DED -- is the end nigh?

摘要

A strip of land between the South Downs and the Sussex coast is home to an estimated 80 percent of this country's population of mature, mostly English elms, thanks to the dedicated work of East Sussex local authorities and their success in tackling Dutch elm disease (DED). Peter Davies, who joined field officer Mary Parker for an inspection tour of her area, reports on a remarkable success story. There are over 300 species of elm, and all are at risk to Dutch elm disease - or DED as it is aptly abbreviated, The scourge is pandemic: British experts know of no country that is DED-free. In these islands the general impression of non-experts is that it first appeared here in the late 1960s, In fact, this was just the latest disastrous outbreak of a disease described by professor Clive Brasier of the Forestry Commission's Forest Research Station near Farnham in Surrey, as one of the most catastrophic environmental events of the twentieth century, the origin of which remains a mystery.