A mysterious disease of 

 loblolly and shortleaf pines, 

 designated initially as "little- 

 leaf disease," likewise has 

 been of much concern to 

 forest pathologists and 

 forest managers. Studies 

 by W.A. Campbell, O.L 

 Copeland, B. Zak, and 

 coworkers led to the identifi- 

 cation of a fungus, Phytoph- 

 thora cinnamomi, as the 

 causal factor (e.g., Campbell 

 and Copeland 1954). The 

 symptoms of littleleaf dis- 

 ease proved to be an 

 expression of nitrogen 

 starvation resulting from 

 the killing of feeder roots 

 by this fungus in heavy 

 soils with poor drainage 

 and aeration. Management 

 guidelines developed from 

 this research included 

 directions for handling 

 diseased plants, breeding 

 for resistance, and favoring 

 soil-building hardwoods. 



Annosus root rot has been 

 another cause of signicant 

 mortality of southern pines, 

 especially in thinned stands. 

 Research by scientists 

 such as R.C. Froelich, C.S. 

 Hodges, E.G. Ruhlman, 

 and E.W. Ross identified 

 methods of preventing or 

 reducing losses from this 

 disease by silvicultural 



practices that include rating 

 hazard by soil characteris- 

 tics, summer thinning, and 

 prescribed burning; selec- 

 tion of less susceptible 

 species in planting pro- 

 grams; and direct control 

 through application of borax 

 on freshly cut stumps (e.g., 

 Kuhlman and others 1976 

 and Froehlich and others 

 1977). 



Among the numerous insect 

 pests in southern forests, 

 the southern pine beetle 

 and the black turpentine 

 beetle have been particular- 

 ly destructive of standing 

 trees. Major outbreaks of 

 the southern pine beetle 

 have occurred periodically, 

 as in the late 1970's. An 

 extensive program of re- 

 search on this pest has 

 been carried out in recent 

 years, particularly through 

 a Combined Forest Pest 

 Research, Development, 

 and Applications Program 

 centered at Pineville, LA. 

 This program combined the 

 efforts of Federal, university, 

 industry, and other organi- 

 zations both in cooperative 

 studies and in test applica- 

 tions of findings on an 

 operational scale. In the 

 search for effective controls, 

 much information has been 



37 



