in our country and, unless more serious measures are taken, the ecological catastrophe is expected to be enormous in the coming years.. And where you find green areas with running water and squares that linger under the shade of plane trees, the landscape can be filled with dead logs.. And it is a scenario for that distant future but much closer than we possibly imagine.
The dramatic forecast, as confirmed by the Decentralized Administration of Epirus – Western Macedonia, in case the situation is not addressed with coordinated movements and decisions, the dead bananas in our country in a few years will be millions. And not only in some areas of Greece, but where there is a banana forest, a town with bananas or a park. In National Parks, traditional settlements and protected areas. And this means in practice images of Greek forests that we have not even imagined …
[ad_2]
