A Field Guide To Insects And Diseases Of California Oaks

This FULL COLOR publication focuses on the relatively small number of microorganisms (primarily fungi) and arthropods (primarily insects) that are capable of causing noticeable damage to oaks in California. We have included agents that cause serious damage to oaks, as well as some common agents that produce conspicuous impacts even if they are not especially detrimental to oak health. Conspicuous but relatively inconsequential agents, such as cynipid gall wasps, often attract more attention than more cryptic agents that can severely impact oak health and structural integrity, such as canker rot fungi. However, some agents that have little or no impact on oak health may still create a nuisance in urban settings as the result of materials that are shed (e.g., sap) or because they adversely affect the appearance of oaks in the landscape. This publication is primarily intended to help arborists, land managers, pest management specialists, and other professionals identify and assess the likely impacts of common agents that attack oaks in California. While we have incorporated enough technical information to make this document useful for professionals, property owners and other members of the general public can also use this publication to better understand common oak diseases and pests. A much more comprehensive compilation of agents that feed on, colonize, and/or damage oaks can be found in the California Oak Disease and Arthropod (CODA) database (currently available at http: //Phytosphere.com/coda)

FULL COLOR and Enlarged Edition - California has more than twenty-five native species, natural hybrids, and varieties of oaks (Quercus species). The form of these oaks ranges from large trees, up to about 25 m tall, to shrubs no taller than about 1.5 m. California's native oaks include representatives of three oak subgroups or subgenera (Table 1). Hybridization only occurs between oaks in the same subgroup. In addition, some insects, pathogens, and other agents may selectively colonize or damage oaks in certain subgroups.

This publication offers a comprehensive look at the management of oaks in urban areas. As development moves into oak woodland areas, more and more oaks are becoming "urban" oaks. Oaks are highly valued in urban areas for their aesthetic, environmental, economic and cultural benefits. However, significant impacts to the health and structural stability of oaks have resulted from urban encroachment. Changes in environment, incompatible cultural practices, and pest problems can all lead to the early demise of our stately oaks. Using this book you'll learn how to effectively manage and protect oaks in urban areas - existing oaks as well as the planting of new oaks. Three key areas are addressed: selection, care, and preservation. You'll learn how cultural practices, pest management, risk management, preservation during development, and genetic diversity can all play a role in preserving urban oaks. Arborists, urban foresters, landscape architects, planners and designers, golf course superintendents, academics, and Master Gardeners alike will find this to be an invaluable reference guide.

Insect and disease issues are often specific to the Mediterranean forest systems rather than shared with the temperate forests. In addition to the specific native insects and diseases, the forests are subject to the invasion of exotic species. The forests are also at risk from high degrees of human activity, including changing patterns of forest fires, land management activities, intensive plantation forestry using introduced timber species from other Mediterranean climate zones, and atmospheric deposition. Combined with elements of global climate change that may disproportionately affect Mediterranean climate systems, this creates a number of significant management issues that are unique to the Mediterranean forests. It is our goal that the information contained in this volume will contribute to understanding the unique aspects of Mediterranean forest systems and to protecting these critical resources.

Scale insects feed on plant juices and can easily be transported to new countries on live plants. They sometimes become invasive pests, costing billions of dollars in damage to crops worldwide annually, and farmers try to control them with toxic pesticides, risking environmental damage. Fortunately, scale insects are highly susceptible to control by natural enemies so biological control is possible. They have unique genetic systems, unusual metamorphosis, a broad spectrum of essential symbionts, and some are sources of commercial products like red dyes, shellac and wax. There is, therefore, wide interest in these unusual, destructive, beneficial, and abundant insects. The Encyclopedia of Scale Insect Pests is the most comprehensive work on worldwide scale insect pests, providing detailed coverage of the most important species (230 species in 26 families, 36% of the scale insect pest species known). Advice is provided on collection, preservation, slide-mounting, vouchering, and labelling of specimens, fully illustrated with colour photographs, diagrams and drawings.